How can we leave the living room?
We can see that the Analog to Digital Living Room Long Term Trend is in place as people are upgrading to High Definition Digital Television, [Corning Glassware (GLW) is a play on this.] and installing Home Theater Systems [Dolby (DLB) is a play on this]. Content providers such as Comcast (CMCSA), DirectTV (DTV), and the Dish Network (DISH), also help keep people in their seats.
Now there are even more ways to keep people in their living rooms.
DVRs, or Digital Video Recorders, allow users to record and watch their favorite shows, even in high definition. These devices are very user friendly, and users of products such as Tivo (TIVO) have a cult following. The NDS Group (NNDS) is also another play on this.
Tivo has recently teamed up with Amazon.com (AMZN) to provide a service called Amazon Unbox, that allows movies and shows to be directly downloaded from Amazon to the Tivo DVR.
Netflix (NFLX) and BlockBuster (BBI) offer another alternative to home entertainment. These companies ship DVDs by postal mail and provide another source of home entertainment.
Netflix (NFLX) recently teamed up with Roku. Roku provides a special set-top box that allows subscribers of Netflix to stream a selection of movies directly to their television (which could be a widescreen High Definition Television). [I recently tried out the Roku system, and it is easy to setup and convenient and there are no extra service fees from Netflix. Quality at this time is close to the VHS level, but streaming is very good using broadband.]
Apple (AAPL) has attempted a similar type of Set Top Box with AppleTV but that product has not taken off.
Gaming consoles, from makers such as Nintendo (NTDOY.pk), Microsoft (MSFT), and Sony (SNE) also provide even more reasons for people to stay in their living room.
With all these forms of entertainment in the living room, how will people leave their living room?
Showing posts with label cable. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cable. Show all posts
Friday, June 6, 2008
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Which Direction will the Digital Living Room Revolution take?
When we compare the vision of the Digital Living Room Revolution, and the current implementations right now, we see that there is potential here today. However, which direction will industry take?
As my previous post on the Current Contenders shows, there are many different ways companies are playing the current Digital Living Room. There does not seem to be any convergence, and each company is creating a proprietary system. Tivo has a proprietary system (so they can earn monthly subscription fees). Comcast DVR set-top boxes have a proprietary system. According to a CNET article, Gartner analyst Van Baker says that electronic companies are trying to lock consumers into using their proprietary technologies so they can charge a premium for their products.
Is this the wave of the future, where many companies are pushing proprietary systems competing for their share of the pie? Will there be a true winner in the end and will consumers adopt the technology in large numbers? Or will there be a move towards open standards, interoperability and convergence?
If there are open standards and interoperability, I can imagine the equivalent of a Computer sitting between the service provider, and the HDTV set, while being part of a home network. This computer-like device should be very easy to use and install, have an easy to user interface, and have all the computer like components such as internal hard drives, USB connections, wireless connection, wireless keyboard and remote device, an operating system, and the ability to run third party applications. This device should be able to interoperate will different service providers (Cable, Fiber, DSL companies), different HDTV sets, interact with different types of PCs in the Home Network (Apple or Microsoft PC), and be able to run third party applications. The system should be modular and accept external hard drives and other devices, much like the current PC.
But what direction will industry take? Apple (AAPL) seems to have been very successful with making their system a closed system with iTunes and iPods. Why would a company with a very dominant position using the closed system model want to adopt the open model?
We are in the very early stages of the Digital Living Room. These are exciting times, and I am very interested which direction industry will take. What will industry do next?
As my previous post on the Current Contenders shows, there are many different ways companies are playing the current Digital Living Room. There does not seem to be any convergence, and each company is creating a proprietary system. Tivo has a proprietary system (so they can earn monthly subscription fees). Comcast DVR set-top boxes have a proprietary system. According to a CNET article, Gartner analyst Van Baker says that electronic companies are trying to lock consumers into using their proprietary technologies so they can charge a premium for their products.
Is this the wave of the future, where many companies are pushing proprietary systems competing for their share of the pie? Will there be a true winner in the end and will consumers adopt the technology in large numbers? Or will there be a move towards open standards, interoperability and convergence?
If there are open standards and interoperability, I can imagine the equivalent of a Computer sitting between the service provider, and the HDTV set, while being part of a home network. This computer-like device should be very easy to use and install, have an easy to user interface, and have all the computer like components such as internal hard drives, USB connections, wireless connection, wireless keyboard and remote device, an operating system, and the ability to run third party applications. This device should be able to interoperate will different service providers (Cable, Fiber, DSL companies), different HDTV sets, interact with different types of PCs in the Home Network (Apple or Microsoft PC), and be able to run third party applications. The system should be modular and accept external hard drives and other devices, much like the current PC.
But what direction will industry take? Apple (AAPL) seems to have been very successful with making their system a closed system with iTunes and iPods. Why would a company with a very dominant position using the closed system model want to adopt the open model?
We are in the very early stages of the Digital Living Room. These are exciting times, and I am very interested which direction industry will take. What will industry do next?
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