If At First You Don't Succeed, Google TV Again

sony-googletv

The latest generation of Google TV hardware is poised to launch, featuring devices from the likes of Vizio and Sony. And it appears Sony’s second generation “Internet Player with Google TV” (NSZ-GS7) is up first — hitting store shelves next month and available for pre-oder now ($199). Unfortunately, it looks to be more of the same. While Google TV does offer a few clever tricks, including the Chrome web browser, video overlay, and QWERTY remote, the overall experience is lacking. As the Verge asks, “When does ‘It has potential’ turn into ‘It’s not good enough’?” For the same money, you could get the similarly equipped Boxee Box with active community or three of the more app-centric Roku streaming players. There are rumors of a massive Google TV update announcement later this week… Yet, if it pans out, Sony and Google made a tactical error in introducing this product now. Which would be par for the course.

23 thoughts on “If At First You Don't Succeed, Google TV Again”

  1. My coverage isn’t up yet, but your title made me think you already read it.

    Anyways, the only thing I really like about the Google TV is the control angle. No other streamer takes over your home theater as easily. That’s not to say I would buy one, but that is mostly because recorded content is my primary source and it doesn’t integrate well enough with DVRs for my taste.

  2. “My coverage isn’t up yet, but your title made me think you already read it.”

    Your coverage on WMC8 from a few days ago was pretty depressing. (I’m happily on TiVo, but I always liked having the option to go in another direction.)

    Looks like your decision to move away from WMC was quite prescient. I thought your pessimism was overblown at the time, but I was wrong.

    “it doesn’t integrate well enough with DVRs for my taste.”

    If Google TV were to ship with an Aereo-like array of hundreds of IR blasters, then everything would run like butter…

  3. Am I the only one that despises the whole “pass-thru” HDMI overlay concept? Doesn’t this device have enough features to warrant an input change?

  4. i wish bloggers who review these things actually get to the things that matter in a review. everyone keeps missing the technical limitations of these things, the original ones anyway.

    there is one question that no reviewer ever gets into, the audio specs. Ben, Dave, the verge or who ever reviews, about to review or reviewed this thing always omits whether this thing can pass through the right audio. the revue (and sony i belive) just sent everything PCM via HDMI. logitechs answer was just to use optical.

    so here is the questions i hope someone answers. does this sony box (or the vizio coming out) deliver proper audio via HDMI?

  5. Most of the devices are just OK and the frequent audio shortcomings are typical for a middle of the road solution. Gabe, of Tech of the Hub, often checks audio. Maybe Ben will before he posts, now that you’ve raised the question.

  6. i would love a google tv in my setup with tivo but not getting DD to my dvr from tivo because this thing is in the middle is a deal breaker.

    my want for this might go down the toilet if airplay on osx lion works like i hope when its released next month. airplaying a whole operating system to an apple tv is very compelling.

  7. Yeah, and that’s the shortcoming of this device – if you truly relay everything through it, you’re limited by its abilities. I assume Ben runs his audio separately to his receiver. I also haven’t tested Google TV since the big software update last fall – do we know if they improved audio pass-thru? I loaned my Revue out (with a belated review coming), but I’m not sure if Joel is equipped or motivated to test. Hm.

  8. Audio was problematic. I had to connect the FiOS DVR’s optical out to the Revue to get proper sound, both for TV speakers and through to the surround receiver. The HDMI pass through did not work.

  9. Dave, the revue has not been improved. in their forums, a mod hinted at that it wouldnt be improved and that the only method would be via optical.

    either google didnt license the codec or the hardware manufacturers dont care/want the added cost.

  10. “Oh yeah, I was meaning to tweet or blog the death of WMC (again).”

    I really believed the patient was stable until this weekend. I thought it’d last as long as CableCARD lasted.

    Now I finally understand the patient has a terminal disease.

  11. Any word on if Google plans to do anything with their purchase of SageTV? I love my SageTV setup, but hate the feeling that if anything breaks, I’m out of luck. I still struggle with the fact that Google killed such a great product.

  12. I actually remember testing the audio pass-through the first time around, but didn’t put as much time in this time. I’ll go back and try it out though, but I do think it’ll pass it through now — going off memory.

    I’m not a fan of the pass-through, but at least it addresses the LIVE TV/DVR issue that most streamers ignore. Even if you love streamers and hate the pass-through, you can use this GTV as a stand-alone source.

    And Media Center isn’t dead, I was just watching TV on it last night. Even scheduled a few recordings. ;)

  13. Yep, I will be sticking to Windows 7 for a while now, along with Windows Media Center and the Clear QAM and CableCard tuners. I don’t see a compelling need to move to Windows 8 on anything other than a tablet at the moment.

  14. For shits and giggles I plugged my Logitech Review in again over the weekend. I have not used it since January.

    Sad to say that other then a nice Netflix player its still a piece of crap.

    The promise was great the delivery however did not live up to the hype. If Google TV was released the way they announced it it would have been amazing.

    For me the Boxee Box is still the best streamer device. (Although the Vizio box sounds interesting)

  15. Well, just read the Gizmodo (they hated it), Verge (not impressed) and Engadget (didn’t hate it) reviews of the Sony NSZ-GS7 (what a great name!). I have to say Ben that you were by far the easiest on Google. Obviously the Gizmodo guy ran into a bunch of weird problems that you didn’t, nothing you can do about that. But I do think the Verge piece asked the one prescient question you left out…

    “When does ‘It has potential’ turn into ‘It’s not good enough’?”

    Now, at $100 and without the HDMI pass-thru, the Vizio box makes you ask different questions. I’d want to see the remote (but you can always use your smartphone). I suspect it would still look bad compared to an Apple TV or Roku box, but at least its in the running…

    I can only hope that Mountain Lion’s airplay mirroring will turn out to be a turning point in the war on home user’s repurposing rights. If companies finally give up on trying to stop us from watching things on TV that they let us watch for free on computers, then maybe things can move forward. And hey, maybe Google TV will look a little better…

  16. Bryan, Not sure what will happen with SageTV. If we don’t hear anything this week about DVR functionality coming to Google TV, it’s probably safe to assume Google doesn’t know what to do with it and this has become more of a talent acquisition. (Google clearly doesn’t know what do with their Motorola set-top business.)

  17. I’m leaning toward getting Sony’s forthcoming Blu-Ray equipped GTV. I want my cable content (Tivo), media streaming, Blu-Ray and CASUAL internet browsing together with a decent interface on ONE HDMI input. This is the closest thing, short of a full-blown pc.

  18. ensaburnur, It will do what you want… but will it do it well or comfortably? I found the Revue quite frustrating and packed it up. The Vizio seems like a safer bet given the lower price, but someone implied it doesn’t do pass-thru – not sure about that.

    gonzo, not sure if it’s Bluetooth and not sure if there’s a way to change the pairing. We’ll probably have to hear from folks buy.

  19. I agree the revue is frustrating to use sometimes. It’s only worthwhile to use for watching content for free that you would otherwise have to pay for. And even then, you can’t be picky about the quality of the video or audio. The browser is good for group conversations where you want to check something on the internet for everyone to see. It’s easy enough to leave in pass through mode most of the time and it up scales everything to 1080P.

  20. Dave, I was very close to purchasing the Revue last year. However, after hearing about the bugs and Logitech effectively making the Revue and “EOL” product, I decided to pass.
    I didn’t know that last year’s Sony GTVs had pass through, but I didn’t like their controller either. This time the Sony GTVs are improved and I like the new interface and remote. I don’t hold out much hope of GTV becoming a big hit, but I plan on using it alot to find content. I’m also looking forward to using Plex.

Comments are closed.