What is Google TV?
Google TV is a software platform aiming to bring together traditional TV and video content from the web. The internet is quickly becoming a major channel of multimedia content delivery however a large portion of content is still TV exclusive. The best of both worlds can be accessed with the help of GoogleTV. Google has created a video which gives a good quick introduction to its new TV platform:
The platform is not invasive to your current TV setup. It creates a completely new experience while preserving compatibility. A number of big name companies are planning to ship TVs with built in Google TV in the future. However, if you have current cable or satellite subscriptions that you are happy with, the search giant's platform can be experienced by setting up a Google TV powered box on top of your current hardware. At the moment a launch date is expected to be on September 29th, which will mark a release of Logitech Revue box. The expected price for this Google TV companion box unit is $299.
The platform works by combining channels from your existing cable ⁄ satellite providers with the valuable content on the web — including Hulu, Fox Networks, CBS, Youtube, etc.
Though many details are still unknown, Google TV hardware is controlled with a QWERTY keyboard enabled remote control.
Once you launch the system, you will be greeted by Google TV's primary interface — a search box. Type in what you want to watch and the system will find it on air among the available channels and also among the large database of web content.
Clicking through TV channels available via cable ⁄ satellite subscriptions is also possible just like before. The internet will be accessible the usual way we know on the PC. Google TV comes equipped with a flash-enabled browser which can be used to freely browse the internet. Whether you want to look up information about the current show on air or watch the latest YouTube videos, you can do so easy and in a slick manner with the video playing on screen.
The system supports picture in the picture overlay. This way you can, for example, look up the actor's biography on the web while watching a movie ⁄ TV show. Google TV opens up many possibilities for creative use of TV and the web. Being able to search for multimedia content or look up information about such content without leaving the TV screen is probably the main selling point of the platform.
In addition, Google TV is compatible with DVR box units. The platform improves usability of this hardware by making recorded content searchable from the home screen. Additionally, Google TV can schedule DVR recordings directly from the search results page.
Naturally, Google TV has many powerful tricks up its sleeve. All the features will be made public and assessed once the product hits final release. For now, it is known that Google TV will be compatible with android devices, though the level of integration is unknown at the moment — the possibilities are astounding. Then comes a browser with complete Flash support. Bringing the variety of Flash video content from the popular TV networks on the network would be another invaluable feature. The most ambitious feature is real time translation of shows in foreign language to subtitles. Once again, this is a jaw dropping possibility that needs to be tested out in real world in order to evaluate how good it does its job. The Android App store is planned to support Google TV devices as well. Obviously, only a limited number of apps will be compatible, but the developers will be encouraged to optimize for the platform.
So far, Google TV looks really promising and holds many benefits that could turn it into a successful product. The planned features will have to be developed with a great deal of thought and attention in order for the system to work flawlessly. Though some potential culprits for Google TV exist even today, they can all be successfully worked out, depending on how much resources Google dedicates to its TV project and how seriously they take the project in the first place.
For Google it's obviously a possibility to enter a new market — a market of TV, which according to them has a worldwide audience of 4 billion people daily. The prospects of a massive advertisement audience could lure Google into a great deal of dedication to the project.
Synonims for the