Netflix CEO: Wii controller, browser make for fab Web TV

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings tells conference attendees the time is right for Web TV comeback

(Credit: Greg Sandoval/CNET Networks)

SAN FRANCISCO--Let's try combining the Web and TV sets one more time, says Netflix CEO Reed Hastings.

Hastings told an audience Thursday at the NewTeeVee Live conference that TV sets are key to the future of Internet video and all next-generation sets should come equipped with Wii-like controllers, browsers, video codecs, and some serious processing power.

"The real breakthrough will be in remote controls," Hastings said. "The video game generation is comfortable with pointers (like the one from Nintendo's Wii video game) for the TV. Remember, it was a revolutionary event when we went from PC to the Mac and let go of tab keys in favor of the mouse. It was incredibly radical. What will be a similar transition is when we abandon the remote with 54 buttons and go to a simple pointer."

The Wiimote controller is fully motion sensitive so it provides a lot of freedom of movement and motion and allows users to engage an application with hand gestures.

Web-enabled TV sets are needed to help Web-video services, such as Netflix, Apple, Hulu, and YouTube, as well as a host of electronics manufacturers, make it to the promise land for Internet video: people's living rooms. Study after study shows that people prefer to watch video on big-screen TVs rather than on PCs. Internet video won't be able to compete with broadcast, cable or pay-TV providers until they make it the so-called last 10 feet from an Internet connection to the TV set.

But Hastings idea wasn't universally popular at the conference. Some attendees sitting near me groaned when Hastings called for a Web TV comeback. Hastings appeared to anticipate the response. "Putting the Web on TV has a bad rap," Hastings said. "The idea was tried and it failed 10 years ago."

But those were the days when TV could supply only standard definition, clunky dial-up connections, and user interfaces that only allowed people to move cursors up and down, left and right, Hastings said. We now have high definition, broadband connections, and better user-interfaces.

MG Siegler over at VentureBeat wrote that navigating a device like Apple TV is difficult with a traditional remote. AppleInsider reported recently that Apple has recently filed for two new patents regarding remotes.

[Seanathome]

I have to disagree. The mouse is STILL the most useful little device. I just can't stand pointing the Wiimote at the screen for more than 5-10min at a time. I wish Nintendo would come out with a keyboard and mouse type of thing. :/

[earth79]

you can at least plug a usb keyboard in.

[sanenazok]

Wow what a bargain....a six figure CEO and the best he comes up with is "lets copy the flavor of the month" (Wii).

[charles candoo]

I've been spoiled for a dozen years using MSN WebTV.net set top while viewing on a 31" TV with the option of using curser, remote, or both on all sites and with broadband as swift as a PC. With TV 2 chan PIP I've been able to view email or search while catching news or other TV shows and swapping as desired.

And though I've seen no mention of this on CNet or elsewhere, the Webtv I'm presently using has become mostly useless since many sites have gone to video---Webtv has no adobe acrobat Flash ability due to lack of memory and has no download function.

Does any of the above relate to subject Wii and TV internet?

[cyclone]

Hasting's suggestion to put browsers in TV's is a bad idea. Browsers are very poor navigational paradigms for television, not to mention they require significant processing and memory resources (to run well), aren't particularly compelling without native plugins like Flash, and are usually riddled with security holes. The cable TV industry has already adopted Java, as has Blu-ray Disc. It's a very small step for online video providers (Hulu, Youtube, etc.) to create a navigational experience for their content using the same Java platform which is already going to be present in the TV, set-top box, or Blu-ray player.

[JimGable]

Actually the better remote is here and available on some products today. Hillcrest Labs is well known for its pointing remote which is precise, stable and easy to use -- making pointing on a big TV easy and practical. Assuming it works like and feels like a Wii remote is seriously underestimating it. And you can try it out now on the recently introduced Kodak Theatre Player which does things with pictures, music and web content that is not possible on other products. And the pointer alone is available from Logitech on the MX Air Mouse. 
 
This is exactly like putting mouse on the big screen TV and makes traditional remotes look like DOS versus Mac.