Score One for IPTV

March 5th, 2007

Yesterday, I purchased a full-length feature film from iTunes. This was a limited release movie that I missed when it came out during the past summer. It cost $14 and took about an hour to download. I had no idea that this impulse buy would cause me to rethink the fundamental way that I consume video content. I used to think that my satellite was the only way to get quality movies and TV shows. However, looks like this is no longer the case.

I read a few weeks ago that users will choose convenience over quality when it comes to web technologies. Just look at the success of YouTube. Plus, video technologies are just now starting to get to the point where they actually look good. But, there is a lot of room for improvement. It seems to me that most people are accustomed to their computers only accessing fuzzy, graining, and choppy video. This is about to – or already is – changed.

I downloaded a movie (Goal! The Dream Begins) in no time. And, I have the slowest, cheapest, DSL on the market. I then turned on sharing from my PC (days are numbered on that old clunker – another story), powered up my MacBook’s Airport, plugged the DVI cable to the back of my HDTV, plugged the audio jack to my stereo speakers, and voila! Movie time.

I seriously watched a two hour downloaded movie on my family room television – technically, streaming from the computer in the den to the wi-fi on my laptop, to the TV in real time. John would call this “black magic.” The funny part was that I could barely tell the difference. I mean, if I watch a standard definition signal (non-HDTV), it basically looks like YouTube anyway. SD signals are really, really ugly on my HDTV. So, it is a low hurdle (I think I owe Joe a royalty for that one-liner).

iTunes streaming video over Wi-fi to my HDTV is quite elegant. Front Row looks slick. The sound effects are techie, and the quality is noticeably smooth. I kept waiting for it to choke, or for the signal to die. It never did. The only thing that felt off was the tiny remote. That did not feel like a television remote, but so what. It works.

This was a serious dose of the future. I love this sort of thing because it is the first taste of how things will work in the very near future. Now I am thinking about purchasing a Mac Mini to run permanently attached to my HDTV — get my Joost, iTunes, and YouTube streamlined into the family room. What an escape.

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