HardMac is speculating that the next generation AppleTV 2 (or 3?) might use one of the new System on a Chip (SoC) designs Intel announced this week at CES. Currently, Apple uses a standalone 1Ghz pre-Core Intel chip for its AppleTVs. According to Hardmac,
They plan to release in Q3 2008 the Canmore, an x86 processor-based SoC supporting audio 7.1, hardware-decoding for high-definition video up to 1080p and advanced DRM management. In summary, all functions required to build a new and more powerful Apple TV which could then become independent of any computer to get access directly to movie
