The internet has disrupted almost every media industry on the planet. Newspapers are struggling to find paying readers, record labels are fighting against free downloads and encyclopedias have gone out of business altogether. TV however, never lost its audience in the web wars.
That’s about to change.
Smart TV merges the internet with the TV experience, allowing you to watch Youtube videos, conduct Skype calls, and browse the web from your TV.
Here are 5 ways Smart TVs will change the way we watch TV and entertain ourselves!
5 ways Smart TV will change America’s evenings
The end of cable?
Already, a large part of the television watching audience is viewing TV on-demand. Smart TV will only accelerate this trend. Nowadays, people want to choose what they watch, and when they watch it. Broadcasters still stuck in the 90’s will have to change their game plan. This could mean the end of cable.
Device fatigue: less is more
The last thing anyone wants these days is another cable or set-top box to plug into their overheated plugs. Smart TV promises to act as a telephone and a home entertainment center with TV, DVD and video games, all wrapped into one device. Future versions will offer consumers the ability to control every part of their house – from climate control to automatic window roller shutters.
Personalization
Voice and face recognition together with custom home screens give a personal touch to the viewing experience.
New technology could save friendships and marriages
Besides internet connectivity, Smart TVs bring some new features that might change the way we watch TV as a group. ‘Social’ TV will plug in the functionality of social media like Facebook and Twitter so people can comment on a show while watching it, while people can also set up ‘virtual living rooms’, watching a show at the same time, from different locations
Samsung has unveiled what some have already called a marriage-saving feature in their latest Smart TV: the ability to watch 2 programs at the same time, split-screen.
Tablets and smartphones function as a second screen and remote control
The TV is not the venue for social media. Social interaction happens on tablets and smartphones, which can also act as a remote control. Remote control by voice and gesture is becoming easier as well and is now integrated in almost all new Smart TVs.
The end of computers?
Will everyone be working on their computer on a 40” plasma screen soon? We’re not quite sure how this would work in the office… Generally, TV viewing is considered a lean-back experience: a TV is not a computer, at least in the West.
But many new consumers from emerging economies are skipping the step of buying a computer, the same way they leapfrogged into smartphones without adopting landlines. And technologies like the computer-in-a-stick Raspberry Pi or Cotton Candy that can be plugged into a TV for an instant computer experience are changing our idea of what a computer is.
How fast these evolutions will take place is unsure. What is sure is that, in a few years time, few will still be watching Youtube videos on their computer screen.
Kate Simmons is a fresh graduate and freelance tech-writer currently writing on behalf of pennsylvaniainternetproviders.com.
