Internet video take-up to be driven by TVs, Blu-ray Players
In the US maybe, but not over here
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Blu-ray Disc players and HD TVs will drive the domestic take-up of internet video services, it has been claimed.
Market watcher IMS Research has said that, worldwide, internet video device shipments will leap 78 per cent year on year during 2010.
While set-top boxes, games consoles and media extenders will play a part, it'll be Blu-ray players and internet-enabled TVs that really win over consumers, the researcher forecast.
However, it's worth noting there's a US slant to all this. IMS Research's Rebecca Kurlak said: "With nearly all Blu-ray players manufactured with IP connectivity enabling access to VoD libraries like Netflix, Amazon, Vudu and CinemaNow, Blu-ray players are more compelling for purchase consideration than they have been since their market debut."
All those services are aimed at US consumers, and there's a marked lack of similar offerings over here. That said, internet-connected tellies from the likes of Panasonic, for example, do at least provide YouTube feeds.
No major Blu-ray Disc player maker is touting internet video feeds over here right now, but Humax Freesat boxes now offer a link to BBC iPlayer, and satellite set-tops from other vendors will follow. Freeview HD boxes will likely do the same. Games consoles already do.
In the UK, then, it looks like these other devices will do more to bring internet video into the living room than Blu-ray boxes will. ®
COMMENTS
78% is conservative
We are about to hit the tipping point where suddenly it will be normal in TVs and blu-rays and growth could be 300% because it comes with products being bought anyway.
The article mentions the iPlayer beta test on Freesat. Last night my Sony Freesat TV updated and was able to access the test. Page 5483 on BBCi. Worked well.
TV over the Internet is going to explode.
Fragmented
It's a nice idea, but I think the problem is that there is a lack of standardisation and there is such fragmentation nothing is likely to be developed soon.
For example, I have recently bought a sony TV and a blu ray play. Both support some form of access to the internet (applicast for the sony and vieracast for the panasonic). Both are closed formats that I assume you need to license before applications can be developed.
I would like iplayer on one of them, but it's unlikely because I imagine the bbc has a huge queue of devices to port iplayer to, and for each one you have to go through the rigmarole of getting licenses etc (and worry about who is going to pay for it).
In the absence of standards a better approach would be for the manufacturers to publicly release enough details for people to be able to develop apps themselves. As it stands they will just frustrate people who bought these things on the basis of having some useful internet functionality and in reality getting something pretty useless.
-- Harry
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