Sezmi, based in Belmont, Calif., offers a hybrid system that delivers content in several ways. The system, which sells for $150 at Best Buy, has a DVR and pulls in both over-the-air TV broadcasts and on-demand content from the Internet. Others companies, like Boxee, think they can draw a sizeable audience without having to offer prime-time programming. Then there are companies that are taking a more symbiotic approach. Roku, for example, makes a slim box starting at $70 that can wirelessly stream movies and TV shows from Netflix and other sources, but does not aim to be a cable replacement. A service called Kylo, introduced in February, is gearing up for a wave of Internet-connected television sets with free software that allows users to search for online video using a browser on their television screens.
Even Apple has struggled with Apple TV, a $229 set-top box that is its attempt to bring its iTunes software and store to the heart of home entertainment. And Google is diving in this fall. It has teamed up with several partners to develop its Google TV platform.
The Google software, which will pull together Web content and television channels in one programming guide, will be built into high-definition televisions made by Sony and set-top boxes from Logitech. It will be powered by a chip from Intel and by Google’s Android software, originally designed for smartphones.
Read more at the New York Times.
