Web-connected TVs in CES spotlight

Delivering a web-connected experience to TV viewersis a central theme at this year's Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, with a number of manufacturers presenting proprietary hardware and services for online content delivery.

But licensing and distribution issuescould mean the public reception of these offerings will be a little fuzzy, depending where viewers live.

Even though 3D TV is the technology with thewow factor at the show, web connectivity is garnering lots of attention.

TV makers have slowly adopted the notion of application-driven television interfaces, where the TVs have built-in technology for accessingweb-based content.

It's not a new idea, but up to now the market has been dominated by add-onset top media player boxes from the likes of Western Digital, Seagate, Asus and Boxee.

Unfortunately, Canadians who bought these devices were disappointed to see that geoblocking restrictions kept key lots of the latest content out of reach in this country.

The problem is that the distribution rights for content differ from country to country, so a show available in the U.S. or U.K., for example, is often unavailable in Canada.

Sites distributing content online in one country set up geoblocks so that people in other countries cannot access the material and the geoblocks lock out both PC browsers and internet-connected TV sets.

Canada in most rollout plans

The key to selling the idea of "smarter TVs" to consumers has been to incorporate a way to get at both the digitalcontent they own such as movies and music along withthat offered on demand by any number of providers.

The biggest TV manufacturers have their sights set on the latter, partly because it offers attractive revenue possibilities, and the encouraging news is that most seem to be including Canada as part of their new rollout plans.

That said, they also quietly admit that licensing and distribution channels that govern what content is offered in different countries could continue to create the same roadblocks that have kept popular vendors like Hulu, BBC iPlayer and others from offering service to Canadians.

Samsung, which launched an app store at CES last year only to see it dwindle into obscurity, opted to go with a "Smart TV" distinction by changing the user interface on its sets and offering more streaming options.

A full web browser, search engine, applications and support for mobile devices are part of the hardware and software mix for its newest TVs,but content access will likely continue to be stifled in Canada.

"There are definitely differences in what Canadians get to see on platforms like this, but it's an ongoing process to break down those barriers and flick the switch to open things up for everyone," said Jeff Ingram of Samsung Canada.

The Smart TV platform will be part of the newest lineup of Samsung TVs rolling out this spring in Canada.

Ingram confirmed that the 600 series and higher will have the internet-enabling technologybuilt-in. Ingram added that people witholder Samsung sets will likely be able to access Smart TV services through the company's latest Blu-ray players, which also have built-in Smart TV connectivity options.

Google TV on Sony

The story is much the same with Sony, which had numerous screens displaying its "Sony Internet TV Powered by Google." That's essentially a euphemism for Google TV on a Sony television.

Sony Canada's Karol Warminiec said Canada won't see this service immediately, but a launch before the end of the year is a possibility. Even if it were to launch in Canada now, much of the content currently offered would be restricted to the U.S. anyway, he said.

"Canada will definitely get our new Qriocity platform, which will offer streaming movies and plenty of music-based options," Warminiec said. "We're also offering Skype, along with a separate camera attachment, and the chance to use mobile phones and tablets as remotes as well."

Qriocity, the name of which is based on robot prototypes built in Sony labs, is able to identify any song playing on any show or movie using TrackID, a feature traditionally used in Sony Ericsson mobile phones.

In addition, the options to buy music through your TV, stream it from other devices and search for tracks are just a few of the features to be rolled out. A nice perk is that anyone with a PlayStation Network account can simply sign in to Qriocity using those same credentials. Strangely, no photo element has been included in the service.

Meanwhile, LG allocated a portion of its massive CES booth to Smart TVs, with demos showing how the interface enabled users to access on-demand web-based content from a number of providers. Naturally, the providers shown were meant for an American audience that can actually watch them.

LG's newest TVs will have the Smart TV interface built in, and will offer backwards compatibility to LG owners of older models through its ST600 Smart TV Upgrader, an add-on box. It will launch in the spring to coincide with the latest batch of TVs, but no pricing has been set yet.

Other manufacturers like Sharp and Toshiba were quiet on the connected TV front, while Panasonic raised the curtain on its Viera Connect platform, also aimed at delivering content ranging from entertainment and sports to exercise programs.

Despite TV manufacturers using either OEM or third-party processors to drive their connected platforms,Intel is hoping that it can emulate its success in computer chips by applying similar concepts to TVs. Its plans are focused aroundits second-generation Core processors, which are smaller yet considerably more powerful than the original chips.

One example showcased at CES was Wireless Display, or WiDi, which allows a Windows PCtodisplay on a TV, while keeping the PC'scomputer screen free for other tasks. The connection is made through a small set top box connected to the back of the TV via an HDMI port.

"You can play a 1080p high-definition movie on the TV while browsing the web on your notebook, and the best part is that the hardware and software needed to connect to the box is already embedded in the chipset," said Doug Cooper, country manager for Intel Canada.

Cooper added that Intel is also looking to embed its powerful chips into the TVs themselves. This would then enable televisions to act as the host, drivingapplications that feed high-definition content and communicate with similar applications on devices like notebooks, smartphones and tablets.

In other words, the TV replaces the PC as the device that feeds internet content to devices around the home or office.

"The TV is becoming the future computer platform, so the line between entertainment and hardware is gone,"Cooper said.

The chipset maker will also enter the entertainment market in Canada through a new service called Intel Insider, which will offer "hundreds" of movies in 1080p from leading studios for purchase or rental on second-generation Core processor-based PCs. No definitive timeframe or confirmation is known for spreading the service to Apple's Mac and the open-source Linux platforms.

Just like the fragmentation seen in the smartphone business with more than half a dozen operating systems and application stores, the connected TV business may see the same trend. That willbe disconcerting for Canada, so long as content providers remain too small and fragmented to profitablyenter the market here.

As it is, there is no market leader in the connected TV space yet, and the Consumer Electronics Show reinforces that factthat there isn't a centralized and agnostic approach to delivery of the content either.