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We’ll be the first to admit we’re not always the kings and queens of organisation. Our desks look like a pig went crazy in PC World, and our filing system leaves much to be desired. So we’re rather intrigued by LG’s Media Link tech, which helps organise all your videos, and which LG will be cramming inside all its new tellies.
The idea’s pretty simple, and will be familiar to anyone who’s used Gracenote on iTunes or Spotify. Connecting to your laptop or media streamer over a Wi-Fi connection, Media Link streams your video content over the network to your telly. So far so ordinary, but what’s rather neat is that it’s able to figure out what the video file you’re watching is, and pull up cast info, box art, a rating and a brief synopsis too.
We didn’t have much time to test the service, so we had to take LG’s word that it really works, but we’re familiar with similar tech in music. Gracenote scans the metadata of your music files, hunting for clues as to artist, album and so on. Assuming everything goes to plan, it matches that metadata info with the stuff in its own music database, and figures out what you’re listening to.
Media Link is the same gubbins, but it works off a movie database. As mentioned before, we haven’t had a chance to really put that algorithm through its paces, but anecdotally we heard that it was able to tell the difference between a full movie and a trailer, for example.
LG’s trying to step up its smart TV offering, with an app store, refreshed Web browser and several services signed up to deliver on-demand movies. The BBC’s iPlayer is also going to be bundled. It’s a tempting offering all around, but with a bog-standard laptop offering so much of the same functionality, is there any room for big, living room-filling TVs in a PC and tablet-riddled future?
We polled our readers on that very issue on our Facebook wall, asking whether they watch TV. Fifteen out of 54 voters (27 per cent) answered, “I watch loads of telly, so should you.” Nine per cent answered, “I never watch TV, or TV shows. So there.” Meanwhile, a massive 64 per cent ticked the box marked, “I watch TV shows, but I watch from a laptop or tablet, like a cool dude.”
Obviously our results are a little skewed — our readers are considerably more tech-savvy and handsome than the average chap or chapette, and probably more likely to use on-demand services. But it could just signify that traditional telly’s number is up.
What do you think? Vote in our poll, have your say on our Facebook wall or sound off in the comments.
