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, 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
several 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 provided an integrated interface to content from
television and the internet, and supported tighter integration with
certain DVRs especially those from Dish Network. The box had 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. This device was never well supported
and has been discontinued, replaced in part by the Google Chromecast
device.
Google Chromecast
The Chromecast device is slightly larger than a USB thumbdrive and
plugs directly into the HDMI port of your television or monitor. Ir
provides streamed content to your television, but does not embed your
over the air (or cable or satelite) content within its user interface.
The device uses your wireless router to access the internet and is a
useful upgrade to a television that does not already support streaming
network content. Many televisions today come with support for
internet content built in, and this device would be redundant with
that capability on these newer televisions.
Amazon Fire TV Stick
The Fire TV Stick provides similar capabilities as the Chromecast
device, although there is a slightly different selection of supported
services, and it integrates better with Amazon Prime Video. I have
one of the Fire Sticks and am quite happy with it. Like the
Chromecast device, Because many televisions today come with support
for internet content built in, this device would be redundant with
that capability on these newer televisions.
Boxee Box
As compared with the Logitech Revue, the Boxee Box did not provide
HDMI input, meaning that it can not process or integrated feeds from
other AV devices. You would connect it to an HDMI input on your
television and switch to the Boxee Input when you wish to view
Internet content, in much the same way that you do for the much
smaller Chromecast device. The Boxee Box was much more capable than
the other devices in its support for local network based content (such
as from a network attached storage device) and its ability to convert
content from a large set of formats. Unfortunately, the company
supporting the Boxee Box stopped supporting it and was eventually
aquired by Samsung, which effectively shut down the Cloud DVR service
that had been sold as this companies followon product. The shutdown of
the promised and operating Cloud DVR service for Boxee TV was sudden
(occuring within 8 months of the products introduction) and in my opinion
was handled in a shameful manner by Samsung, leaving customers who
had purchased the BoxeeTV box for its Cloud DVR capability without the
promised service, and with no way to obtain a refund. For this reason
I would recommend avoiding any Samsung television or set top box products.
TiVO Digital Video Recorders
While the Logitech Review, Boxee Box, Chromecast, and Amazon Fire
Stick 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). If you want to record cable or over the air content,
these devices are best paired with a DVR. However, the newer DVRs
such as the TiVO Roamio actually include the internet service
capabilities directly. Therefore, you might consider one of these
DVRs. The downside of the TiVO DVRs is that they require a monhtly
fee (though you can purchase an expensive lifetime subscription). The
Roamio DVR comes in many versions, and you should carefully match the
version you get to your needs. Some of the higher end versions work
only with cable, and not with over the air signals. I have one that
works with over the air signals, which allowed me to eliminate my
cable and satellite services (which had cost much more than the
monthly TiVo subscripotion). I absulutely love the combination that I
went with.