Over the past few years, Sony's mantra has been about 'making believe', that is, using your imagination to create a brand new experience. It's also been about the 'four screens' strategy. The concept here is that devices can work together to enhance the overall viewing experience. And to top it all off, 2012 has seen the introduction and rapid growth in interest of the 'second screen' experience. The second screen experience is a term coined for using a mobile phone, tablet or phablet to enhance the TV viewing experience. There are a selection of services available to provide the second screen experience, whether it's cable provider apps for remote viewing and recording, social networking apps like GetGlue or one of the many library apps able to catalogue your movie/TV collection and 'play to' another device using the power of DLNA. And DLNA is the true technology behind this case study where I'll discuss two technologies which, used together can create a whole new smart experience.
TV SideView
Unbeknown to many and overshadowed by the announcement of the Xperia Z, just this week Sony released their newest app, TV SideView. If you've ever used 'Media Remote' then you already have a pretty good idea about it's base purpose. For those who don't know, Media Remote is an application formally released by Sony to provide remote control functionality to another Sony device such as a TV or BlueRay player from an android smartphone. This really was the baby steps for Sony in terms of Second Screen functionality, however TV SideView goes from first steps to more of an exploration direction.
If having a 'remote control' app wasn't enough, then how could the Second Screen be improved? Sony's answer to this was to produce a whole mobile interface that wouldn't interfere with what's currently on TV but still providing that overall link. When you first launch the application you'll be prompted to pair the app with your Sony device, something almost effortless, and familiar to those who have used Media Remote.
Thereafter, each time you launch the application you will be greeted with a stunning new menu, the interface behind the link - the second screen. Sony opts not for the XMB interface which its media devices are more acustomed to, but for a tiles interface which works so well.
Interestingly I don't appear to have everything that's available. In some instances I can understand why, but others I'm left a little uncertain. According to the screenshot on the Google Play page, you should have Search, Program Guide, Recorded Content, Home Network, Voice Command, Remote, Applications and i-Manual for Bravia. I, on the other hand am limited to Search, Program Guide, Home Network, Voice Command, Remote and i-Manual for Bravia. I can understand the 'Recorded Content' not being present as my TV isn't isn't connected to an aerial directly, instead a satellite set top box via. HDMI which means I'm unable to make use of the broadcast TV features on Bravia. Applications however, I should in my opinion be seeing, with access to SEN, widgets and Internet Video, however as I do not have access, I cannot comment on these.
The search feature searches a range of services such as Netflix, IMDB and Wikipedia which provides a great second screen experience for when you want to learn more about something you're seeing on TV. One gripe I have though is Netflix's results. If you search for something on Netflix and then go to view more details, you have the option to play a Netflix show. I would expect from a second screen app for the Netflix content to then play on the connected device (i.e. my TV) which happens to have Netflix installed and logged in, but instead the content simply launches the Netflix app on the local device (the phone) and plays the content there. I would expect this to change in a future update and also for search to incorporate the internet video search, available directly on the TV.
Voice input is Sony's answer to the latest craze from other manufacturers which is the ability to control your TV with your body. Whether it's pointing at the content you wish to view, or waving your arms around in frustration until something plays. Voice control in my opinion is no better. You have the ability to change the channel and view additional content, however restricted to US English and Japanese, I would also imagine these still have problems with accuracy like most voice control services and several clicks are still required to make anything happen. I say stick to the traditional remote control, at least for now until a more practical alternative surfaces.
The remote provides the same experience as Media Remote, and like Media Remote also contains a mouse track pad and keyboard for additional inputs. i-Manual provides access to i-Manual on a Bravia TV, something you should be familiar with if you've ever wondered 'how' something works with your TV.
I've saved the best until last, and that's Home Network. Media servers are no new concept. The ability to store your media on one device and play it on another has been around for years, but over the past couple of years, focus on enhancing the capabilities of DLNA and the introduction of new DLNA standards have seen the ability not only to play the content from a remote device on the device you're currently at, but also to 'throw' media, that is playing the media on a distant device such as a TV from a local device, such as the phone creating a new 'remote control' experience. But what if we could do more? What if we could enhance the smart media capabilities of a TV using something like DLNA? And this is where Plex comes in.
PLEX
As I previously mentioned, media servers are no new concept. I remember playing around with Winamp's collaboration with Orb (aptly named Winamp Orb) back in the late 00s, and the Playstation 3 has been able to play content stored on other devices since day one. So what does Plex bring?
Whereas traditional media servers allow local media to be streamed from one machine to the next over a local network, Plex brings the ability to add channels. These are similar to the internet video channels (IPTV) found on smart TVs. Those with a Bravia may be familiar with channels such as DailyMotion, Aol Internet Video, eHow, and the rest. You may be familiar with local channels, for example here in England we have access to iPlayer, Demand5, plus BBC and Sky News services. But those with a Bravia may also be familiar with the frustration of adding new services. New IPTV services cannot be added, and the closest alternative is to use the built in app store, whether it's Yahoo or Opera respectively dependent on your location, neither of which offer an overly comprehensive selection. In fact, as an app store that doesn't even have a Facebook app, third party or official as well as poorly programmed apps at best, this is something I tend to steer well clear of.
It leaves our Bravia TVs a little - dumb. Smart TVs truly have a long way to go yet before they can truly be called smart devices, but we're not entirely out of options. Anyone who has used a Roku device will be familiar with adding custom channels. In the US, roku has 700+ channels, whilst here in the UK we have 300+. These are big numbers when compared to the 20 or so channels available on Bravia. Plex however, gives us hope. It gives us the ability to add new channels to our Sony media devices.
First things first, I should get this out of the way now. Whilst the combination of Plex and TV SideView opens the door for great new things, it's no way a comprehensive stable solution or replacement for any media server you may currently be using. It's a buggy solution and if anything is more to prove that things CAN be done, and that with the correct development aimed for and focussed on Bravia devices rather than generic channels, there are endless possibilities on what can be achieved.
As I mentioned above, Plex allows you to add channels, much in the same way as Roku or XBMC allows you to add channels. The difference between Roku/XMBC and Plex is that the former are media centre devices/software whilst Plex is a media server. This means that, in the same way as earlier media servers allowed users to play local media across networked devices, Plex allows streamed content to be played across networked devices, even inter-networked devices with a free MyPlex account meaning you can watch your locally stored media or streaming channels from anywhere with an internet connection.
You may for example have the Funny or Die channel installed on your Plex media server. With this channel installed you can use any DLNA capable device to stream videos from Funny or Die, be-it your Playstation 3, Sony tablet or Xperia phone. Like I mentioned above, this is buggy. I noticed some channels wouldn't work at all (some wouldn't even show up in the list of channels) whilst others would work, but selectively meaning not all videos would play.
TV SideView with Plex
You may be wondering at this point what TV SideView has to do with Plex? Well, before now we've had DLNA pull and DLNA push, two different forms of DLNA, and here's now they work:
DLNA Pull: DLNA pull requires the browsing and play controls for media to take place on the device where the content will be played. For example, if a PC is the media server whilst the phone will be playing the content, the content must be located from the phone, and be played from the phone. This was the initial use of DLNA.
DLNA Push: DLNA push allows users to browse and control the media from the server, and to 'send' the media to another device. For example, if the phone is the media server, and the TV will be playing the content, you can locate the content using the phone, and even play/pause/rewind, etc. from the phone itself, whilst playing the content on the TV.
With TV SideView, you can combine these actions, such as, you can 'pull to push'. This means you can use the phone as a go between, to pull the media from a server, but rather than play the media on the phone itself, push the media to another host.
So, lets say we have an episode of 'The Walking Dead' stored on a PC. We want to play that on the TV, but rather than sitting at the PC to 'push' the media or navigate the TV's menus to 'pull' it, we can simply use TV SideView to browse the content of the media server, pull the media from the server, and push it to the TV.
That's kinda cool. So, as long as the media is stored on one device on the network, we can play it on another device, using the phone as a go between, a remote if you like. Right? Whilst this is true, this can be done with any media server.
Now lets add Plex to the equation Lets say I want to watch a technology conference talk on my TV, but I don't have one stored anywhere on my network. I can add the TED talks channel to my Plex server with great ease. Then, I can use TV SideView to browse my Plex server and locate the TED talks channel, allowing me to browse the titles available on TED talks and choose one I wish to play. At this point, I'm browsing the DLNA media server, so I'm using DLNA Pull. I locate a talk I wish to view, and so I 'send' the stream from my Plex server to the TV using my phone as a go-between to achieve this. I'm pulling the online content from my Plex server to my phone, and then pushing it from my phone to the TV. 'Pull to Push'.
Lets talk stability
I've mentioned several times before and I'll mention it again, this isn't a stable solution; it's not a purpose designed solution that's had a great amount of development specifically for the hardware and software to be used together to provide an amazing new smart TV experience, it's just so happens that this is the way the software works, allowing us to combine technologies to create something new.
Does this mean Plex is rubbish? No. Plex is a fantastic service! Some devices such as Roku have Plex built in, and a premium Plex app is available on android which, I would imagine, is the perfect wrapper to play all content from all channels hassle free, however I'm yet to try this (it's in the pipeline). Plex works as a media server and offers media server capabilities which is why we're able to do this, however it is my understanding that Plex playback works best when using an official Plex app rather than manipulating the data streams it provides for alternative methods of playback.
Summary
Smart TVs are young, as are second screens. But whilst they are young, they already contain the foundations for developers to be able to acheive great things when mashing up or combining services. The demonstration above shows a truly advanced home networking solution that allows media to be stored on one device, played on another, whilst controlled from another all with great simplicity. If all this can be acheived without any purpose built solution to do so, imagine what we may be capable of with the right development, time and attention towards a purpose built solution to enhancing and enriching the smart TV experience.
At the heart of this experiment was my Sony Xperia T along with the TV SideView app. But this cannot be acheived with a phone and a 'player' alone, instead combines the features of one service with those of another. I truly believe it is this 'mash-up' culture which is already present online with services such as IFTTT and Facebook OpenGraph that will make its way into interconnected physical devices to provide the true smart home that has been the vision ever since Xerox PARC and Weiser's Computer for the 21st Century and which we've strived upon naturally for decades to acheive.
Smart TVs offer a great platform for learning new things, however to think that the internet and associated technologies will still be with us in hundreds, probably thousands of years to come, its easy to see that these technologies really are young, and that's super exciting! Simple mashups, combining services and hardware is where we're at now. Imagine where we'll be in decades or centuries to come.
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