[opendtv] Re: Apple TV Ensures TV's Future Is Not Just Apps, For One Really Obvious Reason - Forbes

  • From: "Manfredi, Albert E" <albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: "opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Mon, 2 Nov 2015 02:37:23 +0000

Craig Birkmaier wrote:

Linear is a channel that is programmed continuously for some portion
of the day with multiple different programs. Whether you with while
the program is being streamed, or record it for time shifted viewing,
it is still being delivered by a linear source.

Craig, you are arguing like someone who has an axe to grind. The article
mentioned people who like watching linear TV. The article was not delving into
the details of how non-linear TV content might be delivered to the household.
This is when I wonder what motivates you to argue this way. Why the compulsion
to insist that the old-school live channel delivery method is still being used?
Why do you even care enough to insist?

I understand your infatuation with the Internet and your belief
that everything will be viewed on demand....

No, you are wrong, again. The Internet is simply the most flexible medium, to
deliver the content any which way, from any number of sources. Internet
delivery DOES NOT MEAN the material can only be viewed on demand. Remember?
What compels you not to get this? We've been over thins tons of times.

Sorry, but a significant portion of what I and many other people
record on our "old" DVRs is never made available on demand.

Around and around. The trend goes against this "things as they are" thinking
you have, Craig. The simple truth is that for material best viewed on demand,
if people are using their DVRs still, that's often because that's the only way
they know. Even behind legacy MVPD pay walls, they could be using either the
Internet or in-system on demand options. But they are used to the old way, so
they continue to use it. And, content that's now solely behind legacy MVPD pay
walls is finding its way to the Internet, Craig. It's not the other way around.
Yes, even ESPN, even HBO and ShowTime, etc. etc., are moving, or have moved,
outside your much-beloved walled gardens.

Ease of use is relative. If you are sitting in front of a PC the
mouse driven interface is easy to use; but reaching up and touching
the screen to do something is not easy. Running a touch interface on
a phone or tablet is easy, but the fine control needed to use pull
down menus and palettes of tools is not easy.

I repeat: the UI for watching TV using a web browser, and the UI for watching
TV using "apps," is virtually identical. Don't give me this stuff about
"pull-down menus and palettes." Anyone developing a web site with TV content is
free to do so intelligently, Craig, and for the most part, they do. I urge you
to find out the truth about these things, before describing problems that don't
exist.

How the PC is connected is irrelevant,

BS. It's not irrelevant to a person who wonders why he's being told to use
limited-use boxes for sending online TV content to his TV set, Craig. It's
totally relevant.

There is virtually no difference between "tapping" and "clicking,"

DUH.

Well, there you have it. Then don't waste time arguing, Craig. With a mouse and
a browser, the user interacts with TV content exactly the same as he does with
the "app," except that the big screen is too far away to tap.

To be fair, many TVs are connected to game consoles that are used for
streaming TV; Microsoft offers a board for the X-Box that connects to
cable TV systems.

No difference. And what's more, with Windows 10, I also get the X-Box UI. You
simply need to inform yourself of how TV content is presented to browsers,
Craig.

4. To conserve space and energy - PCs are typically large and
ugly.

Nope. There are plenty of "small form factor" or "micro form factor" PCs these
days.

Tablet sales are declining relative to the very high initial
adoption rates, but the total number of tablets being sold is
still increasing,

The sales volume of tablets, year to year, is dropping, way more so than PCs.
The number in consumer hands is leveling off. Just like you'd expect with any
product that's saturated the market. PCs are a lot more mature than tablets,
and yet their sales are not dropping anywhere close to as fast. That's because
the new smartphones, and the new two-in-one PCs, make credible alternatives for
tablets. But not the other way around.

We are not moving to a PC centric info sphere

Again, just words. There are devices that support the human interface. PCs are
one such device, and are probably the most flexible of such devices. Other such
devices are limited by their form factor, e.g. because they have to be
ultra-portable (smartphones, fitness watches). And some such devices, like the
streaming TV boxes this article talks about, are not flexible nor do they have
a good excuse not to be. They don't need to be portable or mobile, nor are they
constrained to working with just a very small display. That's the bottom line.

Bert



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