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Nokia and Intel to make Linux-based Set-Top Box
hkon writes "Nokia and Intel are apparently going to make a set-top box that "integrates the internet and digital TV" Intel claims it'll "change the nature of television". Does that mean I can't watch silly american sitcoms on sunday mornings anymore? =)"
Talks about internet TV delivery, which I'm a big fan of. But something tells me that'll be awhile.
While I agree with your statements, they are almost a direct plagiarism from Steve Jobs.
"The number of suckers born each minute doubles every 18 months."
These are my friends, See how they glisten. See this one shine, how he smiles in the light.
You make a very good point about the difference in states of mind a person is in when watching TV vs. using a computer, be it for gaming, surfing, serious work, or whatever.
:-))
However, I think your conclusion is wrong.
When I want to watch DVD (on a laptop in an airplane, or on my TV), I use my computer's DVD player to do so. When I want to listen to music (perhaps when I'm reading, or just vegging) I use my computer to play random songs from a rather large collection of MP3's (all legally copied from my own, purchased collection, of course).
The most serious drawback I see to settop boxes right now is the horrible resolution of today's televisions. Replace them with an HDTV set, or a large flastscreen monitor with good resolution, and that problem goes away. At that point, combining the two appliances (computer and tv) into one makes a great deal of sense.
Add to that the desirability to click on an icon to watch you're favorite TV show "on-demand" (rather than remembering to tape it or making sure to be at home at such and such a time), and you have the potential for a very, very appealing product. Of course, for this to succeed, they need:
- much more bandwidth, capable of delivering on-demand video and audio
- much higher resolution TVs or monitors
- a stronger emphesis on open "internet-like" standards, rather than closed and copy-protected "consumer electronic" standards such as DVD
- competitive pricing for hardware, net access, and video-on-demand offerings. (Downloading a movie shouldn't cost more than renting it at the store, for example.)
I would argue a "pay-per-view TV shows sans commercials" option would be, while not a requirement, the kind of "killer feature" that would attract many potential customers. I'd willingly pay $3.00 an episode to watch my favorite TV show without commercial interruptions. For shows I'm less fond of (or not interested in taping for my own archive) I'd be willing to watch the commercial in exchange for a free viewing.
I do think computers will "combine" (or replace) most consumer home entertainment electronics. Attempts at crippling the home entertainment product's capabilities (remember DAT?) will only accelerate this trend. Which side the "set-top" boxes find themselves on will go along way toward determining whether they represent a unique step forward, or an obscure curiosity ignored by consumers in favor of other, more capable products (like a PC with a DVD drive, a big hard disk, and a long S-Video cable
The Future of Human Evolution: Autonomy
"What's on television then?"
"Looks like a penguin."
Sorry to burst your bubble Intel, but you just don't get it.
When people sit down in front of thier TV, they want to turn their brain *off*. When you use a computer, you have to use your brain, and *do* stuff... you have to think.
On the surface, TV and Internet might seem similar, but because they require entirely different mindsets to use, they will never be effectively combined.
Think about where you sit to watch TV... on your couch (usually) about 6 feet from the screen. Your computer is usually on a desk, in an office environment (even at home, its probably the same desk where you did your taxes before you got a computer). For years companies have been trying to cash in on this market that doesn't exist. Note the failure of WebTV (granted: there were other reasons that bombed).
*Turning my brain off now*
CokeBear, UWO
Reality has a liberal bias
If they actually leverage the power of Linux well, this could be very cool;
everyone reading this remembers the Coke machine in MIT that had its own IP, yes?
Imagine setting up your TV to automatically record the news IF AND ONLY IF you are not already at home...
Imagine being able to steal ALL the HBO movies into mpg files... (this would prob require some programming, but hey, thats why we are (most of us) CS majors
Imagine, sitting 100 miles away and checking the channel that your kids are watching...
The ultimate user-configured Vchip is inherent, and before all the 12-14 year olds on this board demoderate me, keep in mind that this IS a useful feature for the public at large
it will allow for EFFECTIVE programable functions (ie all those record-this-show-every-week)
and the best part of all this is, you do not inherently need to use those annoying on-TV menus, but can ssh (telnet) in or use some networked GUI app to do all this...
Since this is all opensource (alledgedly) we can probably work around any of the safe-guards they create to prevent mass copying, commercial exclusion, etc.
We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars --Oscar Wilde
Grrr. my nick is "Forward the Light Brigade"...
MPEG-2 is fancy compression. :-)
Actually, a full broadcast-quality MPEG-2 video stream is only 4Mbps. You actually don't even need broadband spectrum to do full-quality TV delivery if you're OK with the idea of having your "tuner" live in the network back at the head-end/CO/etc. Some of the xDSL guys are starting to realize this (Newbridge and others showed this at N+I.) The only downside is a slightly longer than normal delay when switching channels, but then people with DSS boxes have already been conditioned to think this is normal.
Note that this means even wireless can be a real competitor to cable and especially telco copper in the future. A 6 Mbps LMDS derivative or Wideband CDMA could easily provide enough pipe to deliver a movie at full MPEG-2 resolution (even without VBR), a half dozen phone/voice/control connections, and still leave more than a T-1 available for surfing the net.
There's really very little you can do in the foreseeable future that would require more bandwidth than that, and 6Mbps bidirectional may well prove to offer a customer experience superior to a lopsided cable-like system with choked down upstream bandwidth. In the end, latency and bandwidth availability are more important than bandwidth per se. The ability to provide high bandwidth availability through a switched infrastructure is the only thing that keeps me from writing off the RBOCs entirely - now if they can just figure out how to pay for the switch upgrades as a regulated utility...
In short, a good set-top can provide serious TV quality in a reasonable amount of bandwidth. It's not going to happen with a 56K modem, though. (Has anyone ever gotten a 56K connection with one of those things? I never have...)
"The future's good and the present is nothing to sneeze at." - Roblimo's last
Start Open Source TV.
You know, get a decent web cam that is close to broadcast television quality.
Get a decent AV computer, that lets you do streaming video in addition to live stuff.
Get a fat pipe.
Start your own TV station.
Take requests from audience members interactively.
Maybe charge $19.95 a month for a special members only channel.
Oops, I just described 90% of the pron sites.
George
I can't be the only one. I work for a hi-tech company, I love gadgetry, I'm entranced by the latest "thing", but I simply don't watch television. When I do use the TV, it's for movies. I don't even know what channels I receive.
:) doesn't gel with me.
Spending my entire day in front of one monitor merely to go home to another (in lower res at that
Maybe TV is a dying medium. Once you've been exposed to the stimulus of interactive content - of actual people responding to your assertions and replying with their own - sitting in front of a glowing CRT that feeds you laugh tracks just can't kick the endorphins back to their former highs.
Set-tops are betting on the addiction of people to their televisions. The manufacturers fancy that Joe Smith, who watches the typical eight hours a day, can be eased into a new dependency, this time on their "content" services like chat and news. But isn't that sort of thing anathema to Joe Smith's entire way of life? If he wanted stimulation, he could find it in a book or in a bar. He doesn't want it. He wants to be deadened for a few hours before bedtime.
Wake up.
Go to work.
Come home.
Go to sleep.
Why would he allow thought and stress, both of which are prevalent on the internet, to encroach upon his mental down time?
OTOH, I could be wrong. Could be that with their combination of flair and verbal communication, set-tops will spark a slow return to literacy and a new appreciation for personal expression. That would be an excellent thing, although I'm a little dubious at this point.
We'll see.
-konstant
-konstant
Yes! We are all individuals! I'm not!
Sorry, this got posted by mistake during editing.
Ignore this one and read the other "take a number" which was posted by me.
"You want to kiss the sky? Better learn how to kneel." - U2
"It was like trying to herd cats..." - Robert A. Heinlein
Sig:
Barbeque is a noun. Not a verb.
This is not an origional concept. At all.
"By taking the lead and creating products that..."
Excuse me, but no.
Every major communications company has been working on something like this for years. One of the major problems being the infrastructure to support it. That's one of the reasons you might not have heard about it. Lack of infrastructre to install the box doesn't mean you can't have the box working in the lab waiting for the day when the bandwidth is available.
Why do you think Motorola bought General Instruments? The company states that "Motorola has a Global Commitment to broadband multimedia/communications solutions." Which is true.
Only only advantage to the deal is that Nokia might have the communications connections to actually sell the thing. Then again GI has a install base of over 15 million.
Intel and Nokia now see how much money they'll be missing in the upcoming broadband revolution and want a piece. This is also why Sony is selling the Playstation2 as a "home gateway" unit.
They aren't taking the lead, they're already behind.
"You want to kiss the sky? Better learn how to kneel." - U2
"It was like trying to herd cats..." - Robert A. Heinlein
Sig:
Barbeque is a noun. Not a verb.