Internet Television - the Future of Television

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Television is changing. Several years ago, over the air television went digital, bringing with it higher quality images and more channels. For the past several decades, an increasing number of homes received their television signals through cable or sattelite systems which can be ordered online like Directv at Satellite911.com, and more recently, some homes get their signals by fiber.

But these newer, subscription based television services are expensive. At the lower end, one can expect to pay in the upper $30 range, and as you select more channels, and more content, the cost can exceed $100 per month. For those chosing packages they give them everthing, this may be reasonable, it is a lot of content, and to some, perhaps quite a bit of entertainment.

For me, however, most of what I watch can be viewed over the air - on the network television stations. There are really only three of the "cable" channels (actually, I get them via sattelite) in which I am interested, and on two of these channels, I only watch a single show. Wouldn't it be great to have a la carte programming - where I could pay for these two shows and one channel for perhaps $3 per month, and get the rest of my content over the air. Of course this would not really happen with a la carte programming as it has been proposed, but we will get there within the next decade. We are starting to see the technology to support it already. What will make this possible is the greater adoption of internet television.

Internet Enabled Televisions

With the recent introduction of internet enabled televisions, such as sever offerings from Vizeo, and internet enabled "set-top" boxes such as the Google TV enabled Revue from Logitech and the Boxee Box from D-Link, one is able to stream content straight to your television from the internet. Some networks make selected shows available on their web sites, which can now be viewed as channels on your internet enabled television, as well as from your PC. Services like Netflix, at $8 per month (at the time I am writing this) provide a great substitution for those high priced movie channels, and you get a larger selection of movies on-demand.

These services consume lots of bandwidth, and you will pay for an internet connection in addition to any content you might purchase, but then you probably are already paying for such an internet connection anyway. Some internet service providers may limit your baldwidth allowance per month, but for moderate use of these services you are likely to remain below your (often unpiblished) cap.

Internet Set Top Boxes

These rarely sit on top of the television set since most are now flat-panel, but they attach to your television in much the same way that a traditional cable or satellite box would, and give you access to content from the internet. The two most popular inernet set top boxes are the Logitech Revue which supports the Google TV interface, and the Boxee Box from D-Link. These boxes provide access to lots of free content, but they also come bundled with "apps" that provide access to various movie and music pay services such as Netflix or Amazon's video on demand services.

Logitech Revue - Supporitng Google TV

The Logitech Revue provides an integrated interface to content from your television and the internet, and supports tighter integration with certain DVRs especially those from Dish Network. The box has both HDMI in and HDMI out ports, with the input video feed passed through to the output as is, or captured and presented as a picture in picture when other services are used.

Boxee Box

As compared with the Logitech Revue, the Boxee Box does not provide HDMI input, meaning that it can not process or integrated feeds from other AV devices. You connect it to an HDMI input on your television and switch to the Boxee Input when you wish to view Internet content. On the positive side, the Boxee is less expensive than the Logitech Reviue, and it supports a larger number of video and audio formats, making it the better choice if you want to use it to display content from a local disk, or from your Storage Area Network.

Use your computer as a DVR for over the air content

While the Logitech Review and the Boxee Box can display internet content, they do not record content, and thus are not suitable replacements for a DVR (although availability of your favorite shows on demand from the internet might eliminate the need for a DVR). But, since you might want to record over the air broadcasts, these devices are best paired with a DVR. The Review integrates nicely with DVR's from Dish Network, but such devices have hefty monthly fees since they come bundled with Satellit or other subscription services.

Of course, you could purchase a Tivo DVR or similar device, which might also have a monthly fee (albeit smaller than that for content services). Or you can use a spare computer as your own DVR, with devices such as the Pinnacle HDTV USB over the air tuner from Hauppauge, which comes with PC software to turn your computer into a DVR.