Just what is the Big difference Between Internet Ready TV and Google Television?

Interactive TV has been a phrase used to document plenty of new technologies from TIVO to Sling Box. of the latest technologies that let you get more from your TV than mere channel hopping are Google TV & Web Prepared TV. Both mean hooking up a TV to broadband web & getting material from the net on your TV screen but what are the differences & are either worth the investment?

Google TV offers full web access on your TV. There is only ways to get it at the moment. is to put in the Logitech 'Revue' between a cable or satellite box & the TV. In case you don't have cable or satellite it won't work. The other is to buy a Sony blu-ray player with the hardware for Google TV built in. Both of these systems offer controllers with QWERTY keyboards. The Logitech Revue offers a full size keyboard, the Sony method makes use of a mini keyboard.

The critics have not been enthusiastic about Google TV. Most say it is not prepared for primetime, with a clunky interface & plenty of delays & glitches. People like Steve Jobs of Apple think Google TV has nothing to offer & has no future. So ought to it be written off? It is way early for that. Plenty of new technologies struggle at the beginner as issues emerge & are gradually solved. There has also been a steady uptake of the service & plenty of people like the additional choice it can bring to the massive screen HDTVs they have invested in.

If these ways of getting the net on your TV appear unusual, it is because cable & satellite corporations have strongly resisted Google historicallyin the past & this is a compromise. You can get the service now but you cannot abandon cable or satellite fundamentally.

Web Prepared TV definitely does not offer full access to the net on your TV, despite the name. What it does offer is a lot of services that are web based & that will appeal to TV viewers. The most important of these is streaming video & music from services like Amazon & Netflix.

You can also get access to thousands of sites with news, travel, shopping & weather reports available. Yahoo TV widgets is probably the best service & is available on most Web Prepared TVs. It gives access to Facebook, Twitter & other social networking sites, amongst other things.

How do you get web prepared TV?

It could not be simpler. Most of the high finish, bigger TV's being sold this year are Web Prepared models. Connect the TV to your broadband web by WIFi or Ethernet cable & the service is prepared.

Some civil liberties groups point out that all the knowledge on user's habits is available to be collected by agencies & companies of all kinds. This is more likely to be companies desirous to target promotion & products than shadowy government agencies. For privacy minded individuals it might still be a concern

Is there a drawback to Web Prepared TV & Google TV?