Ok, Google, I know you meant well, but, honestly, you went and screwed this up.
I do not need another box in front of/underneath my TV.
I already have a TiVo
, an XBox (yes, I still have an original Box, much to the surprise of our movers), a 360, and a ZVox (which will undoubtedly be replaced with a receiver and a few other boxes in the coming few years). I am running out of spaces on my power strip, I am running out of spaces on my TV, and I am running out of patience to try and track down where the hell all those cables go.
I do not need more. And we are just small-time TV viewers.
And I sure as hell do not need a box that requires decade-old, finicky equipment and technology to get along with the other boxes that are already down there.
Now, if you had thought ahead to the point of integrating some DVR functionality straight into the Google TV unit, you would have me onboard in half a heartbeat, especially since we are replacing the $13-a-month leech of TiVo. But a glorified remote control that requires space and power under the TV? Uhm, no, thanks.
Sure, for folks who have all the shiny toys in the world, this will probably make their lives so much more shiny. But how many families have computers within 20 feet of their televisions? How many families have laptops? How many people have pre-existing media extenders (given that 360s and PS3s count, a lot)?
This is a great idea, and once it gets better integrated with existing systems, it will be significantly more useful than it is now… But, for now, I remain somewhat… unimpressed.
Oh great!
Something else that Google can use to electronically keep tabs on you.
I hope that any republicans that use it won’t be surprised when their viewing habits “accidently” become public.
Uhhh… you seem to have misunderstood the GoogleTV product entirely.
GoogleTV is NOT a set top box, or any other device; it’s a content search and aggregation service.
There will be set top boxes released which can act as a network streamer for the service; but much as netflix on demand, blockbuster on demand, and others; the primary function of GoogleTV will be to act as a content channel into TV’s, DVRs, BluRay players etc…
Netflix already does this. Sony and Microsoft already do this with game console based on demand services. Apple does this with the Apple TV.
The point of GoogleTV, is that it will be a vendor neutral solution that any electronics manufacturer can use to integrate streaming internet content into their device. Any content provided through a web broswer, flash, HTML 5, h.264 etc… Can be provided to GoogleTV enabled hardware.
One presumes they’ll partner with Netflix, Hulu, NBC, ABC, CBS etc… as all the other streaming service/device vendors have done (or at least tried to do. Hulu is being very uncooperative).
The difference will be, you will be able to get all the streamed content from one box, hopefully built into your DVR or BluRay player, or even TV; rather than several different boxes.
Of course you can already do this with XBMC, MythTV, boxee etc… But this has the weight of google behind it, and instead of a hack, it’s out of the box.
@Kurt P – Meh. I have pretty much given up on the whole “keeping my internet affairs private” thing. Google owns my searches and my emails, so it is pretty much a moot point, as it is for probably the majority of internet users.
Now, “accidentally” releasing some people’s viewing information… yeah, that could be entertaining.
No, I am just observing what it is.
And, as I said, that is exactly what it would take for me to be onboard with the idea – the problem is that such integration is at least 1.5 years down the road, and is currently only going to come in high-priced televisions and one company’s dish box. Because that just screams “integration” to your average consumer.
Agreed, it isn’t there yet; and there no guarantee that Google will be able to negotiate the right content deals either.
But they’re the only ones really trying to be cross platform and content neutral; and if they succeed, then YAY!
Absolutely – once this thing reaches its ultimate goal, wherein it is fully, physically integrated with your television and/or DVR, and can reach out and touch all the things they are planning on it being able to, it will be positively awesome. But all this froofera over the current release of this incarnation of it seems like everyone having to break out the towels over a one-off alpha. Sure, it looks kinda spiffy, and does some of the things they claim, but who wants to house-train it?