Google TV?

[stuckless]

Some of you might be aware of a small initiative by Goolge to put Android on a STB.

You first though might be, "that's just stupid"... But consider a world where our STBs are capable of recoding content (like they do today), but they ALSO allow us to run other applications. I can see where a company like SageTV could simply put their placeshifter app in the Marketplace and anyone, with a SageTV server and an Android powered STB could access the full potential of SageTV. Of course your application won't have access to the recorded content on the STB, but you do have access to all your media recorded / ripped on the STV server. Depending on how "oopen" the android platform is... there may opportunities for companies to add recording featues, etc. (I know that's a long shot)

I think google is perhaps the only company capable of pulling this off. Apple would want no part of it, since they would need to control ALL content... including the content of the sat/cable provider.... MS can't do it because they are too "sure we'll add in that restriction... we just want to say we have your business... we don't care if it useful to a consumer".... Google on the other hand, is not afraid to push back, innovate, etc.

It should be interesting to see what happens between STB makers and Android in the comming years, and I see potential for a company like SageTV to do good things on a platform like this.

[gtallan]

Originally Posted by stuckless

Some of you might be aware of a small initiative by Goolge to put Android on a STB.

You first though might be, "that's just stupid"... But consider a world where our STBs are capable of recoding content (like they do today), but they ALSO allow us to run other applications. I can see where a company like SageTV could simply put their placeshifter app in the Marketplace and anyone, with a SageTV server and an Android powered STB could access the full potential of SageTV. Of course your application won't have access to the recorded content on the STB, but you do have access to all your media recorded / ripped on the STV server. Depending on how "oopen" the android platform is... there may opportunities for companies to add recording featues, etc. (I know that's a long shot)

My knowledge is limited here, but it seems like Android apps being heavily java-based is a convenient factor for SageTV as well...

[nick_l]

Oh great, another way for Google to betray my trust.

"Hey, all you contacts of Nick_L, this is your friendly GOOGLE overlord here. Did you know that he watches Care Bears at 3am? Maybe you'd like to send him a message with your gmail account, or call and leave him a message on Google Voice, or perhaps tell everyone else that he likes poorly drawn pastel colored bears via Google Buzz. How about a visit? Let us give you directions to his house, via Google maps (but dont sneak up to the house, we cant tell you how we know, but he just bought a new shotgun (and he saved $39.95 and got next day shipping!))"


No thanks.

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by gtallan

My knowledge is limited here, but it seems like Android apps being heavily java-based is a convenient factor for SageTV as well...

It can't hurt. Although while the dev environment is java... the apps are not true java apps in the real sense of the world.

Originally Posted by nick_l

Oh great, another way for Google to betray my trust.

"Hey, all you contacts of Nick_L, this is your friendly GOOGLE overlord here. Did you know that he watches Care Bears at 3am? Maybe you'd like to send him a message with your gmail account, or call and leave him a message on Google Voice, or perhaps tell everyone else that he likes poorly drawn pastel colored bears via Google Buzz. How about a visit? Let us give you directions to his house, via Google maps (but dont sneak up to the house, we cant tell you how we know, but he just bought a new shotgun (and he saved $39.95 and got next day shipping!))"


No thanks.

You watch care bears at 3am... that is truly sad

But seriously, I'm not even going to try to and say that your situation won't happen, because in all honesty, I think it probably will. I guess it's a matter of who you trust more... I mean right now your cable provider/tivo is selling all your viewing habbits... including commercials you decide to skip, etc... I think our future will look something like this... "to: nick_l; Hey Nick, we noticed that you paused ever so briefly on a commercial about "Hair growth for men"... We'd like to offer you this free sample, with a no-obligation to buy... it should arrive at your door in a few days"

The world you descibe is going to happen... the only difference if the overlord

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by stuckless

But seriously, I'm not even going to try to and say that your situation won't happen, because in all honesty, I think it probably will. I guess it's a matter of who you trust more... I mean right now your cable provider/tivo is selling all your viewing habbits... including commercials you decide to skip, etc... I think our future will look something like this...

Not if you've got Sat and have "forgotten" to connect the phoneline (maybe because you don't have one)

[Tiki]

Originally Posted by stanger89

Not if you've got Sat and have "forgotten" to connect the phoneline (maybe because you don't have one)

Oh don't worry, they won't forget you... give it a few years and I'm sure you'll be seeing some sort of wireless connectivity even in your Satellite STB (via WiFi, cellular modem, or whatever) so they won't need you to connect a phone line... Think Kindle, iPad, many of the newer GPS's, etc.

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by stanger89

Not if you've got Sat and have "forgotten" to connect the phoneline (maybe because you don't have one)

Actually I do have satellite, which is why I left it out, and used, cable provider/tivo

[wayner]

Hasn't TiVo been like this since Day 1 as TiVo boxes did (do?) run Linux? I have an S1 Tivo that I hacked and added a TiVoNet ethernet card. This TiVo was then able to do other stuff like play MP3s, etc and you could add your own apps to it, like a WebServer. The CPU wasn't powerful enough to do much but I see the basic premise as the same thing.

[stuckless]

@wayner - it's a mute point for us canadians anyways... since by the time "googletv" is released here in canada, it won't be cool anymore

but, I see tivo and google tv to be very different in my mind. ie, there's a big difference in providing a platform that can be hacked to run other stuff... and a platform that's designed to be extended and to be extended at the click of a remote button.

I think google tv (ie, and android platform for stb) would enable a multitude of smart apps to be deployed just by browsing a marketplace and clicking a button. Need a webserver... just search, click, install... don't like it... click... click... uninstall... done.

I guess in many ways it brings the power and appeal of desktop linux to the stb. ie, in linux, if I need a webserver, I just go into packages, and then install. When I dont' want it, i just go into packages...and remove it. Desktop linux has had the concept of a centralized package/app store long before Apple made it popular. (that's my plugin for desktop linux which is completely OT )

[bjkiller]

http://www.logitech.com/en-us/smartTV/revue

[Brent]

Originally Posted by bjkiller

http://www.logitech.com/en-us/smartTV/revue

I wish I had time to blog about this one today... $299 is more than a little too much for what you get. Gonna be a very hard sell imo.

[bcjenkins]

Yeah I agree, $299 is high - I'll be looking forward to Sony's launch next week. I need a TV for my office and it will likely be one of these unless it is stratospheric.

B

[stanger89]

I still don't understand GoogleTV.

[cncb]

I don't either. The controller looks more or less like a standard wireless keyboard/trackpad. Why wouldn't you just buy a small PC instead?

[bcjenkins]

Originally Posted by stanger89

I still don't understand GoogleTV.

Google TV will overlay on top of your existing content. The stand alone box will have pass through capabilities with HDMI. For instance, you could plug your HD300 into the GoogleTV and then your TV. So, you get to add web, online video without issue, etc.

B

[autoboy]

Logitech's angle here is that their box acts like their smart remote controls. Thats one of the things you are paying for. It also has the nice keyboard to go along with it which is costly.

Right now as it stands I have not use for it, since the only thing it offers me is Netflix, pandora, Amazon, etc that i can get from another device in my chain. And I really don't want a keyboard in my lap.

But, going forward, I can see Google TV really taking off as the de-facto OS running in TVs. In TVs, it will be free and will replace the hodgepodge of different OSes that TVs run. More OSes makes app development hard. But, if we standardize on two or three TV and BD drive OSes then the apps companies develop can hit more people for less development cost. It's taking the phone apps concept to the TV, which I think is a winner.

Instead of SageTV having to develop special hardware like the HD300, they can build a GoogleTV app that controls the SageTV server and plays your media. They can sell that app for $30 on the Android app store and you'll be able to access any app GoogleTV has, including SageTV's excellent TV recording servers. Instead of developing Netflix and Hulu apps for the SageTV HD300 platform which is a small market, you can get those from GoogleTV. And, since GoogleTV will be on a lot of devices, it makes SageTV an easier sell.

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by bcjenkins

Google TV will overlay on top of your existing content. The stand alone box will have pass through capabilities with HDMI. For instance, you could plug your HD300 into the GoogleTV and then your TV. So, you get to add web, online video without issue, etc.

B

Yeah, I've seen that but I don't "get" it. I mean near as I can tell the whole idea is only useful if the GoogleTV knows the context of what it's overlaying over.

I don't "get" wanting to surf the web over top of my TV. I just don't "get" it, I've seen the Dish Network demos and they look just as kludged as the set top box demos. I mean this seems almost like it takes the worst parts of a PC, streamer, WebTV and overlays it on top of what you're watching.

What I originally envisioned was an integrated solution, basically a Dish Network STB running Android, with an Android rendered Dish UI, maybe the Dish stuff would be an "app" on it, and you could get other apps like iTunes, and SageTV, and Netflix, etc.

[autoboy]

Originally Posted by stanger89

Yeah, I've seen that but I don't "get" it. I mean near as I can tell the whole idea is only useful if the GoogleTV knows the context of what it's overlaying over.

I don't "get" wanting to surf the web over top of my TV. I just don't "get" it, I've seen the Dish Network demos and they look just as kludged as the set top box demos. I mean this seems almost like it takes the worst parts of a PC, streamer, WebTV and overlays it on top of what you're watching.

What I originally envisioned was an integrated solution, basically a Dish Network STB running Android, with an Android rendered Dish UI, maybe the Dish stuff would be an "app" on it, and you could get other apps like iTunes, and SageTV, and Netflix, etc.

GoogleTV needs to know what the DVR has recorded in order for it to be searchable. With a HD300, unless GoogleTV was SageTV aware, it wouldn't be able to search your SageTV. If it wasn't SageTV aware, it would be no different than switching inputs expect you will get a graphical representation of all your various sources of content. You can go browse youtube, netflix, or your SageTV recordings. The difference is that it doesn't know what recordings you have on your SageTV box so it is browse only. I'm sure it won't be that hard to get GoogleTV to be SageTV aware and I bet the community would be happy to do the work for it.

I can't see myself using search that often to find content I want to watch. I typically browse for my content since I don't really sit down knowing what to watch. Maybe that's because there isn't a great search interface yet, but on sageTV I definitely browse content more than I search for content.

[jm9843]

Originally Posted by autoboy

I'm sure it won't be that hard to get GoogleTV to be SageTV aware and I bet the community would be happy to do the work for it.

And this is when the real GoogleTV fun begins; when they release the SDK early next year & you begin to see things like seamless integration with SageTV back-end servers for searching, scheduling, and playing back shows.

GoogleTV is slightly underwhelming today, but its future potential is massive. It's going to shakeup the television world in much the same way that Android has with the smartphone imo.

But even today, it would integrate nicely in a typical SageTV setup with an HD300. HD300's HDMI-out to the Logitech Revue's HDMI-in and you've instantly augmented the SageTV experience with:

• native Netflix app
• native Amazon VOD app
• native Pandora app
• native Napster app
• native DLNA Media Player (for an improved photo/music/PlayOn experience)
• native CNBC app
• native Twitter app
• native NBA Game Time app
• Google Chrome browser for the rest of the web, including full Adobe Flash 10.1, YouTube Leanback, HBO Go, & many other websites formatted specifically for GoogleTV
• RF & Wifi control over your entire component stack using Harmony Remote technology. The RF keyboard with integrated trackpad comes in the box, but also available are free native iOS & Android Harmony apps (with the later featuring voice search & "flinging" content from the phone to the TV).
• HD video calling (optional)

Forgetting that Android Market is coming for it soon, it's still not a bad value proposition for $300.

[bcjenkins]

Excellent reply. That said, things will really start to heat up when Logitech isn't the only GTV box maker around.

B