This weekend has been something of an awakening for me. I’ve spent a long time looking at various forms of digital and IP TV and have finally come to some form of opinion, with the recent launches of iPlayers for C4, ITV and good old Auntie. A brave new world? Not quite yet…

Now I have to admit, when I was younger, I was part of an experiment that tried to understand what it would be like to live in a house of the future. In our world, there was no need for separate devices – convergence had led to the creation of a massive central server, with output interfaces throughout the house. Just imagine – music, videos, games, TV programmes – all from a single device and displayed on anything that could incorporate an LCD. No need for a TV in the kitchen – why not use the fridge or the microwave? CD and DVD racks were a thing of the past. You never needed to worry about getting your radio wet in the shower. Utopia. (And if you have ever stayed at Seaham Hall, you’ll start to get a sense of what I’m talking about).

But. There’s always a but, isn’t there?

On Saturday, I tried watching a variety of world cup games on the ITV player. It was OK, but there were issues with streaming, with the quality of footage and the generally the whole experience. Replace my TV or digibox for a PC? Not quite yet.

And now, I’ve spend the entire morning waiting for two downloads from the BBC iPlayer site. Finley the Fire Engine (Whole lotta litter going on) for one child and Scorpion Island (Episode 40) for another. At a whopping 897MB for one programme and a just as depressing 276MB for the other, it will probably be nightfall before the episodes have downloaded and my license to watch them will have expired. 8 hours to watch 45 mins of TV? Something can’t be right.

I’m off to find something more useful to do.