The TV was the central home entertainment device for decades and the reports of it’s death are greatly exaggerated.
I believe that the TV is on it’s way back to reclaiming it’s title with a vengeance.
The new models are making great strides in usability and come standard with an awesome amount of content sources.
Picture quality keeps getting better. Almost time to trade in that old fashioned 1080i HD for a 4K unit. LG had the world’s first 55″ OLED. I took a picture but will not post it because it does not do justice. It is safe to say that it is the best large picture you have ever seen.
LG was showing an integrated ‘OnLive’ type gaming service – ‘Look ma, no console!’. The implications here are huge. If all TV brands can implement this well, the entire console business could be threatened. So could the game publisher business model. As of today, it is similar to the old Hollywood model where you pay quite a bit for a game you will eventually get tired of. The new way is subscription which could severely disrupt the game industry.
Everyone was showing fitness apps allowing you to feel as if you are jogging/cycling through a choice of locations (Hawaii beaches, NY Central Park, etc.)
For the first time I was able to get coherent answers about developer programs for the app stores right on the show floor from every manufacturer!
That being said, it is not yet nirvana as the interfaces and controllers have not fully evolved. it seems that each manufacturer has more than one type of controller, multiple prototypes and no clear vision. The interfaces are all miles ahead of where they were last year but until there can be some type unified approach or at least limit to one style of interface per manufacturer the consumer will remain confused. A visit to your friend’s house should not require a steep learning curve just to flip channels.
LG however, seems to have a simple and intuitive interface which seems to be consistent across all of their non-Google TV’s (More on Google TV later).
Their remote is aimed at the screen to choose an icon and a click to confirm. If you want to search for something, just click on the microphone icon and then speak!
Say ‘Harry Potter’ and you will come up with a few VoD offers, associated broadcast schedules (i.e. for the films, documentaries…) and recommended similar offerings.
The voice recognition worked even in the high-interference show environment.
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