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12/17/09
12/09/09
12/09/09
I have a powerful 5.1 system with a nice big screen. The computer I use has Dual TV tuners built in, DVR, and technically my only limitation to apps is anything that is supported under Windows. Since the TV only functions as a monitor, my only interest is in the quality of the panel.
I've seen several TVs on the market, including Samsung, Sony, and Panasonic, where they put the same panel in 3 different TV lines and the difference in pricing is based on silly things, like widgets, speakers and the styling of the case.
12/08/09
12/08/09
Seriously, I don't use social networking or Twitter and I'm tired of companies wasting time putting this stuff on devices that don't really need it.
12/08/09
Welcome to the Convergence Age Brian.
12/08/09
Read the last paragraph (or second to..)
12/08/09
It boils down to how many bullet points are on the list, and after exhausting your brain with the whole electronics store experience, you'll narrow it down to three choices - and one of them has "Yahoo widgets." You don't know what that means, but it seems like something cool, and you've heard of Yahoo.
It doesn't matter so much to the brand that sells the TV whether or not you use it after you bring it home, but they know that you at least subconsciously added some value to that particular TV, and they got the sale.
12/08/09
12/08/09
12/08/09
Having flicker is a great addition. Having media center is a great addition. Havening last Fm and you tube is a great addition.
I disagree with this blog.
12/08/09
In a decade, Flickr will be "MShoo Photos Live PLUS!" all the API's for accessing it the way your TV would will have been changed. Last.FM will have been shuttered, with twelve new companies providing similar, better, or more interesting services in that area. H.264 will be refered to as the codec only Old People in Korea use.
In other words, unless you consider your TV disposable (and if you do, there is only a few things wrong with that) all these wizbang features are going to be either useless or completely outdated compared to anything a box you could buy for one tenth the orginal price of your TV can do for you.
When TV's break the price point where buying a new one every year is as common as some people do with commodity computers, adding this sort of content directly to the firmware (and inflating the price) seems reasonable. Till then, it's just thowing money away.
12/08/09
LastFM has been around for seven years. Flickr has been around five years. Twitter has been around for three years. Are you going to tell me you know what sites and services you'll be using five years from now?
Digital content and functionality move quickly, quick enough that intelligent consumers want to avoid being tethered to outdated content by a piece of equipment that costs several thousand dollars to replace. Never mind paying more for that content knowing it will likely die off long before the TV does.
This is the digital equivalent of TVs with built in VHS players. The difference is that here the technology that is going to make the additional content obsolete is moving much, much faster. Take it from someone in NBC Universal's Technology Growth Center . . .
12/08/09
12/08/09
12/08/09
12/08/09
If a TV comes with widgets and add-ons there should be room for upgrading and enhancement.
Phones, computers, MP3 players do it. Why not TVs?
12/08/09
An open OS with an app market isn't going to work very well for several reasons.
The biggest issue is simply the hardware. There's a reason Apple's iMac style never caught on with other companies. Most people, normal people, don't want to buy a new monitor when they need to upgrade their computer. Same principle applies here. Again, the difference is that the stakes are higher since the TV costs thousands of dollars.
Additionally, a huge percentage of Americans are 2-screen consumers. This means that they use a computer while watching TV.
There is a rapidly growing market for 2-screen apps which supplement video content with additional information on a second screen (Check out FoxPop some time. I think you'll like it).
Is everyone going to have a computer with them when they watch TV? Certainly not, but the people who would be interested in widgets almost certainly will. I assert that there is nothing you could integrate into a TV that couldn't be done better on a laptop (again, upgradeable) unless it was incredibly content specific.
And if that's the case we have 2-screen apps.
Oh, and 1-screen apps/iTV. Thanks to the new EBIF standards that are evolving as part of the Open Cable initiative digital TV is finally going to be a reality in the US (and only a decade behind schedule!) meaning that a lot of things that could be content specific widgets will be integrated into the broadcast and manipulated through your cable box.
12/08/09
Phones get upgraded frequently, on average once every two years. Computers have a similar obsolescence period.
Any content processing hardware will be upgraded or replaced and needs to have a price point that reflects this.
This is not the case with TVs. TVs cost thousands because while the content processing game is rapidly evolving, the content displaying game is not. That's the main reason people are comfortable spending so much on televisions, they know the device will be used for a long period of time.
With that in mind, the idea of paying more for a TV in order to have it do things I won't want it to do for the majority of it's service life is ridiculous.
12/08/09
12/08/09
On a footnote, I wonder what Apple's forthcoming TV will be like? Or do we wait until the Tablet is released before we start speculating about their TV?
12/08/09
12/08/09
12/08/09
-Unibody, made from a single piece of Aluminum
-LED lit LCD
-Includes Apple TV, and only apple TV; no auxiliary inputs or outputs except for the apple proprietary adapter
-Want HDMI? That converter is $150.
-Remote only has "Power" and "Volume" functions- and no buttons, only gestures. Buttons are so archaic.
-Pricing starts at $3,500 for the 27" set, up to $18,500 for the 60 in LCD
-It will change your life, and in the words of Steve Jobs, it's "awesome."
12/08/09
12/08/09
12/08/09
If you want to get gadgets/goodies, get a damn media box (ala WDTV or something else).
12/08/09
12/08/09
You know what I'm talking about.
You have the set tuned to USA or TBS or TNT, and you're watching some cheesy action flick, and the lead character shouts, "Freak you!" as he shoots the bad guy.
Excuse me.....
freak you?
No.
No no no.
I want a TV that will automatically replace the words that are replacing the swear words with the original swear words.
Oh, and if it happens to download and insert the proper nude scene into into it's correct place, I wouldn't mind.
And make me a sammich....
A TV that can make sammiches is worth about a million dollars.
12/08/09
We all have to suffer from lazy parents not doing their job.
12/08/09
(i.e. TVs, Bluray players, thermostats, washing machines, dishwashers etc.) Eventually everything will be interconnected and you'll be able to monitor your energy usage and schedule when to use your appliances.
Wow, did I go on a tangent, what were we talking about?
12/08/09
Why else would 240Hz TVs exist?
12/08/09
It is so unfortunate when electronics manufacturers play into the lack of knowledge of the average consumer. There should be some sort of soft-brown-stuff award we should bestow on these companies.
12/09/09
12/08/09