[opendtv] Coming this fall: GoogleTV on Intel-powered Sony TVs

From: Albert Manfredi <albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sat, 22 May 2010 18:21:02 -0400

"Demonstrators struggled to get a system up and running on stage, in part, they
said because the demo used Bluetooth. Attendees at the event with cellphones on
deprived demonstrators of the bandwidth they needed to control on-stage large
screen TVs."

Exactly what happened to me in the Sony store a couple of years ago, when I
tried using their Vaio STB/HD PVR/BluRay player to view Internet content. It is
something to be concerned about, in the sense that it's not something Sony or
Google can fix. ISPs will have to accommodate any huge increase in Internet TV
usage.

Bert

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Coming this fall: GoogleTV on Intel-powered Sony TVs

Search giant gives first demo of merged Web, TV system

Rick Merritt
(05/20/2010 1:43 PM EDT)
URL: http://www.eetimes.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=224900532

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Google officially rolled out its GoogleTV initiative at its
annual Google I/O conference in San Francisco. The company promised its designs
for set-top boxes and related software and services will reshape television by
integrating the Web and TV.
Sony will deliver a line of connected TVs and a Blu-ray player integrating
Google TV this fall. Logitech is designing a set-top box to bring the features
to existing TVs.

All the systems will be powered by Intel Atom-based processors. They mark the
first design wins for the PC giant in the digital TV market it has pursued for
more than two years. Intel initially partnered with Yahoo to create the Widget
Channel interface to bring the Web to the TV.

Google said it will make its GoogleTV software available as open source code in
the summer of 2011. It will be available as part of the Android and Google
Chrome browser

Google showed ways to use a single search box to find and play current or
future content on broadcast TV or the Web. It also showed ways GoogleTV could
bring Web services and applications to the TV in ways that create new uses for
cellphones and flat-screen TVs.

"It's now possible people may spend more time watching something other than
broadcast TV on their televisions," said Eric Schmidt, chief executive of
Google who chaired an on-stage panel with the CEOs of Intel, Sony, Adobe, best
Buy and other partners.

"We need help from the entire TV ecosystem," said a GoogleTV manager. "For a
developer there is no bigger market than the TV market," he added, noting there
are an estimated four billion TVs in use, more than the number of cellphones.

GoogleTV relies on Wi-Fi and Ethernet links. GoogleTV set-tops will link via
HDMI to any existing cable or satellite set-top box. The software requires
graphics processor for on-screen display, a DSP for high def audio and surround
sound. Universal remotes are in the works that will include a keyboard and a
pointing device to navigate Web pages.

Google showed Android smartphones used as remote controllers for GoogleTV. They
could also push online videos to a TV screen. The company also demonstrated
Android speech recognition services in the works that let a user issue a voice
command to find and tune into a TV show.

Word emerged about GoogleTV in March. At that time a Yahoo spokesman said about
its Widget Channel effort that "there will be millions of TVs in the market
using our software by the end of 2010," the Yahoo spokesman said.

Demonstrators struggled to get a system up and running on stage, in part, they
said because the demo used Bluetooth. Attendees at the event with cellphones on
deprived demonstrators of the bandwidth they needed to control on-stage large
screen TVs.

Others computer and Web giants have tried and to enable connected TVs with
marginal results so far. Microsoft has worked for years to establish its Media
Center interface for TVs. Apple has been selling its AppleTV device for more
than a year. Neither product has gained much traction, and Apple continues tom
refer to AppleTV as "a hobby."

Last year Google announce an ambitious effort to define the future of e-mail
with its Google Wave program. The search giant opened a broad beta of the
program this year, but it's not clear yet whether it will gain any traction.

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[opendtv] Coming this fall: GoogleTV on Intel-powered Sony TVs

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