I know that it may be late to be a dissenter when it comes to internet connected HDTVs, but I’m going to have to sit on the side of people who are against it. 

EngadgetHD has a poll asking about internet connected HDTVs.  The idea and novelty sounds great but the idea starts failing once you start using it.  First, you’ll need to either have an RJ45 connection or a wireless network to be able to access the content.  This put it out of reach for all of the people who don’t have broadband internet.  

While more and more people are getting faster internet, there are only but so many people who’d end up buying a connected HDTV.

Don’t get me wrong, I actually can’t wait to see the internet and televisions interact in a way which makes the line between the two become blurred.  One thing the Web 2.0 movement has shown is that people want to be able to access what they want, the way they want to, and want as much of it for free as possible.  The connected HDTVs that are currently available only have a few widgets you’re able to use.  From a marketing standpoint, it makes a lot of sense to think that giving people some web functionality would make a great feature to talk about.  The reality is that the people who know enough about the technology to make this kind of purchase knows enough to know that the experience is lacking.

The reality is that more and more people are using their computers to access content from sites like YouTube, Hulu, and TV.com.  People are using the internet to avoid watching television.  If TV is going to bring people back and make the experience more engaging the way to do isn’t to restrict how people are able to interact.

If companies like Panasonic, Sony, and Samsung allow people to bypass cable companies, you’ll see a big jump in sales of these types of televisions, but in the growth of these services.  There is little likelihood of this happening with broadband providers looking to punish people for using the internet hoping it will discourage them from watching video online.  A move to exclude them completely would definitely be faced with a backlash.  This make the best result for the idea and concept of connected HDTVs to die completely until these television come with their own connection to the web a la Amazon Kindle.

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