However, even these forward-looking set-tops won't get far unless the various networks and content providers open some doors for them. Hulu, for example, is currently blocking the Google TV browser. All the same, the Apple TV and and may both be around long enough to see the day when content owners have come to accept the model these devices use for distributing video. (In an effort to boost Google TV, .) We expect that these two set-tops will be the ones to watch over the next few years.
Next: Home Theater PCs, Cable and Cablelike Services, Your Smart TV Program Guide, and a Glossary of Smart TV Terms
If you're at all like me, you were sitting on the living room couch watching an episode of The Wire or Mad Men on a 13-inch laptop screen while your gorgeous 50-inch HDTV sat 5 feet away, completely neglected. And if you're used to finding practically everything you want to watch with your PC, either on streaming Web services or file-sharing services like BitTorrent, you may find it hard to go back to the content limitations of cable. What you want is both, so you , and voilà--you have a home theater PC.
are typically high-end, expensive systems designed to fit in with a true home theater enthusiast's fancy audio/video equipment rack. Obtaining one usually involves paying extra for a special PC case and high-end, low-heat components, but any system capable of playing back 1080p video and connecting to your set through HDMI or another audio/video input can be your TV's connection to Web video.