Television is no longer just TV
By Erwin Oliva
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 14:37:00 06/19/2008
Filed Under: Television, Media, Internet, Technology (general)
SINGAPORE -- The next revolution of television is going to happen soon, and it's going to change how we interact with what was once called an “idiot box.”
Since the day we started watching images in color, innovations in television have not been very dramatic, except for the bigger and higher-resolution screens that make the experience of watching TV better. This year, however, the promise of a more interactive television is becoming a reality as more companies are banding together to transform this medium into a richer communications platform similar to computers or a mobile phone.
Thanks to faster mobile phone networks and the alliance of consumer electronics manufacturers, telecommunications vendors and software vendors, television is taking a major leap forward as it brings the Internet experience right into the living room.
In demonstrations done by Ericsson executives here at CommunicAsia in Singapore Expo, officials have unveiled working prototypes of Internet Protocol TV or IPTV services, which is a sneak preview of the future of television.
"IPTV is an interactive and personalized TV experience," said Eugene Sarmiento, head of Ericsson sales development of IPTV, in an interview.
With IPTV, television is no longer a "one-way channel where content is just consumed" by viewers, Sarmiento said.
It is going to be a two-way medium where people can now interact with other viewers, an experience familiar among Internet users, he added.
IPTV brings applications like instant messaging, presence technology, file sharing and even voice chat over the television connected to an IP-based network. Users can also play games on their television and even create content and share that instantly with friends online or via their mobile phone.
Vendors like Ericsson are now part of industry cooperation, such as Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA), that aims to realize the convergence of all these technologies to "personalize" the television experience, according to Ericsson executives conducting demonstrations here.
The DLNA currently has more than 300 members. DLNA is also a certifying body that gives a stamp of "approval" to devices and appliances working on industry standards, executives said.
Sarmiento said consumers are partly driving the demand for IPTV because they expect the Internet experience to also happen on their television.
"From prime time, we will soon have ‘my time,’" he added, noting that consumers want control of content they get from their television. "Video content is being demanded from different devices apart from TV," he added.
IPTV will also bring together services and devices to allow some form of control over what could be watched on television by children, Sarmiento said.
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