WebTV and P2P TV are hot topics for the moment. I didn’t have the opportunity to watch the Livestation hereunder before today. I like it, smooth and live. If you interested to learn more on the companies and tools available in this field, Techcrunch published an interesting article this week.
But I’m still really wondering how those tools will really be used by the average (meaning « not geek ») people. You don’t want to know wether it’s P2P, Web, Cable, Internet, TNT or Satellite TV, you just want to watch from anywhere, at anytime on whatever device, live or recorded. so P2P TV is just another way of streaming the information to your box. I have a mediacenter and I’m getting data from various sources (cable, TNT, Internet). It’s working nice on my TV. A little bit more difficult to make it work on my videoprojector, as I have to switch the monitor display in the Windows display properties (BIIIP, too geek -> usability improvement opportunity). If I have another TV, in another room, it sucks. If I want to share my recorded TV programs with other people, it becomes a real pain in the ass. Sharing = bandwith, port forwarding, http server (BIIIP, too geek -> usability improvement opportunity).
So I really don’t care a lot about WebTV, P2P TV. What I would really like to get is an Internet Media Center. Hosted on the web (by google so I’m sur it works fine). It would have incoming data from anywhere in the world (free TV, pay TV, internet, cable, P2P, MP3, AVI, WMA, Apple Store, Youtube). It would be manageable from anywhere in the world (my TV, my phone, or whatever Internet brower). Storage would be unlimited (because it would be smart enough to store only once data shared between users). And finally, it would accessible for viewing from anywhere in the world: using Internet (TCP/IP) as transportation layer and whatever interface so that I can get it on my cellphone, TV, video-projector and microwave door.
And don’t tell me about DRM, I know … it’s just an excuse not to share 😉
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