Google TV- Looks Fun, Not Sure It’s Useful

Since Dave quoted me in his last post, I figured I’d better weigh in officially on the Google TV debate. First, I’m surprised everyone is so taken aback by the price. Given the amount people are willing to spend on new iPads, smartphones, and game consoles, $300 (Logitech Revue) doesn’t seem unreasonable to me for an entertainment gadget. That said, you do have to know what you’re getting… and what you’re not getting for the money.

Several people have asked me if they can buy Google TV to replace their existing pay-TV subscription service. That’s not what Google TV is for. Yes, you can make it work that way if you want. Use OTA broadcasts plus content from Internet video services and the web at large, and you can cobble together your own TV package. But you won’t get ESPN, or access to the same amount of cable network content that you can get with a cable subscription. TV on the Internet is still hit or miss. Adding a Google box to your set-up doesn’t change that.

What Google TV does do is organize all your viewing options in one place on the big HDTV in your living room. The apps look entertaining, and Google has even gotten content providers to design their web-based content to make it more HDTV-friendly. If you like to bring up videos on the web and share them with people in the room, Google TV is also good because it builds in a full Internet browser. You can even access personal content off your home network and play it through the Google interface. Cool stuff.

Google TV looks like a lot of fun. But, bottom line, it’s probably overkill as an add-on to your cable subscription. Personally, I already have a DVR, VOD, and a Roku for watching Netflix. Not to mention the netbook usually in my lap. Do I need a Google TV on top of all that? Not really. Someone’s going to have to convince me that I want it enough to make up for the fact that it’s mostly superfluous. Fun, but not really useful.

10 thoughts on “Google TV- Looks Fun, Not Sure It’s Useful”

  1. Sounds about right. Plus or minus. Most Americans use cable or satellite because they can’t get enough local channels. With the Revue box if you don’t use Dish you’ll end up with IR blasters since the cable cos will never cooperate with Google on the alternative IP protocol they’ve developed. Plus if you use OTA TV with the Revue unit you’ll end up having to switch inputs anyway, even though part of the reason the box is expensive is because it has that fancy HDMI pass-thru overlay functionality to allow it to be on input 1.

    I do think there’s potential there though, just not enough for me to buy one (yet). I like the potential of Apps on the TV. No idea what applications will be developed, but I’m sure there are smart people out there that would create some amazing stuff over time.

    And I do like the whole ‘flinging’ your video thing. Course it only work with the Revue and only with Android phones and I don’t have one of those. So I’ll be doing my flinging with AirPlay and an Apple TV for $99 thank you very much.

    I wouldn’t have bought the Apple TV either at $300. And I don’t think I’m alone. I really don’t think the new Apple TV is that different from the previous model, yet it appears to be much more successful from the way its selling out everywhere, presumably based largely on the lower price. I’ll still be getting most of my TV over the cable after all.

    And yes, I’m perfectly happy browsing the web on my laptop or smartphone, with little to no interest in doing it in big fonts on a screen 10 feet away. Didn’t WebTV already try and fail at that? If I want to twitter about a TV show I’ll use my phone thanks.

  2. This really is webtv on steroids (to use a horribly overused expression). It stacks up very poorly to the Vulkano at a $30 higher price point.

    It makes me think of all the cable company commercials that pitch all their apps like checking the weather or football scores. We all have smartphones — we don’t need to check the weather or football scores clunkily on our tvs.

    Truly a disappointing first effort from Google — I am sure the folks in Cupertino are laughing their tuchases off.

  3. Not seeing much in the way of discussion related to “playback of user-supplied content” — you mentioned it here, but only in passing. Any information on codec support? Can I play my ripped XVID files encoded with DTS? Any XBMC-like apps emerging for the platform? Expect direct comparisons to BOXEE…

  4. I did pull the trigger and have Google TV on order. It is pricey but these are the advantages I see.

    I can get rid of two things connected to my TV.

    I have the Roku Netflix box and I have hacked original Apple TV. AppleTV is hacked so I can watch things that are not downloaded from Itunes. Supports
    WMV (VC-1) (.asf .wma .wmv),
    WMV (VC-1) + WMA (.asf .wma .wmv),
    WMV + WMA (.avi),
    Xvid (H-264) + AAC (.avi),
    Xvid (H-264) + AAC (.mp4),
    Xvid (H-264) + AAC (.mt2s .mt2),
    Xvid (MPEG4part2) + AAC (.avi),
    Xvid (MPEG4part2) + MP3 (.avi)

    Supports a bunch of other music formats and pics formats.

    Google TV will allow me to watch Netflix, Amazon and if the rumors are true Hulu and allow me to watch those ideo formats not stock supported with original AppleTV.

    I think if they can manage to drop the price point to $199 or $99 they will fly off the shelves and kill Apple TV and whatever the $199 Boxee box will bring to the table.

  5. Lou Jacob,

    Not aware of a definitive list. It APPEARS from the Engadget postings that the DLNA support is offered via a Logitech supplied “Logitech Player” app (so not available on Sony Google TV?). And Logitech didn’t provide a complete list of codecs during the presentation and there isn’t one on their web site (yet). I suspect you’ll have to wait for more details. All we know at this point is what Logitech said when Engadget asked them… MP3, AAC and MKV. Now the very fact that it has MKV support suggests it MUST have Xvid support for example. But I haven’t seen a followup yet.

  6. Actually, I’ll correct that. Apparently you can run Android apps on Google TV. So if there is an Android App that plays some video format, then you can play it on Google TV. Presumably in a blown up, big pixel fashion until the apps are updated (if they are) to support the higher resolution of the Google TV interface.

  7. Mari, according to what I’ve heard, if you have internet service with RCN, you get ESPN3 regardless of whether or not you have cable tv service with them. I wouldn’t be surprised if this is common practice. Of course you need internet service of some kind to make full use of this google tv box…

  8. Jeremy- you’re right, of course. Clearly I hadn’t had enough coffee yet with my last comment. You don’t need the pay-TV service to get ESPN3, just broadband.

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