Project Canvas is GO!
Ok, so internet piped directly to your TV? Will it be good enough to draw us away from our traditional desktops/laptops? Well let’s take a little look-see at the ins and outs. The BBC trust has given a provisional go ahead which could lead the way for internet TV. Now from what I’ve seen it’s currently VERY unimpressive. Some TV’s just having a handful of sites on them to navigate too – like an additional channel. Some actually do have a web browser but use the TV remote like a mobile phone key press input. Some just have links to social networking sites and then allow text input via an on-screen keyboard. All of this may sound great and sure it’s a step in the right direction but none of this makes me want to spend 2 grand on a new ‘Internet TV’.
I’m a bit of a geek, as you may or may not have realised, so I have my PC going through my TV anyway. I have this for many reasons; firstly I was able to get a Blu-ray player from LG for around the £60 mark so I can enjoy first class quality movies for next to no cash, had that for nearly a year too and the players have only just begun to come down in price. Secondly I can access all the on demand TV that I like and have it played on a good TV at a decent resolution. The final reason, well PC gaming, naturally.
Looking around the internet today to correlate stories on this feature it seems a little limited as to what’s actually on offer. Jo Average will traditionally already have a DVD player, Freesat, Virgin or SKY also and now this new device as an additional ‘Set Top’ box (a phrase which needs phasing out. With the advent of flat panel TV’s it seems a little antiquated) so initially the service isn’t even going to be integral? So Internet TV manufacturers are truly trying to push things forward but the BBC are making and additional device to go under the TV, doesn’t seem like any real progression. If you take a step back from this though and look again at it from Jo Average’s point of view it’s a lot of extra entertainment for the cost of the box (around £200). I suppose it does also put a kind of family access PC into the living room at a very reasonable price. So I guess we’ll all just have to keep an eye on this one…
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