Trying to find something on what used to be called the Internet has now reached a new paradigm shift. It’s not so much that various media strategies and hardware devices have carved things up into a tangle of web.

For about 3 years now, I have been very happy with my Sky TV (if you are outside UK, it is satellite broadcast with good selection of movie channels and entertainments + all the free stuff you get over here in UK. On top of that I have a PC that is quite enough to be used so I can use BBC iPlayer, SkyPlayer, or other free stuff reached via standard PC interface but over on TV. There is one problem with this setup, and that is the fact that we have 5 remote control + PC wireless keyboard mouse. This is way too much to handle. The other issue is using the PC keyboard /Mouse and on a TV sitting 10 or more feet away. If you need a reading glass like me, it is not easy to use the keyboard and watch what I navigate at 10 feet away.

In the past I managed to wire up a great app and control the pc via my iPad. This is a much better approach than keyboard and Mouse. But the whole thing is too complicated for my wife and my children. The Back of the TV now requires a person with at least a degree in Electronics to understand the wiring of HD TV, 4 HDMI cables going to SKY, Virgin HD Box, Play Station, Wii and PC goes to the Monitor input. You can see that with this much connected if something is a problem when I am on a business trip, no one can sort it at home and it requires me spending a good 30 minutes to walk my wife through the maze.

Recently in addition to all these devices, I have been considering Apple TV or a Google TV or other such devices. You may ask yourself why the Fu... ? Have I gone crazy? Surely my TV does not have yet another HDMI. You are correct, I was going to give Virgin HD box back and save 24 GBP per months and take one of these new options.

I started doing some research, first Google TV which is aiming to bridge the span between subscription-based TV and Internet content, but so far said bridge is still held up by bureaucratic red tape nonsense.

Most of the reviews I have seen are done in US on Sony Internet TV and Logitech Revue are available now at around 300 USD which means by the time they get to UK they would be around 250 GBP. To be honest I think this price level is too high for a first generation device. I basically I must say that so far I have not read anything amazing that I cannot do on my connected PC.

I have also been reading about Apple TV. The price is very attractive at 100 USD or by the time it gets over here in UK will be about 90 GBP. I also like the idea of getting an App for my iPad or iPod and control it from there like I already do my pc from iPad.

The main problem with these devices is lack of content. It seems that they have not managed to do any deal with the local programme suppliers. Therefore, it is very likely that when it gets to UK the situation remains. It seems that the only country that is ahead in this game is South Korea since they already have 50 + Mb/s broadband and have been at this game for over 3 years.

I also looked at BTvision, This is an interesting proposition from BT that was actually the first I considered about 3 months ago. Since I have Business level Broadband from BT telecom with 13 ip addresses, I thought the price was right at 80 GBP.

However to my horror after a successful order over the web whilst I was chatting online with the sale person on BT website, the device never arrived. Two weeks later the purchase I decided to phone them and they said the order was never actioned because I have the expensive Business package. This box is for the low cost 18 GBP per month package.
I thought this was a crazy setup where the me the business user that pays 4 times more than a typical home user should be denied the option to buy the box. Eventually I had a call from BT Customer Service explaining that my router cannot be configured to run BT vision.

To cut the long story short. I think Internet TV is not there yet in 2010, for the following reasons:-

First Generation Devices have a long way to go before they develop a usable User Interface.
UK broadband is still not fast enough for these services. Next year BT is delivering the long awaited Fibber Optic cable to my house and I would then be able to download at 40 Mb/s and that is good as the whole house could theoretically watch multiple programmes in the house whilst downloading the work stuff to respective laptops.
Most of these devices don’t provide you with ability to buy all the movies and programmes ever made. They need to give you at least 50% or more of whatever was ever made before it becomes a must have in any TV room.

2011 may bring a different picture in this area and I may change my mind and go for one of these devices especially if the price is sub 100 GBP.

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@ Wednesday, July 06, 2011 2:37 AM

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About Scifiwood News Reviews and Blogs

These are various short and long News Articles, Reviews and Blogs by Salar Golestanian and employees of SalarO.com as well as contributors of Scifiwood.com. The subject matter are mixed topics with Pure Science to Science Fiction as well as general topics on Web Trends, Technology, Software Engineering genre, or whatever subject that can affect the convergence of today's technology with Science Fiction in any shape or form. These Blogs and Reviews don't have commercial or corporate aspiration, so they are indeed completely independent views. Some of these entries may be short and just link you to the actual news or site that can expand further on the subject of interest. In Phase II we plan to incorporate some Social Networking applications within the portal.