The problem with with magical device would be that rumor has it, it can only go up to 720p. Most people won’t notice that, but sadly the consumer market that would notice that sort of thing, are exactly the people who already have an Apple TV and a Blu-Ray player, and a XBox, and a 55 inch plasma, and a Boxee Box pre-order, etc, etc, etc.
I’m ready Apple, but seriously, if it’s 720p, your making a HUGE MISTAKE.
I listen to the @Engadget podcast and Joshua Topolsky makes a great point. He refers to the iPhone 4 event when Jobs points out that megapixels aren’t everything, and quickly goes into how hard his team worked on perfecting the photons of the camera. He envisions an AppleTV event where Steve Jobs goes into a speech about how resolution isn’t everything. He’ll show broadcast 720p, where a cable company’s version goes into terrible artifacting and comes off looking like porous HD.
He’ll say how they perfected the minutia of HD streaming at 720p, and it will look great. As insane as it sounds, I fully expect this to happen. Broadcast HD is pretty terrible. No channels display 1080p, and won’t for a long time. Nothing will ever compare to Blu-Ray, but why would it? To the average consumer, a smooth looking 720p looks really good.
Nobody thinks mp3 files compare to vinyl, but you don’t see people clamoring for record players.
