Exciting Internet TV Features We May See In The Near Future

Smart TVs connected to the Internet are clearly becoming a new sensation. LG, Samsung, Sony, and Panasonic are recording combined sales of millions of units, making it clear that this is the beginning of the end for conventional TVs. Internet TVs are likely to change completely the way we watch TV, by making available technologies and features that few would have dared to dream will ever be implemented into living room TVs. Here we’ll take a look at four features Internet TVs are likely to develop in the next few years.

A New Way to Search for Content

Channel surfing is slowly but steadily going to be replaced by content searching. Perhaps the best current example of how content searching will function is Google TV, although there are many more improvements that are likely to be made in this regard. The concept of underlying content searching on TV is that you no longer find your favorite shows through a program guide, but use instead a search box. The results displayed are not confined only to the program guide, but also include Internet TV services, and any video-on-demand services you pay for. This should make it easier to see the video you want if it has been broadcasted in the past, as well as to record it if it’s going to be broadcasted in the future. Google TV is a good example of this revolution in content search, but it’s still in its early days.

Internet Browsing

Why turn on your PC if you wish to surf the Web when you can easily do it from your Smart TV? Most Internet TVs already come with a web browser, which can be used to search the Web more or less like any other web browser. Companies such as LG and Samsung have made considerable progress in implementing web browsers in their Internet TVs, improving both the performance of the browser as well as the usability of the remote used to search for content. You can easily import your bookmarks from your laptop or PC, open all Web pages, send & receive emails, etc.

3D Vision

3D technology is gaining a lot of momentum these days, with an ever increasing number of movies and video games are using it. Internet TVs are likely going to make more use of it in the future, though it remains to be seen to what extent. Some consider 3D a distraction from HD, and they may be right. Even so, we will see at least some type of video content making use of 3D vision – I’m thinking here for example of animated movies for children. Internet TVs should help bring 3D technology to our living rooms.

Social TV

There are a lot of Internet TVs already that integrate Facebook or Twitter apps, and by the looks of it, these models sell like hot bread. Yet there are many improvements that can be made to the Social Media features of Internet TVs. I’m thinking primarily of better apps, with more features and increased usability. All in all Social TV is here, and will get better.

Internet TVs are a relatively new technology, but they show a lot of promise. Considering their rise, it will be interesting to see how much our experience of watching TV will change in the next five years. This has been a guest post by brand support.