It seems that more and more rumors are speculating that the Google TV is going to launch in the first couple weeks of October. With the Apple TV likely shipping in the last week of September, is anyone else reconsidering their Apple TV pre-order? I know there aren't any concrete details, but I'm guessing that the Google TV will be double the price of the Apple TV ($200-250), but it will also have more functionality.
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Google TV or Apple TV?
- Thread starter Andy0568
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Honestly, neither look that attractive to me, the 
tv as cheap as it now is (which would've put it ahead of the google TV), still seems overly expensive for what is now just a itunes store portal...
tv as cheap as it now is (which would've put it ahead of the google TV), still seems overly expensive for what is now just a itunes store portal...Until it actually goes on sale, Google TV is just vaporware. And it seems pretty lame if you ask me. You can search for all the things you've recorded on your DVR! Wow - you can already do that on your DVR. You can search for YouTube videos! Wow - except that YouTube videos are things I watch as distractions while I'm at work, and would never bother watching them on my television. But wait, it will have social media integration! Except that I could care less what people on Twitter or Facebook have to say about the program I'm watching.
Apple TV aims much lower in some ways, and therefore appeals to me more. But it really depends on what you want to do with it. If you have a large library of ripped DVDs, a Netflix account, and no current way to view Netflix streaming on your television, then it's a great deal. Or, if you are interested in renting and buying media from the iTMS. If not, then it's probably not for you.
I had the first gen Apple TV for a while and loved it, until it stopped working. I've been waiting for an update since then, and I might pick the new one up at some point in the next couple of months. If it had built-in support for Hulu it would be even better, but I understand that Apple is all about selling you iTMS content. I'm surprised it even has Netflix.
Apple TV aims much lower in some ways, and therefore appeals to me more. But it really depends on what you want to do with it. If you have a large library of ripped DVDs, a Netflix account, and no current way to view Netflix streaming on your television, then it's a great deal. Or, if you are interested in renting and buying media from the iTMS. If not, then it's probably not for you.
I had the first gen Apple TV for a while and loved it, until it stopped working. I've been waiting for an update since then, and I might pick the new one up at some point in the next couple of months. If it had built-in support for Hulu it would be even better, but I understand that Apple is all about selling you iTMS content. I'm surprised it even has Netflix.
GTV is a search software platform for the living room tv.
THe goal is for consumers to see Google's webpage every time they turn on their TV. (tollbridge.)
From there you search for the show you want to watch whether it's on your cable box or Tivo or on the net or on Netflix or on Amazon. OEMs will make the hardware and the hardware could/will vary substantially.
The other goal is to seamlessly connect the different boxes and interfaces together under the one Google search interface. (and this will be done via IR blasters and changing the input on your TV with another remote according to which input the show you want to watch is on.)
Different product than ATV.
NO reason it couldn't work with the ATV if both parties wanted it to.
Remains to be seen just how well it works and what devices come out.
THe goal is for consumers to see Google's webpage every time they turn on their TV. (tollbridge.)
From there you search for the show you want to watch whether it's on your cable box or Tivo or on the net or on Netflix or on Amazon. OEMs will make the hardware and the hardware could/will vary substantially.
The other goal is to seamlessly connect the different boxes and interfaces together under the one Google search interface. (and this will be done via IR blasters and changing the input on your TV with another remote according to which input the show you want to watch is on.)
Different product than ATV.
NO reason it couldn't work with the ATV if both parties wanted it to.
Remains to be seen just how well it works and what devices come out.
I curious to how the GoogleTV will work. I understand the need for IR blasters, but why would you need to switch the inputs to your TV? Wouldn't all of your devices be connected to the GoogleTV with a single output from the GoogleTV to the TV? Otherwise, if you switched inputs, how would you do another search without having to switch back to the GoogleTV?
It's really quite confusing on how gTV would work. What I'd like to see is how one would connect a gTV box into a standard home set-up (i.e. cable box, dvd player, game player).
In order to do what your saying, Google TV would need to be implemented into a home theater receiver/switcher/amplifier. The first products are going to have one, maybe two inputs at most.
Well, I think eventually, GoogleTV would be integrated into the TV sets and the gTV overlay would be applied across all inputs.
But I'm still scratching my head as to how the Logitech Revue box is going to work. I can understand IR blasters controlling the STB/DVR. What I don't understand is the idea of the gTV switching inputs on the TV.
Perhaps one input is all that is necessary, as long as the gTV box has the ability to serve up Netflix, You Tube, home videos on a PC, etc. Maybe there's no need to connect a DVD/BD player to the gTV at all.
I wonder if it's allowed to intercept the HDMI output of a STB and "inject" the gTV overlay onto that signal, then send it out to the TV.
The HDMI output usually has HDCP, which would prevent that "inject" idea from being possible.
I think that really the only thing these things are going to be able to do is take a component input from your STB and use an IR blaster to change channels. It might do some DVR functionality on it own (but it won't control a DVR box). It won't connect to your DVD/Blu-ray player, but it will stream video over the internet. I don't even know if they are going to let you stream content from a local computer, but I would imagine it's something they are working on.
What Google TV sounds like in its current form is a glorified "Internet TV" box, and I am pretty sure those were horrible failures back in the day.
Im sitting back and watching both, because right now AppleTV is nothing to separate itself from my TiVo that does Amazon Vod, or my BR player for that matter. Until they can start offering better prices on rentals, they wont be accepted well.
And calling Google Tv vaporware is a little bit of apple fanboyism at play. Itll be out soon, and face it, Google tends to come in, and quickly do things better (see chrome and android)
And calling Google Tv vaporware is a little bit of apple fanboyism at play. Itll be out soon, and face it, Google tends to come in, and quickly do things better (see chrome and android)
The Apple TV isn't designed to replace your TiVo or BR player, not yet at least. This is why Apple still considers it a "hobby" because there is so much more they want it to do but don't want to come up with a crappy half-baked implementation for it. Probably the main reason they don't have an app store for it yet (the 1st gen iPhone didn't either). Prices aren't really set by Apple, they are done by the providers, all Apple can do is pressure the providers to lower their prices. Sadly the providers don't really like the kind of power Apple has so they tend to be unfair about it and give better deals to Amazon, etc.
Right now the Apple TV fits in a newer category of devices, but the goal is to eventually conquer all the other devices near it (DVR, Blu-ray player, etc).
Google TV is definitely not vaporware. They are coming out, but sadly I think they are rushing them out too soon. They should work on it some more because the whole concept of an IR blaster is just awful. Also "Google tends to quickly do things better" is not really true. With Chrome it took them quite awhile before it was really a good browser and had a large amount of extensions that supported it. With Android we are only now starting to see some good competition from them, it took them years to get to where they are at now, while Apple had huge success with the iPhone almost straight away.
So yeah "quickly" is not really the right word to use. One of the biggest problems with what Google does is that they don't make any hardware themselves, so basically it takes their manufacturer partners several iterations to get it right. I fear Google TV can't afford that kind of thing, because as Apple has proven, the market for this stuff isn't really that big yet. If the first Google TV devices flop (and no doubt they will), the entropy could be disastrous.