[opendtv] Re: Content picture fuzzy for latest HDTVs
- From: "Adam Goldberg" <adam_g@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 14 Jan 2008 13:26:39 -0500
I believe that part of the problem (walled garden-ness) is that the browser
in the Aquos sets is very limited (special purpose, not, e.g., Firefox).
-----Original Message-----
From: opendtv-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:opendtv-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Kon Wilms
Sent: Monday, January 14, 2008 12:40 PM
To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [opendtv] Re: Content picture fuzzy for latest HDTVs
On Jan 14, 2008 7:30 AM, Manfredi, Albert E
<albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Wow. What makes this interesting is that the supposed Internet
> connection some of these new TVs offer, not to mention web sites
> available to some cable customers, are actually just another form of a
> walled garden. Not quite what some might have thought.
If you're pulling data automatically via an ethernet connection then
of course it has to be absolutely 100% walled garden, else you can't
guarantee the data or availability thereof. I see no problem with that
model. Of course, you are dead in the water when Sharp decides to
change direction. I hope this fad goes away very soon. Display devices
intended for TV should not have smart technology integrated - the rate
of change is simply too high.
Aquosnet is POLLED, there is no Push. Their 'technology' is basically
a webpage with a refresh on a browser and what looks like hardcoded
set of URLs. So 1995. But I guess if you're the marketing department,
you can apply currently hip words like Push. No-one will know the
difference, right?
I notice the AppleTV is conspicuously absent. Wow, what a dog that
was. If Apple and/or Microsoft actually came out with a good RAD SDK
for these types of PCTV platforms none of the other players would have
a leg to stand on. Unfortunately they are too caught up in .NET/ObjC
land to get a clue.
Cheers
Kon
> LAS VEGAS - It was clear at the Consumer Electronics Show that the
> television has reached a new level of maturity as a beautiful piece of
> hardware. What was less clear is what's next in content for these
> gorgeous screens.
>
> Some TV makers are developing their own initiatives to push a little bit
> of Internet content to their latest high end TVs. Their efforts
> mirror-and probably will compete with-- bigger initiatives in cable
> companies to deliver services over the Open Cable networks they are
> installing.
>
> Meanwhile PC makers are trying to recruit third-party applications for
> their living room TV products. This all comes at a time when studios and
> cable companies are ramping up new online video sources geared more for
> the PC screen.
>
> Flat panel TVs now command a whopping 37 percent of all consumer
> electronics revenues and three-quarters of those TVs are based on LCDs,
> said Scott Ramirez, vice president of Toshiba's TV group, speaking at a
> CES press conference. Rear-projection TVs are declining fast, growth for
> plasma TVs is slowing and DLP screens seem to be confined to a high end
> niche.
>
> Riding the trend, LG Electronics rolled out 24 new LCD TVs and just
> eight new plasma models. Expect the trend to continue for some time.
>
> Sharp, which shipped about 74 million LCD panels last year, laid out
> plans for its 10th generation LCD facility in Osaka. The 314-acre,
> multi-company site will use 112x120-inch substrates capable of yielding
> 15 40-inch panels each when production starts in a couple years. And
> there's more to come.
>
> "LCD technology has completed only a little more than half of its
> possible evolution," said Toshihiko Fujimoto, chief executive of Sharp
> Electronics Corp. at a CES press event.
>
> Most of the LCD TVs rolled out this week were 30- to 50-inch screens
> capable of 1080-progressive resolution, many at 120 Hz refresh rates.
> The big question at CES was what new content viewer will see on those
> massive screens in this era of the Internet.
>
> Sharp rolled out AquosNet, a Web based push-service it plans for its
> high-end TVs. The proprietary service will send weather, stock, high-res
> slide shows and other bits of info to TVs via widgets that sit in a
> corner of the screen and can be customized by users. Sharp will use
> HomePlug AV powerline technology or an Ethernet link on the TV to get
> the data from its proprietary Web portal. But don't expect full Internet
> access.
>
> "We don't want to ask people to work with keyboards. This is a lean back
> experience. Up to now PC/TVs have not been successful," said Bob
> Scaglione, a senior vice president with Sharp US subsidiary.
>
> AquosNet uses a Linux-based browser that does not support video yet, so
> don't expect to call up your iTunes TV shows this way. The approach does
> mirror the kinds of services cable companies are demonstrating with
> their Open Cable Applications Platform which Comcast has rebranded
> tru2way.
>
> AquosNet "absolutely will be [competitive with OCAP]," said Scaglione.
> "It gives TV makers more control over what content appears on their
> screen," he added.
>
> Taking a different approach, LG announced a deal with NetFlix that will
> let the TV maker embedded technology into a "networked video player"
> later this year to link to the NetFlix video download Web site. Neither
> company would give technical details about what embedded hardware or
> software they are using. But a Netflix spokesman said the company had a
> team of people at CES talking to other TV makers.
>
> "LG has an exclusive on this for about a week," the NetFlix spokesman
> said. "We want to be in 100 boxes," he added.
>
> Hewlett-Packard's Media Smart TV and home server, co-developed with
> Microsoft, are already on the Net via Wi-Fi. But they cannot yet access
> the full riches of cable and satellite TV content. Comcast said it is
> slogging through issues with the Windows software stack trying to
> determine if it is reliable and secure enough for two-way Cable Card
> connections. Satellite TV companies have been quietly working with
> Microsoft in the background for some time, but they had no news at CES.
>
> In the meantime, HP is testing the Net as a return path to the cable
> head-end so users can access video-on-demand and other services. "It's
> still in test mode, but it's probably the cleanest solution I've seen,"
> said Phil McKinney, chief technology officer of HP's personal systems
> group.
>
> The convergence of PC and TVs is "not quite smooth, there are some rough
> edges," he added. Meanwhile, HP and Microsoft are recruiting third-party
> applications developers to write interesting software for the PC-based
> home server they co-developed.
>
> For their part, Hollywood studios have gotten the religion about online
> video in the two years since Disney first agreed to make some TV shows
> and movies available on Apple's iTunes Web site.
>
> "There will be an explosion of online video content" in the coming year,
> said Dan Fawcett, president of the digital media group at Fox
> Entertainment at a CES panel of Hollywood executives.
>
> One audience member complained about the "Easter egg hunt" required to
> find good video on the Web. "That's exactly why we started Hulu," said
> Fawcett. "It's going to be a destination site supported by multiple
> studios to find the finest content from any source," he added of the
> service to be launched later this year.
>
> Comcast launched a similar Web site called Fancast at CES. It allows
> users to watch, find and buy a variety of movies and TV shows Comcast
> has aggregated as part of its cable TV service. Microsoft announced at
> CES new deals from a handful of studios making movies and TV shows
> available on its Xbox Live service.
>
> "There are five or six interesting new players distributing video
> content, and many studies are supporting them so you will see a lot of
> traction in this area now," said Tom Lesinski, president of Paramount
> Picture's digital division.
>
> Lesinski noted that "Zoolander" is now its top selling movie on iTunes.
> "We are selling 5-10 year old movies in hundreds of thousands of units,
> so this is a significant new business for our library," he said.
>
> Fawcett noted that many new high-def players for the Net are coming out
> with new content available for the Web every quarter. How much of that
> becomes available for those lovely new HDTV screens remains to be seen.
>
> All material on this site Copyright 2008 CMP Media LLC. All rights
> reserved.
>
>
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