On the one hand, with more HTML5 program guides in the works, the TV UI is going to get a lot prettier and a lot more functional. On the other, if Dave’s ticked off now about the ads on his Panasonic Viera TV, just wait until these web-based guides really get going as new ad delivery platforms. In case you hadn’t noticed, television is going the way of the Internet. And that means aggressively targeted ads will soon be the norm.
We’ve still got a few years before the connected TV ad transition takes hold, but HTML5 guide development is already well underway. In addition to the NDS Snowflake guide at the SCTE Cable-Tec Expo last week, I saw web-based UIs from ActiveVideo, Rovi and Arris. The first two were of ActiveVideo’s CloudTV interface, which is already deployed by Cablevision*, and the third was an ActiveVideo proof-of-concept VOD guide. The fourth was Rovi’s web-based guide, and the fifth and sixth were an HTML5 guide from Arris.
Web-based frontends make it much easier to block ads via proxies than custom solutions. And of course they’ve got to support proxies, otherwise the TVs wouldn’t work in corporate networks, etc.
If (or lets be honest, when) this takes off, adblocking proxies will be ready for them.
I dunno… if all the content, both bad and good, originate from the same location, and the ads are further downstream it may not be possible. Also, I assume the companies will be ready to block our blockage. ;)
Setting up an adblocking web proxy is sufficiently technical that I doubt they’d bother. But I guess we’ll see.
At least they are showing more standards based HTML5 interfaces that actually gone through a design process. How many people are still stuck with that 16 color i-Guide? :-p
Not me…. I switched to DirecTV.
For whatever reason, the on screen interface on the television is the slowest advancing piece of technology ever. We’ve seen all generations of iPhones and androids. We’ve seen at least 3 presidential terms (soon to be a 4th). Microsoft’s been through several operating systems (Win 2000, XP, Vista, 7, and now Windows 8)… and people are STILL stuck with a plain jane 4:3 16 color i-Guide.
But they can show all these pretty interfaces at trade shows all they want. Heck, Comcast showed a BEAUTIFUL 16:9 HD guide back in 2008. Yes 2008! I bet its loaded on less than 50,000 Cisco set top boxes worldwide.
Actions speak louder than words.