Networking giant Cisco(CSCO Quote) is predicting a home entertainment revolution as the worlds of TV and Internet collide, creating a whole new breed of technology.

With broadband speeds increasing and services such as YouTube enjoying phenomenal growth, service providers and technology manufacturers will have to rethink their strategies, according to Bob McIntyre, chief technology officer of Cisco's Scientific Atlanta division.

Speaking at the Cowen & Company conference in New York, McIntyre said he foresees a very different broadcasting landscape within the next five years.

"Set-top boxes of the future will not only be able to access all the broadcast video content [and] all the video-on-demand content but also, in many cases, direct access to websites," he said. "[The video streams will go] directly through the set-top box to the TV in the living room."

Scientific Atlanta, which Cisco acquired for $7 billion in 2006, makes DVRs for the likes of Time Warner Cable(TWC Quote), and McIntyre thinks that users are looking for new ways to view and handle content.

"It will be a two-way communication process," he said. "Eventually you will be able to upload your digital photographs through set-top boxes, you will be able to upload your own video for user-generated content."

"Think of being able to watch the video you want on any screen you want," explained the CTO. "The TV screens, for sure, the laptop, the PC, and eventually you will be able to transfer this to your wireless devices."

There have already been signs that the tech sector is gearing up for the big bang when TV and Internet come together. Korean electronics giant Samsung, for example, has built a set of Internet "widgets" into some of its latest LED TVs. The applications let users access Internet-based content such as Flickr and Yahoo! Finance directly on their TVs, underlining the convergence of traditional broadcasting and the Web.

Other companies are also getting in on this act. In addition to sending out DVDs by mail, Netflix(NFLX Quote) is now touting what it calls "Netflix-ready" devices, which download movies from the Internet direct to customers' TVs.

"Netflix-ready" devices include Microsoft's(MSFT Quote) Xbox 360, LG's BD300 Network Blu-Ray Player and Roku's Digital Video Player.

Online retail giant Amazon(AMZN Quote) also offers its own "Video On Demand" service, which can be watched on TV via a broadband-connected device or on a computer.

Inevitably, changes in how content is viewed will force an advertising rethink, according to McIntyre.

"There's a move afoot to be better at inserting advertising and to be better at targeting advertising at the consumer," he said. "There are experiments being done by many of the online advertisers where consumers can actually pick what types of advertising that they would like to see."

http://www.thestreet.com/story/10506132/1/cisco-predicts-tv-revolution.html

Cisco might be in the catbird seat in terms of STBs. Motorola seems to be completely imploding.

Why doesn't Cisco scrounge around under their couch cushions and find some spare change with which to buy TiVo? In many ways it's a much better solution than their POS Scientific Atlanta DVR. E.g. TiVo already has Netflix on demand.

Cisco might be in the catbird seat in terms of STBs. Motorola seems to be completely imploding.

Why doesn't Cisco scrounge around under their couch cushions and find some spare change with which to buy TiVo? In many ways it's a much better solution than their POS Scientific Atlanta DVR. E.g. TiVo already has Netflix on demand.

Cisco has no clue about a CE experience. SA is all about pushing out volume for as cheap as they can and they need to keep costs down to drive volume. Tivo hardware loses too much money and MSO's won't pay a premium for a Tivo box because they need to amortize over several years on a leased box. Your only hope as a consumer is a Tru2Way box made by a CE company, but it won't be cheap (e.g. Moxi) unless it's subsidized by MSOs.

For a CTO that is fairly pedestrian, even lame, set of predictions. If he had said that 3-5 years ago it might have been interesting, now it just says "wow where has CICSO been?"

Cisco - usually a leader-innovator in the tech world has been behind in the CE world. However, they may offer some interesting options in home video conferencing and consumer video in general - note they bought the flip camera technology. With the amount of cash they have and their propensity to acquire technology - they could be a player in this market.