长江后浪推前浪，连网电视≥PC+TV

请准备好，我们即将跨入一个消费性电子新时代，届时电视再也无法自己为自己下定义；这个趋势在今年的美国国际消费性电子展(CES)上显而易见，移动装置开始重塑电视接下来该扮演的角色──从应用程序、服务以及连结性等，硬件需要适应的各方面。 在CES上最大力提倡以上趋势的就是三星(Samsung)，该公司挟其身为全球顶尖电视品牌、第一大智能型手机供货商，以及半导体制造大厂的优势，威逼软件开发商创作能让手机、平板装置、智能电视使用的“多屏应用程序(multi-screen apps)”；三星的目标是将不同装置的内容、应用程序与服务界线打破。 而如果“多屏应用程序”的趋势确立，消费性电子产业的下一个战线何在？对此顾问机构Accenture的电子与高科技产业资深分析师Kumu Puri认为：“（消费性电子产业)最后的战场已经由电视移动到移动装置领域。” 在2011年的CES可以发现，多媒体平板装置在消费者家中的客厅扮演了更吃重的角色；但在当时很少有人预见，平板装置角色的变换，可能将导致传统PC与电视的对决。 根 据Accenture的一项调查，有44%的平板装置使用者会观赏串流媒体内容，此外有43%的平板装置使用者至少每周会下载一次应用程序。该调查更重要 的发现是，受访消费者在一个星期之内透过电视机观看广播电视或有线电视节目的时数比例，已经由2009年的71%，在2011年减少为48%。

如果你家电视这么大还能上网，你还会选择在平板上看节目吗？1W2esmc

在 CES上有数字半导体产业高层，都表达了移动装置将如何对电视产业的未来产生重要影响的看法。例如联发科(MediaTek)总经理谢清江(C.J. Hsieh)在接受EETimes 美国版编辑专访时，就强调了必须同时在手机与电视平台占有一席之地的重要性，而且这同时适用于消费性电子芯片商与系统供货商：“你必须兼顾两者，跨平台将 带来很大的优势。” 博通(Broadcom)的移动平台解决方案事业群副总裁Rafael Sotomayor则表示：“这种说法也许有一点简陋，但我预测移动装置将会对电视的功能产生不少影响。”该公司刚推出首批802.11ac芯片系列产 品，这种无线新标准号称允许较少的视讯压缩，达到低延迟(小于50 millisecond)、高分辨率的效果。 这也就是说，该技术能让移动装置分享内容，并且与跨平台的无线显示器解决方案搭配──但问题又来了，要连结所有的移动装置与电视，需要的是什么？所谓的“多屏”杀手级应用可能会是什么模样？ 消费者已经发现，他们其实不太需要用电视上网，用平板装置就好，而且同时可以坐在沙发上看电视。而且，消费者已经了解到，他们其实不必一定要坐在沙发上看电视，可以躺在床上用平板看网上视频；所以干嘛要把PC、平板装置或是手机上的内容传送到电视机上？ 本文下一页：PC与TV，三十年河东与河西 本文授权编译自EE Times，版权所有，谢绝转载

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{pagination} 那些推广 Wi-Fi Direct 与Wi-Fi显示器解决方案的厂商，包括Sigma Design与博通，都认为一个小小的接取点装置，或是搭载Wi-Fi Direct功能、内建Netflix等应用程序的机顶盒，会让实现以上的视讯分享愿景变得简单，而且商机更为可行。这是没错，但现在并没有一种步骤简单 的解决方案，能实现数字内容的多屏分享。 三星可以合理地预期该公司的Galaxy手机、Galaxy Tab与大屏幕电视机使用者，能把三种装置连结在一起；苹果(Apple)的拥护者们也相信，可建构一个整合性的“苹果家庭网络环境”。但对大多数拥有一堆不同厂牌消费性装置──采用不同的操作系统，视讯功能也大不相同──的人们来说，新一代的Wi-Fi Direct机顶盒就将扮演关键角色。 该种机顶盒必须具备足够的智能功能，拥有一种能应付不同操作系统需求、不同屏幕分辨率需求的中介软件；这听起来好象很简单，但不同移动装置与消费性设备之间顺畅的点对点连结体验，还是一种开发中的技术。 还有其它意见认为，能在大屏幕电视上玩社交网络或是使用实时通，将会重新定义电视的未来；事实上，消费者早就会边看电视球赛转播边互传手机简讯，所以让电视化身社交平台的点子，可能还蛮符合消费者的习性，这感觉是个好预兆。但，这足以让消费者换台新电视吗？对于这个问题，Accenture的Puri回答： “我不确定。” 15年前，消费性电子产业为了PC可能入侵客厅而奋战，该场PC与TV的对决推动了双方阵营的技术进展，从使用者接口、视讯压缩、处理器到操作系统、中介软件、Java语言等等，而且催生了数字电视标准。 在那个时候，产业各界在许多怪题目上争论不休，包括谁将掌控家庭娱乐并从信息高速公路(information superhighway)中获利？是否将会出现可提供500个频道的有线电视机顶盒，或是具备智能化功能的电视与PC？ 在PC与TV大战期间，网络繁荣兴盛，让消费性电子业者争相开发一系列包括网络电视(Web TV)、具备上网功能电视、客厅专用PC，以及具备有限上网功能的有线电视机顶盒等等。经历数年的尝试与错误，产业界对于网络电视的初始热情逐渐消退，而且终于放弃、承认TV与PC基本上就是不同的。 可能除了英特尔(Intel)之外，没人再将PC视为家庭娱乐的核心。而在过 去几年，Google TV重新塑造了一种更强大、更聪明的TV形象，再度炒热了“智能电视(smart TV)”这个名词；在 2012年的CES展场上，则到处可以听到有人在说“连网电视(Connected TV)”。 消费性电子市场变得越来越复杂，但总而言之，目前已经演变成智能手机与平板装置等具备联机功能的移动设备，与电视机争夺消费者心目中重要性的局面。可以肯定的是，未在移动领域有所着墨的电视业者，恐怕日子要难过了；电视供货商需要拟定一个有效的新策略，让消费者能不费力地在各种移动装置与电视之间，进行内容的连结、操作与播放。 编译：Judith Cheng 本文授权编译自EE Times，版权所有，谢绝转载 参考英文原文： CES Analysis: Mobile defines TV，by Junko Yoshida

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{pagination} CES Analysis: Mobile defines TV Junko Yoshida LAS VEGAS – Brace yourself for the dawn of a new consumer electronics era, one in which TV no longer defines itself. Evident in this year’s Consumer Electronics Show was the notion that mobile devices are beginning to redefine what TV must do next – in terms of apps, services and connectivity that hardware will need to accommodate. Samsung made the strongest pitch for this approach at CES. Leveraging its position as the world’s top TV brand, No. 1 smartphone vendor and one of the strongest semiconductor manufacturers, the Korean giant is challenging developers to create “multi-screen apps” that take advantage of mobiles, tablets and smart TVs. Samsung’s goal is to break down the boundaries for content, apps and services among disparate devices. If multi-screen apps are indeed the way of the future, then where is the CE industry’s next battle line? According to Kumu Puri, a senior executive with Accenture’s Electronics & High-Tech Group, “The last battleground [for the CE industry] has already moved from TV to mobile.” Last year’s CES will be remembered for the increasing role media tablets could play in the living room. But few predicted the extent of the changes tablets could bring to the traditional PC-vs.-TV debate. Accenture found that 44 percent of tablet owners stream media content while 43 percent download applications at least once a week. More important, the same survey found that the share of consumers watching broadcast or cable TV in a typical week on televisions plummeted from 71 percent in 2009 to 48 percent in 2011. Several semiconductor executives here opined on how mobile devices are becoming important in the future of TV. In an exclusive interview with EE Times, MediaTek President C.J. Hsieh stressed the significance of having a big play in both mobile and TV platforms. It’s true for chip companies and system vendors alike that survival in the consumer electronics market means “you have to play in both. Being a cross-platform gives you a significant advantage,” said Hsieh. Broadcom, which exited the DTV business last fall but maintains a substantial presence in the set-top box market, is building its product strategy on the mantra: “Easy to share and connect.” At the company’s booth, every demo showed peer-to-peer connectivity (wireless or wired) among mobile devices, small set-tops and TV for sharing content. Rafael Sotomayor, vice president of Broadcom’s mobile platform solutions group, acknowledged that the demos “may be a little on the rough side,” predicting that “mobile will influence a lot of features [in] TVs.” Broadcom is pushing its first family of 802.11ac chips. The new wireless technology allows less video compression, resulting in much less latency (less than 50 milliseconds) and higher resolution, claimed Broadcom. The company is pushing the technology so that mobile device content move from small screens and get connected with a cross-platform, Wi-Fi display solution. Questions remain, though. For example, what is needed to connect all these mobile devices and TVs? What would be the killer multi-screen app? Consumers have already discovered they don’t really need to surf the Web on TV. They can do that on a tablet, while also stationed on the couch watching TV. Moreover, consumers already know they really don’t have to watch TV on the couch. They can stream video on a tablet and watch it in bed. Why bother streaming video content from PC, tablet or phone to the TV? Those pushing Wi-Fi Direct and Wi-Fi display solutions like Sigma Design and Broadcom believe that a small access point or a set-top featuring Wi-Fi Direct, loaded with Netflix and other applications, would make such a streaming scenario much simpler, and more viable commercially. It’s true, however, that there isn’t a single, simple step available now to make content-sharing happen among multiple screens. Samsung can reasonably expect customers with its Galaxy phones, Galaxy Tab and Samsung large screen TV to be able to connect all three devices – just as Apple’s constituency believes in a cohesive Apple home environment. But for most consumers with a host of different consumer devices – each on a different operating system, with divergent graphics and video capabilities – the new Wi-Fi Direct set top will be critical. It needs to be smart enough to do everything from de-interlacing (dealing with different resolutions of screens) to developing a new middleware to handle different operating systems. Sounds easy, but a smooth peer-to-peer connectivity experience among disparate mobile and consumer devices is still in development. Others think that seeing tweets or instant chats pop up on their large-screen TV will redefine the TV. In fact, consumers are already sending SMS messages during sports events via their TV. That alone may not require a behavioral change among consumers. And that’s a good sign. But would it be enough to make consumers go out and buy a new TV? Answering her own rhetorical question, Accenture’s Puri said, “I am not sure.” Fifteen years ago, the CE industry was sweating over the PC’s potential invasion of the living room. The PC-vs.-TV battle drove technology agendas in both industries -- ranging from interfaces, video codecs, CPUs to operating systems, middleware, Java, and of course, emerging DTV standards. Each side argued over arcane issues such as who would control the home and benefit from information super highway? Would it be a 500-channel cable set-top box, a TV with smarts or a PC? As the debate raged, the Web exploded, sending the CE industry scrambling to develop a host of new devices ranging from Web TV to Internet-enabled TVs, living room PCs and cable set tops with the walled-garden Internet experience. After several years of trial and error, the industry’s initial excitement over “Internet TV” slowly faded, finally yielding to a realization that TVs and PCs are fundamentally different. With the possible exception of Intel, nobody sees the PC as the heart of home entertainment. Over the last few years, though, Google TV has revived the notion of a more powerful, brainier TV, re-dubbed the “smart TV.” The “Connected TV” pitch was heard everywhere during CES 2012. The consumer landscape has gotten more complicated, though, with smart phones and media tablets now in the mix of connected devices that now rival the TV for importance in the minds of consumers. To be sure, TV companies without a big mobile presence are likely to struggle. TV vendors need a strategy, devising an effective way for consumers to connect, work and play effortlessly with a number of different mobile devices and TV.