The Connected Video Cauldron
Posted Fri, 24 Oct 2008 10:15:32 EDT by Steve Wilson
Samsung and Netflix recently announced a partnership to bring Netflix movies directly to the TV. Certain Samsung BD players can be upgraded to support the Netflix streaming service. This makes 4 CE devices that can stream Netflix: Roku, Xbox, LG and Samsung BD players. While this is the kind of progress in online distribution many have been hoping for, its costing them money every time they stream a movie. Plus, these movies aren't HD, which makes them less than idea if you are using a BD player since its probably connected to an HDTV. How is this service going to evolve? On one hand, streaming is more secure than disc distribution but studios make a significant chunk of revenue on discs. Whether its a TV or BD player, its getting to the point that any of these interenet connected devices will be able to be upgraded to support new distribution services as they become available. Its look like content availability is going to be the limiting factor.
This approach also seems to be gaining steam over digital media adapters. Microsofts Extender products landed quietly. Apple expects their Apple TV to remain a hobby through 2009 now. While a number of TVs now have internet connections, not all support playing video files from a home server. But this is just a matter of software maturity and maybe we will see more of it at CES this year. Moreso, tru2way sets from Panasonic are coming to market. Intels promoting its Yahoo Widget platform. How is the average ever going to figure this out?