Internet TV headaches

13Jan/103

Internet TV can be liberating when it works, but frustrating when it doesn't (iStockphoto)

Since February 2009, I've been running an experiment to see if I could go without a cable television. I've found that with a few exceptions, I haven't missed my cable subscription at all. Downloading my television content via the Internet has been quite a learning experience. When it works, it's great. When it doesn't, you want to want to just tear your hair out.

Here are a few Internet TV headaches:

1. Right now, it's still pretty complicated

Sometimes, you just want to turn on the TV and veg out. Watching Internet video in your living room involves hooking up a computer to your TV, downloading and properly configuring a media server program, and installing the required plugins (more on this later) to watch certain content.

2. The technology can be finicky

Many of these media server programs (like PlayOn, Tversity, and XBMC) are mostly very specialized, often finicky, web browsers. These web browsers connect (sometimes using plugins) to content sites like Hulu and Netflix to retrieve the video from the website. This sounds great, in theory. If the content site changes the way the video is presented, the media server program can't access it until someone releases a patch. The patch works until the content site changes again. Then, another patch is needed. This cycle is tiresome.

3. The hardware needed to run the media server programs can be expensive

If you have a spare computer lying around, you might be able to use it as a the center of your Internet TV media rig. However, some computers might not have enough processor power to decode the Internet TV streams. Others may not have the graphical capability to display the video on your television without dropped frames and out-of-sync sound.

However, this might change very soon. Boxee is releasing the Boxee Box, which is a self-contained piece of hardware that runs a copy of the Boxee media center software. The Boxee Box is supposed to cost about $200, much less than a new computer. I think I might have to get one when it comes out....

Good News: It's getting better

I truly believe that 2010 is the year that Internet TV catches on, provided a few things happen:

More low-priced, self-contained solutions like the Boxee Box hit the market.
Service providers don't drastically raise prices on broadband Internet service.

Action Item

Tell me about your Internet TV experiences! Comment in the comments section of this post or send me an e-mail!

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