By Tor's Additional Words Of Wisdom

« Back to blog

Smart TV

There have been many innovations and developments in the world of TV over the years. Some have had big effects on the viewing experience, others have been more incremental.

  • change from 4:3 to widescreen aspect ratios
  • change from CRT to LCD flatsceens
  • screens get progressively larger and thinner (incremental)
  • TVs get internet connected

The latest buzz is about so called Smart TV. Really this is just trying to connect our TV sets to the internet, and most set manufacturers have these features to some degree on their current and future lineup.

But will it really be the next big thing? What can you actually get on a Smart TV? Web access. (Generally very poor on a TV. The web, with the exception of a few sites is designed to be consumed from about 2 to 3 feet away with a keyboard and pointing device between you and the screen).

Catch up and on demand video Services like BBC iPlayer and 4OD are very popular and having these integrated into television with a fast internet connection and an appropriately easy to use interface would be a definite good thing. So far however the best iPlayer implementation I have seen is in the Sony PS3. Until this level of ease of use can be managed by all set manufacturers this type of service will struggle to gain widespread use.

Social TV. I think this concept is and will continue to catch on. The question is whether the TV set is the way to do it. People love to "live tweet" and post Facebook status updates about programmes they are watching but I don't think there is a better way to do it than either a lap top or a smart phone. On screen keyboards and splitscreens just do not work and even if TV manufactureres provided a wifi or bluetooth keyboard the screen is too small and far away to make it easy to use.

So, catch-up/VOD services aside, the so called smart services actually seem more like gimmicks. Just like 3D has so far turned out to be. So, what might the next true paradigm shift in TV really be? Well I suspect it will be in the way we interact and control it. I think voice and gesture control will gradually improve and will before too long get to the stage where we are controlling our sets like something out of Star Trek. Do you remember that scene in one of the Star Trek movies when Scotty when visiting current day earth picked up a computer mouse and started talking to it?

As usual it will probably be Apple that will lead the way. In his biography Steve Jobs said to Walter Isaacson that he thought he had finally "cracked" it. Reports about recent Apple patent filings and rumours about an imminent launch into the TV market point to the fact that we probably won't have to wait very long to find out the future.