VIDEO: 10 video apps that will be under the tree in 2005

It's the ultimate “wow” technology. As HDTV sets come down in price and services are deployed, HDTV will go from a toy for the wealthy to a mass-consumer device. With technology currently in the lab, telcos will be able to offer the service over their existing copper networks in limited form by 2005.
 

If you have TiVo or ReplayTV, you already know personal video recorders (PVRs) are the best consumer devices since the microwave oven and are changing the way people watch television. Satellite providers such as DirecTV have jumped ahead of competitors with combination set-top boxes/PVRs, but some access vendors are talking about the ability to offer the same capability within the telco network—meaning no additional box.
 

Another ‘wow’ service, particularly for subscribers stuck with analog cable. True video-on-demand is pay-per-view on steroids: Not only do users choose what time the movie starts, they also have full control over the playback. No late charges at Blockbuster, but a potential blockbuster of telcos deploying triple play.
 

The “next big thing” for more than two decades, video telephony is actually starting to show some staying power. With fewer people flying over the past few years, many are more comfortable with desktop videoconferencing in their corporate lives. It wouldn't take a big leap to see that transferred to the home office, then into the living room.
 

While critics claim online movie services like Cinema-Now and MovieLink are fads that could be gone by the end of '04, both signed marketing deals with carriers. They allow users to download full-length movies and view them anywhere they can drag their laptop. Not for every user, but for the corporate road warrior, it's worthwhile.
 

Nothing sells better if you're a small telco. Think Comcast or DirecTV really care about a high school football team or community theater? With technology now in place, carriers can use their presence in small towns to their advantage and showcase local activities. Like all politics, all broadcasting is local.
 

The consumer electronics market takes a build-it-and-they-will-come approach to IP, putting Ethernet interfaces on everything it churns out. Streaming audio between a home server or Net-based radio is easy enough for the typical consumer to understand. The next step is video service.
 

If you respond to “Mr. Gates,” this has been hanging on your wall for several years—but even for high-end consumers, digital picture frames have been a touch out of reach and a bit too complex. Digital photography has become common enough that carriers feasibly could offer services that let users store images on a network server and display an ever-changing array on their TVs.
 

Web TV hasn't caught on as a mass consumer product, but that isn't stopping vendors from toying with new models that bring together coach potatoes' love of the remote with advertisers' desire to reach potential buyers in unique ways. Perhaps by the end of 2005, someone will have figured out a way to change the mindset of TV viewers.
 

This is more for the carrier, and probably very scary for consumer advocates: The architecture most telcos are using to provide video service will allow advertisers to target not only certain neighborhoods, but individual houses—and even specific set-top boxes. Imagine a local ad for a car dealer going just to the set-top box sitting in the living rooms of households where the income is more than $100,000. Technology currently in lab trials makes it possible.