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Recently, I acquired a new television. It is one of those flat-screen HDTV things. While I was waiting for the satellite TV people to install an HD receiver, I noticed the TV had a VGA port. I figured, while this squished, stretched picture is here, might as well watch some DVD's through my PC. While fooling around with the whole thing, I started thinking...
What is it most people do with their PC's? They use a web-browser and play video games. What is the difference between a television and a computer monitor? Aside from the size and position relative to the user, there is practically no difference. There are a few issues though, which may prevent people from considering the change. One of those issues is the keyboard, another is the mouse, and a third would be the size of computers.
If you look at something like an HD DVR satellite TV receiver, it is roughly twice the size of a laptop. My tiny little netbook does everything, aside from video game things, I could possibly need. Would it be outrageous to suggest integrating a full-size laptop (which would be suitable for gaming and everything else), with a satellite/cable TV box?
The mouse and keyboard problem is easily solved. My satellite TV controller is enormous. Is it impossible to add a tri-functionality, without increasing the size? Some of you may be familiar with what is called an 'air mouse'. It functions similarly to a wii controller (there is one called the MX Air if you care to research). When you add that functionality to the TV controller, you can do almost everything you need (after all, most computer navigation is point-and-click).
For the keyboard, look at modern cell-phones. They flip open to reveal a perfectly usable keyboard. You wouldn't want to write a 500-page essay on it, but for the purpose of this system, it is completely adequate. With the air-mouse technology and this cell-phone keyboard tech, you have an entirely functional controller. You could also use this device for gaming, although it would be lacking (for those who want more, support for gaming controllers and/or standard mouse/keyboards could easily be offered).
When all this comes together, what do we have? A superior gaming console which could eliminate traditional consoles. We have something which would allow normal people to watch streaming video of Quake Live games while sitting on their couches, or even, and just as easily (with the right software), watch Quake Live through GTV. I tried watching Q3 demos through this setup, and it worked great. I had to set picmip to 0 and turn on vsync, but for a spec, you don't need the same as a player. Because this setup allows normal people (not computer or gaming professionals), to do practically everything they normally do on computers/televisions/theinternet (and in better ways), they have every reason to use a system which grants them better access to professional gaming.
What is it most people do with their PC's? They use a web-browser and play video games. What is the difference between a television and a computer monitor? Aside from the size and position relative to the user, there is practically no difference. There are a few issues though, which may prevent people from considering the change. One of those issues is the keyboard, another is the mouse, and a third would be the size of computers.
If you look at something like an HD DVR satellite TV receiver, it is roughly twice the size of a laptop. My tiny little netbook does everything, aside from video game things, I could possibly need. Would it be outrageous to suggest integrating a full-size laptop (which would be suitable for gaming and everything else), with a satellite/cable TV box?
The mouse and keyboard problem is easily solved. My satellite TV controller is enormous. Is it impossible to add a tri-functionality, without increasing the size? Some of you may be familiar with what is called an 'air mouse'. It functions similarly to a wii controller (there is one called the MX Air if you care to research). When you add that functionality to the TV controller, you can do almost everything you need (after all, most computer navigation is point-and-click).
For the keyboard, look at modern cell-phones. They flip open to reveal a perfectly usable keyboard. You wouldn't want to write a 500-page essay on it, but for the purpose of this system, it is completely adequate. With the air-mouse technology and this cell-phone keyboard tech, you have an entirely functional controller. You could also use this device for gaming, although it would be lacking (for those who want more, support for gaming controllers and/or standard mouse/keyboards could easily be offered).
When all this comes together, what do we have? A superior gaming console which could eliminate traditional consoles. We have something which would allow normal people to watch streaming video of Quake Live games while sitting on their couches, or even, and just as easily (with the right software), watch Quake Live through GTV. I tried watching Q3 demos through this setup, and it worked great. I had to set picmip to 0 and turn on vsync, but for a spec, you don't need the same as a player. Because this setup allows normal people (not computer or gaming professionals), to do practically everything they normally do on computers/televisions/theinternet (and in better ways), they have every reason to use a system which grants them better access to professional gaming.
Edited by iNkind at 05:52 CST, 16 November 2009 - 1527 Hits
