Internet TV: The web comes to your TV

Google strikes again

Let’s be clear: the more Internet-based services become central to our lives, the more we expect to use them from any device in the home or out of it, and the more inevitable the mixing of TV and Web becomes. As services such as the BBC’s Project Canvas or ABC’s Hulu launch over here, there’s going to be even more desire to see them on the largest screen possible. But if today’s connected TV services represent the current state of the art, they’re certainly not the be all and end all.

What is? Well, in May, Google announced Google TV, which Product Manager Rishi Chandra describes as “a new platform that will change the future of Television.” In less dramatic terms, Google TV is a system based on Android and the Intel Atom CE4100 system-in-a-chip processor, designed to be integrated into HDTV sets, Blu-ray players and set-top-boxes.


Surprisingly, the platform doesn’t incorporate its own TV tuners or PVR. Instead, it’s designed to work with those built into a TV or set-top-box to integrate conventional TV services, recorded TV, Internet-based video on demand, websites and Flash-based services into one vast library of content, managed by a single, unified interface based on Google’s search technology.

While Google TV services will work with conventional remote controls, the platform is centred around keyboard-based input. Instead of navigating a guide to see what will be on and when, you simply type the relevant terms into a search bar, and Google TV will go looking for content on your digital TV streams, recorded programmes stored on a compatible PVR and Internet TV services on the Web, then report back to you with what it finds. There’s no need to scroll through dozens of channels or navigate through libraries of contents; just search, then record or play. Meanwhile, channels and shows you come back to regularly can easily be added to a favourites screen.

Another cornerstone is the integration of Web-based apps and services, including Google’s own line-up. With picture-in-picture you can tweet about a programme while you’re watching it from the same screen, or just enjoy Facebook and Flash games during the advert breaks. A built-in version of the Chrome browser gives you full access to the Web and existing online content services (which would potentially include iPlayer, SkyPlayer and Project Canvas in the UK), and Google already provides guidelines for developers on how to build websites and apps that work on Google TV. Cleverly, you can also use an Android phone to control Google TV via voice commands, or even pull websites from your phone and onto the TV.



Google isn’t actually making the hardware, leaving it instead to Sony to put Google TV in HDTV sets and Blu-ray players, and Logitech to put it in a new set-top box, dubbed Revue. Sadly, while our cousins in the US can expect the first hardware in the autumn, a Google spokesperson informed us that there are no details of a UK launch available at this time.