Why Google TV Sounds Good
October 7th, 2010, 12:15pm by Mike
For me, it’s down to one thing: the web browser.
Nearly all of the other capabilities can be found on the numerous other settop boxes (Roku, Tivo, AppleTV, Western Digital, etc), and some of those competitors have their own value-add (the “value” of which varies with the user — for example, I don’t value DVR, certainly not with a monthly subscription fee). Streaming Netflix, Pandora, and Amazon stuff works with pretty much any DVD player, let alone settop box these days.
For me, the value of Google TV is in the web browser itself. To my knowledge, there is very little out there that can stream live broadcasts (or even Flash or Silverlight videos) straight from the web without consent of the content provider (for example, Hulu). However, these are available easily through a web browser on any computer. For myself, I’d love to be able to see foxsoccer.tv — their broadcasts are Flash-encoded, which means that the only way I can see them is via my laptop connected to the TV, and the quality is such that my netbook doesn’t play the stream well.
There are also a few other questions I have that may help make a decision on Google TV for me:
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Does the Logitech Revue have local storage?
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Will the Android Market (or the Google TV Market subsection thereof) allow a Bittorrent client to be approved? That will be interesting (but useless without local storage).
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The Revue can stream from computers, I would think they’d make it easy to do so using iTunes-organized libraries, but I haven’t seen this actually stated anywhere. I wouldn’t say there’s any chance it would actually be accessible as a device in iTunes, but that would be cool.
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Can the Revue play back DIVX files? It looks like it can play MKV, which means it probably can play DIVX, too.
Then there’s the fact that I already have a settop box (as we all do). Yes, it’s an (old) AppleTV, and I think it’s great for some things, like the occasional iTunes movie rental or its main use, streaming downloaded stuff from my server (using Boxee). The nice thing about a standalone device like that, versus a Tivo, is that I don’t have to get rid of it — I could have the AppleTV in parallel with Google TV if I wanted to, without having to pay any more money like subscription fees. Sunk costs are good that way, from a rationalization point of view, anyway.
On a side note, I think the new AppleTV is a complete waste of money, unless you want Netflix streaming and want to have access to the iTunes store. Even if it runs apps, I don’t think it’ll ever be that compelling an alternative, even to the older AppleTV.
Still, given all this, I think $299 is a little steep — assuming it could do most of what I have listed above, and have a processor that could really crunch HD streams without a hiccup, it would definitely be worth $200, maybe even more, to me.
October 7th, 2010 at 1:49 pm
Haven’t read enough about GoogleTV to have much of an opinion. Not sure what I’d do with it. Maybe stream some podcasts, but for that, AppleTV would seem to suffice for cheaper. Certianly Flash and a web browser should give it flexibility that the other solutions don’t have, but I don’t actually watch any flash video on the web from a PC.
I am surprised by your opinion on the new AppleTV though– “useless” seems a bit harsh. If I were more of an Apple user all around, I think I’d love it. Isn’t Airport Express even more expensive? It at least an do those things (serve as a remote receiver for iTunes). Plus, with Airplay, you can project video and audio from your iPad/iPhone, meaning ABC, Hulu, Netflix, Simplfy, Orb, etc. Essentially, it puts apps on the AppleTV. Personally, I’d use it for streaming podcasts, too. The main benefit of the old one is compatibility with Boxee, but since the new one has already been jailbroken, I would expect the hackery to soon follow. I do find it odd that from the console, you can’t buy or rent iTunes video that hasn’t been made available for streaming (limited selection), meaning, you need to go to a PC to buy it first before playback. Not the biggest deal, but one consequence of the loss of local storage.
October 7th, 2010 at 2:46 pm
— You can stream iTunes to it, but you have to connect it to something with an HDMI or optical audio input. Airport Express (which costs the same, actually) has an optical/3.5mm audio jack output, which is much more versatile if you’re not hooking into your home theater system. (Of course, there are other advantages to the AppleTV…)
— You can “fling” video from your phone to Google TV as well. As for AppleTV, I’m not sure exactly what video can be displayed via AirPlay — I’m skeptical, seeing as how the video out connector for iPad doesn’t work as expected for many apps (the developer has to specifically code how the video out should work — for example, Keynote displays the presentation controller, not the presentation, so you can’t hook your iPad up to a projector to present. Stupid.)
— People who are big iTunes store renters/buyers (not me) would probably rather have the model that the old AppleTV will still have, rather than the all-streaming-all-the-time model. I’m sure that removing local storage is what helped keep the price down, but seems like a big loss.
Maybe “useless” is too harsh, but I think “less useful than the current model,” at least for me, is pretty accurate.
October 7th, 2010 at 3:23 pm
Well, a 40GB notbook drive probably costs $10, so local storage was probably nixed more because of industrial design reasons (as if that’s much of a selling point). Anyway, the way I see it, I bought a Roku box for Steph a few years back for $99, and at the time, it didn’t do a single thing other than streaming Netflix. Prices have cone down ($50 for the cheapest Roku), but it seems like AppleTV is priced competitively.
October 18th, 2010 at 2:00 pm
As I was saying… the web browser is the cool part of GoogleTV.
October 22nd, 2010 at 8:17 am
I’ll start by saying that I’m not really sold on Google TV. It’s pretty pricey, vs. the impulse buy Apple TV. And if you’re mostly after the browser, a Mac Mini or small PC seem like a better solution. Since the TiVo can handle most of what the Google TV does, I don’t see one in my future.
Now, we see nearly all the major networks blocking Google TV from being used to watch their shows. While largely self-defeating and pointless, it does have the side effect of reducing the value of Google TV. Engadget even noted that the Hulu workaround stopped working. Once it’s back to paying $5 or $15/month just to watch broadcast TV, one big advantage Google TV has over an OTA TiVo set up disappears.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE69K5QS20101022
October 22nd, 2010 at 1:14 pm
Yeah, that sounds like a pretty crippling blow for most people. And you’re right, a Mac mini or small PC might be better for a browser — I’d want it to have a good living room UI (I’ve never used Win Media Center), and the mini is out of the question (price wise) as a HTPC for me.
Then again, if all I want a GoogleTV for is to stream foxsoccer.tv, then $299 is way way too much anyway. If my netbook were a little more capable, then I’d be all set with that and my current hacked AppleTV.
October 22nd, 2010 at 3:11 pm
Yeah, I think Google TV is a tough sell for anyone who already has a Tivo, AppleTV, or a WindowsPC hooked up to their television. But Derrick might want one 🙂
October 25th, 2010 at 3:06 pm
Engadget, Gizmodo, and Electronista all point to iFixIt’s teardown of the Logitech Revue box, talking about how crappy the GoogleTV is on the inside. Apparently it’s a basically a netbook — not surprising from the price).
And the offhand comments suggest that its UI is as disappointing as its guts. Oh well.
October 25th, 2010 at 5:10 pm
Here’s a pretty devastating review, which manages to almost squeeze in a conditional recommendation despite the train wreck experience by the Android aficionado.
http://searchengineland.com/life-with-google-tv-my-first-day-impressions-53471
$300 for a Google TV. Or $600 for a TiVo with a lifetime subscription. I know which I’d choose!
October 25th, 2010 at 10:04 pm
Maybe I’ll dual-boot my netbook into OS X and GoogleTV. GoogleTV will be hacked soon enough.
October 27th, 2010 at 3:06 pm
What is Tivo’s philosophy on an app store? Do they have an SDk for the public? Watching the demo on the Engadget Show (worth the watch IMO), what struck me as cool about Google TV isn’t what it is, it’s what it could be. Sure video calling with the Logitech Revue is currently pretty locked down, but eventually, Yahoo Messenger or Skype will come out with a AndroidTV build that will bring cross-device compatibility. There’ll be lots of apps we can’t yet imagine. TiVo has been adding functionality (Pandora, it sounds like, was a recent addition), but is that through trusted partners or in-house development? They need to open it up to come back to relevance. Bring Flickr Mundo to TiVo! That goes for XBox and AppleTV as well.
October 27th, 2010 at 3:48 pm
TiVo has been promising app support for about 4 years, but it’s never really panned out. They lack a good discovery & configuration mechanism. Even among TiVo’s techie audience, I’d wage fewer than 10% have ever used an app that wasn’t pre-configured.
Heck, they’ve had “official” support for iTunes for years, and same with Photobucket & Picasa. But not Flickr support– can’t fathom that one. Now it’s all running on Flash, it’s supposed to be easier to extend the platform. Honestly, they’d be better off implementing webOS as a separate application layer & riding it’s coattails. Or Android, I suppose, if they wanted to ride actual coattails.
October 27th, 2010 at 6:40 pm
OK, I’m watching The Engadget Show on the TiVo right now.
October 27th, 2010 at 6:52 pm
Did you go home sick? I’m about to pretend to be sick too to get home in time for the world series game 1.
October 27th, 2010 at 8:49 pm
I went home actual sick. Sick enough.
Oh, I just figured out the real solution. HP should buy TiVo and put webOS on the TiVo boxes. Ultimate convergence!
October 28th, 2010 at 1:03 am
I think I mentioned once that I’d like webOS on a TV, but I don’t think it’s UI is very remote-friendly. Kinect-based gesture capture would work though, so HP should consider buying Microsoft while they’re at it :).
Seriously though, how does webOS help tivo’s situation? Seems like it already has a platform to support apps like netflix, hulu, skype. They just need to galvanize the developer interest. Doesn’t webOS has the exact same problem?
October 28th, 2010 at 5:37 am
Isn’t the more obvious answer for Tivo that Apple will buy them to get their DVR assets, and combine that with iOS app-running ability in a next-gen AppleTV? It’s not like Tivo would make a dent in Apple’s war chest.
October 28th, 2010 at 11:30 am
TiVo is unbuyable until the DISH litigation settles. Plus, for all the beatings webOS has received, its installed base is much higher than TiVo, and there are probably 100x as many apps. There’s no good “app store” on TiVo.
October 29th, 2010 at 1:59 pm
The Engadget review is in, and the Google TV scores a 6/10. http://www.engadget.com/2010/10/29/google-tv-review/ Of course, the TiVo Premiere got a whopping 5/10, so I guess that means it’s 20% better than a TiVo?