Sony HDTVs To Come With Google TV Interface

adeelarshad82 writes "Even though Google recently announced its own Google TV, seems like their partnership with Sony is going to make it obsolete. Google has partnered up with Sony to launch four HDTVs loaded with the Google TV interface, as well as a Google TV Blu-ray player. The company's Google TV products will be called Sony Internet TV. With the Google TV, Sony aims to provide a clean and easy way to browse the Web, watch TV, and run applications all on your HDTV. Google TV uses the true Chrome Web browser with Flash 10.1. Unfortunately though, at the moment it only has a handful of apps available but Sony said the OS will be updated in early 2011 to include the Android Market app with more options."

Comments

take that steve jobs

[alen]

i predict google TV will be integrated into most TV's in the next 3-5 years which means every TV will soon ship with Flash

no need to fire up the computer for the porn tube sites

Terrible summary.

[Facegarden]

Paraphrasing since copy-paste isn't working (did slashdot do that on purpose or is my computer on crack?)

"Even though google annouced their own google tv... their partnership with sony will make it obsolete..."

Anyway.. whaaaa? Did the person writing this even read about Google TV? Google didn't announce a TV... the announced a software platform called Google TV, which sony is using. So the partnership isn't going to make it obsolete... it's USING Google TV!

Such a terrible summary its actually weird. Also, nice random semicolon.
-Taylor

Re:Terrible summary.

[Lunix Nutcase]

Such a terrible summary its actually weird.

One word: sampenzus.

Re:Terrible summary.

[geekoid]

He wasn't being a jackass, he was being a moron.

Re:Terrible summary.

[onkelonkel]

The editors are undoubtedly volunteers. Or possibly they got their jobs through some sort of "hire the mentally challenged" program. If they were regular employees they would have all been fired 10 times by now.

No, Google did not announce it's own Google TV

[cmiller173]

Google did not announce it's own Google TV, Google announced Google TV products from partners Sony and Logitech. Which is what they were saying all along. May: http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/10/05/20/198242/Google-TV-Announced-With-Intel-Sony-and-Logitech

Re:Reasons this Will Fail:

[Facegarden]

No one cares about the current and planned IPTV offerings.
Cable/satellite companies will never let them mature into anything worthwhile.
Sony.

Reasons Slashdot will shit on this:
Flash.

Its not so much IPTV like AT&T U-Verse, that requires everyone to agree on how it works, its just web TV, like Hulu. I already use Hulu as my main source of TV, and don't have cable, just internet, with a media center hooked up to the TV.

Plenty of people would do that too if it were built into to their TV already.

Good idea

[iONiUM]

I think if all TVs had this it would be great. Built in surfing capabilities with WiFi? Who wouldn't want that, and what reason could you argue not to have it?

If it becomes a standard feature, then you could just buy a TV (with it) and not even use it if you don't want it. The only downside is devices like AppleTV will become obsolete. Well, "down side".

Re:Good idea

[twidarkling]

I can come up easily with reasons not to have it.

Best one? Cost. TVs are already expensive, and to stick a wireless nic in there would tack another $50+ on the price easily, for something I neither want nor need due to my set up far surpassing the need to hook my TV up to my network.

How about stability? Make TVs more complicated, all of a sudden my TV might start crashing, and I won't be able to do anything about it, unless the manufacturer includes an update down the road.

How about signal interference? Make it wifi only, and it's subject to the interference that makes so many areas unsuitable for wifi use. Put in a wired nic, and you're probably upping cost more.

There, three reasons, and two of them affect *everyone* even if they chose not to use the feature.

Re:Good idea

[OldeTimeGeek]

Who wouldn't want that, and what reason could you argue not to have it?

Because the components will become outdated long before the TV portion does and the only way to update will be to replace the entire thing. Or do you actually think it will be based on an open architecture that will allow replacement of components and still remain in warranty? Sorry, not for me.

Re:Good idea

[demonbug]

Who wouldn't want that, and what reason could you argue not to have it?

Because the components will become outdated long before the TV portion does and the only way to update will be to replace the entire thing. Or do you actually think it will be based on an open architecture that will allow replacement of components and still remain in warranty? Sorry, not for me.

I agree. I hate that it has become nearly impossible to find a TV that is just a TV. Hell, in most cases even a TV tuner is unnecessary. It would be nice if some manufacturer put out a line of large-size monitors that skip out on all this BS. Just give me a ~55" LCD w/ as many LED backlights as you can, a few HDMI inputs, a couple s-video, component, and composite inputs, maybe a DVI input, and that's it. No speakers, no network interface, definitely no integrated online "experience". Probably don't even need any outputs. Okay, throw in an IR receiver so I can turn it on and off and change inputs without getting off the couch.
Other than that - I've got all my sources covered already, I don't need redundant sources built into the TV. Seriously, concentrate on providing the best picture quality possible at a given price point, and ditch everything else.

This might not actually reduce the overall cost a huge amount, but it should at least make a difference, and I wouldn't feel like I'm spending money on crap I will never use.

Hmm, maybe I should just get a projector.

Re:Good idea

[adolf]

Good news!

Luckily enough, the announcement of Sony using Google TV in some of their newest HDTVs did not also include an announcement of the discontinuation of other models which do not include Google TV!

That's right: You'll still be able to buy a TV without all of this gee-wizardry, and it will cost less than than the newfangled kit described in TFA!

If you want to keep things this way, then just keep voting with your wallet and companies will keep making simple TVs that folks like you (and I) like. It's easy, it's fun, and it saves money!

(My own 52" Samsung LCD is nearly as brain-dead as can be. It simply displays video, and occasionally does a little bit of video switching. It doesn't handle audio, it doesn't view Netflix, it doesn't have a built-in Blu-Ray player, and it certainly doesn't fucking run Google TV. And nor will its replacement. It does, however, do a fine job of displaying video. I have other toys for those those other sorts of roles, and want as little co-dependence between them as possible. And I'll keep buying things in such a fashion as to support the ongoing manufacture of stuff that allows doing stuff in this way.)

Re:Great.

[SudoGhost]

That's why I'm considering buying the Logitech one. After that PS3 Linux fiasco, they aren't getting my money that easily. The Logitech version comes with a keyboard that I prefer anyways.

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

Summary is bizarrely wrong

[DragonWriter]

Even though Google recently announced its own Google TV, seems like their partnership with Sony is going to make it obsolete

Wrong.

What Google announced was the GoogleTV platform. In the Google announcement, they announced a series of hardware manufacturer partners that would be developing devices incorporating the platform on TVs, Blu-Ray players, and standalone settop boxes. Sony was one of those.

Now Sony has announced some of the specific initial products that it will be making that incorporate the GoogleTV platform.

Unfortunately though, at the moment it only has a handful of apps available but Sony said the OS will be updated in early 2011 to include the Android Market app with more options.

Which is exactly what Google said when they announced GoogleTV.

Reasons parent comment fails

[DragonWriter]

No one cares about the current and planned IPTV offerings.

This isn't an IPTV offering. Its simply a Web + TV offering. It does incorporate access to existing Web video sources, but primarily the TV (content) part comes from whatever normal TV signal source you have.

Cable/satellite companies will never let them mature into anything worthwhile.

Which is probably why GoogleTV is designed primarily (for now) to bring existing Web content to your TV screen and enhance rather than replace traditional cable/satellite (or, AFAIK, broadcast) TV.

Sony.

Sony hasn't really been all that bad at selling TVs and other media products, so as much as some people may be upset about some things Sony has done in the past, I don't think that's a reason that the product will fail.

Re:Reasons parent comment fails

[DragonWriter]

Web + TV, you say?
Why, I could make billions if it was 1994

Yes, nothing that has ever been, in generally similar terms, tried once and failed has ever been commercialized successfully later after technology has advanced and details of the approach were changed.

For instance, Apple isn't currently doing a brisk business in selling tablet computers despite the weak success of previous attempts of other companies to do that.

Re:Reasons parent comment fails

[91degrees]

Things have changed a little since 1994. Mainly that we have streaming video. It's an application that actually makes sense for a television.

Wrong question.

[srussia]

All I want to know is if my new Sony TV will come with a free root kit pre-installed at the factory?

TV, Sony or not, is already a rootkit to your mind.

Re:Great.

[Anonymous Coward]

This isn't limited to Sony. Virtually all Blu-ray/TV manufacturers artificially limit updates and open access to their devices. In fact, Sony is one of the better ones in this area (for their higher-end products). If you purchased a Netflix/YouTube/Pandora/Hulu-capable Blu-ray player 5 months ago, it probably hasn't received substantial updates since, with the newer software features only appearing in later product versions... even though earlier versions have the same hardware.

How long until Sony starts subtracting features?

[wowbagger]

And how long will it be until Sony decides to start removing features from this TV, because of alleged concerns about piracy, hacking, moping with intent to creep, or whatever other excuse they come up with?

"Sorry, we have removed the web browser's ability to visit any site with a vowel in the URL, because some people were visiting sites about how to use their TV to view unapproved content."

Sorry Sony, you burned me on my PS3, you shall not do so again.

Re:4 USB ports?

[Animaether]

Mouse and/or keyboard for those things that just don't work so well with the fancy remote, external HDD to play back content from (instead of a media center thing that plays back over HDMI and needing an HDMI switch), camera/card reader (presuming it doesn't have a built-in card reader)... yeah, those 4 could end up being used simultaneously just fine.

I don't know about this ...

[Boona]

Anybody else starting to be a little freaked out about how ubiquitous Google is becoming? I thought phones were cool, but this is starting to scare me. Especially considering the amount of data they collect on us.

When will a TV just Come With a built-in PC?

[El Fantasmo]

I'm just waiting for a TV to come with a fully functional, unrestricted and networkable PC built in that uses standard parts and interfaces and is linked to one of the TV inputs.

Nothing to see here

[JoltinJoe77]

All of the apps on any TVs I have personally used have been sluggish and slow to respond. Hooking a computer/media center/game console up to the TV and using apps hosted on those devices has always resulted in a much more pleasant experience for me and my friends. I doubt the introduction to Google apps on TVs will make an impact on anything.

Re:In soviet russia...

[srussia]

the TV Programs YOU !

Russian mindhacker Yakov Smirnoff injected this meme once using the rootkit. It is still endemic in certain segments of the population.

Re:How long until Sony starts subtracting features

[wowbagger]

Actually, yes, I did have Linux on my PS3. I had it to experiment with the CBE as a signal processing engine, since that's what I do for a living.

And not only am I shut out of PSN, I am shut out of any recent games, any new hardware such as Move, potentially out of new Blu-Ray disks, etc. - which I do because all work and no fun makes Wowbagger a dull boy.

So yes, I DID lose (sorry, loose - I don't want to make you feel uncomfortable) something when Sony took away a feature that they had advertised, that was a part of our sales contract, and that was a part of why I did business with them.