HDTV Almanac - NeTV Sales to Grow

[alfredpoor]

Parks Associates estimates that about a quarter of the new TVs sold in 2010 were able to connect to the Internet. The same group forecasts that this will reach 76% by 2015. These predictions make sense to me, though it’s not all about streaming content from Web sites.
I expect that a lot of these sales [...]

[url=http://www.hdtvmagazine.com/columns/2011/02/hdtv-almanac-netv-sales-to-grow.php]Read Column[/url]

[Techcoyote]

I wonder how many of the 25% that bought internet connectable HDTV's already had that capability at home via laptop, game console, etc??

[alfredpoor]

Just because your desktop computer or notebook has a Blu-ray disc drive doesn't mean that you should use it as your Blu-ray player in the living room. There are times when dedicated or integrated hardware can be more convenient than separate pieces.

(For the record, I have a desktop computer sitting next to my HDTV, with an HDMI connection between the two. I'm just saying that I recognize that reasonable people might not want to have a computer in the living room.)

Alfred

[Techcoyote]

I agree completely with you Alfred! Internet integrated HDTV's ease of use is a big selling factor for the general public. At my house, I too have my computer connected to my entire media setup. No wires showing, clean and neat as per my wonderful wife's desires. I enjoy the complexity while she really only wants the point, click, and enjoy experience.

My previous post was merely a thought from a semi-geek's point of view.

Paul

[jordanm]

Short sighted folks above.

I have had an HTPC for years, the Hipix card in my first one was the ATSC tuner my new HDTV did not have, then.

Now, I have a small counter-top unit that could fit in the rack if all that other equipment wasn't so hot. This PC is cool to the touch, as its case vents in back, on top, on the sides. I am afraid the other stuff will overheat it.

But with a 1 GB LAN connection it plays all media, fast, clean and neat. Files are converted to 1080p/24 if they are not so encoded, and I we have several now that are.

Music is 2 or 7.1 channel playable. We have many TBs of data for storage and we'll use it, too. HD Video is 4 to 15 GBs per file, 25-50 with TrueHD or DTS-HD Master, but no media player can do that yet, on a file (just Blu Ray)

Internet steraming is reliable and quick week days and nights, on a weekend day, not as good. I get free TV from the cable side on HBO and Epix, free TV from Crackle, Revision 3, Blip and others, music streaming from Slacker or Pandora, and all the Amazon on Demand I wish to pay for.

No box yet has all that the PC can do, and I play BDs in its BD-R drive full 1080p/24 with TrueHD or DTS-HD Master through the nVidia GT 430 GPU. It even handles DD Plus, and other codecs. PowerDVD 10 Ultra or ArcSoft Total Theatre 5 can do it all, these days.

I'll stick with my HTPC, my 7.1 AVR, and the Pioneer Elite PRO-151FD for years. No NetTV can do all it can with the HTPC. BTW, PowerDVD 10 Ultra can play back any Blu Ray disk as 3D if you want to wear glasses. I don't and can't, they make me ill.

[Techcoyote]

What AVR do you use?

[alfredpoor]

Jordan, I'm with you; a computer offers far more than any connected TV can at this point, and I agree that there are PC cases that would fit in fine with many living room decors. As I said, I have a computer sitting next to our TV, for many of the same reasons that you cite. I do, however, see how some users would prefer something easier to use. I also prefer a manual transmission car over an automatic transmission, but I can understand why some folks would prefer the ease of an automatic, even though it has some limitations.

All the best,

Alfred

[Techcoyote]

Here is an in-depth article by Tom that you both may find interesting..
http://www.homesystemintegration.com/20 ... wn-a-htpc/

[alfredpoor]

Techcoyote, I do like that article, but maybe not for the reasons you might expect.

It presents an analysis of the HTPC vs. Google TV, but if you read carefully, the author gets tangled up because he mixes up hardware with operating system with application. Google TV is an application, just like Microsoft Media Center or the Google Chrome Web browser. They are separate from the operating system that they run on (to varying degrees) and the hardware platform. I use a variety of applications on my HTPC depending on what I want to do. (Media Center is never a choice, by the way.)

I buy that Google TV has a narrower mission than Microsoft Internet Explorer, but it's probably not as narrow as the Hauppauge WinTV application. I also do agree that a narrower mission can usually translate into a simpler user interface. There are cases, however, where the "simple" interface is either too limited or too confusing to be very useful. And I suspect that the optimal interface for an entertainment video system probably does not require a QWERTY keyboard.

I think it's safe to say that we have not yet found a really good application/user interface for living room video control. Having seen a lot of the various projects at CES, however, I can also say that we probably won't have to wait much longer for a good one.

Alfred

[jordanm]

Last night I watched HD Nation in HD, using WMC on the Win 7 Ultimate HTPC. After that 15 minute show, I watched a one-hour segement of Planet Earth in 1080p, using the PowerDVD insert in WMC. It was all just gorgeous with great 7.1 audio. Keep the 2-channel NetTV for the masses.