Have we reached a lull in new advances in TV/media?

[panteragstk]

Originally Posted by MeInMaui

I have to disagree here a bit. I'm hoping that the lull in new technology will give the existing technology a chance to mature. I'm looking for things like better black levels for non-plasma TV's, lower power consumption, larger screens at lower prices, 2.39:1 aspect ratio screens, etc.

Aloha,
Mike

Beter blacks from plasma and non-plasma TV's as well as plasma and non-plasma prices falling for larger screens. Heck, this year a 1080p dlp projector came out that's msrp is under $1k. Granted it is an entry level projector, but last year they were ~$2.5k. In late 2007 an entry level 50" tv or either type was about $1.5K, 2008 they are ~$800. Now, they have better blacks and consume less power for ~$800. Phillips demoed a 2.35 aspect ratio TV either this year or last. The only drawback is black lines on the sides when viewing 4:3 or 16:9 material. The same as if a 16:9 TV displayed 2.35 or 4:3 material except the black bars are on the top and sides. This TV trend will make the CIH guys happy.

Originally Posted by sic0048

We may not see a lot out of broadcast TV for a while (ie the types of signals they are producing), but there have been very few major changes in that arena since it was created (color TV, and the change to digital/HD are about all I can think of).

Broadband/internet streaming and interactive TV is definitely where we will see the biggest changes in the next 10 years. Verizon's FIOS TV is just the start. Soon other providers will appear. We'll also see internet capabilities built into more and more TVs until it is standard on all of them.

TV viewing will become much more interactive in the next few years. You'll be able to pull up information on things you are viewing or stats on sports etc. You'll be able to buy the things you see in ads right then online, etc, etc, etc.

I honestly think we are on the edge of the next great thing in TV (interactive TV). I certainly don't see a lull anytime soon.

This is the way I see things going. STB's would have to be more powerful to be able to accomplish all this, and I think HTPC's will play a big part in this. People need to remember that this whole HTPC for a one box that does it all solution is in it's infancy. I've been connecting my TV to my PC since video cards first started to have the compatible output. First it was move the mouse to do what was needed to play a DVD or other type of mpeg1 or2 video. Then xvid and divx came out. Then vd-1 and .h264. Just like it was stereo, Dolby pro logic, Dolby Digital/DTS/SDDS, Dolby Truehd/DTS-MA/DTS express/Dolby Digital plus/Uncompressed pcm.

TV tuners for computers were, at first, very buggy and you had no remote to do anything.with. Then remotes for the pc came out. Now we have media center software and I use my pc for everything media/tv related. I can't remember the last time I actually put a dvd in a dvd player to watch it.

Eventually the htpc software will let you have the interactive functionality you are talking about. They have been gradually evolving and have actually led the way when it comes to DVR type STB with a hard drive as storage. I had this capability way before STB's did. Just like sage had the ability to record TV with any extender/client and view it on any of them in the network before the stb. Now that things like u-verse and fios have come out stb's now have this functionality. HTPC's also had video on demand first. Granted it was going out and surfing and finding random videos at first, but you get the point. With netflix, amazon, hulu and others pc's had streaming VOD first. Now TV's, game consols, blu-ray players, and STB's have this functionality. With this advance, people don't have to wait until a show is aired to watch it. Granted, the newest episode of most TV shows are aired before you can stream them online. This will slowly move to where subscribing to a TV package from a provider will be pointless because all you will have to do to view a TV show is go to the channel's web site or vod menu on your stb/htpc and watch it whenever you want to. When a new episode comes out it will be on the site or vod menu the day it releases. More interactivity will follow as well. Blu-ray has kind of shown us where this interactivity could go.

Panasonic has a prototype life-wall that makes one wall in a room a touch screen, and when a person walks up to it, it recognizes their face and pulls up the content they like to watch or listen to or whatever. Very cool.

Originally Posted by wayner

The reason that I started this post is that I no longer lust after any hardware - and it makes me feel kind of empty

After you have an HDTV (or several), BluRay, Sage extenders, HD-PVRs to be able to record all HD cable channels, and surround sound receivers then what else is there?

You don't have to feel empty. You can always buy something better than you have. New stuff comes out every year. Granted, the features may not chage much but they still change.

Sorry for the long post.