[opendtv] Re: [oldvtrs] So Much for HDTV]

At 5:18 PM -0400 8/23/08, Albert Manfredi wrote:
This is certainly doable with DTVs, if they start embedding general purpose processors in them as that recent Intel article was describing. But the extent to which these features will be used, even when/if DTV receivers will be capable of processing them, will still remain under the control of the content creator. Just as they are in web sites. You can't force the artist, and/or the content owners, to allow the viewer to change his art, is what I'm trying to get across. E.g. you can't assume that changing the location of the station logo MUST be under the control of the viewer, even if in principle it could be.
The content creators do not own or control your TV. They rely upon YOU to tune into and watch their content.
They can control (to an extent) how you might use ancillary data that they include as part of their content, but they cannot prevent you from using your device to do other things, even while their content is being displayed... 

Ever hear of Picture-in-Picture, or an EPG?
My first reaction is why, Craig? I've been hearing this "it's time to [make TVs into PCs] ..." for years and years now, and apparently it doesn't take.
First you need the ability to display this stuff on the TV, and as Kon pointed out, you need good I/O to use it. Clearly, based on the articles I posted today, these issues are being resolved.
I have written about this in the past. The real issue is venues of information and entertainment. The TV in the family room can be a personal entertainment venue, or an interactive multi-person venue - there are millions of game consoles hooked up to that big screens, and a growing number of media PC devices.
The notion that a PC is PERSONAL is misguided. Yes, when you are doing personal productivity tasks the PC interface is well evolved. But it generally sucks if you have a group of people trying to process the same information, or to interact with each other. The Big screen in the family room is a VERY GOOD venue for group activities, be it watching entertainment, playing games, or surfing the web as a group. Think in terms of watching Internet videos - I am forever looking over my wife's shoulder when she wants to show me something on her computer.
I can easily see groups of people using a big screen TV to plan a vacation or make a major purchase.
People are perfectly familiar with PCs these days. People are equally familiar with TV. The article I posted the other day shows you that these overly enthusiastic attempts at making PCs out of TVs have failed miserably time and time again. Maybe there's a lesson to be learned here?
Yup. You need to have the right tools to enable and control new experiences - this has been sadly lacking to date.
If you look at the interactive features people really want in their TVs, they are almost all related to making *vegging out* more enjoyable. Things like EPGs, VOD, and PVRs. The only real exception to this being game consoles, whose half-life is so short that they are probably best kept as stand-alone STBs.
Yes. They are all related to the CE industry and the content owners trying to keep new forms of content from encroaching on their stranglehold of the family room TV. 

But they are losing this war.

Regards
Craig


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