Checking Out The Ubuntu TV Prototype

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Checking Out The Ubuntu TV Prototype

Today in Las Vegas I had the chance to checkout the Ubuntu TV prototype and briefly talk about Canonical with their ambitions on the television front...

http://www.phoronix.com/vr.php?view=MTA0MDc

[cl333r]

Since Mark Shuttleworth came from the trip to space he started calling us "human beings", which begs the question, who (or rather "what") came back from the space trip? Anyone checked his chest?

[bulletxt]

Ok people, now imagine: it's Ubuntu, it's Linux. If the TV ships with a good GPU then you can play games directly on the TV. Imagine point and click games (like the ones found on big fish games) being played directly on your tv.

I like this idea.

[Kano]

The idea is not that bad, a new dvb/atsc frontend, but for a "real" tv you need to have support analog channels as well, currently i see it as replacement for xbmc pvr + tvheadend/vdr combined with a shop system somehow.

Btw. some older samsung tvs could boot from standard usb devices instead of running the integrated wince - a standard amd cpu and onboard vga were used in some series. So if you are lucky you could try it on your own I dont remember if there was access to /dev/dvb, but i know that Kanotix booted on some variants.

[Chewi]

The idea is not that bad, a new dvb/atsc frontend, but for a "real" tv you need to have support analog channels as well, currently i see it as replacement for xbmc pvr + tvheadend/vdr combined with a shop system somehow.

Not in Britain. We will be completely analogue TV free within about three months. Most of the country has already switched.

[AnonymousCoward]

The idea is not that bad, a new dvb/atsc frontend, but for a "real" tv you need to have support analog channels as well, currently i see it as replacement for xbmc pvr + tvheadend/vdr combined with a shop system somehow.

Btw. some older samsung tvs could boot from standard usb devices instead of running the integrated wince - a standard amd cpu and onboard vga were used in some series.

That must be a really really old Samsung TV. Samsung has been using Linux running on MIPS and ARM systems in their TVs for many years now.

[Veerappan]

Not in Britain. We will be completely analogue TV free within about three months. Most of the country has already switched.

Do all of your cable/satellite providers also provide a digital feed (and a set-top box for every TV you own)? Do you need to be able to hook up an older gaming console/VCR? There are still reasons to support analog tuners in modern devices.

The US switched to digital broadcasting several years ago as well, but I still see plenty of analog devices in use, and I'll never give up my 8-bit NES.

[Chewi]

Do all of your cable/satellite providers also provide a digital feed (and a set-top box for every TV you own)? Do you need to be able to hook up an older gaming console/VCR? There are still reasons to support analog tuners in modern devices.

The US switched to digital broadcasting several years ago as well, but I still see plenty of analog devices in use, and I'll never give up my 8-bit NES.

I'm not saying it's for everyone. It seldom gets used now but I'd be sad if I had nothing to run my Amiga 1200 on. At the same time though, running more than one TV off a single set-top box is generally not very practical, not least because they can usually only output one channel at a time. Sky Multiroom is quite popular for this reason and we also have nationwide free DVB-T in the form of Freeview, which just about every new TV supports now. Old analogue equipment will always be around but we can't expect it to be widely supported forever.

[Dukenukemx]

That's what I'm talking about

Ubuntu's Unity is terrible, but this TV idea is great, given that it works. One of the best things about Linux is the ability to setup a Home Theater PC. You have many more options then Windows, and now it seems one more is coming. As long as Ubuntu stays away from that Unity UI, this should be great. Though I wonder how they'll get it to work with TV Tuners? That's kinda the disappointing thing about XBMC, as it doesn't work with TV Tuners directly.

[Kivada]

Since Mark Shuttleworth came from the trip to space he started calling us "human beings", which begs the question, who (or rather "what") came back from the space trip? Anyone checked his chest?

Wrong place, check the head for brain slugs or maybe his home for a hypnotoad