Google TV & Sage (a match made in heaven)

[jm9843]

Soooo, Google brought an Android-based open web platform to the TV today with Google TV. I think that this is going to be a very big deal.

The official Google TV sdk is still a ways off (Jan '11), and it would be very un-Sage-like to comment, but what are the chances that we'll see an official SageTV app for the platform? Besides being completely amazing it would be an opportunity for Sage, if they so choose, to get out of the extender business and focus on their primary strength: developing the best DVR solution on the planet. It could also represent a sly way for Sage to support satellite and cable card protected content.

Google - Announcing Google TV: TV meets web. Web meets TV.

Logitech - The future of TV is coming to your TV.

Sony - Sony introduces the world's first HDTV incorporating the Google TV platform.

Intel - Internet Meets Television: Say Hello to Smart TV.

Dish Network - Google TV To Debut With DISH Network This Fall.

Adobe - Flash Player 10.1 on Google TV

[panteragstk]

You do realize the reason they called it GoogleTV and not SageTV is because they are trying to create their own product. How well it works has yet to be seen. If it is anything like Android it is based off of Linux, and as far as I know most HD DVR STB's from dish at least were always based off of some form of Linux. I could be wrong though.

Now, if you could run sageTV inside of GoogleTV that would be interesting. Let's hope google makes it as open as the andriod platform.

[medwynd]

Originally Posted by jm9843

Soooo, Google brought an Android-based open web platform to the TV today with Google TV. I think that this is going to be a very big deal.

The official Google TV sdk is still a ways off (Jan '11), and it would be very un-Sage-like to comment, but what are the chances that we'll see an official SageTV app for the platform? Besides being completely amazing it would be an opportunity for Sage, if they so choose, to get out of the extender business and focus on their primary strength: developing the best DVR solution on the planet. It could also represent a sly way for Sage to support satellite and cable card protected content.

I personally couldn't disagree any more with your statements. I am not a fan of anything Google has done besides their search engine. I was less than impressed with their apps, their mail, an Android based phone (granted I do not own one but only got to spend limited time with a friends phone), nor their web browser, etc etc.

As for saying Sage's primary strength is as a DVR solution, again I think it is a YMMV issue. I have no interest in using it as a DVR solution even though from other posts it seems perfectly capable of doing so. Perhaps if Sage could play satellite protected content I would be somewhat interested and would love to get rid of some of my DirecTV boxes, but until that time, if it ever happened, it doesn't serve much of an interest for me.

I do think it is the best extender out there on the market right now and the new v7 only makes it that much better. I only use Sage for its extenders.

[ToxMox]

Originally Posted by medwynd

I am not a fan of anything Google has done besides their search engine. I was less than impressed with their apps, their mail, an Android based phone (granted I do not own one but only got to spend limited time with a friends phone), nor their web browser, etc etc.

That's a shame. You're missing out on all of the above products you mentioned IMO

To each his own I guess

[jm9843]

Originally Posted by panteragstk

You do realize the reason they called it GoogleTV and not SageTV is because they are trying to create their own product. How well it works has yet to be seen. If it is anything like Android it is based off of Linux, and as far as I know most HD DVR STB's from dish at least were always based off of some form of Linux. I could be wrong though.

Now, if you could run sageTV inside of GoogleTV that would be interesting. Let's hope google makes it as open as the andriod platform.

You do realize that the last thing you said was exactly what I was talking about in my op and why I'm excited.

Google is releasing the Google TV sdk in January of '11. There is nothing at that time that would prevent Sage from developing a native SageTV client that would run inside of Google TV. It would be downloadable from the Android marketplace on the TV and/or would still be sold direct to consumers like Sage does now. Furthermore, Google will be open-sourcing the whole Google TV project a few months after the sdk is released. Sage could, in fact, continue to sell their own extenders that ship with and leverage the power of the Google TV platform. For free, at no cost to Sage.

Seriously guys, look into Google TV. There is huge potential for Sage.

P.S. The initial release of Google TV runs on Android 2.1 Eclair. Any app in the Android marketplace that doesn't depend on phone specific features (accelerometer, gps, etc.) will run out of the box on Google TV when the marketplace is released. During the day #2 keynote at Google I/O, they demoed the Android Pandora app running on the platform. Native GoogleTV applications for YouTube, Netflix, and Amazon VOD are confirmed to be available at launch.

[ToxMox]

Originally Posted by jm9843

Seriously guys, look into Google TV. There is huge potential for Sage.

+1

[barney B.A.]

Any additional technology that Sage supports is a good thing.
This could open a whole new market to Sage.

[medwynd]

Originally Posted by ToxMox

That's a shame. You're missing out on all of the above products you mentioned IMO

To each his own I guess

Oh I'm not missing out on them. I don't have blind hate or something for Googles stuff. I have just tried them all and nothing has really impressed me. I find their useability to be lacking compared to what I am used to.

I did view the link for Google TV and I don't see any gains to my current setup. I'm not a big YouTube viewer, which is something they mentioned as a big deal in the video. I maybe view a handful of YouTube videos a year and they are generally some sort or instructional videos. I really don't watch internet video much at all as I prefer to buy movies instead of download them. I have considered a basic Netflix subscription but the 4 or 5 times I had considered even signing up for a trial the movie I wanted to see wasn't available for streaming viewing so it's not as useful to me as VOD through DirecTV. I continue to keep an eye on it though in case their streaming library gets more up to date with new releases.

[Brent]

I'm struggling to understand how GoogleTV is a good thing. It seems to me another "throw the spaghetti on the wall" and see what sticks kind of project for them. I do understand that Google would like that TV viewing data to help them serve TV ads better though.

I'm probably missing something - I just wasn't impressed with what I saw in the demo. If Microsoft had done that demo with the exact same features they would be laughed off of the stage. Or am I wrong?

[ToxMox]

Originally Posted by medwynd

Oh I'm not missing out on them. I don't have blind hate or something for Googles stuff. I have just tried them all and nothing has really impressed me. I find their useability to be lacking compared to what I am used to.

I did view the link for Google TV and I don't see any gains to my current setup. I'm not a big YouTube viewer, which is something they mentioned as a big deal in the video. I maybe view a handful of YouTube videos a year and they are generally some sort or instructional videos. I really don't watch internet video much at all as I prefer to buy movies instead of download them. I have considered a basic Netflix subscription but the 4 or 5 times I had considered even signing up for a trial the movie I wanted to see wasn't available for streaming viewing so it's not as useful to me as VOD through DirecTV. I continue to keep an eye on it though in case their streaming library gets more up to date with new releases.

Guess I was more thinking about things like Gmail, Calendar, Android, Google Voice, Google Apps for Your Domain, and Google Docs.

[bastafidli]

Actually I think you are wrong. Think about it as Google providing platform for others to build upon. See what happened with Android and how successful it is. Thing about the launch partners, Logitech, Sony, DirectTV, those are leaders in gadget/electronic/entertainment design. I think this is just a start, but it is going to be huge.

[medwynd]

Originally Posted by ToxMox

Guess I was more thinking about things like Gmail, Calendar, Android, Google Voice, Google Apps for Your Domain, and Google Docs.

We were on the same page then because those are exactly the apps I was talking about . With the exception of Google Voice, I haven't tried that.

[ToxMox]

Originally Posted by medwynd

We were on the same page then because those are exactly the apps I was talking about . With the exception of Google Voice, I haven't tried that.

I'm curious since you don't like any of those what you prefer to use instead?

Oh and I forgot to mention Chrome in the list of Google things I love.

[medwynd]

Originally Posted by bastafidli

Actually I think you are wrong. Think about it as Google providing platform for others to build upon. See what happened with Android and how successful it is. Thing about the launch partners, Logitech, Sony, DirectTV, those are leaders in gadget/electronic/entertainment design. I think this is just a start, but it is going to be huge.

I wouldn't exactly call DirecTv a leader in entertainment design. They do have a new receiver that will be comming out but the big innovation there is only because they parterend with Tivo.

They have added a few features to the boxes in the past year but the box is slow and the interface, while useable, is not very intuitive and has features buried all over the place.

I think that Logitech has some potential to make some headway into incorporating sommething like this though.

[medwynd]

Originally Posted by ToxMox

I'm curious since you don't like any of those what you prefer to use instead?

Oh and I forgot to mention Chrome in the list of Google things I love.

For email I still use hotmail but do not really use the web interface and use OE for pulling down my mail. My biggest annoyance with gmail is the whole "labels" thing. I do not find it useful or intuitive. I can find stored messages much quicker using folders.

For web browsers I use IE or Firefox depending what I am doing. Although I admit both have their own sets of issues. Firefox has really been taking up more and more of a footprint in later releases although I hear the next release is supposed to make big performance improvements. IE on the other hand takes forever to launch, but I still use some controls when I interface with my WHS.

For mobile I currently use an IPhone, mostly because I wanted to try it out, but for my next phone I will definitely be going back to a windows mobile phone. I don't like the iphone interface nor the fact that you cannot add memory cards and you cannot develop apps as easily as you can for a windows phone. Granted these are givens with Apple and I knew that going in, but I figured if I wanted to have an opinion on something I should at least use it to have an informed opinion.

For docs I use Word or OpenOffice depending on what I want to do. OO has come a long way and it a viable solution for a lot of people. Also, I am not comfortable sharing documents with google, I don't trust that at all.

[ToxMox]

Originally Posted by medwynd

For email I still use hotmail but do not really use the web interface and use OE for pulling down my mail. My biggest annoyance with gmail is the whole "labels" thing. I do not find it useful or intuitive. I can find stored messages much quicker using folders.

For web browsers I use IE or Firefox depending what I am doing. Although I admit both have their own sets of issues. Firefox has really been taking up more and more of a footprint in later releases although I hear the next release is supposed to make big performance improvements. IE on the other hand takes forever to launch, but I still use some controls when I interface with my WHS.

For mobile I currently use an IPhone, mostly because I wanted to try it out, but for my next phone I will definitely be going back to a windows mobile phone. I don't like the iphone interface nor the fact that you cannot add memory cards and you cannot develop apps as easily as you can for a windows phone. Granted these are givens with Apple and I knew that going in, but I figured if I wanted to have an opinion on something I should at least use it to have an informed opinion.

For docs I use Word or OpenOffice depending on what I want to do. OO has come a long way and it a viable solution for a lot of people. Also, I am not comfortable sharing documents with google, I don't trust that at all.

Ok. Thanks for the answer

[Brent]

Originally Posted by bastafidli

Actually I think you are wrong.

It surely wouldn't be the first time I was wrong. I'll have to think about this some more. I'm interested in Stuckless's impressions as I believe he was there at the keynote

[aflat]

I'm not sure I get it. They are putting search on your TV. It's still not a DVR, ie you still need a back end to search. It's almost like AppleTV. It's not really a DVR it's just a front end on your TV. I think most of us know how well that took off.

[bastafidli]

Originally Posted by Brent

It surely wouldn't be the first time I was wrong. I'll have to think about this some more. I'm interested in Stuckless's impressions as I believe he was there at the keynote

My impression is that it is hard to bet against Google. They have lots of momentum and the level of inovation they are doing (both technically/technologically and in business) is amazing. I believe this is all out fight between Microsoft / Apple and Google regarding future of computing. All the other companies are just bystanders trying to align themselves with these leaders. There might be multiple winners in this fight but at the end, majority of users will use solution driven by one of these companies.

What does it mean for Sage is hard to tell. Sage is niche player now and there will always be place for niche players in the future. Their strength is the community following and support they have. As long as they keep themselves lean and cater to the community, they don't have to worry to much about what is going on with majority, but this majority represents business opportunity for growth. So if they will want to grow they will have to align themselves with some of these companies as well (or maybe support all of them).

Oh and I didn't mean to be rude by saying you were wrong. I think it is better to be wrong than to don't have opinion :-) It makes the discussion more interesting.

[Fonceur]

Originally Posted by jm9843

Any app in the Android marketplace that doesn't depend on phone specific features (accelerometer, gps, etc.) will run out of the box on Google TV when the marketplace is released.

Then my taSageTV app will already run on it, so they don't have to do anything...