Google TV: What Is It, And What Does It Mean For The Future Of Home Media

When you think of an all encompassing media outlet, one jumps directly to the king of all media, if not the entire world, Apple.

However, it looks like Google is not too happy with that, and has recently announced their answer to Apple TV.

Google TV was announced this week, and according to Gizmodo, it is many things. First, it’s described as a software platform. The outlet compares it to something like Android, software that is run on the Nexus One. Google TV will be something that will run on respective televisions. At the announcement, Logitech, Sony, and DISH will support the respective piece of software. It will be seen in a set top box made by Logitech, on Sony TVs (and a Blu-ray player), and in forthcoming DISH boxes. All will be available by fall of 2010.

Also, Google TV will be able to work with existing cable/satellite boxes, and works like a carbon copy of Google search, which for fans of the world’s foremost search engine, this should be music to your ears. You search for a TV station, or an actually television show.

It can also combine your TV and phone, as well as your TV and web, and not only supports Flash, but can run apps such as Pandora and Netflix (I’ll get to that in a second). There are also some announcements that reportedly have yet to be made. However, none of them look to involve Google’s attempt at an OS, Chrome. Nothing has involved Chrome so far, and it doesn’t look like it will any time soon.

So, when thinking of this, the first thing that comes to mind is that it basically flies directly in the face of the current king of stream, Netflix. However, with Netflix playing a major role in the introduction of Google TV, it looks like they actually will work together, instead of playing against each other.
Here’s to hoping that Google TV actually does something that people like Apple haven’t been quite able to do: making TV viewing and viewing the web all on your television, actually something appetizing to the every day consumer.

With Google’s newest attempt at complete world domination, the living room entertainment platform known as Google TV, recently announced, we are slowly not only learning what to expect from the piece of software, but also what analysts think could be the extent of this item’s reach.

Even the software’s competitors see it as something interesting.

According to New TeeVee, while Google TV is directly competing with the likes of Boxee and Roku, these opponents see the box as a ‘great opportunity.’ Boxee CEO Avner Ronen recently spoke at TechCrunch Disrupt, and said that ‘if Android finds its way onto TVs, Blu-ray players, and other devices, that’s a great opportunity for us.’ With companies creating an Anroid-enabled device, this will allow people like Boxee to be able to reach their target audiences much easier, through outlets like the Android app store.

However, according to analysts, this ability to reach consumers may be far less possible, at least if tech specifications are to be believed.

New TeeVee also reports that the software requires an Intel Atom processor, which while being a high end processor, has definite high end prices. Manufacturers would also need 1GB of RAM for video and app data, with an additional 4GB of flash memory for storage.

This high level of specifications have already scared of one manufacturer, as back in March, Panasonic announced that it would require too much power to make it a viable outlet. No price point for Google TV-enabled hardware has been announced, but analysts think that due to the specifications, this could run consumers a hearty premium above other similar hardware. However, as tech advances, prices do often drop fast and hard, so this premium would be for the first few runs of hardware, and most likely not much further.

That all said, analysts still think that this piece of software may be bigger than many of us expect. Home Media Magazine is reporting that analysts have really high hopes for this thing. According to Ralph Schackart, analyst for William Blair & Co. in Chicago, this could be the mainstay platform for third party apps such as Blockbuster, Vudu and the upcoming Best Buy outlet, CinemaNow. They also see this as a blow directly to things like Netflix.

‘If a consumer Googles Avatar via his TV, many service providers will be listed, but Netflix will not because it will not offer the movie digitally for many years until it reaches Netflix’s digital window.’

Also, with outlets like Redbox, who have no digital distribution model to speak of, this may be a massive blow to rental shops like that. However, with the specifications at a high premium, it will be interesting to see just how consumers respond to this piece of software. For all we know, it could bomb. While I doubt that will happen, as people will definitely be willing to pay for this, it is definitely going to be something to watch.

Source: Gizmodo / New TeeVee / New TeeVee / Home Media Magazine