Topic: Video Output

This is a kind of hardware/software question.

Can chumby output video/or be hacked to output video to a larger screen? Like a computer screen or plasma screen...

If so, what do you think would be the impact on the image quality?

Re: Video Output

honestly, whats the point? its only a 320x240 screen,so if you output it, itll be stretched. and outputting at higher than that puts more strain on chumbys hardware. its an interesting concept, and something that could be looked into, but is it really necessary?

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Re: Video Output

Is any new idea presented on this forum really necessary? No. Chumby is a fantastic little device just the way it is.

We are trying to establish what chumby can and can't do and see if we can extend the features and also chumby's uses. I know nothing about hardware so I ask questions so I can learn. I am not particularly interested in chumby from the hardware development point of view but I am interested from a social development perspective. I have a range of ideas for how chumby can be used for distribution of community information. Information is easier to read and able to be read by more people on a larger screen. Necessary, no. A good reason, yes, or I wouldn't waste people's time posting here.

One example. Chumby has a widget that shows recently abducted children's photos. What if they could appear on a larger screen in a public space and cycle all day? The child's photo could potentially be seen by a far greater number of people more quickly than if it was just put on TV news bulletins and because of its wireless capability the information could also be rapidly updated as new facts come to light. This could have the potential to save a child's life.

I am also communicating with people involved in a number of community informatics programs that are working on better early warning systems for areas that could potentially experience a catastrophic natural disaster. Japan has implemented a system that can give a 20 second warning for people to open doors and move to a safe place when an earthquake's primary waves are detected. It is the secondary shockwaves of earthquakes that cause the most damage. Wireless technology means this information can be distributed immediately after the waves are detected by a seimograph linked to a server.

That's two reasons...I have plenty more.

Re: Video Output

This is really a question for bunnie, but I don't think the chumby has any video circuitry.  It would be a pretty expensive addition.

I think the solution to that would be the "virtual chumby", which would allow you to run your widgets in a Flash simulation - which can then run on a machine that *does* have video output.

5 (edited by chedabob 2006-09-30 08:34:39)

Re: Video Output

not a very good idea, but you could get a gumstix pc, run a vnc client, and then just do that. i spose if chumby could do video output, it could be quite interesting. maybe people could mod chumby to display pictures on a larger screen, and a description on the chumby screen.

i think if chumby had a video out, it may open up a world of possibilities, but at the moment, i cant really see very much use for it (im not very imaginative tongue)

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Re: Video Output

chedabob wrote:

not a very good idea, but you could get a gumstix pc, run a vnc client, and then just do that.

I don't think the gumstix has video either.

It's actually an even more primitive device than the chumby.

Re: Video Output

im sure it has vga out though.

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Re: Video Output

Actually, the MX21 doesn't have a VGA out, or a TV out, and adding either of those would require hacking the LCD driver to support a VGA, TV out, or some other video adapter (and yes, it would be a very expensive addition). Neither do most chips in the same class as the MX21, as video adapters are typically very complicated and need their own processing (LCDs on the other hand, are driven like giant arrays of LEDs, so it takes a lot less space on a core to implement, and it's easier to patch into other generalized cores).

As for the Gumstix, they're very, very simple computers (much like your PC, except its ARM-based, and has way less bus connections like USB/AGP/PCI (Express)/ATA, etc). They're great for driving simple devices, and they could be turned into computers by adding devices to it, but they're just completely not in the same league as Chumby. The Gumstix's XScale has way less in the way of connectivity options than the MX21 (color LCD controller, but no touchscreen driver, but the XScales are still pretty nice RISC machines).

No, I think the virtual Chumby would be your best bet as a video out.

Re: Video Output

chedabob wrote:

im sure it has vga out though.

I'm quite a bit more sure it doesn't, since I actually looked at their site to find out.

They do sell additional breakout boards for LCD output, but I can't find anything that does VGA.

Re: Video Output

You lot really get busy on this forum when I am asleep!

Thanks for that...the virtual chumby will solve the issue if I display it on a wall-mounted flat screen.

I am writing an architectural design brief for a library space that is intended to make the physical interface between people and information held in digital form both more usable and attractive. I was thinking that chumby could provide a easy to use interface for streaming information/content onto various screens in the library.

One library I toured recently is using this kind of display to show individual's creative works, upcoming library events and also a map of the library indicating to patrons where to go to attend events/or where their booked meeting room is located. It might be a relatively easy system to put in place using chumby and even the scrapblog tool I am so enamoured with at the moment to quickly create informational widgets that would cycle on the screen.

www.angela.scrapblog.com/zara

It could have applications for conferences/hotels too....you could put one each conference participant's room and stream conference info/blogs to them and set alerts for their next sessions.

(Don't forget who is coming up with all these marketing ideas now! wink )

Re: Video Output

You could use a USB VGA dongle.....they only do 800x600 but are hardware-based...

--neg

hoping for a chumby release before xmas.
every chumby is squishy, except the ones that arent.

Re: Video Output

^^

they would need drivers written for the arm chipset, and could be a little slow, and cpu intensive.

i just looked on gumstix site. tongue i was sure they had a version with a vga or tv out. im surprised they dont cos they have wi-fi, bluetooth, gps, usb, nearly everything.

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Re: Video Output

not really much of an electronics dude, but it seems that an there might be a series of pre-manufactured integrated circuits that could do the trick for an NTSC video output (normal tv). 

Video out could be acheived by "splitting the signal" so that the touchscreen would still display and the video output would simply be a mirror of that image.

There would have to be an adaptor made, either from the cord that runs to the LCD or directly off the chip that drives the LCD, that would then run into a series of IC's:

something to upsample from 320x240 @ 12fps to 640x480 @ 30fps 
something to add the NTSC timecode sync etc.
a frame buffer to store the result in
something to control all of that with.

Maybe possible with a basic stamp chip? 

If Jakks games can make those little $20 Pac Man units that hook up to a TV then there must be a way.  There is someone, somewhere, that knows how to do this.

An enjoyable application of video output would be in conjunction with a video projector.  The chumby is interesting because of it's small rugged form (portable) and it's unique inputs (tilt, pressure, touchsreen, photometer) which are ideal for using the chumby as a performance tool.  It could literally be turned into a real-time animation instrument for creating on-the-fly art.  And, with video output, be displayed to large crowds of people, albeit a bit pixelated.  The beauty is having a VJ tool in your handbag.

* *  **   ***     ***** Joseph Gray Grauwald Creative *****     ***   **  * *

Re: Video Output

Since you're not a hardware guy, I guess you're just going to have to take our word that it's hard to do with the chipset we're using, and too expensive to add in the base design just for the very few people that would actually use it.

If we were going to design a unit with video out, we would have chosen a completely different chipset.  The fact that some devices support video out doesn't automatically meant that everything with a superficially similar form factor can as well.

Re: Video Output

Maybe with an FPGA hooked up on the bus ?
The folks at Acme did it with their Fox board, which wasn't initialy supposed to get a VGA out:
http://www.acmesystems.it/?id=120

I agree that this should NOT make it into the evolutions. But, this is why the public schematics are for, arent' they ? Anybody can try it (as prototype), and if successful, contribute it...
(FPGA are too expensive for large production anyway)

16 (edited by grauwald 2007-06-04 04:30:35)

Re: Video Output

Duane Wrote:

and too expensive to add in the base design just for the very few people that would actually use it.

So, not to play too much of the devil's advocate, how is it determined that few people would use the video output of a chumby?  Is there market research to support this?

One year of electronics classes does not an EE make...

Yes, the form factor of the Jakk's games are similar, obviously the internal hardware is different.  For one the Jakk's boxes do not have a way to do 1/20th the stuff the Chumby can do, and the code running the games is probably locked down in some hardwired logic chip.  However, what they demonstrate is that a programatically generated video signal responding to user input can be made inexpensively and in a small form factor.

I might be opening a can of worms here, but perhaps future versions of the chumby (or a chumby like device) might have a NTSC video outuput via RCA?  I think there are more people who would use this, granted they were seeded with ideas for various applications of the technology, than you might suspect.

* *  **   ***     ***** Joseph Gray Grauwald Creative *****     ***   **  * *