- Hey guys, we are here in Mountain View, California,
here at the Google headquarters,
and today we're gonna be giving you the lowdown
on all things Google TV.
- We're at Google! - Sydney, pipe down.
Okay, Sydney. Let's go inside.
- Today's episode is gonna be great,
because we're joined by a very special guest,
Shubhada Hebbar. Shubha, thank you for having us here.
- Thank you, Jenna and Sidney. It's a pleasure to meet you,
and we're delighted to have you here
at the Googleplex headquarters in Mountainview.
- Oh, we're very excited.
Now, can you tell us a little bit about who you are
and what you do here at Google?
- Sure. I'm currently the product management lead
for the Google TV service.
In other words, what that means is the UI,
the experience that you see on the Google TV,
starting from setup to the home screen
to the ambient screensaver to settings,
it's pretty much what we define from a product standpoint.
- Well, we're excited to learn more about Google TV,
but for those that aren't familiar with Google TV,
what is Google TV?
- So the Google TV is an entertainment experience
that's embedded into your streaming devices
and your smart TVs, including all of Sony's smart TVs.
Google TV brings together all the content that you stream,
whether it be TV shows or movies or live content,
all in one place. You can access 10,000+ apps,
including some of your favorites,
like Netflix, YouTube TV, and Disney+.
And you can also use your voice
to search for all that content,
all the apps across all the apps in one go.
- So I've been loving the Google TV integration,
'cause I do have a Sony TV,
and I love how customizable it is,
and, like, how much you can really, you know,
make it to fit your personality.
So could we talk a little bit about, you know,
the customization behind Google TV and what you can do?
- You can, of course, personalize it to your family, right?
You'll find a lot of kids' content.
I don't know how comfortable you feel with kids' content,
but hey, that's an option you have.
There's, of course, another level of personalization
that you can go through, which is individual levels.
So imagine you're a family of 3,
you've got 2 adults and one kid.
Each adult can create a profile
and you can create a separate profile for your kids.
- Now, there's probably a lot
of tech going behind Google TV.
Can you talk to us about the tech behind it?
- Sure. So I'll first talk about the recommendations,
because we use the most powerful thing,
which is Google's powerful search, right,
to search across 10,000+ apps, 300+ free live channels,
and thousands of free movies.
Additionally, we also have Google Assistant,
and so let's say you're interested
in finding out recommendations for that day.
You can say, "What can I watch today?"
Or let's say you're ready to plan your day out.
You can say, "What's the weather today?"
The thing about it is that the profile that you are in
is linked to Google Assistant,
and so whatever results come back to you,
they are all very personalized to you.
In addition to being able to search,
it can also control smart home devices.
For example, I can say, "Turn off your lights."
- I watch the majority of my shows that I've noticed
from apps where, like, I'm streaming content,
and I didn't realize the other day
until the Super Bowl was about to be on
that I didn't actually know how to watch live TV,
which sounds kind of silly.
So can you talk a little bit about, you know,
watching live TV on Google TV?
- In the US, users have the ability to watch live content
from multiple live providers.
Now, to answer your question, how can we make this easier?
We have integrated a lot of this into the recommendations,
and so if there's something playing,
something big that's playing,
you'll probably see it on the home screen itself.
You don't even have to go into the ,
you can see it on the home screen itself,
and you can click on it and start watching it.
- Now let's talk Sony TVs and Google TV integrations.
- Sure. In 2022, we launched the Sony tab on Sony TVs,
and so in addition to the Google TV experience,
in addition to the Google experience,
users can directly connect with Sony
and get updates about their latest product launches
or about promotional offers and much, much more.
- Well, I don't know about you,
but I've learned a lot about Google TV today.
- Yes, I've learned a lot. I'm so excited about the app.
I can't wait to add some things for when I get home tonight.
They're gonna be ready for me on the TV.
- Well, thank you so much for sharing all the knowledge
on Google TV, and thank you guys for watching.
If you wanna watch more episodes of The Lowdown,
we've got plenty of episodes, so make sure to subscribe
to the Sony Electronics YouTube channel,
follow us on our social channels,
and we'll see you on the next episode here on The Lowdown.
- Bye! - Bye.