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My wife has been asking me for some time now to dump cable in favor of Internet-based TV. Even though I’ve been using media extenders like the Apple TV to watch my own server-based video library and Internet-based TV for years, I’ve been reluctant to make the move. Why? Because, even now it’s a pain sometimes to get the setup to work right and some of the shows I want to watch weren’t available in formats I could easily watch on my television. Things are changing now fast.
First, technically speaking, it’s getting much easier to set up connections between the Internet and your TV. In my own case, the Sony BDP-S570 Blu-ray Disc Player, which also includes Internet streaming support for Amazon Video on Demand, Netflix, and many other Internet video services, has made watching movies off the Internet dead simple. For my BBC TV fix — I’ve been a big Doctor Who fan since Jon Pertwee played the Doctor — I usually rely on my Apple TV to stream videos from my servers.
But what’s been missing from all this is a cheap and easy way to watch the current TV shows that I like such as Burn Notice, Community, and House. Yes, of course, I could watch these and other shows on one of my computers. But, when I want to watch television, I don’t want to be watching it on a laptop or in my office. I’d much rather be watching it on a big-screen HDTV with my wife and friends.
That’s why I found the news that Hulu was going to start an ‘all-you-can-watch’ TV service very, very interesting. Once this service is rolled out, I’ll be able to watch almost all shows I like, when I want to watch them, even if I’ve forgotten to TiVo them. And, I’ll be able to do this with my existing hardware-Sony DVD and TV support will be coming later in the year-for $9.99 a month. With my cable service I have to pay $89.99 a month, which includes such ‘winners’ as Jewelry Television, GSN (game shows), and the Home Shopping Network.
Hmmm … I don’t think this is going to be a really tough decision.
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Say you’re watching TV and an ad for Chevy’s Silverado pickup catches your eye. Come this fall, viewers using Google’s new interactive television technology will be able to type the object of their desire into an onscreen search box and launch a YouTube video or surf over to Chevy’s website.
Advertisers foresee a new medium to get their message to consumers. “Google is going to revolutionize the way we use media,” says Shattuck Groome, president of New York ad agency Gotham Direct Interactive, which buys TV ads for brands that include M&M’s candy and Zappos.com. “It’s the future of advertising.”
For the rest of the story, turn to Businessweek.
When the rumor went around that Apple would be releasing a new iPhone-OS based Apple TV, there was a lot of excitement. I didn’t really buy into the new Apple TV hype. Now, we know it’s not coming, or if it is, it’s not going to amount to much. We know this because Steve Jobs told us so.
At the D8 Conference, Jobs said, “The problem with innovation in the TV industry is the go-to-market strategy. The TV industry has a subsidized model that gives everyone a set top box for free. So no one wants to buy a box. Ask TiVo, ask Roku, ask us … ask Google in a few months. The television industry fundamentally has a subsidized business model that gives everyone a set-top box, and that pretty much undermines innovation in the sector. The only way this is going to change is if you start from scratch, tear up the box, redesign and get it to the consumer in a way that they want to buy it. But right now, there’s no way to do that … . The TV is going to lose until there’s a viable go-to-market strategy. That’s the fundamental problem with the industry. It’s not a problem with the technology, it’s a problem with the go-to-market strategy … . I’m sure smarter people than us will figure this out, but that’s why we say Apple TV is a hobby.”
Jeeze Steve, wake up already. The old satellite/cable model is ready to die a horrible death. That’s why TiVo, Roku, and, yes, soon Google are all in the TV set-top business. It’s why Sony and all the other Blu-Ray DVD and high-end TV companies are sticking Wi-Fi into their devices as fast as they can so users can get to Netflix and the other Internet video sources.
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Todd Spangler of Multichannel News argues that Google TV may be making the same mistake with cable companies and customers that TiVo did back in its early days. Which is to say,
1) “The new device is external to the cable/satellite set-top box and controls it using an IR blaster (i.e., it’s a non-integrated kludge and requires space in the entertainment center);”
2) “The technorati understand it — and quickly figure out they want it — but most TV viewers don’t want the extra cost and hassle of hooking it up.”
But, and this is the important one, unlike TiVo, he argues that the Google TV doesn’t really add anything to the TV viewing experience. While I’ve liked the idea of Google TV, I’m also one of those ‘technorati,’ he’s talking about. For the rest of his argument, read the rest of Spangler’s Google TV column.
According to EnGadget, the next Apple TV will be based on the “iPhone 4, meaning it will get the same internals, down to that A4 CPU and a limited amount of flash storage — 16GB to be exact” and cost only $99. This media extender will serve only as a bridge between you and Internet TV sources. Which sources, besides iTunes? We don’t know.
I’m not sure I buy this theory. The problem with the Apple TV has never been the device itself. I quite like the Apple TV . No, the problem has been that Steve Jobs, for whatever reason, has never supported the Apple TV worth a darn.
Continue reading Is this really the next Apple TV?
Harry McCracken of Technologizer, wonders that if Engadget is right about a new iPhone OS-based Apple TV is in the works whether that also means that the “next-generation Apple TV would run apps. But if it runs iPhone OS, it feels kind of inevitable that it would–if not at first, at least eventually. Stock iPhone and iPad apps would make no sense at all on an HDTV screen, but ones scaled to the right size and aspect ratio might.’
It’s an interesting point. I don’t see a whole lot of market for just another cheap Internet video-streaming device, even with Apple’s name pasted on it, But, iPad games, suitably sized up, might make the new Apple TV not just a competitor for Roku or the forthcoming Google TV, but for the Playstation3 and Nintendo Wii as well.
For more on McCracken’s thoughts on the potential new model Apple TV, check out his PC World story.
Barbara Krasnoff finds a lot to like about the new firmware for the Roku video player . From what I can see, I agree with her completely. The bottom line is that Roku has made it much easier to search and pick videos right from the set-top interface than ever before.
For more details, read her Roku review.
Google TV has generated a lot of excitement for being based on Google’s Android operating system and Chrome Web browser. Consumers need the tools to access their favorite TV programs and Websites, which is where Logitech fits in. The peripheral maker is providing the companion box to control the service and remote controls to talk to the companion box. Logitech is also providing a high-definition video calling service for the service. This will be a sort of Skype for Google TV.
For the rest of the story, turn to eWEEK.
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