Piping internet to the TV tube (3)

After the overview, individual talks followed. The inventors of the Lamabox recognised that their media player is playing a lawsuit in a box. They claimed that downloading from internet is always legal, but uploading is illegal. Besides the rights owners should shield their copyrighted material. Is content out on the market or internet than it is free. The guys recognised that they might have a lawsuit coming and have reserved some funds for it.

PCzapper's representative was onto an aggressive sales talk. The company has a software package which can be downloaded in order to pick up video from the internet. A hardware device, which can be bought, will transfer the signals to the TV. However the enthusiasm for buying the hardware is not overwhelming yet. Vincent Everts, one of the owners of PCzapper, made the claim that his company was going to be the syndicator of video for PC, TV and mobile. Regardless whether he can be the technical syndicator and make a profit on it (a syndicator is always the middleman who is squeezed), it is a question whether the broadcast parties and the internet parties will see the company as the trusted third party. Of course, someone will have to put an EPG of videostreams together, which is for sure. But will it be him?

Avinity used the slogan Beyond Broadcast. The company uses a wi-fi device of Sitecom to connect TV with internet. In fact it sets up a home network with TV equipment in the network. But the company also realises that it will need to deliver content. So it works on the interface and on a program offer. The company uses standards like DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance) and Intels’ VIIV, the PC media mainframe for the home. Avinity realises that it is a small fish in the pool of Philips, Nokia, Microsoft, Intel and Cisco, but hopes that it will be bought up before the consolidation in the IPTV market. Until that time it is working on putting an open content package together, which can be many-to-many, but also personalised. When videoblogs use metadata, tag their content and publish their RSS links, Avinity can pick up the links and bundle them for selection.

Listening to box salesmen, who praise the facilities ranging from streaming video on internet to broadcast video, but also health care and retail, people will not make a choice yet. They will wait till they get offered one for free like UPC doing or they will wait till Philips or Thompson, having acquired companies like Avinity, come to the market with a clear proposition of a media center with HD video recorder or with a solution in the framework of a domestic network.

Tags: IPTV