What Google TV Means for the HTPC and Media Centers

There is a lot of buzz around the web regarding Google TV. So far, it has been called everything from a set-top box killer to “just another Boxee” to an epic fail. Rather than prematurely making judgement I thought I’d let the dust settle for a few days, collect my thoughts, then touch on the subject of how Google TV impacts us, the HTPC community.

So what does Google TV mean for the HTPC community? Immediately, probably not much. However, in the future it’ll impact us–greatly in some ways. Google TV will present us HTPC enthusiasts with great opportunities.

Little to No Immediate Impact

The HTPC and media center market is a very niche market. We like to be in complete control of our media and take pride in our configurations. We typically don’t like canned solutions that don’t allow us to dirty our hands a little bit. This probably won’t change for the most part. And chances are our viewing preferences today will be the same months from now. Likewise, we’ll continue to upgrade and build our HTPC’s for years to come.

The Google TV platform won’t satisfy the typical HTPC enthusiast’s viewing needs for a while. When it does perhaps some people will convert from HTPCs to set-top boxes. Until then, business is usual for manufacturers and media center developers.

A New Software Media Center

What some people fail to understand is that Google TV is a platform–not the TVs or set-top boxes it runs on. Fortunately for us this platform is open source and developers will have their hands on the SDK early next year. I wouldn’t expect it to be long before several Google TV media center projects begin to sprout up. The same HTPC hardware you have right now might be able to run Google TV. We as enthusiasts may have a chance to have a true all-in-one media center solution.

Media Centers Might Use New IP Control Protocol

A new IP control protocol is used by Google TV to control cable and satellite set-top boxes. This sounds similar to XBMC’s event server API. Imagine if, over time, manufacturers implement this feature as a standard practice in hopes of being more appealing to Google TV users. This means that our media centers will also be able to implement this protocol to control our set-top boxes.

Google TV Brings Competition

Boxee founder Avner Ronen commented about Google TV after the demo:

watched the Google TV demo. more complementary than competitive. we should start working on Boxee Android App for TV… :)

This competition and Google TV is good for everyone in the long run. Developers and manufacturers reap the profits and fan base as a result of their efforts. Users reap the benefit of great features bred from attempts to improve.

Google TV is coming and will change a lot of things regardless of our individual opinions. Prepare for it and reap the reward, or ignore it and get left behind.

Editor’s Note: What Google TV means to the DVR/PVR might be a less fluffy. More information coming soon.