GoogleTV

[Insectoid]

http://gizmodo.com/5543822/what-is-google-tv?skyline=true&s=i

So..it's a barely functional PC? Seriously, I want to turn on my TV, flip to a channel and watch while my mind rots. This isn't a TV. It's a giant ass web browser/phone that happens to also connect to your TV source. I can do all that with a PC with a big monitor, Skype and a tuner card. For a lot cheaper too I expect.

Thoughts on this?

[TheGuardian001]

Insectoid @ Fri May 21, 2010 4:00 pm wrote:

I can do all that with a PC with a big monitor, Skype and a tuner card. For a lot cheaper too I expect.

Perhaps you (and most other people from this site) can, but your average person is probably too clueless to know what a TV tuner card (or Skype for that matter) is, let alone installing the hardware and setting it up.

I dunno if it's something I'd ever buy (I watch most of my TV online now anyway), but I can see it being something the average consumer could get some good usage out of. Sure, you can do all of this stuff from your PC if you know how, but most people just want a quick, easy solution. This provides one.

[DtY]

I thought this was going to be new news on the online TV service google announced three or four years ago that doesn't seem to have gone anywhere, What did happen to that?

[Tony]

Insectoid @ Fri May 21, 2010 4:00 pm wrote:

So..it's a barely functional PC?

You need to realize that a TV is just a large (but very low resolution) display, a tuner card, and no more hardware than necessary to drive that tuner card. That's it.

It's a fair assumption that many people still want a dedicated gadget for watching tv (well, the kind of people who still watch tv on a schedule). So there are some hardware upgrades to run fancier software that does some extra tricks to impress one's guests at tv-watching parties. Or something. Anyway, it's a large market.

[Dan]

Oh god, it has a built in web browser.......... just when i thought the webtv and msntv hell was over. I can only hope it does not come with an IRC client.

[rdrake]

Dan @ Fri May 21, 2010 5:05 pm wrote:

Oh god, it has a built in web browser.......... just when i thought the webtv and msntv hell was over. I can only hope it does not come with an IRC client.

It'll run Android, so yes it will.

[Tony]

Eternal September is eternal ಠ_ಠ

[ecookman]

@Dan
OOH but it will......

Here's a question....does anyone actually sit down and watch TV, I probably haven't in a year or so.

[andrew.]

I do with my family. Most of the time it's only one show at a time like Big Bang Theory or Breaking Bad.