TV when you want, where you want.

Once upon a time children woke up on Saturday mornings, came out to the only TV in the house and watched cartoons.  Why?  Because that’s when the cartoons were on.

Since then, television has gone crazy with specialty channels, 24 hour cartoons, 24 hours sports, 24 hour extreme salad shooting, etc.  Cable companies have been able to tier packages to combine different channels and make a little money.  OK, a LOT of money.

People recorded their shows on VCRs and now DVRs so they can watch them later.  We began watching TV on our terms, not based on what the TV execs thought was the best timing for the program.  We could just schedule a recording of the program, but that is almost becoming a bit more work than some folks want.  What if all the programs were available all the time.  Sort of like a 24-hour TV channel?  That’s where the internet comes in.

The big networks (and some of the smaller ones too) have joined up and began placing their past shows online at sites like TV.com (http://www.tv.com) , Hulu (http://www.hulu.com), and Joost (http://www.joost.com). Here you can search for the shows and individual episodes you desire to watch.  Miss that last episode of Grey’s Anatomy?  No problem!  Don’t have cable at all, but need to feed your Family Guy addiction?  There you are.  TV on the internet.  As these sites grow, you will start to see more and more integration between the computer and your TV.  Hulu already offers a free application (Hulu Desktop) to give you a more TV-friendly experience.

At home, you could connect HDMI or DVI from your computer to your TV or, go a little more old school with an S-Video cable from a laptop and a cable with RCA on one end and a plug for the earphone jack on the other to port sound to your TV.  Put a wireless keyboard and mouse on it and set your TV input to the right source and you will be watching the internet on the original Boob tube.

iTunes is another possibility.  This way you can purchase episodes for $1.99 each or season passes to your favorite series and then watch them on the go via your iPod or iPhone.  This is a super simple way to watch your shows without being tethered by a cable to anything.  Plus you can always hook your iPod up to your TV to watch the shows that way.  Apple does sell a cord to do that.

Lastly, I give you the Slingbox.  This is a nifty little contraption that hooks up in your house, connects to your existing cable, cable box and the network via Ethernet and allows you to log in and control your cable box over the internet.  Watch shows, flip channels, etc.  The Sling website even has some shows streaming from their site.  This is the ultimate tool for a road warrior who longs to watch their familiar local news every night, or for that downtime in a hotel and you can watch shows you’ve already recorded on your cable-provider DVR.

What this all boils down to is that we now have even more options when it comes to What should we watch, honey?  Hopefully this increasingly level of access to programming will mean an increasing level of quality content provided by the networks.  Still all of these options may still hear the phrase uttered, There’s nothing on!, but hopefully it will be uttered less often.

Hulu Revenue v. Youtube Traffic

Hulu has been a hot topic in media news for over a year now, and it has been traded with increasing frequency over the last few months. It’s hard to believe that it’s only become the third largest online video source in recent months. Hulu is one of those websites that seems like it’s always been around to provide content. In March, Hulu’s tally of 380 million online streamed videos beat out Yahoo, who hosts only a paltry 350 million. According to ComScore, Hulu’s next rival is Fox’s interactive media, which boasts over 437 million videos. It’s not going to catch up to Youtube any time soon, however. The household name in online videos streamed 5.9 BILLION videos in March alone. This truly puts the online video sharing sites into perspective.

Youtube’s user generated content may be great for sharing viral videos, but it’s size doesn’t really stack up when it comes to ad revenue. Hulu, despite being only a fraction of the size of Youtube, is expected to bring in over half of the ad dollars that Youtube expects. That’s 120 million for Hulu, and only 200 million for Youtube, which is highly disproportionate.

The correlation between desirable content and ad revenue generated is the reason that Disney has discreetly bought up 30% of Hulu for a sum that has not been publicly named. Disney currently operates through its ABC portal, but an alliance with Hulu will give the company a far broader audience base. Hulu also benefits quite a bit in this arrangement, as it will now have free access to popular primetime shows like “Lost” and “Desperate Housewives.” Disney shares the board with NBC and Universal, and holds three seats.

This model of video aggregation is proving to be even more valid, considering that this is the first big Media buy in recent memory. Questions remain, however, as to whether Hulu can continue to expand at the current rate from a user standpoint.

Hulu’s recent success may be due to a series of popular commercials starring celebrities such as Alec Baldwin, in which Hulu execs are supposedly aliens. These moderately amusing commercials have heightened awareness of the site, and Disney’s new marketing dollars can only help increase brand awareness.

With Hulu arising as a legitimate market share of TV audiences, it is interesting to see how competing news and TV agencies will keep up. As broadcasting agencies fight to remain relevant in the internet boom, how they develop their online presence and partnerships will be critical.

Some sites are resisting the pull of Hulu. For example, CBS, which uses its own portal TV.com. Apple is also resisting free online videos, in favor of paid rather than ad based models. Youtube has shown that its content does not guarantee ad dollars, so it will also be interesting to see how it copes with a lack of access to prime-time shows.

Sony Bravia VE5 is Watching You, Quietly Judging

Recently Sony announced plans to release the highly energy efficient line of VE5-series Bravia LCD televisions, which will include, among other features, technology that will automatically power down the picture if no organic human life forms are present in the room.

The VE5′s energy-saving Presence Sensor technology will use motion and light sensors to allow the TV to silently watch your every move and wait for its moment to strike. Then when everyone leaves the room it will commence its plan to quietly judge you for your lack of eco-awareness, and turn off its picture.

When you return, the VE5-series TV will turn its picture back on as if you’d never left, ensuring that you are none the wiser of the cold, emotionless consciousness of your appliances.

No word yet on whether the VE5-series will initiate the automated defense protocol if intruders are detected.

The VE5-series will include other energy-saving features as well. A zero-watt standby switch will allow you to manually turn the TV off. This highly advanced technology, inspired by recent advances in light switch technology, cuts the flow of energy to the TV by actually turning off all of its components when the switch is flipped to the “off” position. What will they think of next?

The VE5-series will also automatically change the level of backlighting on its LCD screen depending on the brightness of the room it is in, ensuring that no energy is wasted on unecessary lighting.

And finally, the eco-friendly series of TVs will make use of Hot Cathode Fluorescent Lamp (HCFL) technology, which promises a 40% reduction in energy consumption.

With all of these energy-saving features, the Sony Bravia VE5-series of TVs exceed Energy Star energy-efficiency requirements.

Other features include a USB input, Bravia 2 Engine technology, 24p True Cinema, 4 HDMI inputs, and more.

The VE5-series will be available in 40, 46, and 52 inch models, and will be available this Spring or Summer. No price has been set yet.