The true meaning of living room entertainment behind the smart gimmick: it should be good-looking, good-sounding and fun

After the baptism of the PC era and the mobile era, living room entertainment, which had been gradually neglected, has begun to return to the public eye. Unlike before, the strong return of living room entertainment has caught up with the wave of "smart home". The modern living room started with smart TVs and gradually extended to smart speakers, smart game consoles, smart routers, and even a series of products such as smart sockets and smart remote controls.

The living room should be a public place for the family to relax, entertain and socialize. As more and more smart products begin to occupy the user's living room, the empty and gimmicky pseudo "high-end" smart home makes users fall into the dilemma of tedious operations. The modern living room urgently needs to reduce the burden of "intelligence" and make the living room look good, sound good and fun again.

TV should be good

When it comes to living room entertainment, the first scene that comes to mind is the family sitting together watching TV. Before computers, the Internet and mobile phones, TV was the main carrier of daily family entertainment. With the advancement of technology and the diversification of digital products, TV has also undergone earth-shaking changes in form and content.

In terms of form, televisions are beginning to develop in the direction of ultra-thin and ultra-large. Some manufacturers have even launched screenless televisions, using projection technology to make the size of televisions adjustable. In terms of display effects, the latest technologies such as 4K ultra-high-definition, OLED, and curved TVs have become the new favorites of the market. Televisions are gradually reaching or even surpassing the 1080P full-HD era. High-definition and realistic imaging technology makes TV images clearer and more realistic. In terms of software, televisions are beginning to develop in the direction of intelligence. The popularization and coverage of Internet technology has completely freed televisions from the "idiot" era. After adding an operating system, televisions truly give the initiative to users.

The smart TV has enriched the content that users can watch. The open source nature of the Android system has allowed various apps to be installed on users' TVs. Online video content has flooded into TVs, and web pages, Taobao, education, radio, yellow pages and other functions have spread. Unselected content has greatly reduced the visual effect of TVs. Complex operating interfaces and crude online video resources have damaged the user experience to a certain extent.

At present, televisions have achieved the standard of "good looking" in terms of display technology, but the "good looking" of content still needs to be reduced. The "intelligence" of television should not deprive the living room of the purity of entertainment.

The sound effect should be good

Limited by the traditional living environment, domestic users' pursuit of living room sound effects is far lower than their pursuit of visual effects. However, as residents' living standards and incomes continue to improve, users are gradually beginning to pursue auditory enjoyment.

Some manufacturers have noticed the users' demands for sound effects in the living room entertainment, and have improved the sound effects of the TV by adding peripherals. For example, when Xiaomi launched its new generation of TV products, in order to increase the breadth and depth of the TV sound effects, it launched a Xiaomi sound system consisting of an 874mm long bar soundbar and a wireless subwoofer. The bar soundbar has 6 independent full-range speakers and 2 silk film tweeters. Modern TVs are limited by their ultra-thin size, and it is difficult to build in such a specification of speaker equipment. Another company that also adopts this idea to obtain better hearing effects is LeTV. It is revealed that LeTV will also release independent audio equipment in September.

The pursuit of sound effects is called "playing with audio", and the word "play" not only refers to the user's pursuit of audio materials, but also reflects intelligence. The application of cloud technology, wireless technology, Bluetooth technology, and NFC technology makes audio control more fun. Users can complete a series of actions such as song downloads, sound adjustment, and device transmission while sitting on the sofa. However, this seemingly cool operation is still based on a premise, that is, the audio can cooperate with the TV in the living room to provide an audition effect that other environments and devices cannot achieve. Only in this way can consumers form a desire to buy, after all, only the rich are willing to "spend money on decorations".

Games should be fun

The domestic users' desire to play games on TV has been suppressed for 13 years. With the gradual relaxation of policies, foreign game console manufacturers and domestic hardware manufacturers have all entered the blue ocean of TV games.

When users start playing games in the living room again, they will inevitably ask the question "TV games are not as fun as when I was a child". In the wave of intelligence, game consoles are no longer single. In order to match the name of home entertainment terminals, game consoles also take on the important task of making TVs smart. Therefore, the TV game consoles we see on the market, whether it is the domestic version of XBOX or Android game boxes, are implanted with a large number of video, education, shopping and other software. In order to make consumers feel that they are "good value for money", merchants have been stuffing "smart" applications into game consoles, but they have overlooked the original intention of players to use game consoles to play games.

In a comfortable environment, using the outstanding TV screen and living room sound effects to play games interactively with multiple people is the fundamental difference between living room entertainment and mobile games and PC games. But the premise is that the game content is fun. The current shortage of TV game content has led to the problem that game consoles are "very smart but not fun".

At present, domestic Internet giants are actively laying out their own living room strategies. Product intelligence will undoubtedly be the trend of future product development. Just like the concept of smart phones, people will eventually forget the prefix of "smart" and think that mobile phones should be smart. When that day comes, the original intention of looking good, listening well and playing well can make living room entertainment equipment last longer.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.