A lot of people are very excited about it. I must admit, the features sound quite convenient. But there are a lot of things it could/could-not be.

For one, I don’t think it is a “computer”, though it obviously has some processing power. And I don’t think it is a DVR. I think it is basically an Airport Express on steroids. It basically gets its data across either a wired or wireless network, it receives the infrared commands (which it relays to your computer), and your computer does all the work. So it is a remote station for your computer, not a media station. That means your computer must be on, in order to service the iTV. This helps Apple dramatically lower the cost and parts count, and eliminates redundancy. They don’t need as much computing power, memory, hard-drive, etc., in the iTV. They can get away with all solid-state storage (possible), it is just a video playback buffer and remote video connection. Think of all the licensing stuff it avoids by NOT having iTV as an actual computer running iTunes (and its own copies of media on it), but that it is just a remote player for them! It would have the downside of if you’re having problems with your computer, then you’d be having problems with watching movies. If the network was spotty, then the media would be spotty.

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