科技前沿:未來我們怎麼看電視(1)

To understand how much television could soon change, it helps to visit an Intel Corp. division here that runs like a startup.

想弄清不久後電視可能會發生多大的變化，不妨參觀一下英特爾(Intel Corp.)位於加州聖克拉拉的一個部門，這個部門的運營方式頗似初創公司。

Erik Huggers, a Dutch-born former British Broadcasting Corp. executive, has assembled a 350-person team with talents beyond computer chips -- including programmers, industrial designers, artists and experts in fields like video encoding. They're creating a Web-based service that not only serves up on-demand programs but overhauls live TV.

出生於荷蘭的前英國廣播公司(British Broadcasting Corp.)高管哈格斯(Erik Huggers)組建了一個有350人的團隊，其中的人才遠不止研究電腦芯片的人員，還包括程序員、工業設計師、藝術家和視頻編碼等領域的專家。這個團隊正在創建一種基於網絡的服務，這種服務不僅可以提供點播節目，還會令直播電視發生翻天覆地的變化。

Intel's plans include a server farm to record every piece of programming that is aired -- local, national and international -- and store it for at least three days in the 'cloud.' With an Intel-designed set-top box, people won't have to own DVRs or even plan to record programs.

英特爾的計劃包括一個服務器羣，它可以錄下播出的每一個節目（地方的、全國的或國際的），並將其存儲在“雲”中至少三天。安裝了英特爾設計的機頂盒後，人們就不必買數字硬盤錄像設備了，甚至不用再爲錄節目做安排了。

Switch on the TV set in the middle of any show, and a viewer can simply go back to the beginning. 'This is live TV -- but you can rewind it, ' Mr. Huggers says.

在任何節目的中間打開電視，用戶都可以返回到節目的開始。哈格斯說，這就是直播電視，但你可以倒回去看。

Intel is just one entry in the computer industry's growing land grab for the living room, one likely to bring voice activation, restyled remotes, new on-screen interfaces and other major changes in the way people interact with TV sets.

英特爾只是電腦行業衆多加入起居室地盤爭奪戰的公司之一。這種爭奪戰可能帶來語音激活、新式遙控器、新型屏幕界面以及人與電視機之間互動方式的其他重大改變。

Other tech giants pushing TV advances include Apple Inc., Microsoft Corp., Sony Corp. and Google Inc., which last week announced a device called Chromecast that wirelessly transfers content from mobile devices to TVs. Google and Sony have also been working on Internet-based video-delivery services, people familiar with the matter have said.

其他正在推動電視進步的科技巨頭包括蘋果(Apple Inc.)、微軟(Microsoft Corp.)、索尼(Sony Corp.)和谷歌(Google Inc.)。谷歌上週公佈了一種名爲“Chromecast”的設備，這種設備可以將移動設備上的內容無線傳輸到電視上。據知情人士說，谷歌和索尼還一直在研製基於互聯網的視頻交付服務。

Computer-industry players have been pushing new TV visions for 20 years, with decidedly mixed results. Cable- and satellite-TV providers have strong positions, with big players like Comcast Corp. preparing major upgrades of their own.

20年來，電腦行業內的公司一直在爲電視業開創新領域，結果明顯是好壞參半。有線電視和衛星電視提供商有着強有力的地位，康卡斯特(Comcast Corp.)等大公司也在準備進行重大升級。

Negotiations with media companies for content rights could delay new services and limit some features, though Intel vows to enter some markets by the end of the year.

與媒體公司就內容版權進行的談判可能令新服務的推出延遲，並限制一些功能，不過英特爾誓言將在今年年底前進入部分市場。