It is pretty clear where the major Connected TV vendors are heading this year, adding value to their platforms by integrating companion screen experiences (initially focused on tablet/phone remote control and programme guides) and by making multimedia content sharing around the home easier. Both of these will provide a value-add for consumers beyond the provision of on-demand or even increasing volumes of live TV through the apps. The expansion of tablet ranges means there will be more focus on multi-screen delivery of video content as well, with Sony likely to lead the way there thanks to its Video Unlimited content offer.
The other big story will be the increasing cooperation with Pay TV operators. Panasonic was demonstrating the forthcoming Time Warner Cable app for the Smart VIERA platform and Samsung announced it will be the first CE manufacturer to commercially introduce the Verizon FiOS TV App to its line of Smart TVs and Smart Blu-ray players, starting this year. It was also confirmed that this year’s line-up of Samsung Smart TVs will be able to display DIRECTV DVR services, complete with pixel accurate user interface, making whole-home DVR viable without additional set-top boxes.
CES in January provided the evidence to justify the change of marketing emphasis from ‘connected’ to ‘smart’ TV. The new preference for ‘Smart TV’ as the way to describe Internet connected televisions and Blu-ray players is not just because you can populate the widescreen TV with your favourite apps or play Angry Birds, mimicking a smartphone experience in a more lean-back setting. It is also related to the smart home and the way more of our devices are starting to interact. As Samsung pointed out with its big marketing theme for the show, it is a combination of content, connectivity and interaction that is going to drive this market.
Having pioneered Internet televisions with VIERA CAST in 2008, Panasonic starting calling its televisions VIERA Connect last year but in January announced the advent of Smart VIERA, with networking a key part of the evolution, so that there is greater access to content inside the home as well as outside. Betty Noonan, VP of Brand Marketing for Panasonic declared: “This is a leap forward; it brings things together and provides seamless access to a wider variety of content.â€
Henry Hauser, Vice President Merchandising, Panasonic Consumer Marketing in North America, went further. “Panasonic has been an innovator in the growing area of IPTV and the enhancements within Smart VIERA deliver ease of use and the ultimate in home connectivity,†he declared. “Smart VIERA is poised to redefine the core of a new IPTV lifestyle. In it, all of the home’s AV devices will be connected and people will be able to freely access the content they want from any room in the house. People will have an unlimited source of content options, and equally as important, a very easy way to access that content.â€
Panasonic and Samsung led the way demonstrating the kind of applications that will improve the home media experience. Samsung has revamped its AllShare service into ‘AllShare Play’, enabling content to move from device to device, and from device to cloud. AllShare Play enables consumers to push content manually to the cloud or pull the content directly from their Smart TV or other mobile devices and the feature also comes with some free online storage.
Samsung was showing how videos stored on the PC can be streamed over the LAN to a smartphone and then from the phone to the television. The company is looking to harness all categories of CE device. With Family Story, the cloud-based content storing/sharing feature that covers everything from memos and schedules to photos, users can access the content on smartphones, tablets, PCs and Samsung Smart TVs. Device compatibility will be expanded to include LCD refrigerators and smart digital cameras in the future.
All this connectivity reaches beyond the home network. In a demonstration, Samsung showed how you can visit a friend and use your Galaxy smartphone to access content stored on your PC at home. The smartphone then searches the local network (in the friend’s house) for other devices it can play the content on, which could include a television.
LG Electronics highlighted Smart Share, which enables you to access content in digital devices like cameras, mobile phones, tablets and the PC, and wirelessly transfer them to the television with a simple click, and without any wires. Sharp showed how you can search for content across a DLNA enabled home network, with the television automatically selecting the best file if there are multiple copies of a photo or video.
Companion experiences
Improved connectivity provides the foundation for the CE vendors to pursue their other big theme for 2012: companion experiences. Ironically, there were probably fewer tablets on display in Las Vegas than there were in Amsterdam last September for IBC, when virtually every company associated with middleware or content discovery was demonstrating the concept of the companion screen, with interactive enhancements to the TV service on a secondary device. It is clear that the CE vendors will use tablets and smartphones to offer the same kind of functions, like remote control of the TV, programme guides and social TV, so we can expect growing competition between Pay TV and connected TV portals to provide the most compelling multi-screen user experience.
Panasonic first demonstrated how a tablet can complement the big screen connected TV experience at CES 2011, and the first iteration of its remote control app, released last spring, provided basic control like channel change and volume adjust. Version 2.0, scheduled for a spring 2012 release, supports interactivity between the TV and smart devices, as well. Using a Panasonic Toughpad (a rugged Android tablet equipped for being dropped on exhibition floors), the company demonstrated the control features and also content sharing between the tablet and television using DLNA.
Toshiba will launch its Excite tablets this year and also a remote control app called TRAC (Tablet Remote App Capable) that will turn the tablet into a remote control for the television, a Blu-ray player or even a cable set-top box. The company is also introducing a MediaGuide app that replicates the Toshiba programme guide on a tablet so viewers can browse for content without disrupting TV viewing. A third app for 2012 is Mediashare, which harnesses DLNA and Wi-Fi to enable content on laptops and smartphones to be shared on the television screen.
Sony currently offers the Android-based Sony Tablet S, an Apple iPad style device, and was displaying the new Sony Tablet P, which resembles a PSP (PlayStation Portable) in form but comes with a Nintendo DS-style dual screen. These devices can be used to control a television, set-top box, Blu-ray player and other screens and the remote control functionality works with non-Sony brands. The Sony Tablet S can also share media with the television, effectively throwing personal videos and photos at the screen. You can do the same with the Sony Ericsson Expedia smartphone.
Sony is also promoting the tablet as a consumption device for premium video. Its Video Unlimited content store is available on the tablet, providing instance access to hit movies. The content is downloaded to the tablet (on Sony connected TVs it is streamed) but this content cannot be transferred from tablet to television.
Screen mirroring
Another interesting aspect of the interaction between televisions and other smart devices is the concept of ‘screen mirroring’, which several CE vendors were demonstrating. Sony showed how you can effectively share your mobile screen with anyone in a room by displaying it on the television. Samsung showed a Galaxy smartphone accessing a web page and then making that visible on the Smart TV. The phone was then used as the controller, with the phone even doubling as a motion-based pointer to move a cursor on the screen. A spokesman said this is for the occasions when you want a bigger screen for web browsing.
Panasonic showed the same kind of idea with a tablet, browsing web pages but displaying the image on the TV. The tablet touch movement and keyboard can be used to control the TV display, something that could remove the need for a TV keyboard (or QWERTY remote) in some instances. This feature will appear for Android tablets first, followed by iOS. As an aside, Panasonic televisions can now support multitasking, which in this case means the ability to open several web pages at once and switch between them freely.
Motorola Mobility demonstrated another variation on the ‘TV as a slave monitor’ theme. The company showed how you can plug a smartphone into the television directly using HDMI, then open your phone apps on the television and ‘watch’ or interact with them there, including email. The company also showed how the phone charging dock could be connected to the TV so you get exactly the same functionality, but while the phone is charging.
Motorola has even developed a ‘remote’ for the smartphone. With the phone charging in the dock and the consumer watching TV, incoming call details can be displayed on the television and the user can take the call on the remote, rather than getting up to retrieve their smartphone.
Slave monitors are nothing new of course – you can connect your laptop to a dumb TV and display all your actions on the widescreen but doing this wirelessly with a tablet is more compelling. The other benefits of local connectivity – namely content sharing and especially companion screen features – will have more impact in the market. Smart TV is certainly evolving and these devices are viewed as being at the heart of the entertainment home.
Pay TV operators will note that the CE vendors are looking for more companion experiences and multi-screen consumption, and are working hard to exploit social TV. As always, the value of a television ecosystem ultimately depends on the content that resides within it, but the CE industry is going to compete around user experience in addition to whatever content it has.
Connected TV Summit
If you are interested in Connected TV and CE vendor, Pay TV and content owner strategies for this new market, check out Connected TV Summit – the leading event anywhere dedicated to this subject. More details here.
