It is done. MIPS Technologies has
demonstrated its enhanced implementation of
Android running in 1080p via extended libraries to support hardware graphics acceleration and decoding on
Sigma Designs hardware, a portent of set-top boxes yet to come. Of course, without any video or pictures or video of the blessed event (ISB Corp's
previous OMAP based effort is pictured above) it's hard to tell why Android coming to TV is such a great idea, if its cousin widgets are any indication, there's a chance of being high on pre-release
hype but low on
desirability once it reaches the market. Still, the Open Embedded Software Foundation pledges to continue on shoehorning Android into devices beyond the mobile handset, but if it's shut down by a band of torch wielding villagers demanding the monster be put down, don't say we didn't warn you.
[Via
SlashGear &
LinuxforDevices]
posted Aug 28th 2009 4:05PM
And the price is...
I bid 1 dollar Bob
I
marry me
Too bad you were: II
Why use android and not another better linux distro?
Define "better". Maybe android fits their needs better than other Linux distros?
Set top boxes need just bare bones Linux platform on which they can run their own custom application. Many distros come bundled with a lot of core "features" deeply integrated into the operating system, stripping them would be a lot of work.
Basically all android is, is another linux distro. How do we know what linux version is best? Do you know? We are not the ones testing this stuff out.
There are several set-top boxes running custom software built on-top of Linux. Like my Popcorn Hour. As for not using a more traditional Linux-distro like Ubuntu or Fedora as a base, there may be several reasons. Maybe it's too difficult to port the software to MIPS, maybe the software just isn't suitable, maybe there are performance issues, maybe you cannot ensure compatibility between systems...
Anyway, here's the 'explanation' from mips.com:
"Android is a rich, ready-to-use software stack that is easily adaptable to different hardware platforms. It includes an operating system, middleware and key applications. With Android and the dynamic open source development community around it, developers can easily and quickly create new applications, and OEMs can leverage the increasingly broad set of available applications for their devices."
Because the more Flash memory you have to put in the box to hold the software, the more money you lose per customer to deploy it. Every penny they squeeze out of development and material costs drops straight to the bottom line as profit.
Android keeps on trucking along sorry apple, sorry Microsoft btw buy the time u lease windows 7 mobile it will be a joke unless u evolve with Android
Hopefully they evolve better than your English/typing skills...
Cause Apple's new OS wasn't release today and MS' newest OS does not come out next month.
WTF are you smoking? And don't give that 'it's's just a '.1' update for either OS. You know's BS too. What's this release in comparrison, AndroidHD? It's the same just resized and accelerated for devices with larger screens and faster processors.
While I agree with you that Android is an exciting platform and driving the others to innovate, I really, really hope you get banned for that last comment.
@ Atlantian
Never too late to learn to be a gentlemen. Not only will the people around you respect you for it, but you will learn to respect yourself more based on the effort alone. Give it whirl. The site below will certainly help.
http://artofmanliness.com/
Looking at the screen will actually melt your eyes.
I take it you haven't heard of XBMC running on a linux box? Or even an xbox if your happy with 720p? XBMC is a great piece of software, and has greater flexibility than anything this will turn out to be.
Sweet, now I can use my G1 APPs on my TV too... Oh, wait a minute, I have an iPhone... Damn... Can I get that set top with the iPhone OS?
Your comment makes no sense.
Because uni-tasking on a 42 inch screen is a good thing?
Google will be the 21st century master corp of the world.
Poor people who still thinks Google is just a search engine.
I was not aware poor people had a biased view of google. Is is because of the lack of money?
I dont want those stuff 'built-into' my TV, I want a generic PC nettop to work with it, or maybe just a gaming PC when I want to play game, it's getting easier to connect PCs to TVs now.
Did AOL screw up the avatar pictures when they bought Engadget? They seem to screw up everything they touch.
No one seemse to be able to get the avatar pix working anymore.
It's got to me AOL
@Meikat that was directed at Microsoft mainly in terms of changing there os win 7 to compete with android since it release date i read was 2010 i was not talking about apple except in the term android was becoming a massive competitor but u had to be an ass so a was a bigger ass back
why does everyone have such a huge boner for Android? why would Android be better than what's out there for this kind of application.
p.s. these are serious questions.
Not sure if it'd be better(although the strong app marketplace would be somewhat of a boon to such a thing), but it shouldn't be at all worse, so why not? Sometimes things don't need to be an amazing leap forward in order to make a decent product that works well.
no idea it proudly the open source nature of the beast and the want for Internet integration into other things like smart homes,TV's,cars,mids the code is free for anyone to use and customize as they wish , which is having a massive pull with manufactures or multiple products not just phones and a possibility to branch off into an application market to sell software to go with your products for even more profit and your not locked into the android market like apple your free to go else where and get applications
if apple was open-source they would probably already have a foothold in most homes but luckily there not there after profit like most companies
to put simple its free you can mold it to your will without license fees
A huge boner ? Cause it's free, it's developed and managed by one of the biggest tech companies in the world (So lots of investment and plenty of support) You could potentially use apps developed for a phone running android and run them on a set-top box or anything else.
It will mean a massive shared platform that everyone can develop for and a huge amount of software for users to plunder.
btw sorry for typos I'm writing tis from a Motorola flip hone
good point about the apps. i suppose Android may be good for this, but i just feel like some people have gone a little Android-happy, and have tried/will try to put it places it doesn't really belong. like netbooks, for instance. IMO something like an ARM port of Ubuntu would be much better suited to an ARM netbook.
i guess i just wonder why Android is so popular, even among people who've never used it. i guess the obvious answer would be Google, but i dunno. whatever, doesn't matter.
Atlantian: from a flip phone? wow, that's dedication, lol.
i guess they could save money on licensing fees by using Android instead of Windows CE, but then they might spend more money on customizing Android. i guess they figured Android was a better option though.
thanks for the answers.
The Android SDK is one of the nicest development environments I've ever developed for, and I've pretty much tried them all. Its really, really fun to use. That alone is a huge enough reason to want to use it for your embedded project like this, your developers will thank you.
The reason for using Android, vs other distors, is that there are a lot of Multi-media and widget-y type stuff being built. Imagine using a TV that could run iPhone apps natively...
Yes a TV running I phone apps would be awesome. Of course then Apple would have to stare TVs, an itube or tmac. And you could, get all the on demand movies you wand for $1.49 each at the itube store. All of your on demand purchases would sync percectly with your new apple tablet the ipad, other tablets might sync to it for awhile until apple releases itube 1.01. The itube app store would be filled awesome apps changing the way we watch tv. That app that google would create, the one that would allow to stream live sports and tv shows eleminating the need for dirict tv or cable, would immediately get rejected. Yes danurbin I can imagine a tv that runs I phone apps natively. Oh yeah, Don't bother plugging your xbox into it.
Many reasons why Android makes sense, not just for this but any connected device. First, the backing of Google. Plenty of Apps available and growing. Third,and important one, is Android fulfills the promise of java as a platform for connected devices, which Sun never fulfilled due to their their own ambitions and non-delivery. Android jar is just 5.7 MB compared to JDK 6 at over 50 MB. Android does away with biggest disaster of java - AWT for UI. Creating a good UI is order of magnitudes better/easier in Android.
"Of course, without any video or pictures or video of the blessed event..."
Repetition is repetitive.
Android Shmandroind. Beat Win7 Media Center and then we'll talk. If you have to go free, there are plenty of 1080p media interfaces out there that fit the bill. I mean forget Win7 for the moment, why would I even look at Android over something like XBMC for instance? Even Meedio or Myth TV. Widgets? *Vapor* widgets at that?
Come on.
what is this android thing; anyway?
At the required CPU power, it would be wiser to use a 780G with Athlon 64x, rather than an overclocked OMAP.
It seems the demo could have been on Sigma 8654 chip? Download the presentation on "Android on MIPS", from http://www.mips.com/android/
Android demoed using M$ Silverlight HD promo video? Nice..lol