Google‘s (NASDAQ: GOOG) new Internet television software, shipping now in the Logitech (NASDAQ: LOGI) Revue set top box and Sony‘s (NYSE: SNE) Internet TV HDTV sets, is having a rough debut this fall. Reviews of the service are beginning to hit the public, and the controversial software’s critical reception has been less than glowing.

Tech blog Engadget says that Google’s bid to bring their software dominance into consumer’s living rooms is something of a mixed success. Setting up a Google TV device, whether Logitech’s set top box or Sony’s television, takes upwards of half an hour, and while certain features are as revolutionary to the TV watching experience as Google has promised, others are found wanting. Standard apps that come pre-installed to the proprietary version of the Android operating system running Google TV devices (markedly different than the type running phones) are not up to the standard set by other devices using the apps. Engadget singled out the Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) streaming video service as inferior to other outlets for the same app like Microsoft‘s (NASDAQ: MSFT) Xbox 360. “The app uses… a first-generation Netflix interface… and almost every other Netflix experience on the market has far surpassed it.”

The review goes to say that, unless a user is a Dish Network (NASDAQ: DISH) subscriber, Google TV’s integration with an actual TV service feels thin. Those negatives aside, the review praises Google TV’s most essential features, a version of the Google Chrome Web browser optimized for television use and the all too important search function for scanning the Internet for television shows and channels on your own set top box. “[It] makes even simple things like changing channels so much smoother and better that we can’t believe every cable box doesn’t already work this way.” The review goes on to speculate that the service will not be a true success until it integrates DVR features.

Other outlets expressed discontent with Google TV’s functionality. New York Times writer David Pogue complains that the need for a keyboard, mouse, and elaborate controller like the one that comes with Sony’s Internet TV further complicate a controller infested TV watching space. Pogue is equally dissatisfied with Google TV’s core selling points. Unlike Engadget, the Times writer found the Google TV search function to be unpredictable, sometimes returning results that give options for both television and Internet video and other times offering search results that just give a television option.

He concludes that until Google can settle its dispute with major television networks and get their streaming options unblocked on the service, Google TV will be just be a half-formed offering. Walter S. Mossberg of Wall Street Journal blog All Things Digital echoed Pogue’s sentiments. “Unfortunately… the search-and-viewing process was frustrating. [You] only get a few results, and… they usually weren’t the right ones.” Mossberg does think that, though awkward in its first outing, the coupling of Web video and traditional television is a “smart move.”

If Google TV is going to survive its first outing, it must quickly refine the software with a stream of steady updates. The next step is to convince NBC Universal (NYSE: GE), Fox (NYSE: NWS), ABC (NYSE: DIS), and CBS (NYSE: CBS) to unblock the service from accessing those networks’ official websites and online video. Support from cable channels like Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) is simply not enough official Web video support.

Shareholders in Google can breathe easy, despite the negative response to the service. The company can afford an experiment like Google TV thanks to the continuing success of its search technology, the growth of the Android mobile phone operating system, and the always-lucrative Web advertising business. Investors who are closely following the Web TV market, though, should note that Google TV won’t bring a union of traditional cable, satellite, and cable television with the Internet to the mainstream just yet.

As of this writing, Anthony Agnello did not own a position in any of the stocks named here.