Next Gen TV Launches Next Year

[sfsuphysics]

I don't have an issue with targeted ads. I want to hear about Microcenter selling XYZ for $$ off or whatever, I sure as hell don't care about Chanel perfume.

The problem is the logic in targeting ads at you, look at youtube recommendations. "Why the fuck is PewDiePie a recommended video? Because I watch a game trailer of GTA5?!" (or some shit like that). Just because I watch the Big Bang Theory doesn't mean I have a propensity for comic book stores, eating take out food every night, or going to ComicCon.

Same here, but it is possible Roku has collaborated with television manufacturers to provide them with the data. It would be a source of revenue for them. Wait a second, my tinfoil hat has slipped down over my eyes.

Yeah it's possible, it's a matter of where do you draw the line, how much info is Roku able to pull from my TV through the HDMI port, etc.? The reality is I don't really care if they target ads on me, unless like mentioned above there's nothing porn related because I spent a little too much time on the Tropicana Best Booty Competition at 2 in the morning when my wife and kid was asleep.

 

[BSmith]

As of HDMI 1.4a, HDMI has been a bi-directional port. If the television manufacturers gave any thought to their televisions being used for data mining, then it might be a safe bet they built in the ability to get that data through the HDMI port, just in case someone plugs in an Internet connected device.

Just saying. Anything is possible. Dang it,...my hat slipped again.

 

[bman212121]

So I haven't read into the details on how targeted advertising would work yet, but I suspect it's going to require your box to have an internet connection. People don't realize that TV is 100% simulcast, and if the tower is 50 miles away, your little directional antenna isn't capable of sending a signal back to the main tower. And in large metro areas that tower isn't going to be capable of handing millions of return connections all at once. Right now there is literally 1 antenna for a station, as it's not possible until ATSC 3.0 to use multiple antennas for the same broadcast. There might be 10,000 cell towers covering that same area that 1 TV or radio antenna does.

 

[defaultluser]

So I haven't read into the details on how targeted advertising would work yet, but I suspect it's going to require your box to have an internet connection. People don't realize that TV is 100% simulcast, and if the tower is 50 miles away, your little directional antenna isn't capable of sending a signal back to the main tower. And in large metro areas that tower isn't going to be capable of handing millions of return connections all at once. Right now there is literally 1 antenna for a station, as it's not possible until ATSC 3.0 to use multiple antennas for the same broadcast. There might be 10,000 cell towers covering that same area that 1 TV or radio antenna does.

MY THEORY ON HOW THIS WORKS:

You could use the location of TV transmitters to figure out where the receiver is. I'm sure crude direction finding will be easier with MIMO, something that has become cheap thanks to WIFI, and radars on cars.

A known database of TV antenna locations and their known transmission powers should make it pretty easy to guess where you are pretty accurately.

This is the same basic technology that makes Radars with Electronically Scanned Arrays work, to tell you where the enemy is. Just much cheaper, with much fewer sensor elements.

Then it just slices-up the signal bandwidth during the commercials, and just gives the TV Tuner multiple choices. It chooses the commercial to show, and tosses the rest. The main program resumes with full bandwidth when the commercials are over.

Nobody needs the internet, and the the tuner for all intents is "smart." And you get enough bandwidth to send 1080p now, and 4k in the future. And the broadcasters can increase income they charge for local ads (by selling more of them, targeted more tightly than they currently are).