During an interview with Charlie Rose: Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple Inc said that TV technology is stuck in the 1970s. As soon as I saw that statement, the memories of my mediocre experience with all the cable services and how little they have improved came to mind.
Other technology has come such a long way since the 1970s, especially video and computer technology. Today, we are watching 1080p HD videos on YouTube and Vimeo on demand (which used to be of much lower quality than TV several years ago), while cable TV service providers just started offering HD recently, and as a very expensive ‘premium’ service.
Why is it that people can watch free full HD videos on demand online, but they have to spend so much money on lower quality cable TV? This may be due to the fact that cable technology is so antiquated.
Outdated Cable TV Technology Is Hanging On Like Traditional Phone Services
This difference between the Internet and TV is reminiscent of the difference between VOIP and traditional telephone services. VOIP is dirt cheap compared to traditional telephone services. In my eyes, this is a sign that we need to start using the Internet for TV, like the VOIP providers did for phone calls.
It works.
Apart from that, there is no reason that people should have to continue using channel numbers, or the same old TV remotes to spend minutes searching for what you could find in seconds if you had a proper keypad
I think that if a cable TV service provider started selling remote controls with alphanumeric keypads so you could simply type in the name of a show or channel, they could use that to get a lot of customers to switch to their service.
The seamless integration of DVR functionality could also make a big difference. I currently have to set up two different things to record TV shows because of a lack of the seamless integration mentioned.
Theoretically speaking, it is possible for cable TV service providers to implement a system which facilitates 1-touch (literally) DVR functionality.
At the end of Mashable’s article on this, I saw: ‘The full interview airs Friday night at 11 p.m. ET on PBS, but some air times may differ depending on your location, according to the show’s website.’
This is yet another annoyance associated with cable TV. On the Internet, you can play what you want at any time.
For more technology news, visit the technology news feed, for technology reference articles explaining how things work and more, visit the technology section.
