Digital Convergence: Is 2007 Finally the Year of the Digital Home?
Introduction
After many false starts, this may finally be the year that our computers and television sets converge. For years, this has been desired, both by the manufacturers and the masses, but it remained out of the reach of most. However, let’s talk about some of the recent product trends making this happen.
Sometimes Simpler Is Better
For those wanting to watch television on their PC, that used to mean a TV tuner card. Unless from a few manufacturers, they tend to be buggy, and need a dedicated PCI slot. As many folks are not comfortable with opening up their desktops, that already restricted its use to the handful of us that are. With notebooks outselling desktops, clearly a different solution was needed.
Manufacturers have responded with USB TV tuners. These devices either work only from an OTA signal, or have an input from a coax cable allowing it to tune in a cable signal. Some of the larger ones also have composite inputs so they can digitize analog content from a VCR or analog camcorder. As a class of device, they are simpler to use, and affordable. This is one example of a bridge being built to get television content onto the computer. Once there it can be viewed live, or saved for later viewing. While the USB port, even in 2.0 form, and a notebook’s hard drive are not ideal for HDTV content, in lesser screen resolutions it is adequate. The Hauppaugue Win-TV 950 exemplifies the product category.
Going the Other Way
The real challenge has been getting digital computer content into the living room. While just about everyone has a DVD player (and when they sell them in the supermarket for $30 there’s no excuse not to have one!), there’s still a lot of digital content that hasn’t made it off of the hard drive. Making that a little more difficult is that most folks don’t have Cat 5e Ethernet cable running in their living room and behind their TV.
One simpler route for convergence is to find a DVD player that can handle more than just DVD’s. Some of the fuller featured players will playback mp3’s, WMA’s for audio, add in JPEG’s of images, and DivX for video. If it will play back all of these formats than just about any content on the hard drive can be converted to one of these formats with the right software and enough processing horsepower and brought from the desktop computer to the living room. However, while this works well for an evening of music, or a preplanned vacation slide show, it won’t allow streaming YouTube videos without a considerable investment of time and know how to make this possible.
Another route is to bring the “mountain to Mohammad.” Plenty of new flat panel televisions have a VGA input. Whether from a dedicated home theater PC, or an occasional hookup of the notebook, this is another example of digital convergence. While computer parts in the living room may not pass the significant other’s test for home cleanliness, it will clearly get the job done. The latest digital TV’s are enabling this as the last time I tried this trick with a 20” tube TV and a composite video port, the video was watchable, but the text was not quite readable and even finding icons became a challenge.
The omnipresent iPod, can also be a vehicle to bringing the content to the TV. Take an iPod Video, add in a docking station with outputs which hook into the set, and it’s a go. While the video quality is not quite HD quality, the audio and images should be fine. Some of the solutions also feature a remote control, and are stylish making this a cost effective way to go, that doesn’t appear cobbled together, and that passes muster with the significant other without looking like a NewEgg warehouse exploded in the living room.
The latest entry into the field has been the media extenders. While Apple TV has garnered the most enthusiasm (or at least press), there are plenty of Windows variants, like those from Netgear and Hauppaugue. As a class, they tend to be expensive, and hard to justify for only an occasional use. They also have their own set of issues in terms of supported file formats, and user interface. They use a wireless connection to connect to the desktop in the other room which eliminates the lack of wired Ethernet cable, it also brings in the issues of any WiFi network setup in terms of signal dropout and interference, and limited bandwidth for streaming video content. While I think this category of device is here to stay, I look forward to more mature products in this segment.
Conclusion
While it has taken plenty of time to reach this point, things are finally coming together. Wireless bridges are becoming more stable. There is also more content on the internet that is suitable for group viewing on a large screen. As that content grows through sites like YouTube, then there will be a need for more seamless integration, and a variety of products will meet that need.
--Jonas
After many false starts, this may finally be the year that our computers and television sets converge. For years, this has been desired, both by the manufacturers and the masses, but it remained out of the reach of most. However, let’s talk about some of the recent product trends making this happen.
Sometimes Simpler Is Better
For those wanting to watch television on their PC, that used to mean a TV tuner card. Unless from a few manufacturers, they tend to be buggy, and need a dedicated PCI slot. As many folks are not comfortable with opening up their desktops, that already restricted its use to the handful of us that are. With notebooks outselling desktops, clearly a different solution was needed.
Manufacturers have responded with USB TV tuners. These devices either work only from an OTA signal, or have an input from a coax cable allowing it to tune in a cable signal. Some of the larger ones also have composite inputs so they can digitize analog content from a VCR or analog camcorder. As a class of device, they are simpler to use, and affordable. This is one example of a bridge being built to get television content onto the computer. Once there it can be viewed live, or saved for later viewing. While the USB port, even in 2.0 form, and a notebook’s hard drive are not ideal for HDTV content, in lesser screen resolutions it is adequate. The Hauppaugue Win-TV 950 exemplifies the product category.Going the Other Way
The real challenge has been getting digital computer content into the living room. While just about everyone has a DVD player (and when they sell them in the supermarket for $30 there’s no excuse not to have one!), there’s still a lot of digital content that hasn’t made it off of the hard drive. Making that a little more difficult is that most folks don’t have Cat 5e Ethernet cable running in their living room and behind their TV.
One simpler route for convergence is to find a DVD player that can handle more than just DVD’s. Some of the fuller featured players will playback mp3’s, WMA’s for audio, add in JPEG’s of images, and DivX for video. If it will play back all of these formats than just about any content on the hard drive can be converted to one of these formats with the right software and enough processing horsepower and brought from the desktop computer to the living room. However, while this works well for an evening of music, or a preplanned vacation slide show, it won’t allow streaming YouTube videos without a considerable investment of time and know how to make this possible.
Another route is to bring the “mountain to Mohammad.” Plenty of new flat panel televisions have a VGA input. Whether from a dedicated home theater PC, or an occasional hookup of the notebook, this is another example of digital convergence. While computer parts in the living room may not pass the significant other’s test for home cleanliness, it will clearly get the job done. The latest digital TV’s are enabling this as the last time I tried this trick with a 20” tube TV and a composite video port, the video was watchable, but the text was not quite readable and even finding icons became a challenge.
The omnipresent iPod, can also be a vehicle to bringing the content to the TV. Take an iPod Video, add in a docking station with outputs which hook into the set, and it’s a go. While the video quality is not quite HD quality, the audio and images should be fine. Some of the solutions also feature a remote control, and are stylish making this a cost effective way to go, that doesn’t appear cobbled together, and that passes muster with the significant other without looking like a NewEgg warehouse exploded in the living room.
The latest entry into the field has been the media extenders. While Apple TV has garnered the most enthusiasm (or at least press), there are plenty of Windows variants, like those from Netgear and Hauppaugue. As a class, they tend to be expensive, and hard to justify for only an occasional use. They also have their own set of issues in terms of supported file formats, and user interface. They use a wireless connection to connect to the desktop in the other room which eliminates the lack of wired Ethernet cable, it also brings in the issues of any WiFi network setup in terms of signal dropout and interference, and limited bandwidth for streaming video content. While I think this category of device is here to stay, I look forward to more mature products in this segment.Conclusion
While it has taken plenty of time to reach this point, things are finally coming together. Wireless bridges are becoming more stable. There is also more content on the internet that is suitable for group viewing on a large screen. As that content grows through sites like YouTube, then there will be a need for more seamless integration, and a variety of products will meet that need.
--Jonas
Labels: online video, set top boxes, Television, wireless
posted by digitaldoc at 6:24 AM
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