The technologies that deliver online and offline content to the living room are getting increasingly popular. However, are they feasible? Will they be accepted by the mass-market? Or, will they fail? In this article, we take a look at: a) Consumer targeted technologies b) Custom solutions c) Problems with these methods and d) Alternatives that deliver online media to television.
A. Consumer Targeted Technologies:
- Apple TV:
Announced in 2006, Apple TV is a device that’s designed to stream media from an iTunes library to a television screen. Similar to Apple’s other products, the device requires minimal technical knowledge.
- Netflix: Netflix has been a leader in DVD mailings ever since it was founded in 1997. According to the company, it carries over 100,000 titles, with most DVDs reaching customers within 1 business day. In 2008, the company started offering free streaming abilities to subscribers with unlimited rental plans, across a number of devices, including the Netflix Roku player, various Blu-Ray players, the XBOX 360 and TiVo.
- Vudu: First released in 2007, Vudu is a device that’s designed to deliver a variety of movies from studios and independent producers via a set-top box and a broadband connection. Despite it’s attention from main-stream media, the company announced a significant restructuring in August 2008, indicating concerns regarding it’s future.
B. Custom and Advanced Solutions:
- XBOX 360: On November 18th, 2008, Microsoft announced a radical software change to their XBOX dashboard, calling it the New Xbox Experience (NXE). The update includes the ability to stream Netflix content to your television and watch pay-per-view content from the biggest studios in the world.
- Mac Mini / HTPCs: HTPCs or Home Theater PCs have been around for a while. However, they are most frequently used by technically capable hobbyists or enthusiasts. The main goal behind such computers is to a) record TV content via TV tuner cards b) display recorded content and c) display online content, such as photos, videos, podcasts, etc.
- Windows Media Center: Similar to HTPCs, Microsoft Windows Media Center has been a popular choice for those consumers that are sophisticated, but still not technical. Windows Media Center is available in most versions of Windows Vista.
C. Problems:
- Limited selection: Netflix only offers movies, Apple TV requires a media source that has either been purchased or converted to a proprietary format, and XBOX Live has limited partners that deliver content.
- Custom solutions require advanced technical knowledge and passion.
- Cost: People aren’t used to paying a steep up-front fee for media systems.
- Source: While it’s easy to get content from mass-media sources, it’s difficult to do so for online-only media. For example, a majority of the video content from Apple’s iTunes is a variation of the MPEG4 file format. On the other hand, most web video is Flash.
D. Alternatives:
- Rental boxes from media provider: Although this is the easiest solution, it’ also a solution with a recurring cost. Furthermore, many of these boxes (DVRs, cable-boxes, etc.) do not have the capability to stream online content to TVs.
- Reduced prices: Many of the solutions mentioned above, such as the XBOX 360, Blu-Ray players, TiVo, etc. are fairly expensive and the risk of entry is high, with little return.
- Content hub, example: Boxee is a software application that runs on multiple devices and allows you to retrieve scattered internet content from one dashboard. A similar application in a rental box, or any other mass-market device could make it the preferred application.
