Why is the laptop hanging on the wall?

Although it has been around for decades, the television industry has seen few improvements in recent years. DVR has been one of the largest improvements of television technology; unfortunately, it has been killing prime-time for the past year. As the addition of more content over the Internet continues, the television on the wall will soon be replaced by a computer.

How?

In the last few years, many people who could not afford or did not wish to pay the prices of cable or satellite have switched to watching television programming on their computers, since many free shows and movies are available over the Web, thanks to major networks such as NBC or USA.

However, on March 12, 2008, a brand new way to view media was released–Hulu.

Hulu combines video content from major networks, and they also offer free movies. Accepted within the technologically savvy world with open arms, Hulu was reaching video streams of 903 million by 2010, second only to YouTube.

In June, CEO Jason Kilar announced Hulu Plus. Hulu Plus is very similar to Netflix’s “Watch Instantly” feature. After buying a subscription to Hulu Plus, a user is able to access 21 episodes of “House,” when a non-subscriber is only able to watch five, and a member of Hulu Plus can watch 147 episodes of “Family Guy” while a non-subscriber is only able to watch eight.

Although it may not be able to compete with Netflix’s “Watch Instantly” feature now, due to a lack of shows and movies, it is another content source that compliments Hulu nicely.

In 2007, Apple announced their new line of Apple TVs. The TVs provided the users with internet on their television. The device waned out of existence in 2008, because of the focus consumers and media had on Apple’s iPhones.

Luckily for consumers, Boxee picked up where Apple left off. During the Consumer Electronic Show (CES) of 2008, Boxee showed off their new program in the Alpha stages. The program was praised by media, and on January 7, 2010, Boxee released their Beta to the public.

Boxee takes the content available on Netflix (to its subscribers), Hulu, and the major networks and puts it into one simplified interface. Boxee can also access both the movies or music that users store on their computer and apps, such as Pandora or YouTube. It features an RSS reader, and full High Definition web content. The software version is available now through beta testing, and the Boxee Box will be ready for the television this November.

Now, Google and Apple have looked at streaming web content on a television more closely. Google announced during May 2010 their new line of Google TVs, and Apple recently updated their line of iTVs.

If that’s not enough, users can now use their iTunes account to rent a show . . . for $.99.

During their press conference on September 1st, Apple announced their new program of show rentals. In other words, if a user wants to watch “Glee”, but the episode is unavailable on Hulu, he could rent the show through Apple for only 99 cents just as if he were renting a movie. For now only ABC and Fox are offering shows, but according to Steve Jobs, the CEO of Apple, others will most likely join soon.

“Let’s start in your living room. You’re sitting down for dinner, and you’d like to pull Hulu up on your TV,” said Jason Kilar, CEO of Hulu, during the announcement of Hulu Plus. “Today you’d have to plug a computer into the TV and try to connect the audio from your computer to your sound system. It’s certainly doable, but it’s not as easy as it could be.”

The only downside to streaming off of the Internet is that it can seem incredibly daunting. Television manufacturers like Samsung have released their internet-connected TVs. The TV’s will allow “plug-n-play” Netflix, Hulu, and YouTube capabilities, but if a user feels that he does not want to spend another grand on a brand new TV, he could just spend one-hundred for iTV or Boxee (the price for Boxee has not yet been announced) and plug the box into the television, allowing full internet-streaming capability.

Also, many networks are extremely wary of viewers being able to view their content without actually watching a television set, due to having to play less ads online than on television. However, with the announcement of iTV during the Apple conference both ABC and FOX seem to have embraced the idea of streaming media from the “cloud.”

So, as the internet progresses television slowly fades into white noise, but hopefully, television and internet can have a bright, unified future.

3D: A Cinematic Revolution

For years 3D cinema has amazed audiences, and this excitement is stronger than ever with the recent release of the Academy Award-winning movie “Avatar,” directed by James Cameron. 3D is now sweeping the theater more than ever because of the hype of “Avatar,” and more movies are scheduled to come out in hopes of achieving the film’s acclaim. 3D is going to remain in the movie theater, for the time being, but soon, 3D will move into the family living room.

Recently, television production companies have invested a massive amount of money in the creation of full high definition 3D. The juggernaut of the 3D TVs seems to be Panasonic’s line of HD 3D televisions. After winning CNET’s (Computer Network) “Best of CES,” (the world’s largest consumer technology tradeshow) “Best in Show,” and “Best Television” at CES 2010, Panasonic seems to be at the cutting edge of the 3D technology, and Panasonic released the line of 3D televisions March 10 at local Best Buys for the sum of $2,000. This price may be exorbitant, but it includes the necessary Blu-Ray player, 3D glasses, and the 50-inch TV.

We see 3D when images from the left eye and the right eye are fused into one; to create the 3D effect in High Definition, the TV needs to be refreshed 120 times a second. The majority of TVs are able to refresh at this rate, but they would require a converter chip to differentiate between images intended for left and right eye. However, the television is not the only part of the combination doing the dirty work. The 3D glasses block one eye at a time so the eye sees the frame meant for it. The glasses are LCD which will darken or lighten when the television tells them.

At the moment several television stations have announced plans to release 3D channels, including ESPN and The Discovery Channel. ESPN will be releasing its 3D channel in June showing the World Cup soccer match in full 3D.

3D is not limited only to television programs and movies. Soon, 3D is features will be added to several gaming systems. Microsoft and Sony have both announced that their consoles will be 3D capable, so one can plan on playing “Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3″ in 3D.

Despite the great technological boundaries broken by 3D television sets, many people are still reluctant to change to 3D, and some worry about health issues related to 3D.

Marc Pesce, who developed virtual reality 3D games for Sega in the 90′s, spoke about the problems of 3D TVs.

“When the movie’s over, and you take your glasses off, your brain is still ignoring all those depth perception cues,” said Pesce. “It’ll come back to normal, eventually. Some people will snap right back, and in others, it might take a few hours. This doesn’t matter too much if you’re going to see a movie in the theater, though it could lead to a few accidents in the parking lot afterward, but it does matter hugely if it’s something you’ll be exposed to for hours a day, every day, via your television set.”

Analysts claim that 3D televisions will not become mainstream for another ten years, due to both the price and health concerns. Panasonic is hoping to have more than one million 3D capable television sets sold, but people still look at the price tag and wonder if it is worth pulling the credit card out of the wallet.

Television manufactures will still have to work on the safety issues on 3D. For the time being, 3D will be an expensive luxury that not many can afford or would be pressed enough to buy. Manufactures will hopefully be able to fix current health hazards, and in the near future, manufactures may be able to be rid of the 3D glasses. The 3D technology looks promising and may be in the majority of American homes in the next ten years.