Vestel BitTorrent TV brings downloads to your TV
The world's first TV with BitTorrent support is here, meaning you could soon be file sharing from your lounge. Legal wrangles ahoy!
Fed up of fiddling with file formats to get them to play back on your TV? Well BitTorrent could have the answer, with its own TV that will not only download and share media, but play it back too.
And if you're thinking of dialling 999, wait a second. The media BitTorrent is talking about is videos you've made yourself, and photos, as well as the company's own library of legally shared media. It's not known whether BitTorrent has taken any steps to stop people sharing illegally obtained content, but we're pretty certain those pirates will find a way regardless.
Not much is known about the set, except that it's only a prototype at the moment, and the company claims that BitTorrent Certification will guarantee playback, with no issues over file formats. So no more tearing your hair out that the 4GB Xvid you spent all day downloading won't work. You'll also be able to stream videos and music to it from your BitTorrent library.
The set is a joint venture by BitTorrent and Vestel, a Turkish company specialising in home cinema devices and kitchen appliances. It's all part of Project Chrysalis, BitTorrent's plans to expand beyond computers and smart phones, announced back at CES in January. It's thought the range will eventually include DVD and Blu-ray players, as well as set-top boxes. It sounds like these too will be made by Vestel, from BitTorrent's chief strategist saying in a statement they "look forward to a long and beneficial partnership with the company [Vestel]."
So, looks like Apple TV and Google TV have some serious competition, and not from where we were expecting. Bring on the battle for your lounge.