Qplay and the battle for our living room.
A review.
Qplay is a new offering by the same people that brought us the TiVo, the device that changed everything, bringing DVR into the mainstream. While there was lots of hype surrounding their launch, I wanted to take a brief look at what they are delivering this time around from the point of view of an end user and how this new product fits into the battle for our living room.
What is Qplay?
In the words of Qplay themselves:
Qplay is a brand new way to enjoy internet video, brought to you by the founders of TiVo. Discover, play, and share Qs of personalized video on TV and mobile devices. Mix content together from multiple video sites. See what your friends are watching. Even publish your own TV network on the fly.
Qplay is one part hardware, one part software, and one part cloud based DVR for the web. What that means is that you plug the Qplay adapter into your TV, fire up your Qplay iPad app, and you get playlists upon playlists available to watch on your TV. You can even close your iPad and continue watching on your TV, no interaction required.
Qplay ships with a device, somewhere in between a Chromecast stick and a Roku 3 in size (but closer to a Roku), that connects to your TV by means of an HDMI cable.
The iPad App lets you control what’s on your TV (pause/play), the volume, and facilitates sharing to friends who might be interested in watching something that catches your eye.
If you want to watch video you find on Qplay just on your iPad, that can be done as well.
Why use Qplay?
Here we have the million dollar question.
Right now there is a ton of great video out there in the world. Unfortunately most of it is spread out in such a way that makes watching episodic web video or content from various (perhaps random) sources hard to do. There is a definite need for a product that brings video from all these different places into one comfortable place. A product that makes it easy for me to make a collection of videos, pass that collection onto a group of friends, and see what they have to say about the collection. This is what Qplay (the software) does. It ties the room together. It makes it easier and more enjoyable to keep up with all the great content out there.
When there are so many effective pieces of hardware that exist in the wild already (Chromecast, Roku, Apple TV, TiVo, Google TV) and when there is so much software built on top of these already (Netflix, HBO GO, Amazon Instant, etc.) with fairly mature standards for communicating with external devices (DIAL, AirPlay, DLNA), why do we need one more?
The answer is: we don’t need more mediocre hardware. We need more applications that take best use of existing protocols to deliver amazing experiences. There just isn’t room in our living rooms for something that is less than a Chromecast or an Apple TV. Google proved that with Google TV which dwarfs in popularity compared to Chromecast. Largely I believe this is true because Chromecast is multifunctional and simpler to use than Google TV.
multifunctional + simple = good for consumers
Pros
- You get to watch web video on your TV.
- Dual screen experience makes watching and lining up whats next fairly simple.
- Makes watching video on your TV more like er… TV.
Cons
- The iPad App is not the most straight forward thing to use, eg beaming content to the TV can be tricky as well as re-connecting to the TV after browsing other content on the iPad.
- The connection between the App and the Adapter is often lost.
- You have to buy hardware ($49) for something that just shouldn’t need it.
Should you buy Qplay?
In its current form I have to sadly say, no. There is just too much wrong with its current user interface, performance, and how it handles (or mishandles) a persistent connection between controller (iPad) and adapter to warrant the $49 price tag of the Qplay adapter.
The team behind Qplay are seasoned veterans in this space and they, more than any team out there should know that when it comes to a hardware/software combination, shipping a piece of hardware that feels incomplete won’t fly. Hardware in the living room is not the place to go with an MVP, it could work with an app but not sitting next to my TV with an Apple TV or TiVo.
My ultimate test for whether I’ve got a piece of hardware or software that is really great is… my wife, Rachel. If she sits down and can use it without that “deer in headlights” look, then we’ve got something. Google TV does not pass the Rachel test. The TiVo passes the Rachel test. Qplay does not pass the Rachel test. Done.
What alternatives are there?
There are a few that get to what Qplay is trying to provide, an App on a device that pairs well with the TV. Below are three that stand out to me.
Youtube + Chromecast
I have two young kids and they love all the Sesame Street songs out there. YouTube + Chromecast is the best solution I’ve found so far to collect all their favorite clips. I either choose the clips on the fly or just start playing a playlist I made, tell the app on my Android phone or iPad to use Chromecast, and BOOM! Happy kids!
Shelby.tv + Airplay (Disclaimer: I work at Shelby.tv)
In case you aren’t familiar with Shelby, it’s a great way to discover videos you and your friends will love. Open Shelby every day to see what videos your friends like from all over the web. Shelby’s personalized recommendations get better the more you like and watch videos. We have taken a fair amount of time to make sure that our continuous playback experience works well with Apple TV and AirPlay. Below is a video of our original iPad app which had an experimental feature called TouchPlay.
We just re-released our iPad app (available at http://shl.by/app) and are currently working on bringing this type of second screen experience back. No special hardware required beyond iPad + Apple TV!
Netflix + ANY DEVICE
Netflix blows everyone else out of the water when it comes to the app + hardware combination. The beautiful part about their approach is they stayed 100% out of the hardware side of things. Their apps are available just about everywhere and they have positioned themselves in a perfect position to take advantage of Chromecast and other new devices that use the DIAL protocol. For instance, TiVO!
I recently fired up Netflix on my iPad went to use Chromecast and in the list of available devices there was my TiVo! I was shocked but it makes total sense. Wherever there is a TiVO app on a DIAL device the app/hardware connection will just work. Brilliant!
For more information about how Netflix + YouTube are taking advantage of DIAL, read more here.
In the end, the battle for our living room is in its infancy still. There will more devices, more apps, and more great content. I truly look forward to seeing what the Qplay team makes of their new offering.
