Comments on: Do You Want Widgets on Your TV?

By: Do You Want Widgets on Your TV? TDG Says You Do « NewTeeVee

Do You Want Widgets on Your TV? TDG Says You Do « NewTeeVee — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 21:20:49 +0000

[...] You Want Widgets on Your TV? TDG Says You Do We’ve asked before whether you really want widgets on your TV, and new data from The Diffusion Group indicates that yes indeed, you do want a dedicated area to [...]

By: Bryan Bennett

Bryan Bennett — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 02:53:05 +0000

I definitely don’t get the love affair in the industry right now with widgets on your TV. I personally have no use for them as I generally have my laptop with me everytime I have the TV on. Why would I want to screw with my viewing experience when I can do whatever I want on my PC. I suppose some folks don’t have laptops, but are they really the target market for TV widgets? Probably not.

By: Allen Weiner

Allen Weiner — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 17:44:54 +0000

I saw the demo, and it’s amazing how transparent the widgets can be. Having been around interactive TV from its early, oddball days, I have to say this Yahoo’s connect TV platform is something special. The lack of a bridge solution for those of us with perfectly fine big LCDs or plasmas is an issue. The Neulion box, powered by Move Networks, is also worth watching.

By: Simon Kendrick

Simon Kendrick — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 15:38:46 +0000

I wouldn’t buy a TV specifically for it, but the option is good to have. Customised tickers would certainly be beneficial

By: aplusjbm2009

aplusjbm2009 — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 12:24:05 +0000

sounds like it benefits the programmer more than the customer, so I says no’s. Also sounds like I would need to buy a new tv to get it to work and this new tv basically sounds like a computer, which I already have.

By: hubert

hubert — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 12:11:10 +0000

Widgets will do for iTV what the iPhone did for the mobile internet. Relevant apps and information beat any mediocre browsing experience.

By: Tom Coseven

Tom Coseven — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 03:29:01 +0000

I can’t imagine anyone worth advertising to that couldn’t afford a $200 netbook to hold while they watch their enormous LCD TV. Why rob the precious TV real estate? Makes more sense than adding $300 to the cost of a TV set.

By: Greg

Greg — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 20:45:45 +0000

I agree that widgets would be distracting and would probably interfere with the viewing experience. But the notion of offering viewers a natural way to discover more about the brands and merchandise they see in videos is really a key to TV 2.0, it seems to me.

A company I have recently become familiar with called GET Interactive has an unobtrusive, opt-in way for viewers to learn more about all the brands and merchandise they see in digital media. Importantly, it doesn't alter the video at all, so no interruption of the viewing experience and no re-encoding. And it uses industry standard player technology, so it's transportable across viral channels.