Connected To The Internet

An increasing number of consumer electronics are Internet connected these days. As well as the set-top boxes which rely on a Web connection, games consoles, TVs, Blu-ray players, and mobile devices can all be hooked up to the Internet.

Many of these devices then become capable of airing online video. Games consoles in particular are proving to be strong drivers of online video, as is Netflix with its ‘Watch Instantly’ service streaming to numerous devices and platforms.

Ethernet TV Sets

Many flat-screen television sets now come with Ethernet connectivity, although the percentage is still pegged at around 19 percent, or one in five of all new sets sold.

However, a new forecast from ABI Research claims these figures will rise considerably to hit 46 percent in 2013. So in just three short years time, almost half of all TV sets will be able to connect to the Web.

Industry analyst Michael Inouye said:

“TV makers no longer want to build dumb screens. Rather than simply selling boxes, TV makers themselves could try to secure part of the revenue generated by ads their devices present”.

This would obviously be a big boost to online video, with the need to use computers and even set-top boxes and the like fading into the background. At least that’s a possibility.

Standardization Or Death?

The problem at the moment is that there’s no inkling of standardization. Instead, most TV manufacturers are pursuing their own connected TV platforms. And then there are the likes of Project Canvas from the BBC, DivX TV, Vudu, Google TV, and Boxee amongst others.

Too many different proprietary systems emerging at once, all essentially in competition with each other, is going to lead to mayhem. And now would surely be the time for one or two platforms to emerge as the favorites.

Conclusions

Whatever happens, Internet connected televisions should help lift the popularity of online video, as watching in the living room from the sofa will surely bring Web TV into into the mainstream in a big way.

It should also help those hoping to cut the cord from cable and satellite television.

ConnecTV is billed as the world’s first social media center for MIPS Android-based embedded platforms. Today it provides an insight into how the digital home may evolve over the next few years as more powerful internet frameworks are rolled out.

Today I got a hands-on preview of the ConnecTV platform produced by Home Jinni. At first it looks like just another GUI for a home media center like you’d see on the AppleTV, Boxee or PopBox. However, after a while you realize this media center software is incredibly powerful and packed with potential.

The platform would be used by any TVs, media centers, cell phones and set top boxes that wanted the technology. There’s also the possibility it would be released as a standalone open-source software for compatible computers reminiscent of Boxee.

Let’s take a hands-on peak…

A Media Center for the Future

Essentially it has the potential to create a set-top-box that has everything. A couple of years ago I dreamed about the DVR of the future, now ConnecTV looks like the platform that could pull it off.

Times are changing though with on-demand web video sneaking into the mainstream, which would make DVR functionality mostly redundant. At least that’s how Shidan Gouran of Home Jinni sees it.

What makes ConnecTV stand out is the speed and seamless integration between devices. It is built for MIPS Android based systems and for use with the faster and more powerful internet framework IMS/4G which looks set to become mainstream over the next 5 years.

Placeshifting, Broadcasting & Home Networked Video

For example, you could flip the video you are watching onto any DLNA device on your home network, or to any other compatible Android device in the world without the need to install additional software. It’s a media extender and placeshifter in one.

The idea is you could literally login from anywhere and move your media between any DLNA devices on your home network.

So imagine you are watching a cool video. Using the social networking feature you could almost instantly stream the video to a friend’s smartphone where it would pop-up right on their screen.

It’s Slingbox and Slingcatcher functionality all in one. Watch your home video collection from anywhere, and send media and video (including live video) to anyone with a compatible device.

Platform Built for Apps

ConnecTV for the most-part is open source allowing anyone to create Apps for the platform.

It is likely that some (probably most) of the manufacturers that would use the platform would decide to lock out third party apps. A cable provider for example would want tight control over what you could do on your media center.

However, it is very likely some forward thinking company would embrace the open source aspect allowing an array of hacks and apps to do almost anything you could imagine with ConnecTV.

Designed for Consumer Electronics

Built from the ground up for Androld, ConnectTV can be embedded directly in all Blu-Ray players, digital TV sets and set-top boxes that support the MIPS Android platform.

Internet TV

• Search and browse for TV content from thousands of websites.
• Stream directly to the TV set without needing a PC or media adaptors.
• Just input what you want to watch and have ConnecTV find it for you across all Internet sources. This can include virtually any online video source the set-top-box manufacturer wants.
• Play media from devices on your home network.
• ConnecTV claims it is the most advanced client for online movie databases and TV meta-data lookup, for example showing a movie synopsis from the IMDB database.

Social Networking

• ConnecTV comes integrated with all popular Soclal Networks including Facebook, Myspace Twitter, Ning, Orkut and all Opensocial sites.
• Social Recommendation Engine, watch what your friends recommend.

DLNA Network

• Discover aggregate and search all media in your home network from DLNA devices.
• Just enter what you are looking for and ConnecTV will look for it on your home network and on the net.
• Seamlessly play media on any DLNA device in the home.
• ConnecTV is a full featured DLNA Controller, Media Player and Media Server

Application Framework

• A rich application framework for unified search discovery and aggregation of content from Internet TV and DLNA media sources.
• Plug-in Container
• A powerful component architecture to extend the ConnecTV Internet TV and DLNA framework.
• Example TV application plug-ins include:
  - Non Web TV media sources (1MS/Open IPTV, P2P-Next, etc)
  - Network IP Camera Controller/NVR
  - Chrome Energy Management / Home Automation

The ConnecTV Low Down – Where it Could Go Wrong

ConnecTV certainly makes a promising media center, but it is a long way of from becoming a reality.

The first hurdle is the uptake of the underlying technology. 4G/IMS internet would need to become more mainstream, and the device hosting the software would need to use a MIPS Android platform.

With Google being such a fan of the Android platform, and with 4G/IMS currently looking like the favorite technology for the next internet framework things do look promising in that respect.

However, the key for ConnecTV is partners that would manufacturer devices which use the media center platform. Right now ConnecTV does not have anyone signed up, but CES is the first time the product has been unveiled.

It should be available to OEM partners by the summer of 2010, at which point we’d hope to see ConnecTV finding some solid partners.

Also See

• Monsoon Volcano HD Review | Slingbox Placeshifting, YouTube Streaming Internet Video & TiVoToGo All-In-One
• More CES 2010 Coverage
• Unlocking Android: A Developer’s Guide (Book)

This is an important move not just to support the increasing number of home video cameras with HD options but also to give professional content creators confidence that the platform is right for their work.

YouTube Video Quality

When YouTube first launched four years ago, video quality (360p) on the site wasn’t great. But that wasn’t what the site was about so it didn’t matter. YouTube was there to offer a free and easy way for people to host video online. And it did that so well that Google paid $1.65 billion for the site a year later.

But times move on, as does technology.

YouTube first started offering a ‘High Quality’ (480p) version of some videos, and while the difference wasn’t vast it was noticeable. Then in December 2008 YouTube launched ‘High-Definition’ video, which took the clips to a native 720p.

Full HD On YouTube

Now, after an announcement on the YouTube Blog, the site is starting to offer Full HD of 1080p. There’s already a test video running at that super high quality and the rest of the videos on the site will begin airing in 1080p from next week.

YouTube is in the process of re-encoding all content that has been uploaded at 1080p back to its original resolution. However, there will still be a 720p option available on all videos so as to support viewers who can’t view 1080p without massive lag or hardware problems.

There will still be a 10-minute limit on video uploads but the 2GB size limit will surely be increased to cater for this new breed of high-definition video clips.

Conclusions

This change could have a huge impact in a couple of different ways.

For the average home user of YouTube it’ll make the viewing experience more pleasurable than ever, especially for those watching on HD televisions via their games console, set-top box, or connected laptop.

But more importantly than that, it will surely help YouTube in its quest to entice professional content creators to the site. Some may have been resistant all the while their content was going to look relatively poor, but now it’s widescreen and in Full HD, that reason not to get involved flies out the window.

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Epix Coming Soon

June saw a new venture announced by the name of Epix. It’s a premium movie channel from Lionsgate, MGM, and Paramount which will be available to watch on cable and, if you are a Verizon FiOS subscriber, on the Web as well.

At the time I described it as a Hulu for movies but that was slightly over the top. It is only available to U.S. residents, the same as Hulu, but it’s a different animal altogether by virtue of being inextricably linked in with a cable subscription. Something which Hulu is not, although even Hulu could soon start charging for selected content.

What Epix Isn’t

Epix is the TV and movies industries trying to move with the times a little. Just a few years ago, the idea of offering streaming movies over the Web would have been anathema to the studios, but they are at least now experimenting with the format.

However, as previously reported, Epix is just one small cog in a very large wheel, and on it’s own won’t achieve anything. What’s really needed is an integrated online movie store with content from all available sources, and that’s the only way the movie industry will avoid going the way of the music industry.

What Epix Is

However, we are left with Epix in its current format, and it’s not a bad start to the move to offering Hollywood content over the Web. Epix has launched today, and a limited number of free three-day weekend passes are being handed out from now until Thanksgiving at EpixHD.com/invite.

While Epix on the Web is currently limited to FiOS subscribers, other Internet and cable providers are in talks.

According to ReadWriteWeb, EpixHD is totally Flash-based to avoid the need for any downloads or plug-ins being installed. Video quality is reported as exceptional, with fast connections receiving video at 720p HD.

There are currently 300 movies available on the site, including recent releases such as Iron Man, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and Indiana Jones and The Temple of The Crystal Skull.

Conclusions

It’ll be interesting to see how many people take up the free weekend pass offer and then how many of those choose to use the service in the long term. To truly succeed, Pix needs to sign up more Internet and cable providers but for now I’m certainly jealous of FiOS subscribers.

Moving To The Web

Cable and network television companies are slowly starting to realize the potential of online television. Some are resistant to the change in viewing habits currently taking hold, mainly because the Web constitutes a sector of the market they don’t control. There’s also the fact that ad revenue on the Internet is generally a lot lower than on television.

But slowly and surely, cable companies and the big U.S. television networks are fathoming that they need to get on the boat at this early stage or risk being left behind at the port. Hulu has NBC, Fox, and ABC on board as well as smaller networks such as Bravo, PBS, E!, and Comedy Central. And others are finding their own way online.

TV Everywhere

Last month saw two of the major cable companies, Comcast and Time Warner, unveiled a new upcoming service called TV Everywhere. This constitutes a set of guidelines for moving cable TV content on to the Web. The only catch being that you can only access that content it if you already subscribe to cable TV from one of the two companies.

TV Everywhere states that the cable companies do want to head for the Web, making content accessible across a wider range of platforms than currently. Existing subscribers will not have to pay any additional fees to access the programming online. But in the same vein as Epix, the joint venture between Lionsgate, Paramount, and MGM, there will be no opportunity for others to join in the fun.

On Demand Online

Comcast and Time Warner is due to test out the system, with 5,000 existing cable subscribers participating in the On Demand Online, due to launch in the next few weeks. The lucky chosen ones will be given access to 750 hours of programming each month. This was already going to include content from Starz, TBS, and TNT, but now two new partners have signed up as well.

HBO and Cinemax

HBO and Cinemax today joined the fray, both offering programming to the On Demand Online trial. HBO will contribute full-length episodes of popular series such as Entourage, Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Wire, Sex and the City, and The Sopranos. While Cinemax will offer movies such as Transformers, The Dark Knight, Tropic Thunder, Shrek the Third, Kung Fu Panda, The Bourne Ultimatum, Juno, Mamma Mia!, and Burn After Reading.

Conclusions

This is a good, and somewhat necessary move on the part of the cable companies. I hope the 5,000 trial participants have a good experience so that the service is expanded in the future. However, why is it being limited to existing cable subscribers? Why wouldn’t the cable companies want to offer others the chance to access their programming via either a subscription-based model or ad-based model?

On Demand Online is definitely a positive step in the right direction but the cable companies are going to have to accept the Internet and online video in a bigger way altogether if they want to evolve with the rest of us.

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Hollywood Vs. Pirates

Hollywood is becoming increasingly worried about movie piracy, and with good reason. There’s evidence to suggest the majority of people don’t see anything wrong with it, and even those who do see why it’s a bad thing still do it regardless.

The recent leak of X-Men: Wolverine a full month before it was due for release and the consequent downloading of the file by millions of people show that if movies are available online, people will want to watch them, regardless of the legality or otherwise of how they are obtained.

Epix is Epic

So clearly what Hollywood and the movie studios need to do is embrace the Internet rather than keep fighting against it and the distribution channels it makes possible. Although the cinema experience is still being held up as the ultimate way of watching movies, once they’ve completed their run in theaters and are on their to DVD, movies are becoming accessible.

Today sees the launch of Epix, a joint venture between movie studios Lionsgate, Paramount, and MGM. There will be an HD channel coming to cable services, with an HD online streaming service also being made available. The two services will show the same movies, which will include brand new releases fresh out of the cinema.

TV Channel and Web Site

The cable television channel will show high-definition versions of recent movies, those that up to now come under the pay-TV banner. These are movies that have had their full runs in cinemas but are yet to become available on DVD and Blu-ray. What makes Epix different is that it’ll be sold bundled in existing cable packages rather than asking for extra payments or a subscription.

In conjunction with the TV channel is a new Web site located at EpixHD.com. This will offer viewers the not only the same content online and on-demand but also the full back catalog of movies, even after they’ve stopped being shown on television. The movies online will also be available in 720p HD, although the quality of the stream will depend on the quality of your Internet connection.

Unlike Hulu and Netflix On Demand, the Web site will operate with neither a pay-to-view revenue model or an advertising-based revenue model. To all intents and purposes it will actually be free, but there is, inevitably, a catch. EpixHD will only be available to those who pay for their cable television and Internet through the same company. I assume this also means it’s a U.S.-only based affair, just like Hulu in fact, at least for now.

Conclusions

It’s a great idea but obviously one that has its potential nixed to a certain degree by the requirements placed upon it. Not only is everyone outside the States being ignored, so are U.S. residents who don’t subscribe to cable. Which means I can see the good intentions being trodden on by the bad infrastructure.

Maybe it’s too early to call this one. The site is still in beta and no cable partners have yet been announced. With the service still at such an early stage of development, it could still be transformed into what the majority of consumers really want. Otherwise I fear the mainstream will stick to downloading movies from torrent sites such as The Pirate Bay.

[Via Ars Technica]

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The Internet Is For Porn

There’s no way to get around the fact that one of the most popular aspects of the Internet is for porn. The Avenue Q song, The Internet Is For Porn, rather says it all. Not only is it hugely popular but it’s also one of the most profitable slices of the Internet, whether your morals tell you that is right or wrong.

BitTorrent companies, on the other hand, may provide a service which many of us use on a regular basis but making money is a little trickier. As the four founders of The Pirate Bay will attest, the money made doesn’t cover the cost of the fines meted out when your company is taken to court for copyright infringements.

Vuze Offers StudioHD

However, according to NewTeeVee, Vuze (formerly Azureus), a BitTorrent client feeling the pinch from increasingly popular competitors such as uTorrent, may have found a solution. The company is offering an adult video download service called StudioHD, which offers all the porn you could handle for a set monthly fee. And all in high-definition too.

StudioHD is listed alongside the ‘Sexy’ video category, is accessible to anyone running Vuze who verifies they are over 18-years-of-age, and is willing to pay the asking price of $25 a month. For that, they will gain unlimited access to around 300 high-def porn videos,not lumbered with DRM and available on up to three computers at once.

The Problem – Free Alternatives

P2P networks are literally infested with pornography of all kinds so offering a premium, paid for service would seem to be a logical step for a company such as Vuze. Torrents are notoriously hard to monetize and so setting up more legitimate businesses around the technology and charging for them is sensible.

However, the big problem may be how popular porn is in the first place. It’s estimated that 60 percent of video content downloaded via peer-to-peer is of an adult nature, and most of that is obviously pirated and therefore free to obtain. When you consider that the section dedicated to HD porn on The Pirate Bay runs to 600 clips, the problem becomes obvious.

Conclusions

The reasons for Vuze doing this are obvious – it’s struggling to make any serious revenue and failing to obtain any more mainstream offerings from media companies. When in doubt, target people where they’re weakest, which for most men is the libido. Whether these men (and women) will want to pay for something they can get for free elsewhere remains to be seen.

iPlayer = Awesomeness

The BBC iPlayer is already awesome. So much so that I’m sorry for people outside of the UK who aren’t given the chance to use the service without employing some proxy server shenanigans. Just think of it as payback for Hulu and all the other U.S.-based premium programming services off-limits to anyone who isn’t blessed enough to reside in the States.

As awesome as the iPlayer is, there is always room for improvement. And the BBC is great at keeping on top of new advances in technology and new ways of delivering and packaging television content. Which is why the iPlayer has now gone HD, and had a host of other improvements tacked on at the same time.

High-Definition Online Video

High-definition is becoming more popular by the day. There are obvious uses already out there – Blu-ray, video games, paid-for HD channels, but online video is slowly yet surely catching up. And the BBC is the latest to jump on the bandwagon of offering high-def streaming and downloads.

According to BBC News, only selected programmes will be available in HD through the iPlayer. Doctor Who, Kerwhizz, and Dragons’ Den are three of the shows being promised to receive the treatment. The BBC already offers some HD content via its BBC HD channel on Sky and cable but this is the first chance for the average viewer without one of those services to have instant, up-to-date access to high-def programming.

The HD streams on the BBC iPlayer have a 1280×720 pixel resolution and encoding bitrate of 3.2Mbps. This does mean that users hoping to take advantage of them will need a speedy Broadband connection and a decent PC with a good graphics in order to do so. Also, no word yet on what the moaning ISPs have to say about all that extra bandwidth clogging up their tubes.

Other Improvements

To coincide with the HD offerings, other improvements have also been made. The most important being the adaptive bitrate feature which tests an individual’s Internet connection speed in order to deliver the best quality stream available to them. Which should please the ISPs about as much as the HD option displeases them.

These improvements to the service were unveiled at the same time that the cross platform desktop download manager was officially released. The BBC iPlayer Desktop was released as a beta in December but is now available to everyone. Everyone means Mac and Linux users as well as Windows users whose operating system has been supported from the beginning.

PC Pro notes that iPlayer users can also now download programmes directly in the WMV (Windows Media Video) format, bypassing the Adobe AIR-based desktop client entirely. This is important because it means Xbox 360 owners can now enjoy the iPlayer in the same way their PS3 and Wii-owning brethren have for a while.

Conclusions

The iPlayer was already an impressive service when it originally launched. But thanks to improvements and additions constantly being made, the BBC is managing to turn it into a must-have for any UK resident with a PC or media extender such as a games console. Now the corporation just needs to make it worldwide and expand its viewing figures by millions. A mere pipe dream?

Offline HD

In the offline world, HD is all the rage. A large percentage of the population now own Full-HD or HD-Ready televisions, and despite a slow launch, where it had to battle against HD DVD to become the format of choice, there is evidence that Blu-ray is also gaining a sizable market share.

There are also more content providers than ever offering their wares in high-definition, with Sky HD and BBC HD two of the leading proponents.

Online HD

Online has so far been a different story. Hindered by bandwidth and Broadband speed limitations, many Web companies have lagged behind their offline counterparts in offering a range of HD services. But no more.

YouTube took the plunge last year, offering HD streaming of selected videos. In a move coupled with a default widescreen player, December finally saw high-definition video come to the world’s most popular online video site.

Facebook quickly followed suit, so it seemed the streaming market was making headway into the world of HD. However, the ISPs are still likely to complain about high-def video becoming standard, which is why FilmOn developed HDi technology, which it claims eliminates the pesky bandwidth and speed problems by cleverly using compression.

Apple iTunes

Apple has been offering HD downloads of TV shows since last September, and all of the major networks were on board by October. And now it’s also offering HD movie downloads as well. The initial offering is small, with Quantum of Solace and Twilight the big movies instantly available, but the library is sure to grow over time.

Apple iTunes HD movie rentals are priced at $4.99 while downloads will cost $19.99 for newly-released movies. This seems steep although when compared to the $25 – $30 being asked for a new movie release on Blu-ray, it may actually not be so bad.

Amazon Video on Demand

Amazon has been growing its online video business for some time now, and there is growing evidence that it too will shortly be selling HD versions of television shows. According to Ars Technica, multiple Web sites have independently found evidence of the move. The fact that this evidence has turned up over the course of a few days suggests it’s more than just pure speculation.

The evidence suggests that Amazon will go toe-to-toe with Apple, matching the $2.99-per-episode price of HDTV content. Amazon has responded to the claims, telling Tech Flash:

“We said many months ago that we intend to bring HD titles to our catalogue in 2009 but we have no further details to announce at this time.”

The Winner: Consumers

The start of an online HD video war is good news for the consumer. It should mean prices will come down as both sides battle to provide the lowest-priced service. It could also mean advances are made in the delivery methods, as neither side wants to be labeled with having the worst-looking high-definition content on the Web.

HD is finally finding its feet on the Internet. It’s now up to the companies involved to push its adoption.

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Most of us have a PC hooked up to the Internet. And it’s on that that we watch homemade video clips on YouTube, television episodes on Hulu, or BBC iPlayer, and movies through torrents.

Set-Top Boxes

The last couple of years has seen various companies try to bring Web video to other parts of the living room via set-top boxes such as Apple TV, VUDU, and Roku. But none have really caught in a big way despite showing promise.

There just seems to be a lack of public interest in buying yet another device in order to watch television content. Which leaves one solution: integrate the Web video delivery system into the TV itself.

Broadband HDTV

This is exactly what LG is planning to do with its new range of Broadband HDTVs. The LCD and plasma televisions will be Internet-ready straight out of the box, and while surfing the Web won’t be possible, accessing video sites will be.

The Broadband HDTV range won’t come cheap, costing approximately $300 than comparable models sold without Internet access. So I’m not sure the middle of a recession is the best time to be launching this product.

Netflix

The first partnership being announced is with Netflix, which should really come as no surprise seeing as how the company is seemingly doing deals with everyone and his mother in the hopes that one of them will lead to something good.

We’ve already seen Netflix being integrated into the Roku set-top box, an LG Blu-ray player, and the Xbox 360. And now Netflix’s ‘Watch Instantly’ library of 12,000 movies will be available on LG televisions too.

The Start Of The Future?

Despite the recession, this is a big step on the road to a future when a proportion of television will be delivered over the Internet. While consumers may not have been willing to pay out for an extra set-top box, they may be willing to spend a little extra to have the added content if they;re already in the market for a new TV.

Games consoles have really shown the way forward for devices other than computers being permanently connected to the Internet. Televisions seem to be the next logical step in that trend so it’ll be extremely interesting to see if the general public takes to the idea or not.

[Via The New York Times]

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