Sunday, May 22, 2011

The Competition for Internet Television

By Eric James


Because of the recent launch of the revived Apple TV and Sony's soon to be unveiled Google powered television set, the war for the Internet television niche has merely begun. For quite a while now, TV producers have been focusing design and style efforts on slim screens and cleaner images. Massive, flat screened televisions have now become very affordable and growing to be progressively common in homes, displacing the outdated CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) televisions. The truth is, a lot of producers have actually totally quit making Cathode Ray Tube televisions as interest has shrunk so much.

Manufacturers continually try to look for the next growing trend for customers. Many of us have already observed built in DVD recorders, digital televisions in addition to the widespread uptake of HDTV. Therefore, TV producers have ventured into other technologies to give their goods an economic appeal. Internet television is presently the new talked about system. Lots of brands have made plays inside the discipline, with several remaining much more effective than others. Still, no company is currently ruling the market and commentators are able to simply anticipate the eventual winner of Internet television economy.

You will find a couple of methods of enjoying Internet television. The first is by utilizing an individual, standalone set-top box. These are plugged into your current television set and enable you to hook up to the Internet and gain access to websites and various features. The second type of connection is through televisions manufactured with built in Internet connectivity. These kinds of televisions do not demand an independent piece of apparatus for connecting online. Analysis indicates that nearly all consumers replace their television sets every few years. This may suggest that in the short-term, Internet set-top boxes will certainly be many people's gateway into Internet TV. This was seen before considering the use of digital TV set-top boxes at this time being absolutely superseded with television sets with digital technology as standard.

So, the future of broadcasting obviously can be found in the area of online television. In fact, numerous TV stations now offer you online viewing features (typically in the way of 'catch up' shows in the event that users have missed a show). Although they will be extremely bandwidth heavy for the broadcasters. The issue remains to be answered though, the reason why would any of us use the net on the TV? And probably more importantly, will anybody use the Internet on a television?

The reply is most probably yes. The development in product design at the moment is the ever-increasing convergence of products. Cell phones no longer only make phone calls but now also take pictures, record video and audio, play games and connect online. Phone based net browsing is now increasingly common as compared with PC based web surfing in some regions of the world. As a result, it is simple to see exactly how TVs will integrate the net.

Aside from being able to stream live television and get shows that you missed, being able to connect to the net will open up a lot more usability for people. People will have the capacity to access social networking websites, emails and favorite sites whilst watching a television show. Watching the TV is, for most of the time, an isolating pastime - the most people can share watching television is with somebody else in the room. People can't quickly watch a TV show with someone somewhere else. You at the same time need access to a different gadget, such as a laptop or cell phone, so that you can communicate online with other people. Even so, visualize the ability to communicate with your friends whilst you are both watching television? This helps make television much more social and interactive than it had been previously. Furthermore it also reduces the requirement for another communication gadget.

Eventually, the Internet on televisions should make itself necessary. In other words, if there is simply no desire for it then people will not embrace it. Arguably, Internet TV has to differentiate itself by increasingly being customer focused. Consider being able to manage your lifestyle via your television? It's not too far fetched to imagine. Televisions need to offer people the possibility to arrange their life from one place - something which the web is so excellent at doing. Having the ability to shop online, manage your passwords with an online password manager, bookmark all your favorite websites with a bookmark manager and so on. Envision being able to pause your television program, click one of the objects on the screen and get taken to an online store offering the product. This functionality is just what will help make Internet television stick out from the traditional ways of browsing the web.




About the Author:



No comments:

Post a Comment