Buy LCD now or wait for one capable of IPTV

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utopia

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Wannabe Geek

#12490 20-Mar-2007 08:41

We went shopping at the weekend and came across a very helpful sales rep who offered a Sony Bravia 42" LCD for $3100. This seemed like a hot deal but is it the right time to buy?

I have a lot of media on my network and some on a Modix which we use for playing old tv shows and the like. In the middle of this we have MySky which I have to say since my 6 year old can fully use has to be the kindest user interface.

So - the big issue. Rather than purchase an xbox or PS3, is it worth waiting for an 'IPTV' capable LCD for playing media off a network? Are these in the pipeline from anyone?

sbiddle

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#64375 20-Mar-2007 08:52

I doubt you'll ever see an "IPTV capable" TV as any such IPTV stuff will be a seperate set top box and won't be built into the TV.

The main thing you really want to look for in a TV that had HDMI and HDCP support, this will reasonably future proof you.

utopia

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Wannabe Geek

#64379 20-Mar-2007 09:00

This is a right pain I reckon. Under the TV already has enough boxes. Then again, can the PS3 play media off a network? If it can I can then get rid of the modix and just make sure the TV has HD inputs etc.

chiefie

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#64381 20-Mar-2007 09:05

The thing with LCD with built-in IPTV is that, each TV will have to be subjected to customisation to fit each country/location setting or their unique ROM. I am sure Sky, Telecom, TCL etc will have their own implementation of DRM and ROM when/if they offer IPTV services. Sure the contents will most probably come from Sky and TVNZ, however those are only the source, the media will be DRMed.

IPTV would most probably be setbox based, or small enough to sit tightly at the back of the TV like one of the recent announcement from Sony on their Cable/IPTV based (can't remember exact) which has HDMI/Component out to the TV input, so it seems seamless enough.

I did remember seeing LG or Samsung (from 1.5 years ago) that they had Ethernet built-in LCD TV which, when installed with the optional module, allow you to browser Internet, perhaps that could be a show of sign that IPTV can be worked to operate in those TVs. But my hunch is on a separate set-top IPTV device.

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chiefie

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#64382 20-Mar-2007 09:07

utopia: This is a right pain I reckon. Under the TV already has enough boxes. Then again, can the PS3 play media off a network? If it can I can then get rid of the modix and just make sure the TV has HD inputs etc.

From their marketing spin, it seems like it can play media, however whether it supports streaming media from networked PC, that remain questionable. So far a well-rounded media streaming console, would be Xbox 360, which is compatible with Windows XP MCE, Windows Vista Home Premium/Ultimate and WMP11 and/or Windows Media Connect 2.

I would get Xbox360 2.0 which has confirmed with built-in IPTV capability.

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stevenz

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#64557 21-Mar-2007 18:41

Unless you install Linux on it, the PS3 is not currently capable of playing media from any local network source. They expect you to put things onto the HDD and play them from there. The closest you'll get otherwise is to play it from a USB device.