As TV enters the digital era, it is beginning to become incomprehensible.

What we mean here is not the content of TV programs, but that in recent years, various TV concepts related to the Internet have emerged in an endless stream, including interactive TV, Internet TV, IPTV, Internet TV, and smart TV What's more, it's not just the difference in concept. Even under the same concept, different manufacturers and organizations have different definitions. What the final consumers see may be very different. How many people can really distinguish the difference?

"Three networks integration", a term that has been repeatedly mentioned ten years ago, has finally reached the most critical moment. The so-called three networks integration refers to the telecommunications network, radio and television network, and the Internet, which used to provide voice, television and data respectively, and the well does not offend the river. In the process of evolution to broadband communication network, digital television network, and the next generation Internet, the technical functions and business scope tend to be consistent, while providing users with three similar services. In fact, the convergence of three networks is just that these three different networks are running towards the same goal from different directions, and they all believe that the road they choose is the fastest way to reach the end.

As for various concepts related to the Internet, it is telecom operators, radio and television operators, and Internet companies that infiltrate each other's fields to try to overwhelm each other. Accordingly, these various televisions are also divided into three genres, namely:

Hardware: Represented by traditional TV manufacturers, based on the technical accumulation and experience in the field of TV over the past years, it mainly promotes intelligent TV featuring integration, multi-function and interaction;

Network School: Represented by telecom operators, based on their advantages in broadband services, IPTV, which uses broadband networks as media to transmit TV information, is mainly promoted;

Experiential school: Taking Apple, Xiaomi and other technology companies as representatives, they do not have the advantages in hardware or network, but have the characteristics of rapid iteration of Internet enterprises, emphasize the rich content and user experience of the Internet, and advocate Internet TV set-top boxes with streaming media playback and interactive services as the main functions.

These three genres may have great differences in practice, but they are consistent in terms of user needs: for users, I will choose who can help me become smarter and who can solve the problem of watching TV better.

How can TV become smart?

Although the three schools have their own ideas and numerous concepts, and have their own ideas in the schools, these ultimately point to one word: 。

This may be due to the popularity of the concept of "smart phone". In the interactive encyclopedia, the definition of smart TV is compared with smart phones:

Smart TV is like smart phone It has a fully open platform and an operating system. Users can install and uninstall programs provided by third-party service providers such as software and games by themselves. Through such programs, the functions of color TV sets can be continuously expanded, and Internet surfing can be achieved through network cables and wireless networks.

This definition is not standard, but it is the most intuitive one.

The reason why TV has become the main battlefield of triple play is not only that smart TV will become the core of digital home, but also related to the environment in which the TV industry is developing. The mobile phone has entered the era of intelligence, and the PC has already achieved intelligence, as evidenced by the word "brain" of "computer". Since the computer (Internet) and mobile phone (telecommunications network) fields have entered into communism and socialism first, it is necessary to pull the backward brothers together.

Smart TV has been popular for a long time, but at the same time, for a long time, the clear definition of smart TV, industry standards and national standards are missing in China, and manufacturers, organizations and media often use Google TV and To describe smart TV as a blueprint, although the General Principles of Intelligent Technology for Smart Home Appliances issued by the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of the People's Republic of China and the National Standards Management Commission were officially implemented on September 1, this general principle has divided smart home appliances into "IQ levels", but it does not have more operability, but may allow manufacturers to have more publicity points, Make users more confused.

So, how can TV be smart?

The experience of mobile phone intelligence can be used for reference. It is widely believed in the industry that smart TV should have two characteristics, namely, an open platform and a convenient human-computer interface. The so-called open platform means that smart TV should be able to provide open interfaces (APIs) for third-party developers to use to enrich the functions of the system; The convenient human-computer interface is beyond the remote control of the traditional TV, allowing users to have a new way of control, to meet the diversified needs of TV with richer content and functions after "intelligence".

In these two aspects, smart TV still has a long way to go. Most of the applications running on "smart TV" now are translated from mobile phones, without considering the difference between use scenarios and large screen experience. In addition, due to the lack of a unified standard, applications provided by manufacturer A's smart TV often cannot be installed on manufacturer B's smart TV.

In human-computer interaction, smart TV also encounters new problems. In the past, TV viewing was based on channels, while smart TV viewing was based on programs. There will be great differences in interface design and operation. It is to continue to achieve more functions through software on the basis of watching TV with remote control, or to use other operation methods such as body feeling, gesture, voice control, etc, It needs to be proved through practice.

Strictly speaking, the current smart TV is still in the conceptual stage, which is about five years behind the smart phone in practice. That is to say, the current smart TV is actually equivalent to the "feature phone era" five years ago, or most of the current TV should be called "multi-function TV".

However, it is worth noting that this transition from "multi-function TV" to "smart TV" may be as fast as the arrival of the smartphone era, which caught us by surprise.

Experience is the core of smart TV

When it comes to smart TV, we have to say that the core of the "Venus Plan", which was highly promoted by Microsoft worldwide at the end of last century, is through a Windows CE based Box, connecting the network to TV, making TV a digital entertainment center for families. However, due to the immaturity of software, hardware, content and other conditions, Microsoft's efforts, which cost billions of dollars, ended in failure.

All kinds of signs show that the box that Microsoft envisioned ten years ago has suddenly become a reality today. Although there are reasons for the improvement of network speed and hardware, it is Google, Microsoft's sworn enemy, that really makes smart TV explode.

As Nokia CEO Stephen Elop said in a famous memo analyzing industry trends and company status:

(In the smartphone market), the competition between devices has evolved into the competition between ecosystems. The ecosystem includes not only hardware and software of devices, but also developers, applications, e-commerce, advertising, search, social applications, geographic location services, unified communication and many other contents. Our competitors do not seize market share through equipment, but through a complete ecosystem. This means that we will have to decide to establish, facilitate or join an ecosystem.

Like the wave of smartphone upgrading several years ago, hardware manufacturers, operators, and Internet companies inevitably face the problem of choosing an ecosystem. and The open source, free, portable and other characteristics of the smart TV ecosystem inevitably become the best choice.

According to the data fed back by the suppliers of smart TV chips, TV manufacturers have larger shipments, which will give them a first mover advantage in the future competition of smart TV. However, this transformation and upgrading of smart TV is actually to make the TV industry software and Internet, which is the specialty of Internet companies.

There is a good saying that any love that does not aim at marriage is a rogue. Similarly, any concept that does not aim at improving the user experience is hype. Without great progress in the user experience, the most intelligent devices are multi-functional devices. TV is becoming the third kind of information access terminal after computers and mobile phones. Users can access the information they need at any time. The smart TV users need is able to meet their pleasure of watching, namely, "understandable, manageable, predictable" and "simple, smooth, sensitive, dynamic". Only by fully addressing this demand of users, can smart TV not appear to be so "aloof", but really be accepted by consumers, making TV the center of home digital entertainment.