Tech companies are in a race to redefine the TV experience by combining web video content with traditional programming. The goal: to control your living-room screen by creating an experience where using the remote to view BoingBoing’s latest video on your 52-inch plasma is as easy as playing the last episode of Lost from your Tivo, or clicking over to a live broadcast from Yankee Stadium.
Google announced a new set-top-box platform called Google TV last week. It will be based on Google’s Android operating system and will have access to Flickr, gaming sites such as Club Penguin, and music sites such as Pandora and Rhapsody.
With Google TV, the search company enters a crowded space where big companies such as Apple and Microsoft and scrappy startups such as Boxee and Roku have been trying to make headway for years.
Where Google TV hopes to score is in its ability to integrate cable programming with web video. Most other alternatives only offer access to free TV channels or select cable shows.
The first Google TV products, including a Sony TV running the software and a Logitech set-top box, are expected in the fall.
But you don’t have to wait for that — especially if you don’t care about cable TV.
Here are seven alternatives to Google TV that are already available.
Boxee
Boxee’s media player is probably the cheapest way to get a streaming-media player: It’s free. (Assuming you already have a computer, that is.) Add to that a great interface and access to some high-quality content, and Boxee is a strong competitor to Google TV.
Boxee organizes content into five buckets: movies, TV shows, photos, music and apps. So from the Daily Show with Jon Stewart to Jersey Shore and Joost, neat, square-shaped icons present a lineup that’s easy to navigate on the big screen.
Boxee integrates with Netflix, so it’s easy for Netflix subscribers to use Boxee to play movies instantly. It also takes music and movies from your computer’s hard drive and pours them into this interface so it can be found easily. Just download it to your PC, and hook up the machine to your TV through the HDMI port.
Boxee even has an iPhone app that lets you turn your iPhone into a remote to control the software.
It is available as a software-only download. Soon, you should also be able to buy a dedicated Boxee hardware box with the software preloaded. The Boxee box is made by D-Link and will be Wi-Fi enabled. It will include an ethernet-connectivity option, 2 USB ports, SD card slot, remote and a keyboard. The Boxee box is expected to be priced under $200 and available by fall.
WIRED Easy to watch online video on TV, user-friendly interface and navigation, free software.
TIRED Stability can still be an issue though crashes are less frequent now, playback of shows can sometimes be choppy, frequent skirmishes with Hulu.
Roku
Roku’s media player is targeted at those who want web content on their TV but don’t want to get their hands dirty with the setup.
The Roku set-top box is the definition of plug-and-play and offers a choice of free and premium channels. Customers largely use the device to stream movies from Netflix and Amazon.
It also offers some free channels include Twit.TV, and TechPodcasts.com, along with access to Flickr.
But in a world where its rivals are innovating fast, Roku can be very limiting. Basic web integration is now a part of most Blu-ray players, and Netflix is available through other options such as rival Boxee for free, or the Xbox 360. Why buy a Roku player for $80?
WIRED Set-top box is simple to configure and use, good HD-quality content.
TIRED Limited choice of online video content, no subtitles in movies, video quality can be inconsistent.
TiVo
TiVo’s digital video recorders are a must-have for anyone who cannot bear to miss Monday Night Football or a single episode of FlashForward. It’s also the original digital video recorder, giving you the ability to record and watch TV when you want.
While cable companies have marginalized TiVo by integrating DVR capabilities into their cable boxes, the latest version of TiVo has some unique features that make it worth a look.
TiVo has updated its DVRs to lets users access on-demand video from Netflix and Amazon, or watch endless videos from YouTube.
There’s also the ability to stream music and photos from online sites and transfer recorded shows to your iPod, iPhone or PSP.
Of course, all this comes at a price. TiVo Premiere starts at $300 and requires an annual service fee of $130.
WIRED Smooth interface that’s the hallmark of TiVo, recording capability is a must-have for TV addicts.
TIRED Pricey, no Wi-Fi, no browser.
Yahoo Connected TV
Millions of users access Yahoo services such as news, finance and Flickr through their PCs or phones. Not surprisingly, Yahoo has been working to extend its tentacles into the TV market.
Yahoo Connected TV, introduced last year, uses the concept of “widgets” to put services into boxes that can be sorted and organized by users. Apart from Yahoo’s own services, Yahoo offers widgets from Amazon, Blockbuster and broadcasters such as CBS and Showtime.
Yahoo says it will let developers create widgets to run on Connected TV. Yahoo has partnered with companies such as Samsung, Sony and Vizio to put the Yahoo Connected TV software inside TV sets. So if you have one of these sets, you can take advantage of the Yahoo-enabled features.
So far the company claims about 3 million TVs featuring this software have been sold since it was introduced in March 2009.
But depending on TV makers could be the flaw in Yahoo’s strategy. Sony has already moved into Google’s camp, promising to offer Google TV inside some of its TV models later this year.
Also, there’s no PC option. If consumers can’t download and run Yahoo Connected TV from their PCs, it’ll be difficult to sell them on the idea. After all, how will they know what they’re missing?
WIRED No separate box to clutter your living room, widget-based approach is easy to use.
TIRED Poor distribution; no browser, so you can’t go where you want.
Microsoft Windows Media Center
The Windows media player has been around so far and gone through so many iterations that it’s easy to forget that Microsoft was the first major tech company to see the potential of getting into the living room.
Media player offers access to TV shows, music and movie trailers. But Windows Media Center is the company’s real deal for the living room. Media Center lets your PC act as a DVR if you have a tuner card, listen to FM and internet radio stations, watch photos from your disk and even connect with Netflix on the big screen. And you can sync all your content with a Windows phone or a Zune if you use the Media Center.
Microsoft’s counting on its biggest strength to bring Windows Media Center to PC users: the Windows operating system. The program is included in Windows XP Media Center Edition, premium editions of Windows Vista and Windows 7.
But there’s one big thing missing: the cool factor. And Media Center hasn’t inked partnerships or aggregated TV content to the extent that an Apple TV or a Boxee can offer.
WIRED Available with most versions of Windows OS, so no additional software downloads.
TIRED User interface isn’t sleek, very limited TV content.
Apple TV
Apple has been seemingly firing on all cylinders for the last few years. Apple TV, introduced in 2007, is a rare flop.
The digital media receiver never reached the ubiquity of an iPod, nor did it become the gold standard for its category like the iPhone.
At $230, Apple TV isn’t cheap. But it lets users watch HD movies and TV shows through deals that Apple has struck with the studios. You have to pay to buy or rent most shows, but you can view YouTube content for free.
Despite its early lead, Apple TV falls far short in what users get for the price. Apple’s closed system means users are locked into iTunes to purchase movies. So if you want to run Netflix or Amazon video, you have to get Boxee on your Apple TV, which we think raises the question: Why not just get Boxee?
WIRED Great interface that blows away competition, beautiful integration with iTunes, good shows and movies for a price.
TIRED Back to iTunes for managing content, no direct access to Hulu, Netflix, not a dream Apple product.
Netgear Digital Entertainer
Streaming video players are so hot that even Netgear, otherwise known for its modems and routers, put out a box called Digital Entertainer.
Netgear’s internet-TV-player box makes online video, photos and music accessible through the TV, even for those who don’t have a PC. The player connects to the home network and the internet by ethernet or wireless USB adapater. The box includes upto 500 GB of storage for movies, music and photos.
But the streaming media player at Netgear may be even more of a hobby than at Apple. The company offers two versions of its box, priced at $100 and a whopping $400, and neither has exactly taken the market by storm.
WIRED Feature-rich, record and play TV shows if your PC has a TV tuner, works without the need to hook up a PC.
TIRED Ugly box, buggy, interface is a nightmare, pricey.
Updated to include Windows Media Center instead of Windows Media Player
Photo: Niall Kennedy/Flickr
Hey Google, shall we try the other box? Maybe it has hardware acceleration built in for your new WebM video format? Intel’s Wilfred Martis has told IDG News that his company is keeping a close eye on Google’s new VP8-based format, and should it prove popular enough, hardware acceleration for it will be built into the CE4100 and other Atom chips headed to TVs and overpowered cable boxes in the future:
