For all of Google’s emphasis on integrating its own services across Android, playing YouTube videos outside of the official YouTube app has usually required losing some piece of the experience, whether it’s backwards compatibility, mobile optimization or just keeping viewers in the same app where they started. As it turns out, Google was well aware of this problem during Google I/O this year and teased a solution while everyone else was still recovering from their Nexus 7-induced fevers. A new YouTube Android Player API will let third parties integrate a full YouTube player into their Android apps with adaptive streaming, orientation and other special tricks intact. Any Android 2.2 or later device (including Google TV boxes) can come along for the ride, and views will count towards producers getting paid. Full details are only coming in the next few months, but app developers who’ve been craving a chance to slip in some viral videos can get an early look at the API near the start of the session video below — or just load the Google I/O 2012 app, which has the code baked in.
Sony has axed support for OnLive game playback on its newest Google TV-powered Blu-ray player. Here’s the kicker – the player hasn’t even shipped yet; it isn’t due to release until July 9. But after the company announced that it will acquire Gaikai – an OnLive rival – it seems like an infinitely understandable decision. Incidentally, Sony never confirmed any sort of OnLive partnership.
However, it was discovered that in the technical specifications and documentation for the impending Blu-ray device, Sony listed OnLive connectivity as an optional accessory. Now, however, the company has wiped any reference to OnLive in connection to the player. What most likely happened was that Sony was working on the Gaikai deal behind closed doors, but wanted to have the OnLive compatibility there just in case.
Or, it could very well be that the team working on the Google TV Blu-ray player had no clue about Gaikai and so they just put OnLive connectivity there since it is compatible with Google TV products. It will be interesting to see Sony specifically exclude one of the newest Google TV services from a Google TV product, but that’s the way the business world works.
Marvell has announced a new SoC that it claims will enable a new generation of Google TVs to come to market. The chip is called the ARMADA 1500 HD Media SoC. The company says the new chip will enable OEMs to deliver immersive home entertainment experiences with Google TV products. The chip recently passed Google’s certification process.
The new SoC is powerful and energy-efficient and designed to be a very affordable. Marvell says that this ARMADA 1500 chip is first ARM-based platform be used by multiple OEMs and certified for Google TV. It uses an ARM v7 compatible PJ4B SMP super-scalar dual-core CPU to enable computer-like processing power. The chip also supports web browsing and Flash.
Marvell says that the chip offers more than 6000 Dhrystone MIPS computing power. The chip also contains a Qdeo video processing chip that supports HD and 3-D video along with providing scaling, noise reduction, de-interlacing, low bit rate Internet video enhancement, and color and contrast enhancements. The chip also features VMeta multiformat video decoding, encoding, and transcoding. VMeta is capable of decoding up to two simultaneous 1080p streams. There’s no indication of when we might see products using the new SoC on the market.
One of the biggest new content partnerships to be announced for Google TV this year is the deal that Google has secured with cloud gaming service OnLive. At the time, it was announced that LG’s upcoming Google TV sets would incorporate the OnLive app to allow users to have instant and seamless access to triple-A video games directly on their TV. Vizio also decided to come on board, but so far there’s been no news from Sony.
Sony was of course the first company to bring Google TV to a TV set, and in fact today it still remains the only company that has launched such a device. However, the Google TV-powered Sony TVs were huge commercial flops, leaving Sony with no choice but to be more tepid about the platform moving forward. Nevertheless, it looks like it’s ready to come back swinging with a new Blu-ray player.
As discovered by VentureBeat, the new Internet-connected, Google TV-powered Blu-ray player’s technical specs include a reference to compatibility for the univeral OnLive controller. For Sony, it’s an interesting subject because it want you to use you Sony TV to play PlayStation games, not OnLive games. But if it wants to remain competitive in the Google TV space, it needs to offer everything that’s available.
Peel has announced a significant update at Google I/O this week called AllPlay TV that will make it easier for TV fans to find and watch shows and movies regardless of the source. The listings in the new Peel app not only shows TV listings, it also shows DVR content and web content, including what’s available on Netflix in one app.
The new app will be available in July via the Google Play Store. The app is enhanced by Google TV and is intended to let you find your favorite content no matter what source the content is on. The app sounds a lot like a giant TV Guide that looks at content you have recorded for live TV listings, and what’s available for streaming. The app is designed specifically for Android devices with the Google TV platform in mind.
The app has a Top Picks section that is customized to the user’s tastes. This application opens an interesting capability where not only can you record current episodes of shows that are airing right now, but you can find past episodes as well via Netflix and reruns if you miss the season. The app will come to the iPhone and iPod touch later.
Just when we wondered what was going on with the lack of Google TV news, an official blog post comes with some bits of progress. The most important part is that Google TV is going to get more content. This was an issue with the original version and it looks like the number of paid movies, shows etc is going to rise, which is a good thing. I’d rather pay for content, than not having content at all.
Secondly, the Google TV team has announced that Sony, Vizio and LG will launch products that feature Google TV in “nine countries”. Additionally, the team said that more manufacturers were coming on board. Finally, Google Play (the store) for Google TV is going to get an updated user interface which should bring it closer to what handsets and tablet have. (more…)
I feel like we’re watching Google TV roll by and off into a nearby ditch. The company doesn’t have much dedication to the platform and, like Apple TV, GTV is failing to gain traction.
As Ryan notes, outside of a few I/O sessions, Google said very little about the Google TV project this year and I’m almost certain it means they’ve scrapped the project but don’t want to tell their partners. They are running seminars on the platform at I/O, but until they’ve officially announced the closure they have to maintain appearances.
To be clear, I’ve been a fairly accepting user of GTV for a while – it was once my go-to smart TV solution, after the Boxee Box – but it’s clear that Google can gain no foothold in the treacherous world of set-top boxes. Here are a few reasons why.
First, television broadcasters don’t want to work with anyone who aims to make money off their content. Sure they’ll sell a program here or there, but unless the set-top in your home is streaming out the unadulterated streams coming out of their satellites, they don’t want any part of it. By co-opting search and discovery, Google looks to the broadcasters like a parasitic organism rather than a money maker. TiVo (barely) survives because it acts as a smart VCR. Apple TV and GTV are slow to spread because they are, at best, glorified media players and they will never be anything more without real broadcaster buy-in.
Second, no one is sure what a smart TV is supposed to be, but GTV isn’t it. No one can quite put their finger on what they want a TV to do. Is it supposed to stream home content? Allow you to watch YouTube on the big screen? Offer ways to tweet from your couch? All those things happen more quickly and more efficiently on laptops and tablets. Why co-opt the biggest screen in the house?
GTV is sort of an overlay on the TV world just as Google Glass is supposed to be an overlay on the real world. Unfortunately, this sort of overlay rarely works in practice as it distracts from the program at hand. TV watchers aren’t an active lot. All of this talk about a second screen offering streaming stats is cool for about one minute when you’re trying to figure out who starred in Flight Plan. Once you realize the stewardess is Erika Christensen who was also in Swimfan, you’re pretty much done with the second screen. Nobody wants to check into programs or search for related videos or tweet from their TV. Nobody.
I could be wrong. Maybe Google has a real zinger coming up for us in the GTV space. But the set-top box will soon be eclipsed by more powerful DVRs or game consoles that offer real value versus perceived value. I’d far prefer, say, my Xbox to provide unfettered access to TV content than have the GTV sit there between me and a Dish subscription. DVRs already perfected the best things about television. Anything else is just a distraction.
While it didn’t merit a spot in either keynote, the Google TV platform is also getting an updated version of the Google Play store. Along with a new UI that looks a lot like the one on other Android devices it will have support for purchasing movies, music and TV shows as mentioned yesterday, and also subscription billing. The “Bring Your App to the Big Screen” presentation is still going on, we’ll let you know if any other new elements are revealed. There’s a new post on the Google TV blog mentioning apps like the one announced by Sirius XM, and the new hardware from partners LG, Sony and Vizio. Finally, the team is also focusing on its updated APIs for developers building not only apps for the TV (like the Google I/O app itself, which has been working smoothly this week streaming video), but also second screen applications just as we pointed out earlier. The last update and potentially most curious? Mentioned during the presentation, later this year Google TV will no longer require hardware manufacturers to provide a physical keyboard on their input device.
Jelly Bean, a Nexus tablet, even skydiving Google Glass: the Google IO keynote very nearly had it all, but the company’s decision to leave Google TV off the agenda in favor of the Nexus Q was a low. The zinc Epcot of Android was billed as a communal media player, and its presence on stage when Google TV was conspicuously absent undoubtedly led to confusion as to what its exact purpose was, especially given streaming favorites like Netflix and Hulu are missing. Google TV had been, in the run-up to IO, one of the topics most people expected to see covered, and its omission does not bode well.
At $299 the Nexus Q is, as many have observed, not a cheap device, and while Google has made much of its “designed and made in the USA” credentials, it’s a strategy that’s at odds with the “cut the costs” approach of the Nexus 7. If Google’s target is Sonos – admittedly audio-only – then it failed to demonstrate how a multi-zone Nexus Q setup would play out. If it’s a challenge to Apple TV, however, then it’s difficult to see how Google can justify charging three times the amount.
The biggest frustration is that the Nexus Q is already obviously capable of much, much more. Within hours of having access to the first units, Android developers have already managed to get games running, turning the Q into an open-source console of sorts. That’s just the start of things, no doubt; efforts are already underway to unlock what is, behind the curvaceous shell, a Galaxy Nexus without a display.
Google Nexus Q hands-on:
Now, it would’ve been premature for Google to reveal all of its future plans for the Nexus Q, but it did the device a disservice with a presentation that failed to dress the orb in suitable context. The Jelly Bean message was clear: the OS runs faster and smoother than Ice Cream Sandwich, brings a voice search Siri alternative, and tackles fragmentation with the promise of earlier access for new versions for manufacturers. The Nexus 7 news left nobody in any confusion as to the tablet’s selling points; even the Google Glass announcement, with exact details still in relatively short supply, did what it needed to.
For the Nexus Q, though, we had a fancy video in the style of Apple’s promos, an awkward and overly-long demonstration of how several people can manage a shared playlist, and little in the way of context. Even just promising “like Nexus phones, there’s hugely broad potential for the Nexus Q” could’ve been enough to prevent most of the post-keynote confusion.
Instead, the functionality and longer-term intentions were left vague, and without any mention of Google TV it was difficult to see how the two products are meant to sit together. That’s disappointing, after Google worked so hard to improve the latest iteration of its smart TV product; particularly if you’re Sony and Vizio, and announced second-gen Google TV boxes this week in the run-up to Google’s event. Hopefully, it means Google TV will have its moment in the spotlight today, albeit late, at the second day IO keynote.
If you own a Google TV device, a new entertainment option will be coming “soon” for you to enjoy. Google TV devices will soon be getting access to the SiriusXM Internet Radio App. The app will bring access to all of the satellite radio company’s commercial free music, sports, news, comedy, talk, and entertainment content on any connected TV.
SiriusXM demonstrated the new application on Google TV devices at Google I/O this week. You do have to be a subscriber to access content via the Google TV app. The launch of the app will be the first time that Sirius XM programming and Sirius XM 2.0 features have been offered on any connected TV. When available, the app will be a free download on Google Play in the United States.
Key features for the application will be a Start Now function that allows users to go back up to five hours and hear previously broadcasted programming on many channels. The app also offers Tune Start to start the current song from the beginning so you can hear the whole song on any music channel. Other features include the ability to pause and resume my programming, a Show Finder feature, and the ability to organize your favorite channels.
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Just when we wondered what was going on with the lack of Google TV news, an 
