Update 1.2

The update for my Sony Internet TV with Google TV came out this week. I was a bit sad because it took 3 days after I saw on twitter that it was released until my TV was able to update. I wanted it, and I knew others had it, it just didn't upgrade so I had to wait it out. I guess that is a bit much complaining, but I like my updates. Here is what I think of the updates:

Netflix: The interface is way better. You can search which is nice (even though they put a weird letter clicking thing, for if I didn't have a keyboard). My only problem is they made the font and pictures for everything a lot smaller, so I need to put my glasses on to search now, a bit annoying, but whatever.

Dual View: The update is nice, bigger is better. I like being able to move it, but I don't really use this feature. I don't have a cable line plugged into my TV, I use it exclusively for online content and my Blu-ray player. When apps like Netflix can be put in Dual View this will become much more useful to me.

Remote: I have an iPhone and the remote app isn't out for it yet. I am waiting. My roommate has a droid so I downloaded it on his phone, the voice search was kind of fun, but I am not going to take his phone whenever I want to use my TV. My biggest problem here is the Logitech keyboard supposedly being supported. My roommate has a Logitech Revue, so we have the keyboard, and he likes it much better than my Sony controller, so I am trying to set it up for him to use, but I don't know how to do it, and there seems to be nothing online to help, when I find out I will update here.

Movie: This feature is cool, but needs some updates. I love how if a movie is on Netflix it can go straight to the movie in the Netflix app. The fail I see here is that not movie services are found here. Crackle the Sony service which they are trying to push on the Google TV doesn't show up in the search. I think it should.

The updates are nice, but not all that impressive. I will probably be more happy when I find out about that Logitech keyboard, I might call Sony tech support tomorrow.

Wired Internet

I originally set my Sony Internet TV up on wireless internet because I didn't have a cable at the time, and I wanted to play with it as quick as possible, but being the person I am I wanted to try all the features so I tired wired internet. It didn't work.

After setting up with wireless on a Sony Internet TV then trying to go over to wired it will just say "not connected". The trick to get it to work is simply disable the wireless and it works. To bad I couldn't figure that out myself and had to ask tech support.

fancast.com

Today I wanted to watch Castle on my Google TV, and since both Hulu and ABC.com, the two sites I would usually use are blocked, I decided to just do a search and found Fancast. Looking at it, it looks a lot like Hulu, and seems to be owned by Comcast. Good news Castle works just fine. It looks like Chuck works there too, and I haven't looked around much more, but yay I can watch the shows I want again. Note: Yesterday I learned you can use NBC by changing the User Agent to Generic, but that trick doesn't work for Hulu anymore so I don't think it will last on NBC. Yay for using my Sony Internet TV as it should be used.

I haven't found a way on Fancast to queue like Hulu, but it does have RSS feeds when you go to each of the shows so you can add it to your Google Queue and it will tell you when you have a new show to watch. I couldn't get it to work right just using the favorite button then clicking add to queue, but I went to my computer and added the RSS feed to my Google Queue subscriptions in Google Reader and it works now.

Update: November 5th:

It seems that I was just a little excited and didn't review Fancast very well. In order to watch shows on it you must have the User Agent switched to Generic. If you don't it will just stay and the loading screen and never actually play. There is one down side to using this site. Ocassionally after commercials the sounds will come back, but the video will not. You have to actually refresh the page(Crtl + R), then go back to where you were. It is a bit of a hassel, but still it mostly works, which is better that what I can say for other sites.

Update: November 12th:

I haven't actually checked this, but according to everything on the internet this is now blocked too. The user agent switch will not work because the companies are blocking the version of flash, not the browser. Wow this is getting annoying, I need to get a new laptop with HDMI out, and just watch what I want no problem. I already have the HDMI cord to plug in across the room thanks to Monoprice.com, but my laptop is just two years to old. I have tired this with my roommate's computer it works great.

Keyboard and Mouse

Although the Sony remote is much more intuitive that I thought it would be, and makes for a good experience, some people (my roommate) would still rather use a regular keyboard and mouse to surf the net. Good news: YOU CAN!

After about half a day of complaining how he couldn't type on a small thumb keypad he tried plugging his wireless mouse and keyboard into the USB ports on the side of the TV and it worked without a hitch. He can now use his mouse instead of the track pad on the remote (which does have a learning curve). Also he gets to use his full sized keyboard which he enjoys. By using the keyboard he lost some functionality (turning the TV on, off works great then he is stuck), but we did find out that the Home button on any internet keyboard will bring up the home screen on the TV, and that something like Ctrl + K brings up the magic search bar. Good job Sony.

Netflix

I was excited to be able to use Netflix on my Sony Internet TV powered by Google TV, but my excitement was unwarranted. When I initially opened the app, I thought it looked cool, it brings you straight to the instant queue, which is nice. Then I tried to explore. This is where I my review ends. There is nothing more. The Google TV which is supposed to be all about searching can't search on their app. (I know I can just go to the Netflix webpage in chrome then add them there, but the resolution is hard to read, and they don't have an easy way to just search instant queue able items.)

On top of not having any features it takes a really long time to load. I know I may not have the fastest internet but everything else loads in at least half that time that Netfilx does. The biggest problem is before it loads it has to retrieve some kind of license which talks forever. Overall I am not impressed, which is kind of sad. I am waiting for an update that will make it more friendly.

Aristocracy.com

This is actually pretty funny. For some reason this blog has been having problems showing up in google. Today I looked for it, just going to google and typing in aboyandhistv.blogspot.com, and finally it came up with results and actually linked here. There were the expected result of my other blog and my twitter, but the funny thing was Aristocracy.com. Acristocracy looks like it is some kind of site that shows recent political pages. I guess by using the word inauguration as the title of my last post they found it and put it on their page. I think it is really funny. If you click the read more link it brings you here. They took the links to all the pictures in the post and even one of the videos. I think it is funny. Here is a screen shot from their home page.

Inauguration

Going to work this morning was one of the hardest days ever to go to work. I knew that my TV was going to get before 10:30am, but I had to get to work before then. I had work then class then work then a test and I didn't get home till 5pm. It was very hard not to just ditch everything and come home, but luckily I had Will Power on my side and we able to endure.

When I got home I got to see this:

My amazing Sony Internet TV just waiting there to be opened. (My roommate took it out of the travel box and made it look nice for me.) I was super excited and even had a friend record me opening it. Here is the video:

Here is a fun picture of me screwing it onto the base to make sure it doesn't fall off and break.

I was so excited that I actually read the setup guide. It was simple and helpful. I still haven't figured out what to do with the IR receiving cables. I know they have something to do with remotes on other players, but I will figure it out later, when I actually plug my Blu-ray player in. (Since I didn't have a TV I lent it to a friend she could watch Netflix.) I found this one page useful to know all the inputs I had looked online before but I didn't find something as easy to fine as this:

After reading the setup guild and looking at the "End User License Agreement" (a huge pamphlet it came with) it was time to turn it on. To make the occasion more fun I had my friend turn it on for the first time ever while I recored it. Here is the video:

It took a little longer than I expected it would to turn on, but it was nice and happy. The instructions were super simple. And within 15 minutes or so I had my TV up and running. I got it connected it to WiFi. The remote is a lot more intuitive than I thought it would be after a few minutes it seemed work well. I was surprised that the shift button worked like a real keyboard and I have to hold shift click a button, unlike a cell phone or something (which I thought it would have been like because it is Android based.) The touchpad mouse thing it the only thing that I don't love. It is a bit tricky to use sometimes, but it works and does get you where you need to, it just takes some time to get used to, unlike the rest of it, which is pretty amazing. It is small and fits my hands like it was always meant to be in them. Here is a picture:

I needed something to watch and since every video show I would watch was blocked I turned to my other blog and watched Dr Horribles Sing Along Blog. It is an amazing video. Here is a picture of the awesome event:

This TV is amazing! It is huge and I am so thankful that I got it. Going from no TV to this is amazing. I am just about to get more popular. Thank you Sony Electronics!

Like Christmas Morning

Right now it feels like Christmas morning, and I unluckily woke up at 5 am, when no one else wakes up till 10am. My Sony Internet TV is in my apartment just waiting to be opened and played with, but I am at work/school for at least another 5 hours. If I didn't have a test today to end my day I probably would have left already.

As my best friend tells me I just need to ask my friend Will Power for support and things will work out. I hope my mind doesn't wander so much that I fail my test.

Scratch that last one, it is coming tomorrow!

I just got another email that says it is coming tomorrow before 10:30 am. Overnight shipping is awesome! It is going to be really really really hard not to ditch work\class tomorrow.

It is actually coming

I just got an email telling me that my TV should show up at my house on MONDAY? The countdown begins: 4...

I really did win...

Since I have been telling people for a while that I won an awesome 40" Sony Internet TV powered by Google TV, some people have become skeptics because I have not yet received it.

Go to http://blog.discover.sonystyle.com/sonyinternettvwinners I am totally on there. My sn is @mvndaai. (I know under the picture they spelled it wrong, but that is their fault.)

Now that it is official for all the world to know that I won I hope the TV comes soon. (Please, Please, Pretty Please...)

Blocked Content

Today while on the internet I learned ABC, NBC, and CBS decided to block Google TV from working. Wow thats dumb.

I still haven't gotten my TV, hopefully soon. (Today Please). There are 3 things that I am excited to do with it. 1: Watch the shows I watch on Hulu. 2: Have fun playing with Google TV, maybe even develop apps 3: Watch 1080p Blu-ray movies.

I already learned that Hulu wouldn't work, so I was okay with not having a Queue anymore and just searching for the shows I like. Mostly just 3 or 4. Castle, Psych, Smallville and something else cool. I was excited at Best Buy last week when I was able to turn on the new episode of Castle and see how easy it was.

Now that it is blocked I am just sad. Does this mean that I will go and watch regular TV instead. No. I might plug in my computer using the cables that a techie like me would have, or I will just pirate them instead. I am more than willing to watch the commercials that the companies put on there, but it is their own fault for not learning how to market better, or even make sites that work. (ahem CWTV) Sadly CBS isn't a big deal to me, because the only show I would want to watch "The Big Bang Theory" hasn't been on their site since the first season.

The big networks are just being rude and dumb, where I was willing to watch content under their terms, when they block it I will just find some other way. Worst Idea Ever blocking the content. Google gave them lots of time in advance to optimize their sites, but they chose not to. Not Google's fault.

Blu-ray Player

I a still waiting for my Sony Internet TV to be delivered. I sent and email to the apartment manager and she said she will open my apartment for the delivery man when it gets here. That is quite the relief, I was wondering how I was every going to get because I am either at work or class from about 8 am to 6 pm every weekday.

Since I was now going to have an awesome TV, I thought to myself I want to watch movies on it. I was just going to buy an Up-converting DVD player with HDMI output since my roommate hates Blu-ray Players. He says that they charge too much for people to use them and so by doing making sure that independent films and other things cannot succeed. He is very small business oriented. So earlier this week I told my friend we would go DVD shopping and she has been excited all week about.

We started our adventure by going to Costco. They only had one DVD player, which would have worked, but I wanted to shop around anyway. Next we went over to Best Buy to check. After looking at the DVD players and seeing the same one for $10 more, I decided I was maybe going to buy Sony just to have it work perfectly with my TV. After circling a few times the girl I was with just said get the Blu-ray, because our friend has a ton of movies we could borrow. That pushed me over and I just went for a cheap $100 Blu-ray Player. It is the Best Buy brand "Insignia" and they even got me to get a 2 year protection plan on it. I am now the owner of a Blu-ray player! I would not usually spend that much money, being a poor college student, but I recently noticed that I have just that much money coming to me in a rebate for the use of my credit card for the last two years or something. The funny thing is it has all these features like internet and Netflix streaming and I am just like I don't need that, my TV does that on its own. (Or at least will, if it ever comes.) I am not sure if it came with any cables to plug it in with, but luckily I was getting prepared and ordered some HDMI cables from Monoprice today, so I should be good.

The best part of the day was when my roommate got home. He ranted for a while. No one believed me how mad he would get over it, but they were so wrong.

The Competition

I was on facebook one day, and saw a note from Google TV that told me to head over to the Sony Blog to find out how to win one of their new TVs. It said go on twitter and tag @SonyElectronics and #SonyInternetTv and stick in the middle something about multitasking. I read the rules and found out it was judged on creativity so I thought of the best line I could and tweeted. I am a poor college student what could I lose for a witty thought on twitter. I won the first of the five given away.

From that point I had to sign my first affidavit of my life and even get it notarized. I felt like a true adult. Then the waiting started. The Sony Internet TV powered by Google TV was not even out yet, so there was no way I would get it yet and at that point only two weeks ago there wasn't even a release date. Since then I have been watching and waiting, and finally last Saturday it was actually launched. (Only in Sony Style Stores, it will go to Best Buy this weekend and more stores after if they can prove they have fast enough internet to really show it off.)

Today I received an email that since the product is now for sell mine would be ordered and sent, so now I just have to wait for it to ship and I will have my brand new 40" Sony Internet TV powered by Google TV. I am excited and whoever follows this can learn of my experiences with my new TV. I will tell of what I like and maybe if there are things, what I don't. I am excited. The wait continues.