2014: Welcome to the Year of Apple TV… not.
Unless and until video consumption is made simple and fun again, stick with BitTorrent + VLC + AirPlay.
I’m a pretty simple consumer. I have two consumption modes: push and pull. It’s rare for me to sit down in front of the TV, turn it on, and just let the crap flow over me. With the exception of live sports, I generally avoid push and the advertisments that come with it. Pull, on the other hand, is wonderful. Give me what I ask for and take my money. Please.
Problem is, there’s no Jesus TV service that can give me what I ask for. If there was, I wouldn’t think twice about the money they’re taking from me. Maybe I’d think twice, but after that I could relax.
YouTube
The UX is awful. If you want to discuss that point, let’s take it outside: @spinosa. Payments — ads — are fair. Annoying, but fair. The availability of traditional content, like TV shows and movies, is weak, but the breadth of short/new-form internet video is sufficiently close to perfect.
Netflix
My mom can use Netflix; that’s pretty good UX. The price for reliable HD streaming content seems reasonable. The biggest problem with Netflix is breadth. Although they are the best player out there when it comes to traditional video, they are not sufficiently close to perfect. The final half-season of Breaking Bad is missing. That detail, as small as it may be, is a deal breaker. Unfortunately, a service like Netflix needs to give me what I want 99.9% of the time lest I start digging for the tiny red cancel link.
BTV (BitTorrent + VLC + AppleTV AirPlay)
The manual option. Download with BitTorrent, play with VLC, and AirPlay it to the big screen in the living room.
The UX is just fine… if you’re a nerd like me. The price is right… unless we care about more great stories getting told with video. And the breadth is sufficiently close to perfect. Every episode of Breaking Bad? Ready and waiting. Game of Thrones? Where would it be without BitTorrent?! This is impressive value. Unsustainable but impressive.
INTERNET, 2017
I’d like to see the simplicity of Netflix combined with the breadth of BitTorrent, including a fair payment system to keep the game alive. Then, for the coup de grace, bake in a little push — the stuff my friends (ie. people and algorithms who know me) already tell me to watch — and commercial-free YouTube access.
But I won’t see it any time soon. Not because of technical problems, those have been pretty much solved already. Because of rights issues. Fat, slow, rich incumbents do not have the same interests I do. This, by the way, is the reason we don’t have a true Apple TV.
PS: History has a way of turning specific predictions into embarrassing statements. I’m not privy to any conversations Apple may be having with the incumbents. But I sincerely hope they’re progressing well enough to prove me wrong. I’d happily (try to) place my foot in my mouth, sitting at WWDC, basking in the glow of the just-unveiled Apple TV.
