tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8970868.post360800037894529009..comments2023-10-23T10:08:37.594-05:00Comments on Thoughts Abound: Sigh, Another Box---ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05479924066021720104noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8970868.post-4368895108550633012008-06-05T08:23:00.000-05:002008-06-05T08:23:00.000-05:00I agree with Jason on many of these. Like usual, ...I agree with Jason on many of these. Like usual, my mind outruns my desire to type things up in a way I'll still be marginally proud of 6 months later.<BR/><BR/>Price point - absolutely. $100 is fantastic and even approaches impulse buy for folks that are into gadgets and movies.<BR/><BR/>UI - The UI looks reasonable in the screenshots, but how can you screw up next movie, previous movie, play? The functionality is <B>very</B> limited, which is a good thing when designing UIs. Limiting the user to things they've already put in their queue is an interesting choice to keep it simple through restriction, but then makes you run back to your computer when you don't see anything in your queue that you like.<BR/><BR/>Monitor vs. SuperTV - Most of me really hopes the TV wars are slowing down. The rest of me knows that Samsung, Sony, and the rest have revenue numbers to meet and will continue to crank out new display technology to keep that churn in effect. I can agree with the idea of *1* box hooked up to the TV. That allows for upgrades to either side independently. Anything beyond 1 and I start to get grumbly.---ryanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05479924066021720104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8970868.post-7179441152314819932008-06-05T01:48:00.000-05:002008-06-05T01:48:00.000-05:00Some other thoughts:The pricepoint really is right...Some other thoughts:<BR/><BR/>The pricepoint really is right, and being able to leave the computer and monitor behind for the TV is a huge benefit in my mind. However, the ugly box, lack of navigation GUI (other than to move around in your existing queue), and lack of HD in the initial software make me not even consider this early adopter offering.<BR/><BR/>I have heard we might see as many as 5 similar boxes before the end of the year, so I'm sure one of those will get it right. This seems fairly simple in my mind. <BR/><BR/>I don't actually want this stuff in my TV, I want my TV to be a dumb display. On the other hand, I also don't want a plethora of ugly boxes to plug in. <BR/><BR/>More and more I think a powerful Mac Mini is the right path. Let's make all of these services simply be software packages that install on the Mini, that is sitting as the sole box on the TV (along with a connected TV tuner and giant hard drive most likely).Jasonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15229246615839778034noreply@blogger.com