Future TVs

[andrewducker]

There are now DivX certified DVD players for £40.  These can also play MPEG files perfectly happily.

There are HD versions for around £150.

And yet the standard for transmitting High-Def sound/vision from a device to a TV is to have the cable or player box take the original stream and unpack it to the right resolution itself.

How long, I wonder, until TVs appear that stream video files direct - either direct from file shares, or from a UPNP server.  There's no need to worry about fiddly proprietary cabling and expensive interconnects when your TV takes a standard ethernet cable (and so does your HD player).

Or is this the kind of thing that only geeks will ever find useful.  And for the cost of a £40 piece of functionality, is that something TV manufacturers aren't prepared to take a gamble on?

Comments

[johnbobshaun.livejournal.com]

*imagines self in a silver jump suit bricking a TV while doing a firmware upgrade*

[andrewducker]

Soem brands of TVs already get firmware upgrades - they get broadcast...

And the advantages of standards is that you need less firmware upgrades to deal with them - provided you go through a certification process.