Why the TV control method should change

After reviewing David Fincher's Social Network Inspired by the bright ideas of scientific and technological progress, I began to think about how to contribute to the simplification and improvement of all familiar and familiar things. The TV is suitable for this as well as possible: a person may not read a single book, but he definitely has TV at home. And at the same time, in a certain sense, TV for the user is the most rigid area from the point of view of management.

Over the past 50 years, the way to switch TV has not changed at all . Just imagine what happened during this time: a bouquet of wars in the Middle East, dozens of revolutions, the collapse of the USSR, a clip of economic crises - but TV is still the same. Maybe we have reached the ceiling of possible technologies and further improvements in TV are simply impossible from a technical point of view?

No, not at all. During this time, they managed to appear mobile phones, which from uncomfortable "bricks" quickly and quietly turned into smart phones with voice control and touch controls. And TV, despite the widespread use of cable and digital connectivity, is still controlled by the console.
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Now put yourself in the place of the average TV user. Yes, I understand that many people on the resource prefer to ignore the “zomboyaschik”, but let's still not deny the importance of television, which is still the main channel of communication with the audience in Russia (how many people in our country use TV and how much Internet? ).

So, you come home after a busy and productive working day. At home, your wife / husband and children are most likely waiting for you. And here you are taking a place in front of the TV screen, intending to “find” something by means of “surfing” that will interest you and allow you to brighten up the evening while watching an exciting movie / series / analytical program / documentary. It is not unlikely that you have installed digital TV and the number of channels available to you is close to two hundred, or even exceeds these figures. And now you take up the remote and ... the fascinating quest “Find an interesting program among the vast sea of ​​TV channels” begins. In complexity, this task surpasses even the well-known puzzle with a refrigerator in the Pilot Brothers. It is very difficult to choose something definite among the broadcasts - because the TV program does not know anything about your tastes and preferences and you have to manually check what you find in the schedule. So a considerable part of the evening passes, in search of a program of interest. And the risk that you will miss something that in a different situation has attracted and interested you is very high - there are many channels, and you alone need to choose something. Why does this seem like a problem to me?

The fact is that, despite the large number of channels, 80% of viewers watch no more than ten. It takes an unreasonable amount of time to simply switch between them. For example, to check what goes on all channels - you need to switch them sequentially for at least 10 minutes. Add to this switch related to advertising. Then the procedure is repeated, again and again - and, which is the most unpleasant, there is no end in sight, because the solution to the problem is not obvious. But on the same YouTube information of interest can be found in two or three clicks.

60% of households in our country (they are the same - 33 million subscribers) will agree with me - after all, they use pay-TV. And the traditional “cable” is gradually losing its position - satellite and IPTV today occupy almost half of the market, and in 2011 alone, 500 thousand smart TVs. Already in 2012, 90% of all sold widescreen TVs belonged to Smart TV.

What I brought all this data? And the fact that the level of technology development on television has gone so far forward that adhering to orthodoxy in matters of interface and management will be, at least, stupid and short-sighted.

You know, I'm fine with the fact that reality is deceiving the expectations of fans of fantastic movies. The year 1997 is far behind, the year 2013 is nearing its end, and the largest cities in America have not yet become criminalized ghetto ruins - which casts doubt on the reputation of the soothsayer John Carpenter, who has greatly pleased us all with the adventure about the adventures of Snake Pliskin. The 2019th year is not far off, and Los Angeles is not pouring rain, the Japanese futuristic Aibo dog remains the crown of the creation of artificial animals, the colonization of the Solar System did not even begin, and there were no replicants like it and no - I think Ridley Scott should be ashamed for your Blade Runner. The year 2001 was already 12 years old, but artificial intelligence similar to HAL from “2001: A Space Odyssey” by Stanley Kubrick remains an unattainable dream. Damn it, the year 2015 is almost here - but where are the flying cars and skateboards from Back to the Future 2? Or at least 3D advertising on the streets?

However, something from “Back to the Future 2” can be implemented here and now - namely, the attentive “smart” TV program that Marty McFly used from 2015. But I will tell about it next time.