Topic: Chumby NeTV?

Just saw this report at http://thisismynext.com/2011/09/08/chum … -smart-tv/

I love the idea of the Chumby overlay box running on HDMI.  Any news on the actual hardware specs?  Can you install your own software on this to try out your own awesome video overlays?

Re: Chumby NeTV?

See this page on the wiki.

Both the hardware and software are completely open on this device.

It does *not* run Adobe Flash, like other chumby devices - it's an HTML5-based device.

Re: Chumby NeTV?

That looks great.  Any chance hardware will be available at the Open Hardware Summit?  I'll be there on Thursday and want to try to get some webOS Enyo code running in the WebKit instance.

Re: Chumby NeTV?

Yes, bunnie will be there talking about it.  I think he'll have some units available there.

Re: Chumby NeTV?

Bummer will not be in NYC to hear from 'da man'... will look forward to info on how to get a development unit.

Question: For it to be successful for moi, I will need to be able to inject HDMI control [screen on for example] and audio over HDMI as well as well. Think I can do this?
Thx!

Re: Chumby NeTV?

At the moment, all it does is overlay the video - it does not provide other functionality over that port.  However, the full source is available, including the code in the FGPA that does all of the heavy lifting for the overlay, so you may be able to do what you want.

Re: Chumby NeTV?

Duane, is there a plaintext hardware description of the unit anywhere on the Wiki? It sounds just about perfect for something we've been planning to do for ages, but we would need it to have host USB functionality (and expose an USB port). Is this available on the Netv? We have a Chumby One and a Chumby Hacker Board and both have USB ports (the Hacker Board has 3 if I remember correctly). Any exposed host USB ports on the Netv?

Thank you,
Razvan

Re: Chumby NeTV?

It does not have USB host - it's a *very* stripped down, single-purpose version of the "Silvermoon" platform that we use in the Chumby 8 device.  We removed a lot of the non-critical features for cost and size reasons.

There is a mini-USB connector, but it's just used for power.

Re: Chumby NeTV?

Just catching up on the threads...

1) the device does not currently have the ability to overlay audio, however, all the wires are there to do it. The FPGA is connected to a PCM audio port on the Marvell chip. In order to complete this, one needs to build an audio formatter that takes PCM data and wraps a CRC around it, packetizes it, and injects it into the stream. Most of the infrastructure is already there to do this, but it wasn't a development priority to add audio overlay since the core use case of the product is as a passive news viewer. However, as Duane has mentioned, all the source is available and there are free (as in beer) tools available to compile the FPGA from Xilinx. It's..."SMOP" in the sense that you don't have to even open the case to upgrade the functionality.

2) For USB host functionality, Duane is correct, NeTV is stripped down to the bone to deal with the brutal price pressure in today's recession-depressed consumer gadget market. However, do not fear. There is a simple way to add host functionality. We have prepared an expansion board that screws firmly onto the main board that includes a USB hub and it breaks out extra USB ports without losing wifi functionality. The schematics for the breakout are also available on the website.

Also, the mini-USB connector is err...used only for power...long story, there's some nanny-state regulatory hurdles that prevents us from advertising it as being live. However, an astute user would note certain features that could lead to useful behavior if, at their own risk, they tried to see what happens if it's plugged into a computer, or a cable adapter that could convert an OTG port into a host-like port with power supply. But that is entirely at the user's own risk and not an officially supported mode of operation.

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Re: Chumby NeTV?

This looks like this unit could be a lot of fun... with enough tease and hints to make it interesting wink

Re: Chumby NeTV?

Duane and Bunnie Thanks very much for your replies! I look forward to seeing what I can do with the audio and HDMI control. Any time frame for getting my hands on one of these?

Re: Chumby NeTV?

Now all it needs to do is record live tv and wirelessly store it my computer and this would be better than tivo.

Re: Chumby NeTV?

Well, it doesn't decode the incoming signal in any way - it just creates an overlay.

Re: Chumby NeTV?

any chance you need some people to beta (or are you still in alpha) test?

I'd also suggest looking into developing a Windows Mobile 6.5 App and a Windows Phone 7 App.  I know Android is the favorite out there, but Some people haven't switched because of certain reasons (work, compatability, etc).

Any ideas on a release date?

Also for us old people who still have an ancient CRT I would guess the only option would be to get an HDMI-composite down-converter?  (I'm not getting a new TV till this one dies)

Re: Chumby NeTV?

We will be releasing a small number of units for certain types of developers and potential business partners.

We started with Android because it was the easiest to implement, and we have some experience with Android development.  Obviously, iOS is a big target but Apple doesn't make it easy to do what we need to do (true for *many* things).  We haven't evaluated Windows Mobile/Phone yet since none of us have such phones.

16 (edited by bbsux 2011-09-13 11:59:53)

Re: Chumby NeTV?

Duane wrote:

We will be releasing a small number of units for certain types of developers and potential business partners.

We started with Android because it was the easiest to implement, and we have some experience with Android development.  Obviously, iOS is a big target but Apple doesn't make it easy to do what we need to do (true for *many* things).  We haven't evaluated Windows Mobile/Phone yet since none of us have such phones.

Any idea of a starting price point?  and a possible release date?

Re: Chumby NeTV?

No.  We have not announced any pricing or availability.

Re: Chumby NeTV?

Duane, will this be available in Europe at launch? We've ordered our initial Chumby One through a friend in the US since you weren't shipping to Europe at all at the time. I hope we won't have to do the same for the NeTV, we're located in Europe and our clients are located pretty much around the world (mostly Europe and Asia though).

Thank you,
Razvan

Re: Chumby NeTV?

Well, like the other products, this device would have to go through all of the required regulatory certifications.

It's not like we don't want to to ship everywhere, it's just that it's an expensive and time-consuming process to do this for all of the regulatory regimes, especially before you're generating any income from the product, since you're investing all that money and time up front.

To make it worse, each area's import/export classification rules kick in, too - for instance, bunnie hinted in another post in this thread about something to do with the USB port.  In some countries, the addition of certain seemingly innocuous features moves the device from one classification to another, with completely different rules, tariffs, etc.

Re: Chumby NeTV?

Hi Duane,

Wouldn't the European Union require just a single certification? I'm not sure but I think a CE certification would allow you to sell your product anywhere in Europe, just like taking your product through the FCC would do the same for the US. Maybe I am missing something, we've never had to do this.

You might also simply sell the units initially as developer units (I've seen this done before), bought at the risk of the developer for development purposes only. We would obviously not be able to sell them to end users but we would be able to start development (without asking friends of friends in the US to get the units for us smile ).

Thank you,
Razvan

Re: Chumby NeTV?

I just talked to bunnie and it appears we have obtained CE certification - it now just becomes an import issue.

At this point, all we're going to be doing is seeding developer units - we have not announced any retail/end-user distribution strategy.

Re: Chumby NeTV?

Ok, I'm a developer, where do I sign up for one? smile.  We would obviously want to know your commercial distribution strategy once that's finalized, we're not just developing for fun (although it is pretty fun!), we want to make this into a commercial product.

Thanks,
Razvan

Re: Chumby NeTV?

For those interested in purchasing an NeTV developer kit, we will have a very limited number of units available for sale ($149 + shipping). Retail pricing will be significantly lower, but at the moment we are only selling to those seriously interested in developing for or evaluating the product.  Please send me an e-mail and let me know your ideas for the device and I'll see about getting you one (and yes, we can ship international orders). 

mary@chumby.com

Re: Chumby NeTV?

Thank you Mary, will email you privately with our details.

Just a few questions though that might be of interest to all the developers:

1. Does the developer kit include that USB breakout board that Bunnie mentioned?

2. Does the NeTV use an USB WiFi adapter? If it's USB, can the WiFi adapter be removed so that we can use the port for another USB device (if no WiFi is needed)?

Thank you,
Razvan

Re: Chumby NeTV?

Draz took my questions right out out of my mouth...

Was wondering if the devkit had the USB breakout board...  And how much less are we suspecting retail would be.. Was wondering if wed hit the under hundred dollar point for a consumer device... or close to it... And would consumers be offered a  model with the USB breakout board...

-Jolt