back to article Connected TV watched in 42m homes

Across the US and Europe, 42m homes are already accessing internet services through their TVs, market watcher Strategy Analytics reckons. Given the rise of Netflix, Hulu and other such services, it's no surprise to learn that the Americans are leading the move from broadcast television to IPTV. SA spoke to 4800 punters over …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Rather than upgrade my very nice TV

    ..I bought an Apple TV 2 for under a hundred quid, jailbroke it and installed XBMC and the iPlayer plugin. Viola! A small, silent player with HDMI out and a neat little remote for a very sharp price.

    Added bonus, XBMC is a very nice front end for playing all sorts of media from SMB shares and the like. The whole process was very easy with a bit of googling (use Seas0npass to jailbreak), and took less than an hour start to finish, from unboxing the thing, to watching iPlayer HD on my TV- including googling and tea drinking time.

  2. Nev
    FAIL

    France

    You actually can't get an ADSL or fibre internet connection in France without being forced to pay for IPTV as part of the package if you have been LLU'd.

    So instead of €15 all ISPs charge around €30 per month.

    So pretty sure the actual figures of people watching IPTV are lower.

    Rip off.

  3. slyos

    Poeple changes, computer, notebook, netbook, tablet tommorow smartphone. I thought that ist will be smaller and smaller. Now the TV is running cloud application, but not a lot of poeple have it. Maybe in a few years we will run or virtualized windows from our smartphone using wifi and the tv will just be a giant screen

    Posted from a Virtual Private Desktop "VPU"

  4. Pete 2 Silver badge

    This is what happened to "Linux on the desktop"

    It became Linux on the TV.

    You have a box at home. Connected to it is a screen, internet connection, plug-in external storage and a plug-in disk (or disc) reader. It contains an operating system and takes forever (OK, 15 seconds - about as long as a valve'd TV, plus ca change!) to start up. If you like you can download patches and upgrades for it.

    So what is it? It says "TV" on the box, but nmap -O reports it's running Linux 2.6.X

    Maybe we should stop worrying too much about labels and realise that very soon the house TV will be capable of hosting your word-processing apps, maybe even talking to a printer and giving you video Skype when you least expect it. Then, if things go according to plan your granny's worst nightmare can at last come true: that since she can see the presenters on TV programmes, they'll be able to see her, too.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    IPTV first came out in the UK in 2004 (Hull) when industry pundits claimed it would be widespread in 5 years (notably pundits at the BBC who also championed FreeView).

    Since then the networks bitched and moaned about traffic so much they didn't even consider it.

    Now the IPTV industry is running out of speculator money they need to keep press releasing good news and hiding the stuff about how completely useless the browser is. (seriously, imagine IE6 with a hangover)

    But everyone just bought a new 32" LCD super FreeView HD TV so there's a very small market for at least the 5-10 year life of those new TVs

    Which is why a lot of companies were going down the patent troll road instead of focussing on their stated goal, not just dropping the ball but failing to even notice the game.

    Finally we get spoon fed this "look foreigners like it and they are cool & sexy" and "the French have it, you don't want to have worse TV than a Frenchman"

    The BIG issue is nothing to do with hardware or platform though. Because whoever you consume your TV through the fact remains it's just Eastenders, Hollyoaks and repeats for 90% of the schedule.

    1. jolly

      Yeh but you can choose the 10% you want and ignore the rest.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    why use a limited net connected telly?

    connect you PC to your telly and use PIP. Full PC functionality and TV!

    These net connected TV's are a poor attempt at best.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Choose Life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family.

    Choose washing machines, cars, compact disc players and

    electrical tin openers.

    Choose good health, low cholesterol, and dental insurance. Choose fixed

    interest mortage repayments. Choose a starter home. Choose your

    friends. Choose leisurewear and matching luggage. Choose a

    three-piece suite on hire purchase in a range of fucking fabrics.

    Choose DIY and wondering who the duck you are on a Sunday morning.

    Choose sitting on that couch watching mind-numbing, spirit-crushing

    game shows, stuffing ducking junk food into your mouth. Choose

    rotting away at the end of it all, pishing your last in a miserable

    home, nothing more than an embarrassment to the selfish, ducked up

    brats you spawned to replace yourself.

    Choose your future.

    Choose life.

    But I don't choose to pay a monthly sub for a selection of programs I've no interest in or have seen before.

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