How I would like to watch my internet TV

I watch very little conventional TV, not because I dislike some of its programs, but because I have zero control over what I watch and when I watch it. Standard definition channels are not that great either, certainly not good enough to keep me away from streaming video sites and free downloadable programs. So is TV going to die slowly? Impossible I think for the moment. But it is going to change from what we know now, that is for sure.

One reason TV keeps going so strong is the failure of internet video to get to our living room in a convincing and simple fashion. A recent article in the Wall Street Journal addresses these very difficulties and proposes some solutions. At least in the US it is clear that if you want to stream internet TV you can make it mainly via cable with one of a collection of boxes. Unfortunately, cable is not available in all countries and the boxes used are aimed at certain markets with a subset of the total of programs that consumers could possibly access in total. In my opinion, if TV is to survive -and this is certainly by following the IP route- it has to have certain fundamental attributes:

• Compete successfully with online video sites by being globally available. Am I interested in American football matches? No, but there lots a goodies I would enjoy on American channels. Most of the satellite channels we currently receive are in an obscure language. A Polish or Slovakian channel are more or less the same to me, but the selection is there like on the internet and I love it.
• Use standard hardware and a standard protocol for everybody. If additional features are available, all the better. People that want them would have to pay to get them. Take for example mobile telephones, their basic function is to make calls, receive calls and organise our contacts in a convenient way. If we want more we buy devices with camera, GPS, email capability, etc.

So for me it would boil down to a box with the following features:

• Web browser to access sites for web surfing and online videos.
• Set of menus that can search sites that we wish for channels in order to organise them in a simple list, much like we do now with satellite receivers. This should also be possible directly via the web browser if we so wish.
• Wireless mouse or other wireless control.
• HDMI output with HDCP and up to 1080p to our flat panel screen.
• Wireless connection to our internet modem. To make setup easy and secure there are convenient solutions of the type of the AVM Fritz!WLAN USB stick.
• USB port.

These are minimum requirements. If a manufacturer wanted to add a DVD or HD player, a hard disc, an HDMI switch it would be a bonus for those of us that need and want to pay for them. But the basic configuration would be there as the main starting point for everybody.

As for the internet speed problem for immediate access to material I am afraid that very few things can be done. Buffer memories and stored sections of programs are tricks that help but as long as the connection cannot keep up with the viewing speed it will have to be a waiting game of downloading first and then watching… SD is definitely covered in many cases but since our videocameras, game consoles and discs become HD, very few of us would settle for anything less. The good news is that wired connections already address this issue in many countries and by the time internet TV becomes well established worldwide lets hope that this issue will be resolved.

So would it be a device by Microsoft or Apple or Sony? The answer is I do not care who it comes from and what operating system it runs on as long as it has the minimum features. The situation should be like that of CDs, DVDs and the hardware reproducing them. You want to watch films or listen to music? Great! You get the discs and the hardware and enjoy. That’s how easy it should be! If the necessary hardware is integrated in the flat panel to form a complete internet TV it would be even easier for many people.

I cannot believe manufacturers cannot come up with cheap devices much like it happens with game consoles today. Production volumes would be huge so bringing the cost down would be easy and competition would take care of everything. That is of course if the market was allowed to function as described above. Although internet TV is at the moment a headache with no end in sight and more importantly no clear profit pattern there is a significant number of companies that spend on R&D. Some say they wait for the demise of Blu-Ray and HD-DVD to step in with their internet TV solutions. This point will definitely be reached at some point and the burning issue is whether a few large companies will manage to dominate the scene much like Apple currently does with music. This is for me a frightening prospect, but then again I do not need TV now so why would I need it in the future?

LInk: Wall Street Journal