I’ve found that with more channels and more “stuff” crammed into our TV’s that it’s getting more annoying to perform the simple acting of just watching TV. Even though there is a ton of innovation happening, I think think that there is a lot that can be learned from what the innovators in the interactive industry are doing that would make it all even better, afterall TV is an interactive experience now.

The real problem isn’t the actual TVs, it’s the user experience that comes with it, which of course comes from the content providers. No one has really figured out how best to get us the content that we want in as efficient a way as we want/need it.

Problem #1 – Navigation
This is something that has been annoying me for years. There are hundreds of channels that everyone that has basic cable has PLUS their HD counterparts PLUS any premium channels that you chose to pay for PLUS on demand channels, which quickly adds up to thousands of channels. So how do you do navigate and find what you’re looking for? By pressing the “Up” and “Down” keys on your remote. Imagine having to navigate the internet by pressing the up and down keys? Of course we still need a way of “channel surfing” so I suggest StumbleUpon for the cable box.

Problem #2 – Channel Numbers
I understand that every channel needed a number back in the day when that’s just how it was. That seems very pointless now as everything is digital. Every website has a universal location, so why can’t every channel. It would make sense that like websites, every channel would have some sort of unique location (an IP address) and then to navigated to it you would just type in the url (abc.tv for instance).

Problem #3 – Organization
So even if they kept the list of channels style of navigation, they should get better at how things are organized. Most cable providers clump all their channels of a specific genre together, some do a real shitty job. So if we got rid of this number system and had urls, this would solve that problem too. How about CNN.news or Disc.doc. Of course this might not be the best system, but it’s a better way of organizing that all providers can share and make it easier for the viewers.

Problem #4 – The Remote Control
Overall, it’s not a terrible problem as correlates to the number system of how channels are organized now, but we would need a better solution if we were to de-numberize it. What I would love to see is a remote that has both a simplified traditional tactile numbered keypad and a small touchscreen interface. What I described basically are the Logitec Harmony remotes. I have one and I think there are still problems with it, the main one being that you have to look down at what you’re doing to navigate. If you don’t, you’ll just get frustrated and fuck things up. The component that’s missing is being able to see what you’re doing without looking away from the tv. I’d like to see some sort of system that maybe shows the screen that your’re trying to navigate through on the actual TV. That way, you have the option of navigating without too much effort. Isn’t that what TV is about anyway?

I’m sure my solutions are flawed and not fully thought through, but I’m certain that there are ways to improve this ever evolving and increasingly interactive experience. I’m hoping for Google to fix it for me.