[opendtv] Re: iPad remote for Comcast
- From: "Mike Tsinberg" <mike@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 18 May 2010 16:33:12 +0000
I think this is a very attractive toy. It will compete well with streaming
services such as AppleTV and Netflix. Cable/DBS VOD guide is much less
attractive then AppleTV guide. However, the Cable/DBS price is a larger issue.
Why do I need Cable/DBS for VOD in the first place? Why I need Cable/DBS at all?
Mike Tsinberg
http://www.keydigital.com/
-----Original Message-----
From: John McClenny [mailto:jamcclenny@xxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Tuesday, May 18, 2010 11:58 AM
To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [opendtv] Re: iPad remote for Comcast
On Fri, May 14, 2010 at 3:51 PM, Manfredi, Albert E
<albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Craig Birkmaier posted:
> An interesting demo of an iPad app to control Comcast cable boxes...
>
http://www.tvweek.com/blogs/tvbizwire/2010/05/videos-brian-roberts-demos-com.php
This is one of those philosophically baffling applications. An application that
ought to be included somewhere else, not in a hyper-expensive "remote control"
that amounts to a TV set in its own right.
The Internet TVs coming on line these days should, by all rights, incorporate
everyhting the iPad does in this TV remote role. And instead of having to touch
the screen with your own fingers, you just click a remote to push the "buttons"
on the TV screen.
Perhaps an IR-connected keyboard would also be available.
Bert
Bert,
I think you will be seeing this from all the MSO/Telco/DBS providers. It
provides a keyboard and better search platform without trying to shoehorn
additional funtionality and cost into the STB. The traditional program guide is
failing as the number of channels increases and the remote control sucks in
entering search data.
You can also bundle in a lot lot more funtionality that remote control
emulation - a TvAnywhere type client and better integration between cable and
OTT content.
Will anyone buy an iPad to do this? Probably not, but if they already have an
iPad, it is a nice incremental at zero cost.
From the MSO side, it is a pretty cheap app to develop as long as you have some
network interface to allow remote control of a STB - IT blasters don't make
sense here. It doesn't require a new STB or remote control with keyboard and
shifts the cost to the sub. For the MSO, this is a very low cost feature that
pays for itself in buzz.
Doc
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