Standalone set-top boxes like the Boxee Box and the Roku Player are good because they add Internet content to heretofore unconnected TVs. That’s a good thing. However, analysts at the Diffusion Group believe that the devices will eventually peter out to be replaced by Blu-Ray devices.
I don’t quite understand their thinking here. Perhaps they think the devices will eventually send over Internet content? Or maybe they think Internet content won’t be popular?
Due to the existence of new standards like UPnP and DLNA that exist in multiple consumer electronics devices, TDG estimates that digital media adaptors, which sought to bring content stored on user PCs and other devices to their TVs, will become virtually nonexistent by 2014.
I don’t agree. Unless manufacturers make DLNA and UPnP easy to use for my grandma, there’s absolutely no way anything other than a set-top box will handle network content for the vast majority of users.