“Internet television, convergence, sling box, Apple TV and what’s next”

So the convergence of traditional television broadcasting and Internet broadcasting, rather viewing, are beginning to “mash up” now. This blending has always been coming and slowly people have been trying to connect the two but it has been a laggy process to date.

It's the viewing that is integral to the usage of the product. Users want to be able to view their Internet and computer based content on their big ol’ HDTV plasmas or LCDs they just bought. Most of these televisions have HDMI, DVI, VGA or some type of computer link-up built in so we now just want to plug and play.

This concept of plug and play is critical for this convergence to occur. It’s fun and not too difficult for techy types to rip, convert and format their media to play on televisions but most consumers are not in that demographic. The plug and play simplicity of computer peripherals that came into being so many years ago made it simple and easy to install new hard drives, printers, DVD burners and every other new computer gadget that comes along. Without the excessive need to download drivers, configure ini files and mess with the guts and brains of our computers it has made them less scary, easier to use and more common in our everyday use to the point that we want them to integrate with out traditional viewing experience.

This is where I see the next revolution in Internet broadcasting to occur. For users to view their computer content on their living room televisions it will need to be easy. We all can plug in the appropriate cords but how many people still have 12:00 flashing on their DVD player or VCRs. Yes, I am retro-tech guilty. I still have a VCR connected and I still use it occasionally because of its simplicity.

There are a few products out there that are trying to bridge that gap but I must go to my bias and give a tip of the hat to Apple. They launched the Apple TV recently. It is a small box that wirelessly streams content from your computer (Mac or PC) to your television.

Music, photos, videos and streaming content from your iTunes podcasts (audio and video) can all be viewed and listened to on your super television and home theater system.

Now there are few technical things that you have to have (HDMI interface on the television, etc.) so I think that Apple is close but could be a bit more open in its supported formats to be totally integrated. Currently it plays video only encoded with the H.264 codec so Divx and WMV files will not play at this time.

HP is trying to in this direction with their Media Center product line and I think they get it a bit more but also a bit less. Their formats are whatever you have on your computer but they still have the big box computer enclosure that does not look so great in the living room.

What I think needs to occur is a player/streaming device that can feed any viewable content and format to your television wirelessly and via a simple remote. Apple TV almost has it but I think to really break it open, they need to loosen up the usual DRM and Apple proprietary thinking. Although, on a postscript thought, I’m sure there will be a hack that can get the Apple TV to play other formats someday but then we are back into the techy messy stuff. Plug and play will be the way.

CM
www.cmcreative.ca