[Gary Huff]

[Phil Hoppes] “Granted, there are free assets you can get and use but the more you use of someone else’s the less unique your production will be.”

You make very valid points, Phil, but I think this tool is more for those people looking to make movies utilizing the Valve character assets that already exist, as opposed to making all new assets.

There is a smorgasbord of videos utilizing these pre-existing Valve characters, mostly using Garry’s Mod from Half-Life 2. I think this was Valve’s response to that, making it easier to create such videos, instead of trying to capture the 3D modeling market.

[Gary Huff]

[Craig Seeman] “I still think MC and Symphony will be consolidated but I suspect people will be happy with that in the long urn if it happens.”

Seems long overdue to me.

[Gary Huff]

[Walter Soyka] “Or more reach.”

Yes, absolutely. But will they be able to maintain that reach with the money they’d want to pull in from doing that?

Probably not at first.

[Gary Huff]

[Shawn Miller] “And what about the content providers themselves? USA, HBO, Showtime, Cinemax… what’s in it for them?”

Less money.

[Gary Huff]

[Bret Williams] ” I think Apple has proven that they can compete price wise. The iPad and iPhone may not be the cheapest, but they’re not much more than the competition feature wise, and when you factor in the build quality and interface design people don’t usually go back.”

An Apple television will probably be a lot more expensive than the iPhone/iPad.

[Gary Huff]

[Walter Soyka] “It further strikes me as very un-Apple to have a set-top box instead of a totally self-contained appliance.”

What would it take for you to dump your current TV for an Apple television if it’s $1000+?

[Gary Huff]

[Bill Davis] “If you’re at your office, you’re paying RIGHT NOW for the capacity that the TV that’s TURNED OFF in your home living room is connected to.”

Not for me. I’ve been cable-free since 2007.

[Gary Huff]

[Bill Davis] “If Apple can make a unified TV experience that lets me dump my old, annoying money soak cable company and simply lets me buy what I want – when I want – watch it when I like – anywhere I choose…

I’m in.

And I’m likely one among millions.”

And they won’t be able to. There’s more than just coming up with the idea. I don’t think Apple would be able to completely supplement cable TV for at least another decade.

Besides, there’s nothing about this idea that requires an Apple television. Why can’t a set top box add this same functionality?

[Gary Huff]

[Bret Williams] “Siri. FaceTime. I’m guessing some sort of channel management. Integrating channels and internet channels as one concept. So, none of the whole apple TV stuff of hdmi 3 and cable on hdmi 2 and dvd player on hdmi 1, etc. A more unified experience. How about watching a show and having links to hulu or iTunes versions right on the screen? I dunno. Stuff like that. There’s really so much.”

None of that seems unworkable to me with a standalone box.

And if that is Apple’s idea (which sounds a lot like the Revue anyway), I think it’s far more likely that the TV will have NO connectivity, keeping you tied to the built-in iTunes interface for everything.

[Gary Huff]

[Bret Williams] ”
I love my standalone appleTV box. But it’s probably only 20% of the user experience we’ll get from a branded TV.”

I think that’s giving a TV way too much credit. There’s no reason why you can’t get Siri on a box the size of the current Apple TV, either with a built in microphone or (more likely) via your iPhone/iTouch/iPad.

Neither the Xbox Kinect or the Wii require something built in to the TV to work well.