LG to launch first Google TV products in May

Jos

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LG Electronics, the world's second-largest TV maker, first announced plans to join the Google TV fray at CES 2012 in January, despite the lukewarm reception the platform received from customers. Well, it appears those plans are about to come to fruition as the company prepares to ship the first units later this month. Ro Seogho, executive VP of LG's TV business, told Reuters that the firm will start building Google TV sets on May 17 and consumers will be able to buy them starting the week of May 21.

The executive didn’t reveal any details relating to screen sizes or pricing, although according to PC World, the South Korean firm has previously said that its Google TV-powered lineup would include LG Cinema 3D displays between 55 and 84 inches (diagonal), a 3D conversion engine that can turn any 2D TV show or movie into a 3D spectacle, and an LG Magic Remote including a QWERTY keyboard.

A revamped Google TV 2.0 was announced late last year but so far not many major hardware releases have backed it up. Logitech famously gave up on Google TV last year after blaming it for a $100 million loss, but giants including Samsung, Vizio, and Sony are all on board and expected to announce new products soon.

The search giant hopes Google TV will do for the living room what Android did for the mobile market. But TV manufacturers are playing it safe by pushing their own platforms along with Google TV. LG, for example, plans to fit around 60 percent of its TVs with its own NetCast platform. The firm will decide whether to expand its Google TV offerings to Europe and Asia after reviewing sales performance in the U.S. market.

LG also has previously announced plans to integrate Gaikai, a video game streaming platform akin to OnLive, to some of its high-end products later this year. Like OnLive, Gaikai allows subscribers to play graphically intensive games on weak hardware, by processing games on remote servers and pumping the visuals to you.

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If you think about, the whole "Google TV" concept, is simply Google trying to foist itself off on a system that isn't broken, and doesn't need their intervention in the first place.

Why do I need Google to find out what's on TV? Cable and broadcast TV have built in guides. I can download program guides from M$ for the Media Center, and PDF program guides from PBS.

There seems to be a global pandemic of stupidity with respect to Google's business model. Mass hypnosis from all the advertising. Thank God they outlawed subliminal messaging, or Google would be right there with that. Or did they? Or does it matter to Google whether they did or didn't.

Really though, today's TV advertising isn't much more that a bunch of annoying imbeciles, trying to hoodwink other imbeciles. OK, so that's what it always was, but ya gotta admit, it's getting worse!

For example, our local electricity supplier launched an ad campaign showing how you to "save electricity", by UNPLUGGING every device from a power strip before going to bed! Never mind that that the power strip they were using in the demonstration had an on/off switch built into it.

And then there was the series of Apple commercials the showed how you "can use your iPad to control the TV from across the room". Stupid me, I thought that's what the remote control which came with the TV was for.

I suppose Google's going to lead me out of my obvious confusion with their "TV product".

I was watching a show on PBS about our "vibrant American manufacturing scene". Then they showed how we "manufactured Facebook". Gosh, you can't eat it, wear it, or even stick it up your bum. Nope, you'll never hear the kids whining, "aw mom, leftover Facebook for dinner again"! We may starve to death as a species if that's all we "manufacture", but at least we'll be able to tell each other how hungry we are.

Well anyway, I'm just going to keep the "googleanalytics" script blocked, and "Chrome" off any machine I own. That's the best approach to using Google, before it uses the hell out of you...
 
I really enjoy my Logitech Revue, over my Roku Box.

It's got the best web browser (with flash) on tv (short of hooking up your pc directly to the tv) over PS3, Wii, etc. More apps and functionality over Roku (but not saying I dislike my Roku box).

Area they could improve is greater TV based apps selection.
 
Really cranky rant over nothing much?

TV IS broken! You pay for 900+ channels and barely use 10. 25% of every hour is ADS. Shows made in the USA can't be viewed by anyone anywhere because they charge 900000000billion $ per license or w/e.
USA != the world , wake up!

Google TV and other similar content streaming solutions gives you just the shows you want, not 900 useless junk channels.
You watch shows when YOU want, without ads! You can watch any ep from any season any time anywhere in the world.

Just get a grip, the current content distribution models was generated in the 1970's and have remained unchanged since then. Things NEED to change, it's long over due.
 
Really cranky rant over nothing much?

TV IS broken! You pay for 900+ channels and barely use 10. 25% of every hour is ADS. Shows made in the USA can't be viewed by anyone anywhere because they charge 900000000billion $ per license or w/e.
USA != the world , wake up!
I am awake, thanks for asking. The basic premise of your rant, is that you're entitled to be entertained at any hour, anywhere, with anything, at every whim. Sounds like more of an addiction to me. Don't you think that carries the whole "human rights paradigm" a bit over the top?

Google TV and other similar content streaming solutions gives you just the shows you want, not 900 useless junk channels.
You watch shows when YOU want, without ads! You can watch any ep from any season any time anywhere in the world..
I guess I'm too old to have a relevant opinion. But really, digital free broadcast TV is a miracle I've waited for all my life, and there there's the DVR. If it weren't for the ads in broadcast TV, you couldn't get up to get a beer, coke, snack, or take a piss without missing something.

Then if you turned off the crap altogether, you could take up a musical instrument, play a physical game of chess, have a run, build a bookshelf, etc. This generation is operating under a mass fantasy , trying to pass off "texting", as well as watching big screen movies on an iPhone, represent life skills, and human necessity. They don't.
 
I see your point cranky (and appreciate the funny rant), but I'm sure you can see Google's point (and Lipe's) also. I pay $90 for Directv and really only make use of ESPN, DISC, Nick Jr for my daughter and local channels for news/sports.

What I, and many others like me, want is to pay for what I use. Not this current system where your channels are only sold in packages of 200 channels. What if hotels only took reservations by the week, or if milk was sold 10 gallons at a time? That's cable TV in it's current state.

Give me HD, a DVR, and let me pay a montlyh fee a la carte per channel. I'll take the commercials too.

There is such a divide between the customer's wants and what is provided that calling the system is 'broken' isn't too much of an exaggeration.
 
I see your point cranky (and appreciate the funny rant), but I'm sure you can see Google's point (and Lipe's) also. I pay $90 for Directv and really only make use of ESPN, DISC, Nick Jr for my daughter and local channels for news/sports.
But seriously Mike, aren't "local channels" the reason that rabbit ears were invented?
What I, and many others like me, want is to pay for what I use. Not this current system where your channels are only sold in packages of 200 channels. What if hotels only took reservations by the week, or if milk was sold 10 gallons at a time? That's cable TV in it's current state.
Sad but true. Yet customer stupidity, poor sales resistance, crooked politicians, and plain old boob tube addiction, are what has allowed this to flourish. Many people are too lazy and addicted, to simply have these services cut off. You vote with your wallet, but there's no cooperation among the public which would allow any real monetary effect on Comcast, or other such entities.

When you unbundle these packages, I would be very surprised if you will be as well off as you'd like to believe you'll be. I wanted to buy an episode of "Nova" the other day. It cost two bucks, I had to install their player, I can't burn it to disc, or move it to other machines.

And don't even get me started on Comcast. If you don't want a whole "Xfinity" package, internet alone is seventy bucks a month.

Yet I was listening to a bunch of nonsense the other day that, "optical media is dead", because media moguls are controlling it. Well, who the hell does anybody think is trying to control the web, and the media on it? You can give me a disc anytime, in lieu of "cybercrap"!
Give me HD, a DVR, and let me pay a montlyh fee a la carte per channel. I'll take the commercials too.
Well heck, broadcast TV already is HD. Just stuff a tuner in the old PC and let WMC work its magic.

There is such a divide between the customer's wants and what is provided that calling the system is 'broken' isn't too much of an exaggeration.
You know what, that's a question of the chicken versus the egg. The customer is every bit as broken as the media establishment has allowed them, or perhaps "caused them", to become..

All I see happening is people's feeling of self entitlement allowing the entertainment industry to herd them like sheep. "I'm entitled to this! Good, get your credit card ready, and stand over there"..... (Just a little skit, no harm intended).
 
You don't need google to find out what's on tv. You need google to easily browse the web on your tv. I cut the cable cord 1.5 years ago, have saved over $1000. I use googletv to watch netflix ($8/month), to browse any web site ($0) like espn3.com ($0) surfline.com, youtube, etc etc etc. It opens the world of the internet to the tv. You can do the same thing by buying a computer and attaching it to your tv. googletv just makes it easier and less expensive then a full computer.
 
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