The traditional television model is changing. We are living in the digital age, where users want to have access to a wide range of TV content instantaneously. TV traditionally involves us having to wait for specific shows, or listed programming, to show up at certain times of the day. Each channel has a listing of programming for the day, week, and even month that can be accessed through TV guides. However, with the digital age upon us, we can access movies and TV shows without waiting for the channel to play them. What Google TV and Apple TV do is take this distribution model beyond just TV shows and movies. They are also conglomerating various services together so users have a variety of streaming content available to access.
You may be familiar with services such as Netflix and Hulu. They offer online and streaming-based video content. This means they allow users to stream video content directly to their television sets from their online catalog. However, Apple and Google have found ways to integrate such services into either the Apple TV or Google TV. They both offer not just a single service, but a digital content network of services. They also offer more than just TV or movie content to run from their service. These two tech giants saw the ripe opportunity to conglomerate various streaming networks. Let’s discuss each of these products as standalone devices and later we will compare them.
Apple TV
The Apple TV is a set-top box that acts as a digital media receiver and connects to your TV set via an HDMI connection. It focuses on bringing streaming or synced iTunes content to your living room. It will allow you to stream or sync content from your PC or Mac with iTunes, as pointed out by Apple. You can also stream content from iOS devices with AirPlay. You can even purchase content directly from the Apple TV box when connecting to iTunes. The earlier models have a hard drive, so you can download full shows onto the device, while the latter ones do not and are designed for streaming.
According to the Apple TV product page, “Apple TV gives you access to everything you want to see and hear — blockbuster movies, TV shows, your music and photos, even news and sports — right on your widescreen TV.” iTunes content can now be stored in iCloud as well. This essentially makes the streaming service cloud based.
Other non-iTunes services are also starting to make their presence. Apple has pointed out that Vimeo, YouTube and Netflix are all supported. Users can also watch live, or On Demand, MLB and NBA (sport) games. Other services like music and pictures are also available to share on the big screen. One thing still missing is a Web browser when compared to Google’s offerings. Another thing is apps. Apple TV does not run iOS nor allow users to run apps form it. However, if you own an iOS device, you can use AirPlay Mirroring to put its content on your TV.
Google TV
Google TV generally comes as a packaged product inside various electronics. This means that certain Blue-ray players or TV sets, like the Sony nsx-40GT1, offer Google TV as part of their package. In terms of set-top boxes available, I only found one. It is called the Logitech Revue and costs $129.99 new, vs. the Apple TV price tag of $99.99. The Google TV hardware, however, isn’t manufactured by Google per se. Google is working with a couple different vendors in getting it out on the market. These vendors have options to make the hardware the way they see fit, or integrate it into other hardware the way they see fit. Google provides the platform for them to use. Google also offers both a Chrome Web browser for Google TV and an Android operating system. With the Android mobile OS being available, users can download various apps onto the device to use from their TV sets. Unlike the Apple TV, which is mostly tied to iTunes, Google TV is open to a variety of content.
The Android Marketplace is also quite open and free from restrictions as opposed to the App Store (although the App Store isn’t available on the Apple TV anyway). Various manufacturing partners have options of putting up their own digital stores and content on the device as well. Services such as Netflix, HBO Go, and Amazon Instant Video are available as well.
Something really awesome about Google TV is the amount of free TV shows you can stream and watch without a subscription to an external service. According to Gigaom, “Turner Broadcasting was one of the official Google TV launch partners, so it’s not surprising to see the company’s networks TBS and TNT embrace Google TV. But we were pleasantly surprised to see that Syfy.com is streaming its shows to Google TV as well, despite being owned by NBC, and we loved the streams made available by Comedy Central.” The report mentioned Fox being supported, as well, in regards to certain shows.
Google TV vs Apple TV Comparison
Apple and Google have brought their own software models of distribution to these two products. Their differences fundamentally lie in the difference between the two companies’ philosophies. If you want a more open platform with a variety of streaming content available, then Google TV may be your best choice. If you want an Apple product that integrates all of your iTunes content — from movies and TV shows to pictures you want to share — then the Apple TV may be good for you. It depends on if you want a streaming service tied to iTunes and other Apple products you may own; or a service that conglomerates various media in a single package, with more freedom by vendors in implementation of software.
Google TV is actually integrated with more services than the Apple TV. Examples of these services include Netflix, HBO Go, and Amazon Instant Video. However, as mentioned, Apple does work with a couple, like Netflix as well. Google TV isn’t tied to a single distribution network like the Apple TV with iTunes. The main difference lies in propriety vs. non-propriety. Google is allowing their manufacturing partners creative flexibility in the features they allow into their Google TV hardware. While Apple isn’t even working with other manufacturers and producing the top-set box themselves.
VentureBeat recently ran a story about why Hulu isn’t available on the Apple TV yet. This has to do with Apple wanting its share of revenue after rentals and purchases themselves (via iTunes). Google, on the other hand, allows it and wants as many customers to use this service as possible. Unlike Apple, Google also is partnering with various manufacturers and wants to appeal to them.
In terms of hardware, Google TV also offers more flexibility to users. Yahoo Shopping puts it bluntly, “Need composite video outputs, 1080p decoding or some other, yet unknown feature on Apple TV? Tough luck, wait for next year. Need it on Google TV? Just wait for some manufacturer to pump out a deluxe box.” Also, keep in mind you can actually search for broadcast TV channels from the Google TV over the net and you can’t from the Apple TV, as pointed out by SearchEngineLand.
You read that right. Apple TV does not currently support 1080p resolutions and only goes up to 720p. This may be a big deal to those of you with huge HDTVs that support 1080p. Another thing to remember is Google TV runs Android and Apple TV does not run iOS. This may be a deal breaker for many of you who want apps and additional content from the device. However, Apple has been expanding the Apple TV in features and you can now read the Wall Street Journal from it for instance.
Combating Cable and Satellite Companies
In terms of TV shows, and not just movies, both the Apple TV and Google TV have a lot of room to grow. Their services have a lot of popular TV shows missing from any service offered. This is mostly due to cable and satellite TV companies fighting the digital distribution model. These companies want consumers to continue purchasing many channels at home from them at the traditional distribution model. Although they embraced DVR, they still fear what streaming content and cloud-based TV may do to their business model. However, it is only a matter of time before more consumers switch to the digital model and more shows are offered this way.
Conclusion
Both the Apple TV and Google TV are great steps in the digital distribution direction that TV is heading. Apple TV offers live sports coverage already and there is a lot of TV content available through iTunes. Google offers an open platform that integrates Android apps and the Chrome Web browser. There is a lot of free content available for the Google TV in terms of TV shows as well. For movie fans, they are both great options with other services compatible like Netflix. However, the answer on which you want may depend on if you just want a streaming video content device (Apple TV); or a device that also runs a browser, Google Chrome, and an entire app ecosystem on your television (Google TV). In terms of pure hardware, though, the Google TV wins out because it supports 1080p HD quality of playback while Apple TV only supports resolutions of up to 720p. The bottom line is that TV is going to the cloud and both of these models are steps in this direction.
http://store.sony.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&partNumber=NSZGT1 is better than the revue. However, I would still wait for the 2.0 versions of the set top box.