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TVs may lose out to new, Internet-enabled devices

The cartoon movie ''The Incredibles'' is shown via the just-released Apple TV at an Apple store in Palo Alto, California, on Monday. Apple TV is a set-top box that can wirelessly stream or download iTunes videos, podcasts and music from a computer to a television. The slim, square gadget has a suggested retail price of US$299. PHOTO: AP

The traditional television box may lose its place of honor in the living room to a crop of new devices that send films and shows straight to screens and telephones via the Internet, analysts say.

"In a couple of years, we'll be seeing television [change] from being a dedicated box to being part of a home network, connected, eliminating all the wires," said Tim Hanlon, senior vice-president of media consulting company Denuo.

"It's a cross-line between Internet and TV experience," he said.

Devices such as the brand-new Apple TV, launched last Wednesday, and TiVo's decoder and recorder, allow films and programs to be downloaded from the Internet for direct viewing on a television screen.

"I could watch Internet video on a TV, and the reverse," Hanlon said. "And you could receive a multitude of content from online stores."

Downloads to the Apple TV are limited to files purchased from Apple's iTunes site, while TiVo has an agreement to allow downloads exclusively from the online media store Amazon.

The technology can also relay videos from the Internet to the smaller screen of a mobile telephone, enabling a phone user to gain access to a Hollywood studio's back catalogue or entire television series in their pocket.

"Obviously it is no substitute for leaning back and watching two-hour movies on a HD [high-definition] TV set," Hanlon said. "But if I'm interested in a basketball game and my plane is delayed, a little screen may be exactly what I want."

Downloads to the new breed of television devices still take some time -- around an hour for a film to a TiVo device -- and the videos available are limited to those from certain participating studios.

But a device with fewer restrictions is in the pipeline. The Slingcatcher, due to be released in the middle of this year by Sling Media, will directly transmit videos streamed on the Internet to a television screen without limits on the content.

Reproducing video content this way has legal risks, however. The US entertainment giant Viacom has launched a billion-dollar lawsuit for copyright infringement against Google and its affiliate video-sharing website YouTube.

Another Sling Media device, the Slingbox, launched in 2005, allowed the user to plug a television into a personal computer and then pick up television shows from that connection over the Internet from anywhere in the world.
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