The press is about to get a sneak peek of the Logitech Revue, a set-top box that’s intended to bring the Google TV experience to your existing home entertainment center.
Here’s how it works: Logitech Revue delivers Google TV by allowing users to search and access content anywhere from the Web, from a satellite or cable provider, including some compatible DVRs. That’s a departure from streaming-media boxes like Apple TV and the Sony Netbox which aim to replace, rather than join forces with, cable and satellite TV.
The system features a companion box with built-in Logitech Harmony remote control technology so that the device actually integrates with a user’s home-entertainment system. Logitech also plans to introduce an HDTV camera and video chat for Google TV, along with additional choices for navigation and control, including apps to turn a smartphone into an advanced controller for Google TV and home-entertainment systems.
Although Revue was officially announced back in June, about a month after Google unveiled its Android-powered Google TV platform, invitations have just gone out to members of the press for a mid-October unveiling.
Despite the Internet’s widespread reach, it has yet to find a permanent place in people’s living rooms. Google TV – and its partners – hope to change all that by convincing home-dwellers to search and watch content available from a variety of sources including TV providers, the web, their personal content libraries and mobile applications, from the comfort of their couch.
Gerald Quindlen, president and CEO, Logitech said, “We committed to Google TV early on because it aligns with our strategy to support open platforms that enable new immersive experiences in the digital living room. While Google TV enables seamless discovery of all your content, Logitech enables seamless control over how you experience that content.”
In the meantime, Sony is also gearing up to introduce event audiences to its ‘Internet Television,’ which includes built-in support for Google TV.
Stay tuned for plenty of more Internet TV devices in the months to come.
Edited by
Erin Monda
