Rick decided it was time to stop salivating at all the TVs he saw in his local Mass Merchant Electronics store and purchase one. What sold him primarly was the Internet apps. He couldn’t wait to setup his Netflix and VUDU account to catch all the latest movies, as well as stream his favorite Internet radio stations. He got the TV home, plugged in a patch cord from his router and happily sat in his couch for a serious surfing session of relaxation and enjoyment. Unfortunately, all he got was frustration and regret. His TV remote was extremely cumbersome to navigate through all the menus and it seemed as if certain buttons were literally missing from the remote in order to be able to effectively control each Internet app. Now dejected, Rick put down the remote and decided to get on Facebook instead of enjoying his new Internet-connected TV.
At Technospeak, we see this issue happening more and more as an increasing number of Audio/Video devices come Internet ready. In a typical Home Theater in Los Angeles, this usually means that you have multiple devices that can stream Netflix, Pandora, VUDU, etc. So this leads to the logical question, which device is best suited for these networked applications?
In our opinion, networked apps are best suited for devices that are already meant to be interacted with, such as a Blu-ray Player, VOD Player, Audio/Video Receiver, etc. For these type of devices, easy navigation was built into them from the very start as it was key to their acceptance by consumers at large. A TV on the other hand, was just meant to be viewed– not interacted with. This could be fixed by TV manufacturers redesigning their products. However with their margins getting crushed by Mass Market Retailers, there is simply no budget allocated to do this. As such, TV manufacturers put together the cheapest interface with the least amount of features they can and call it and Internet Connected TV.
Rick was discouraged by the new addition to his Home Theater in Los Angeles, however, he become much more positive when we explained this to him. We set him up with a networked Blu-ray player with Netflix and Pandora and gave him a Universal Remote to control his entire Home Theater. Rick got finally got the relaxtion and enjoyment he wanted and Technospeak has another satisfied customer.
Want to know more about which Blu-ray player or Audio/Video Receiver to purchase to maximize your Internet connection of your Home Theater? Give us a call today at (310) 410-8771 or (855) 832-4775.
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