[opendtv] Re: It's all about Apps
- From: "Manfredi, Albert E" <albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 12 Sep 2015 20:39:42 +0000
Craig Birkmaier wrote:
Microsoft spent years trying to get people to do this with Media
Center software in Windows. They finally gave up.
Probably its biggest problem being that it wasn't easily integrated with
proprietary MVPD STBs. I never used it much, except that it included all the
needed codecs to play CDs and DVDs.
In any case, that's never been the point. The point has always been that you
can build a perfectly good Internet thin client into TVs or even stand-alone
boxes, without having to get in bed with the content owners. You can use one of
the super cheap computers, such as Raspberry Pi, for instance, with a real web
browser. This does NOT prevent you from going to the pay sites you cherish,
Craig. But at the same time, it gives you all the other options too. Which the
lesser solutions do not.
You just told us that CBS pulled the rug on you at CBS.com.
Only for the libraries of old shows. Otherwise, cbs.com still makes current and
recent full lengths episodes available FOTI.
With the new platforms there are lot's of free apps too.
As long as PCs continue to be the most popular device for streaming media, the
content congloms will continue to support them. And as people cut the cord, I
wouldn't be surprised if people demand more flexibility than what the limited
boxes give them.
Yes Bert, we all know how to use web browsers, bookmarks et al. You
still need to have a pointing device.
That's been called a "mouse." Wireless keyboards and mice have been available
for years. I'd rather use a mouse than a touchpad any day, but either way, this
can HARDLY be considered difficult. With a well-designed web site, as most are,
these devices work perfectly well even while sitting on a couch.
The content owners are not focused on their websites,
You might have missed in one of your own posts that PCs are still the most used
streaming platform. And all of the OTT sites I'm aware of, including the
networks' own, are accessible with PCs. Plus, the two-in-ones are PCs that
handle like tablets, so it's very doubtful to me that content owners are losing
interest in all these eyeballs. The limited-use streaming boxes still account
for very little of the total online TV usage, and they only work for stationary
TVs. With increasing use of handheld gadgets to watch TV, including laptops and
all in one tablet-like devices, it strains credulity to believe that content
owners will favor Rokus or AppleTVs over the more standards-based solutions.
Whether it's Apple TV, Roku, Chromecast or Fire TV, the TREND is
clear.
Everything we have seen says the trend is not JUST streaming to TV sets, but
streaming to handheld devices. The apps for your limited-use boxes don't work
on smartphones, and laptops and two in ones don't need them. So overly hyping
the limited-use boxes just sounds wrong. "Apps" are a good way to make the box
dependent on collusion between CE vendors and content owners, so the trade
scribes might spend some quality verbiage explaining this.
Bert
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