As you all should know, in Febuary next year, the US will be switching off all it's analogue TV broadcasts; well, all of the US save Hawaii, who are set to switch off on the 15th of January.

Why? Some of the state's much loved birds nest nearby to the analogue masts, and they start arriving in Febuary. As such, they have pulled foward the switchover date to before the birds start arriving.

I'm glad at least to see one place in the world finally pushing it through; the UK has just had it's first area go completely digital, but it will take years for the entire country to get there....

Internet television, IPTV, the like, has been a buzzword for the past few years, with different companies claiming they will break the tradition and get people really watching both standard, and internet only channels on via their computers.

However, none of them have really took off...sure; we have companies like Zattoo who are streaming lots of channels normally available on TV for free, and it gets a fair number of users, but it's hardly the massive hit it wanted to be...more a casual thing used at times when a real TV is not around.

And that's just the thing; the only time people will use internet TV is when a real TV is not around. There is no draw of must see exclusive programming, no real advertizing of the service, nothing. Until this is sorted I fear that Internet Television will stay as something used only for convienience; when a television is not around, or to catch up on missed programs, and the spreading of DVRs is slowly erasing that last one.

It's a shame, really... there's so much potetential, if only one company could be daring, say, place a big show on an internet channel prior to it's TV airdate, perhaps others would follow...

Zattoo is a fantastic free application available to various countries in Europe that allows the user to watch many of the free airing TV channels in the area without having to connect the computer to an arial or even be in an area where there is reception. It streams, via peer to peer technology, a live videofeed of a multitude of channels.

Unfortunatly it doesn't yet support the USA... but there's always the future! If you are one of the blog's european readers, be sure to check this one out.

Link

According to a recent study by In-Stat, embedded Wi-Fi chips could end up in about a billion consumer electronics devices by 2012. There are a few select television brands that are capable of connecting to the Internet via wireless (Wi-Fi), connection. In the near future, most TVs will use a form of Wi-Fi or Bluetooth technology.

Currently, TVs use ethernet or cable to connect to the Internet. According to a recent article in CNET, WiFi has been slow to televisions because the video streaming over Wi-Fi is too 'buggy.' Ethernet remains to be a reliable choice for connectivity and ease of use.

Currently, companies such as SONY, are already working on delivering HDTVs that they can stream content to directly to televisions. The only missing detail is the elimination of all those ugly wires.

As always, let us know what your thoughts are.

-itsTripple

Sling Media recently announced that it will start selling the Slingbox PRO-HD. The new high-definition version will allow users to watch HD cable or satellite programs on their PCs via their Internet or a home network. The cost should be around $300 when it hit the shelves.

This isn't your average cable box. This is for the true 'cableholic.' You have to be the type of person that can't live without your cable or satellite subscriptions away from home.

The new HD Slingbox can stream up to 1080i HD content (1920-by-1080-pixel resolution), to your computer at home or over the internet. The internet connection is only valuable if you have at least a 1.5 MB of data transfer capabilities. The new SlingPlayer desktop PC software gives Slingbox owners access to their cable and satellite subscription via an electronic programming guide. The Slingbox PRO-HD is available at slingmedia.com, Amazon.com and Buy.com.

Is the Slingbox for you? Is it practical or a waste of engineering time? As always we would like to know.

-itsTripple

It appears that TiVo is in the process of getting away from content service offerings and is focusing more on their DVR units by renewing their relationship with cable satellite TV provider, Direct TV.

According to a recent Reuters article, TiVo is developing a new digital video recorder for satellite TV provider DirecTV with the hopes of boosting the number of subscribers using their service. Due to an 'intellectual property sharing' arrangement, DirecTV will pay TiVo a substantially higher monthly fee for households using the new TiVo produced high definition DirecTV DVRs than it does for previously models.

Are you a TiVo and Direct TV user? Has their recent disputes interrupted your content service? Let us know.

itsTripple