
Google launches Google TV - kacy
http://www.google.com/tv/
======
mikeryan
So some background on this space.

This is hardly the first entrant and pretty much every tv and blu-ray you buy
moving forward will have similar capabilities to what Google has announced.
Though perhaps with a different provider.

Yahoo actually has the most TV's out right now with similar interactivity
using their widget platform. They're on Sony, Samsung, Vizio and LG tvs
<http://connectedtv.yahoo.com/>

Samsung has their own platform running on their TVs and blu-ray players. Its
an HTML engine and also supports a "Flash Lite" or Stagecraft. (and their tvs
still run yahoo widgets as well) <http://www.samsung.com/us/internetTV/>

Vudu (recently bought by Wal-Mart) has an app platform being supported by many
manufacturers as well its Lua based and on Toshiba, LG and Sanyo products.
(this is outside of their on-demand video service)

Panasonic has "Viera Cast" which is actually a cloud based service I haven't
really figured out yet

So besides these there's quite a few "Over The Top" boxes that provide similar
functions such as

Roku

Popcorn Hour (about to launch their new Popbox in a bit)

Apple TV

Boxee

Anyway its fun to see Google hopping into the space we'll see how well they
do.

~~~
obelix
You are right.

Apple TV should have been this product, if it was open and allowed you to
browse any website and ran flash, it didn't.

Boxee would be this product if it had shipped a box that worked with the TV.
(Yeah, I know about the boxee box). The difference is Google has the muscle to
close the loop on this one.

The others are all closed at various levels or lack developer traction.

Boxee is the closest in terms of being open, I was hoping to replace my apple
tv (had it from day 1 and use it for my videos and photos)

~~~
stcredzero
You can hack the Apple TV and put Boxee on it. The fact that so many people
did that should've clued Apple in.

What Google has, that only Yahoo and Microsoft can match, is federated search
for video content. Apple should buy a search engine and apply it to search
video content.

Google also has the brand clout to take on Microsoft and Apple. Yahoo has less
brand power, but it has enough to leverage itself into this market.

~~~
obelix
Have you tried it? It crashes the Apple Tv about twice a day, I reverted back
to the Apple Tv OS.

~~~
stcredzero
In that case, Apple gave up an even better opportunity than I thought.

~~~
obelix
I have read this a few times now about Apple trying to get a low cost TV
package for iTunes.

[http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_15121131?IADID=Search-
www.merc...](http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_15121131?IADID=Search-
www.mercurynews.com-www.mercurynews.com)

I think until they can pull it off, AppleTV would remain crippled.

------
alain94040
Not impressed yet. I watched the video and I can't tell if Google TV will know
about the channels I already receive. If you look at their pitch (around
0:30), they say it's too hard to find what I want to watch because I receive
hundreds of channels. I don't know about you, but I have a DVR, and it's quite
easy to find and record any show and watch them anytime.

So if Google TV doesn't give me access to the live shows I already receive, it
doesn't really solve a problem. I also have an AppleTV, so I understand the
value of being able to watch video podcasts and YouTube on my large screen TV.

~~~
stanleydrew
If you have the dish network google TV can interface with the scheduler and
your dvr. Hopefully more providers will come along as this develops.

------
obelix
RIP AppleTv. Apple had 3 years to do this and they missed it.

Android apps on the TV. The first person who gets the games to work with
Logitech Controller or any generic controller will win - big.

This thing can dent iPhoneOS big time.

~~~
theBobMcCormick
Android apps on the TV has the potential to be _huge_ particularly if the
build these Google TV systems with a decent video chipset (like that Tegra
chipset Nvidia's been demo'ing on a prototype Android tablet). Particularly
with Logitech, long time maker of TV remotes _and_ game controllers, on board,
this could challenge Wii for home gaming, possibly even challenge the Xbox 360
and PS3.

~~~
czhiddy
While I can see something like this doing very well against the Wii in the
casual gaming market, the hardware is too slow to compete with the 360/PS3
graphically for hardcore gamers.

That said, this isn't necessarily a bad thing. Hasn't the Wii been wildly more
profitable than its competitors?

~~~
theBobMcCormick
We don't know what the hardware for GoogleTV will be yet do we? But you're
probably right. The odds that it'd include Xbox360 level hardware are realllly
slim. :-(

------
spudlyo
I don't have TV, I have a 30" monitor. My sweetie and I roll the chair away
from my desk and sit on the couch a few feet behind. HD content looks great,
and I have a variety of sources to choose from, you tube, hulu, USENET, etc.

------
physcab
It's unfortunate that the demo they performed went so badly. If I'm going to
view internet on my TV, it has to be easier than plugging in my laptop. After
watching them fiddle around with their devices so awkwardly, I doubt it will
be any easier. Part of me was wishing that I could watch Steve Jobs debut a
new web-enabled Television that just freaking _works_.

~~~
papachito
It's a beta presentation, relax. You can find on youtube many failures that
happened on Steve Jobs presentations too. I'm sure the final version will work
just fine, just like any google product.

~~~
mattj
Want to link to some? It would make sense that they've happened, but I can't
really recall any actual examples...

~~~
papachito
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnVUvW42CUA>

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsKKQNZG3rE&feature=relat...](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsKKQNZG3rE&feature=related)

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maIgu_7oLm0&feature=relat...](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maIgu_7oLm0&feature=related)

------
rmanocha
Is it just me, or does this seem a lot like what boxee does? Perhaps Google,
with it's brand name will be finally able to push the web+tv concept into the
mainstream.

~~~
MikeCapone
I wonder if Apple will react by updating AppleTV and turning into what
everybody was hoping it would be from the beginning..

~~~
kacy
I'm likely to be completely wrong, but I seriously think that Apple is
prepping Apple TV for the iTunes cloud that we continue to hear about. It will
be the premiere device for them if they want to enter that market. Imagine on
demand streaming of all the shows you want for around $30/month. Ready to
stream to your iPad, iPhone, iMac, and Apple TV.

~~~
justinph
I'd love to see it (sort of), but Apple has pretty a pretty piss-poor record
of doing well anything in "the cloud". If anyone could get it right, it's
google.

~~~
bbatsell
Spending over a billion dollars on a brand new datacenter says to me that
they're interested in changing that record.

~~~
OrangeGuutan
You must be with the U.S. Department of Education...

------
Zot95
This doesn't seem to offer much more than TiVo. Based on Google's 2 minute
pitch, much of what they promised is already available on the Gen 3 TiVo:
record programs, Netflix, YouTube, video on demand, photos. The only things I
saw that were new were a "global" search capability and bookmarks. Is that
enough of a difference maker? Probably not. Maybe if there was some other
benefit thrown in (aka no recurring service fees).

------
csallen
I've never understood why solutions such as these are better than simply
plugging your computer into your TV. Any answers? Am I missing something?

~~~
obelix
Plugging your computer to your TV is not an option unless you have a dedicated
computer plugged to your TV. Then you want the computer to be quiet, small and
not FUGLY.

You want the computer to be operated by a small keyboard and a remote rather
than a mouse.

And you want your computer to have digial out, handle 7.1 surround and have
appropriate software to handle GPU encoding etc. When you add that up, the
cost goes high.

Hence, something like the logitech box or the boxee box (appropriately
priced)will do the job without another computer. (I own an apple tv)

AppleTv got it right - other than the closed / crippled part.

~~~
paul9290
You describe a Mac Mini. Quiet, small, inexpensive and not fugly!

~~~
ZeroGravitas
You can read a bunch of posts here about a techy, clueful, Mac savvy guy and
the many woes of trying to use a Mac Mini as a mediacentre:

<http://hicksdesign.co.uk/tag/mediacentre/>

He seems to finally settle with beaming media to his PS3 via DNLA _and_ buying
an AppleTV to achieve his aims.

Key quote on the Mac Mini:

 _When it works, it’s great. The trouble is that 15% of the time something
happens – EyeTV crashes, iTunes has been updated and won’t let you play
anything until you’ve accepted terms and conditions, or another app is telling
you that an update is available.

For these times, I don’t have an easy solution, other than to screen share and
sort it out with the MacBook. Sometimes (like in the instance of EyeTV
crashing) you just have to restart._

There's few good answers in this space at the moment. I've got an Acer Revo
running Ubuntu and XBMC that's doing great for me but it required me to climb
a major learning hump to get it all into shape. I didn't mind that, in fact I
enjoyed it, but there's few good, easy options for non-geeks, or even geeks
with less time to spend. There are lots of mediocre options but they're all
flawed in a variety of ways.

~~~
nathos
I find a Mac mini + Plex to be an excellent home media center:
<http://www.plexapp.com/>

The new media management features in the upcoming Plex/Nine release look
great: <http://vimeo.com/11880867>

The Apple Bluetooth keyboard is small enough to be living room friendly.

Overall, a Mac mini isn't quite as simple as AppleTV, but it's far more
functional.

~~~
obelix
Yes, it definitely is more functional. Every now and then I am tempted to
spend the $600 for a dedicated mini, but why bother?

If a boxee box does the job for $200, has 1080p, 7.1 out, 802.11n / Gig.E why
bother spending $600?

I hope the Logitech setup GoogleTv box does the job.

~~~
nathos
For me, the mini performs other tasks.

It's always on, so it's a great home storage server (I have a Drobo w/ 4.5TB
of storage attached via FireWire 800).

It downloads torrents & podcasts nicely.

Also, the shared library support coming in Plex/Nine looks killer. I'm looking
forward to running Plex on my MacBook without having to maintain a separate
metadata library.

~~~
obelix
I have two iMacs which already do what you say (Drobo as well). Don't want
another device hooked there.

------
gnubardt
The analytics they gather will be invaluable. Like nielsen ratings for web
video (correlated by household instead of user or computer).

~~~
nopal
Nielsen's value lies in their ability to know exactly who is watching TV (or
using the computer, now that they can monitor internet usage).

Members of a household log in to a Nielsen box when they watch TV, and Nielsen
knows precise demographic information about each member of the households they
monitor.

Google's not going to be able to tell you a Hispanic, thirteen-year-old male
watched Ninja Turtles (online) from 8-8:15.

~~~
jsz0
I bet they could. Just look at what Google account the Android phone acting as
a remote is logged into. It'd probably be easy enough to build some
demographic information just analyzing the users e-mail and searches.

~~~
nopal
Assuming that's true (what does a white person say in their e-mails), Nielsen
can do it legally. There's no way Google can sniff and data mine your e-mail
within the law or their TOS.

------
jaytee_clone
I already have a google tv. It's call projector + laptop.

But of course, I'm not the market segment they are going after.

------
neovive
This looks many times more powerful and easier to use than my current cable
box (of which most cable companies give you no choice). Searching for shows on
my cable box is slow and time-consuming, so GoogleTV looks very promising if
it can interact nicely with existing set-top boxes.

This is also a great way for Google to enter the home entertainment space and
begin leveraging this platform to expand the reach of their advertising and
analytics platforms.

------
staunch
They could do what iPhone did to phones to the desktop/television. A simple
platform that does what 90% of people need (watch Hulu/Netflix, browse eBay,
send email, etc). The Chrome Web Store can provide the App Store component.

I think the really critical part is getting the price so low that they get
massive distribution. At least until TVs have it built in. No one thinks "I
need to buy an internet computer for my TV", so they have to make it cheap
enough that people will say "why not?"

They should make good money off ad revenue, so hopefully they can give the
devices away, or get them down to $19 or $29.

~~~
chrischen
Lots of new tvs are Internet enabled already with YouTube support and other
stuff. And if your tv isn't, then there are bluesy players that do it, not to
mention ps3s and xboxes. However the one thing usually missing is July, so if
google can bring that then it's awesome

~~~
apu
July?

~~~
natrius
Probably Hulu.

~~~
chrischen
Yea I meant Hulu. I was typing it on the iPhone. And also sub "bluesy" with
blu-ray.

------
Tiktaalik
It'll be interesting to see if this goes anywhere. Microsoft (Xbox), Sony
(PS3) and Apple (Apple TV) all have boxes that in some way attempt to bring in
TV/movie/photo content to your TV. Those three haven't impressed me too much
with their efforts. Of course I'm in Canada, so many great features are
inaccessible to me.

Apple TV in particular has been particularly weak. It should have been
something like this from the get go. Maybe they'll finally announce some
interesting stuff for it now that the iPad is out the door.

------
elblanco
Cheapo laptop ($500), connected to my TV and surround sound, wireless keyboard
+ remote control to switch back to my FiOS TV is close enough for all of this
for me.

------
drenei
I see a simpler and arguably better search-find-consume cycle that includes
more sources like the TV channels you subscribe to, PPV, etc.

I'm not sure if thats enough though. I guess that would depend on the price
point + execution. Right now I already get what seems like the same results it
promises — all of my video is sourced online and I just feed the video from my
computer to my TV setup.

But I don't find cable valuable. Maybe this is more valuable for people who
do?

------
lishevita
I just looked at this and thought "Boxee. Yeah, I have that already."

OK, so they've jumped into a market that's already got a few players and since
they are so big they'll bring it to the masses. That's not all that exciting
from where I sit.

------
kevinelliott
The video was mostly fumes. It's hard to really see the true vision of the
product with that they released. But, at least this announcement may actually
get Apple to rethink their Apple TV strategy.

------
riobard
For anyone interested in an earlier failed attempt of Microsoft (China) into
the living room

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Venus>

------
brown9-2
It's not at all clear from the video, but what are you typing on when you
watch to search for whatever it is you're asking the Google TV device to
search for?

A keyboard plugged into the set-top box?

~~~
obelix
oh, for the demo they showed a keyboard and an android phone as well. The
input device / controller is going to vary based on provider. I can imagine
there will be many remotes with built in keyboards something like this:

[http://www.productwiki.com/upload/images/d_link_boxee_box_re...](http://www.productwiki.com/upload/images/d_link_boxee_box_remote_1.jpg)

------
rokhayakebe
Maybe there is something i am missing here, but how is this better than
hooking your laptop to your TV and bookmarking on your favorite shows on your
browser?

------
PostOnce
I am all the sudden reminded of Windows Media Center. Microsoft sure seems to
have a lot of trouble getting traction in some markets.

~~~
swilliams
Microsoft just keeps missing the mark with Media Center (MCE). It's been
around since 2002-2003, but has never gained any significant traction.

It's actually a pretty nice product. The UI works well and is pretty simple to
use; if someone can use a Tivo, they can figure out MCE's interface.

The problem has always been the hardware and the marketing. When it first came
out, you needed a dedicated PC to run it (unless you wanted to watch it on
your monitor, thereby missing the point of the whole application), which was
expensive (if you wanted it quiet) and painful for the lay-person to set up,
especially considering Wifi wasn't quite up to the task (802.11b was what was
primarily out there).

To get around this, MS had a good idea with the Extenders, but again, the
execution was horribly flawed. You still likely needed a spare PC and a fast
network connection to stream data to the Extender. Additionally, the companies
that made extenders tended to be Linksys and D-Link... not exactly companies
busrting with consumer friendly/simple UIs. Plus they were another $200-300
addition. Plus, Extenders were never marketed well either because the
manufacturers didn't have the money, or they just didn't care.

Fortunately, MS did also build Extender functionality into the Xbox. But
again, it is still some separate, hard to find mode on the Xbox. You have to
pair it to a PC like you would a bluetooth device, and can be confusing for a
non-techie. And once you have that done, now your Xbox has two different ways
of playing music/video: One with the MCE mode and UI, and one with the native
Xbox dashboard UI. Plus the Extender has to "connect" to your PC every time
you want to use it.

Perhaps the most damning experience I've had with it came when I showed it to
a friend of mine. He's about as enthusiastic about technology as you can get,
but didn't know about MCE. Back in 2007ish, after looking at it for 5 minutes
he said:

"This looks awesome, why haven't I ever seen this before? Good job Microsoft."

Hindsight is 20/20, but they really should have made it 100% native on the
Xbox, or released a similar device that didn't require a PC sync.

------
davidedicillo
I start feeling Google is spreading itself a little too thin... and we all
know what happen when other giants made that mistake.

~~~
mikeryan
I get what you're saying but in this case I'm not sure I agree. I think
Google's looking to extend Android to any embedded device that will run it. I
think this is much more an extension of android then a whole new product
direction.

------
MikeCapone
It sounds good, but what are the chances that this will come to Canada? We
still don't get Hulu or Google Voice...

~~~
kacy
It's open source. :-) Hopefully you'll be able to get plenty of devices that
use it. Logitech is creating a companion device. They said it should be
available worldwide.

------
jk8
I am totally confused. Is Google going to sell a box like apple TV and Boxee
box?

~~~
wmf
Not quite; Google makes the software but the boxes will be sold by Sony,
Logitech, etc.

------
Concours
Genius move, love it. It should make watching TV really fun.

------
nickpp
And the world yawns...

------
Keyframe
looks like xbmc+apple tv combo (minus itunes)

------
yanw
GTV is running on Atom instead of ARM, the Android VM approach makes sense to
me now.

