Online TV: Still Finding Its Way
Online TV offers the ultimate in a la carte programming-entertainment slices instead of cable and satellite bundles. But watching it on the living room set means bridging the gap between the Internet, with its do-everything PCs that demand close attention, and television, which does one thing well while we relax.
The new Apple TV ($300) mimics TV's ease. Using polished menus, Apple binds a television to iTunes collections on PCs around the house. In turn, choice is restricted pretty much to the shows available at the online iTunes store.
TiVo and Akimbo, each $100 with a monthly charge starting at about $10, also maintain simplicity by limiting choice. TiVo, best known for recording live TV, can now download movies and network shows from Amazon's Unbox service. Akimbo has its own eclectic mix of movies and cable shows, including those from channels like CNN and TLC.
Competing boxes offer a full drink of Web openness, often at the price of more complexity. New versions coming from Netgear, D-Link, and Sling Media will display on a TV almost anything that plays on a PC, such as shows streamed across the Web by networks like ABC and CBS.
The greatest flexibility comes with a PC attached to a TV, but that's an even bigger tech commitment. The goal instead should be a balance between flexibility and simplicity. We're not there yet.
This story appears in the April 9, 2007 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.