Google TV impressions

[Lee]

Bought a Sony Blu-Ray Google TV today. To be honest I didn't know much about it and was looking for a cable replacement, which from my initial impressions it certainly isn't. Its seems like it's supposed to make cable better. I will be comparing it to an Apple TV, which I have had for just over 2 weeks now. Apple TV is a cable replacement: incredibly simple to use, well designed, I can stream from my PC, very slick renting store, and the Netflix app is really well done. Short comings is that the rental store is very limited and you can't even bring a browser up and watch online content or anything else. It's probably not fair to compare the two really, since they are very different, but I am going to anyway.

Google TV seems to be more of just an internet shell to your DVR so far. It is pretty neat to put what you are watching in a window while you look something up online. But otherwise I am kind of missing the point. It's just another layer of interface outside of my Comcast DVR's. It works ok, but isn't anything amazing. If it was the DVR I would find it a lot more useful, but unless you have a Dish DVR it doesn't work for that.

Set up: Apple TV took all of 5 minutes if that, but then again it's remote won't operate your DVR, TV or anything else besides ATV. GTV took closer to 20 minutes thanks to an update. You set up wireless, the screen size, etc, and then it downloads an update and restarts, this probably took 10 minutes. The problem was that after the update I had to start from scratch because it forgot all the previous settings. After that it sets up the remote for your TV and DVR. Pretty easy, it runs through some tests to make sure its got your channel listing down right etc.

After that you are ready to go. You can watch TV as expected, surf the net, and play with the apps. The apps are pretty blah so far. I swear I must be missing something with the Netflix app. You have to activate it through your computer with a code it gives you and then you only have access to your instant watch queue. No browsing, ratings, nothing. On ATV it's not perfect, but a lot more like Netflix on your computer. I was very disappointed with the Netflix app. There is a YouTube, Pandora and some other apps that I really wasn't interested in.

From what I am understanding the App store and rentals from Amazon and Google (I think) are coming in the future. I couldn't find any mention of either as it is. I also haven't tried watching a Blu-Ray on it (speaking of which anyone wanna buy a big PS3?).

The remote is good. It's not as big as you might think, it's the size of an XBox controller with a keyboard on it, very light. It takes a bit of getting used to but I was soon navigating with ease. The left side has a directional controller which is handy for most things while on the right side there is an optical sensor that you can control a mouse cursor with. It's slow, and a bit to small, but it works. I think a touchpad like found on a laptop would work better (which the Logitech has, but the first impressions of the logitech didn't sound so great). I am very annoyed that I can't figure out how to turn my DVR off with it though, but then again I think I am the only person in the world who actually turns off the DVR when not in use.

So off of my very brief impressions I would tell anyone interested to wait. It seems like they have big plans for GTV, but right now it's still very basic. It is nice having the internet/TV/disc player all right there without having to switch to other devices, so if you bought a PS3 just for the BR player like I did, this is a nice replacement. If you want to replace cable, ATV with a computer to stream to it is the way to go. I am an Apple fanboy though.

I do have to say I am looking forward to next weekend and switching the game to a window to can catch up with what all the bloggers I follow on twitter are saying about it or finding out scores from around the league. Of course my iPad and Droid are already awesome for that. I have too many gadgets.

[Lee]

Side note on apps:

Pandora works even when not in the app, pretty nice.

NBA Gamecast thing looks like it could be cool if I followed the NBA and wanted to check scores quickly.

HBO Go is for HBO subscribers. On Verizon FIOS thingy only. If you have HBO through Comcast it tells you to go to some website. Everyone else, forget it.

Sony has a streaming video rental store. Looks about the same as ATV's.

[kathode]

Thanks for the impressions.  Going to probably go with an Apple TV myself once I get moved in to my new place.

[LoneStarSpur]

I'm getting a Logitech Revue...as soon as my wife lets me.

[Lee]

Doesn't seem to be much talk about this anywhere. Figured there would be more hype.

A week with it now. There is good and bad. Search is cool, I can do a search for lets say Arsenal (my soccer team) and I get will get upcoming tv listings as well as a web search for it with a lot of YouTube videos. The on now feature is nice too. I can go to it for, let say sports, and see all the games that are on in all sports and how much time is left. I really like the TV picture in a window thing while I search the net for something but it is all a bit slow and clunky.

It still needs a lot of work. The apps are all seem to be a bit slow and need a lot of refinement. Navigating is cumbersome at best too. A lot of it is very rough. It reminds me a lot of my Droid on release day last year. It worked well enough, but needed a lot of polish (which we are starting to see a year later with the phone's OS). I am still very tempted to take it back, but I think in a year it will be awesome.

One major negative is Hulu, ABC, CBS, and NBC have all blocked GTV from playing full shows on their websites. Boggles my mind why they won't let me.

[happydog]

Went to a conference this week and got one for free. (Win!) I will get it in a few weeks.

[leo8877]

There was some news yesterday about so much negative publicity from the big networks about google tv, that google shifted it to the youtube business unit.

[Lee]

There was some news yesterday about so much negative publicity from the big networks about google tv, that google shifted it to the youtube business unit.

What does that mean? Google TV is bad? Or that they won't let your stream from the network sites?

[leo8877]

There was some news yesterday about so much negative publicity from the big networks about google tv, that google shifted it to the youtube business unit.

What does that mean? Google TV is bad? Or that they won't let your stream from the network sites?

I took the news as google is giving up on it, but I don't really know.

[Lee]

There was some news yesterday about so much negative publicity from the big networks about google tv, that google shifted it to the youtube business unit.

What does that mean? Google TV is bad? Or that they won't let your stream from the network sites?

I took the news as google is giving up on it, but I don't really know.

Links? It is kind of lame now, but I was under the impression they are aiming at making it much better in 2011.

[leo8877]

There was some news yesterday about so much negative publicity from the big networks about google tv, that google shifted it to the youtube business unit.

What does that mean? Google TV is bad? Or that they won't let your stream from the network sites?

I took the news as google is giving up on it, but I don't really know.

Links? It is kind of lame now, but I was under the impression they are aiming at making it much better in 2011.

Here's something from a quick search:

http://blog.seattlepi.com/techchron/archives/226473.asp

[Lee]

Thanks. Found an article with Google saying BS too. Its way to early for them to give up on it.

[LoneStarSpur]

Finally got the OK to pick up a Revue last night (along with a Pioneer VSX-1020-K) and I'm having a couple of problems with the Revue.

1. It won't find my DLNA server (Windows Media Player 11)
2. My Droid X won't connect to it (I have the Logitech Harmony app) and the X is on my wifi.

Revue is on the internet. Wife: "Ooo... can play Farmville and watch TV at the same time?" 

Anyone have any ideas? (I'm searching, but no luck so far)

[LoneStarSpur]

While this thing is really bares-bones right now there is something to be said for surfing the net while sitting on your couch and listening to music streamed from your pc to your surround system.

Not sure I'm going to keep it, but it has potential for sure.

[Lee]

While this thing is really bares-bones right now there is something to be said for surfing the net while sitting on your couch and listening to music streamed from your pc to your surround system.

Not sure I'm going to keep it, but it has potential for sure.

If someone wanted to buy mine, I would sell it in a second. While it has potential, it's no worth the price. I haven't even hooked it up since I moved.

[LoneStarSpur]

While this thing is really bares-bones right now there is something to be said for surfing the net while sitting on your couch and listening to music streamed from your pc to your surround system.

Not sure I'm going to keep it, but it has potential for sure.

If someone wanted to buy mine, I would sell it in a second. While it has potential, it's no worth the price. I haven't even hooked it up since I moved.

Can't blame you for that. It's really in beta right now. Hopefully they'll start updating it more quickly. I expect to see a lot of cool stuff when the app store opens in early '11.

This is the first day I've really had a lot of time to spend with it and it's been kind of cool. I watched a couple of trailers at halftime (Tron and True Grit...both awesome on my TV in HD. The Tourist looks good, but I didn't find an HD version.) Been watching the Cowboys and following the Browns game on Yahoo and my fantasy team, too. I have the game up in a small window while I'm doing this post.

Kinda neat.

I certainly wouldn't suggest anyone get it, but I like new, geeky stuff. 

[happydog]

Went to a conference this week and got one for free. (Win!) I will get it in a few weeks.

Still waiting for the dang thing. Hopefully I get it this week.

[LoneStarSpur]

Now Viacom has blocked Google TV from working on their sites.

Not really sure why it's OK to view their content on a PC, but not on a TV.

Kinda interesting that the big content providers see it as such a threat.

[rittchard]

I'm looking for something that's relatively easy to use and setup for my parents to watch Chinese streaming content on their HDTV, and I'm wondering if this might be it.  The price tag is a bit steep for them (they are extremely frugal unlike me) but I think if it worked really well it might be worth it.  I considered donating an old laptop or something for them to do this but I get the sense it would be a pain in the ass for them to use on a day to day basis.  I'm considering the Logitech Revue.

The site in particular I wanted to try is:

http://tv.sohu.com/

I'm wondering if I set everything up for them, how easy it would be to just go from their regular shows (they have FIOS now) to this.  Also is it possible to have TV going and then in a separate window have sports scores constantly updating (they are NBA fanatics and constantly go back and forth to their computer to check stats).

[Bullwinkle]

You should ask at an Asian massage parlor.

[LoneStarSpur]

I'm looking for something that's relatively easy to use and setup for my parents to watch Chinese streaming content on their HDTV, and I'm wondering if this might be it.  The price tag is a bit steep for them (they are extremely frugal unlike me) but I think if it worked really well it might be worth it.  I considered donating an old laptop or something for them to do this but I get the sense it would be a pain in the ass for them to use on a day to day basis.  I'm considering the Logitech Revue.

The site in particular I wanted to try is:

http://tv.sohu.com/

I'm wondering if I set everything up for them, how easy it would be to just go from their regular shows (they have FIOS now) to this.  Also is it possible to have TV going and then in a separate window have sports scores constantly updating (they are NBA fanatics and constantly go back and forth to their computer to check stats).

Best Buy has a nice 30 day return policy which I took advantage of with my Revue, so you might want to go that route.

I think Google TV is not nearly ready for prime time and I'm not sure that it ever will be, to be honest.

[rittchard]

You should ask at an Asian massage parlor.

LMAO!!!


P.S.  Thx LoneStar, I may end up checking it out via BB since I'm a "premier silver" member whatever that means.

[Lee]

I read on AVS forums that the latest update fixed the 5.1 sound on the Sony box, and improved the Netflix app. Plus the Android remote app is out. Guess I will have to hook mine back up and give it a go sometime later in the week.