TVs with network - Web surfing fun?

Whether hype or actual enthusiasm: Online video portals like YouTube are becoming more popular, especially among younger people. However, the fact that video content is only available on the Web at YouTube & Co. is likely to be unlikely with regard to the content offered there.


Basic equipment


But why would not you be able to present the latest clips to your friends on TV? And what about MTV and Viva, if you can have a YouTube video with your personal selection?


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A similar situation prevails also in news or classics such as the weather report or news reports: What does it mean to get the latest headlines and reports directly from the Internet in addition to the television news and display them on the television?


And what about further information? For example, the TV stations have been trying to bridge a gap between classical television and the Internet for some time - with hints like "more information can be found on our website at www.xyz.de". What was missing so far were the right devices, which both media master. First approaches are now available: Sony, Panasonic, Samsung and Philips now offer the Internet also on TV - with huge





Sony is still the most back here: While in the US already features for retrieving online clips from YouTube and Wired.com are installed, one would like to incorporate such functions into the models, which appear on the market in Europe in 2010. At present, Sony is content to display (self-adjustable) RSS feeds as well as simple standard widgets such as calendars and world time clocks. More (more meaningful) widgets should follow, however - the online connection makes it possible.


Panasonic calls its network connection Viera Cast, a test device could not provide the manufacturer however in time. Viera Cast allows access to news from "ARD-Tagesschau" and "Bloomberg TV", the "Eurosport" channel provides sports news. Of course, "YouTube" can not be missing, and "Picasa" can also take pictures from the web to the TV.


The Viera TVs also allow the playback of digital media content that is delivered via a DLNA server. Panasonic is to support JPEG images as well as videos in the formats DivX and MPEG-2. Instead of a USB slot, the Vieras offer an SD card slot to directly display images of the digital camera or films of an AVCHD camcorder as well as DivX movies, called Viera Image Viewer.


This is especially interesting in connection with the free tool multiAVCHD from http://multiavchd.deanbg.com, which consists of HD videos, e.g. In the MKV or TS format can create a corresponding AVCHD file structure on SD card, which is to run in the Panasonic TVs. Nero will also be able to output compatible AVCHD data to SD card in NeroVision of the current Reloaded version.