The forecast growth for IP Video adoption and consumption has been a hot topic of our commentary during 2009. Of course, you can anticipate my continued coverage of this significant storyline in 2010.
For all those people who have yet to discover the abundance of video content online -- and particularly those who still doubt that watching streamed IP Video on a television screen is an enjoyable experience -- this insight may help.
We launched the IP Video Curator project to explore this evolving landscape. Slowly but surely, it's becoming progressively easier to find the online video content that you crave, based upon your own personal (and perhaps eclectic) interests.
Once you've found what you're looking for, you may experiment watching long-form content on a larger screen, such as a standard television in your home. If you already own one of the newer PCs, then you may have access to the single cable HDMI PC-to-TV connection solution.
Otherwise, many of the portable laptop and notebook PCs in the marketplace include an S-Video out connector, and the majority also includes a headphone connector. Once you purchase the cables required to hook-up a PC to the TV, you’ll be ready to experience IP Video on a big screen.
If you're like me, and you find yourself browsing numerous Web sites to discover new content, or to view one of the many live TV channel streams from around the world, then you will miss the familiar convenience of your TV remote control for content navigation.
Fortunately, there's a simple solution. You can connect a Wireless Mouse to your PC and easily navigate to the streaming video content from the comfort of your couch or easy-chair -- then conveniently start, pause or stop the video playback.
I use an affordable Wireless Notebook Laser Mouse (model 96672) from Verbatim. The application software, that's provided with the mouse, enables you to reconfigure the center scroll/tilt wheel. Select the "escape" key function to be activated when you downward-click the wheel -- this will make it possible to leave the "full screen" mode of any video player, and return to a Web page.
I highly recommend the addition of a wireless mouse, beyond this video viewing application, because it's a real benefit for many other routine uses as well.
How might the lean-back experience of IP Video improve? During 2010, I anticipate that more Web sites will offer an optimized user interface for large-screen viewing, similar to the simplified YouTube XL design from Google.
