Not Happy With Apple

Sara and I have not paid for cable TV for quite some time. In our eyes, it's just not worth it. But, I have to admit that Tivo has done some great things for network and cable TV. We purchased a Tivo box for my parents a few years ago and I have to say that it's a great system. If I were to have some sort of live TV, I'd definitely go the Tivo route. The problem is that Sara and I don't watch all that much TV. Basically, we watch 1 or 2 shows, and most of them are available on the internet, so we just huddle around the laptop and consume our entertainment in a web browser. It works, but it's still no substitute for sitting on a couch with a beer in hand and John Stewart on the big living room screen. I really miss some of that, but I also really hate all the channel surfing that goes along with live TV. So, I've been searching for something between the two, but better than both. I've tried mythTV on linux, XBMC on the xbox, pc and on the mac, front row on the mac, and media center on the pc. XBMC came close, but nothing really does the job.

Then Boxee came along. I think I may have found a solution for myself. Basically, it's a program that runs on a computer and collects all your internet video content, your local music library (through iTunes or other music libraries), internet radio, picture albums ala flickr, picasa-web, or your local hard drive and just about anything else you can think of, and then serves it to you in a slick user interface that works well with a remote. So, I figured that if I could hook up a small computer to my tv and run Boxee, then I'm in business. Or, so I thought...

A few weeks ago, internet content giant Hulu, yanked their content from Boxee, citing complaints from "content providers." Basically, network TV has been stuck in a 20 year old business model and anything that appears to threaten cable TV subscribership - in their minds - has to be stopped. That was a big blow to my whole plan, but not the end. I can still get comedy central, BBC, CNN, ABC, and most importantly Netflix, streaming video through Boxee. So, after mulling it over for a while, yesterday I took another iPlunge and bought a mac mini.

The mac mini seems like a perfect solution to this TV problem. I can run Boxee on the mac, watch my TV, DVDs, listen to music, everything. It will even pipe surround sound to my stereo. And, unlike apple TV, It's a full fledged apple computer. So, I can still open up a web browser and go to hulu.com or something else that isn't available in the Boxee user interface. All that and it's a cute little box that will fit nicely in my TV cabinet. It seems so beautiful.

Here's where the big problem with Apple begins. I went to the store, bought the mini, and walked out. No problem. I glanced down at the box, and happened to notice that it was the old model... Ugh. They sold me the wrong box. Ok, I went back in to exchange it... which took 45 minutes. But, that's ok because I forgot that I need a converter cable to hook the mini up to my standard definition TV (I know, I need a new fancy TV... be patient with me). So, I talked to the sales person, she found the cable I needed, charged my credit card and I'm on my way.

When I got home, I then spent another two hours trying to figure out why I had no video going to my TV. The audio works fine, but no video. So, off to google I go. Apparently, Apple computers intentionally disabled the ability of the new mac mini to send an analog video signal (composite or s-video) through the "video adapter" that they sell! That's right, they sold me the adapter with the computer, but they don't work together... and by now the apple store is closed.

Normally I have a really good experience at the apple store, and I relish the whole unboxing of my new iGear. It's like being a kid on Christmas. But, this time was a big disappointment. I'm really unhappy with the whole process. You'd think that designer products would be easy to use and intuitive. Well, they used to be. I think next time I'll save some money and buy a dell and if that doesn't work then I'll just read a book... hmmm. Maybe I need a Kindle.