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A Hackable Media Player For HDTV
An anonymous reader writes "Embedded Linux and an open, hacker-friendly architecture power the world's first high definition media player, the $499 Roku HD1000. The brainchild of ReplayTV inventor Anthony Wood, the device could touch off a cottage industry of third-party applications and media packs that work with its Linux-based OS and user-friendly media APIs. Out of the box, the HD1000 can stream MPEG and MPEG2, play music, loop JPEGs, and more to an HDTV -- all at the same time. Roku is selling "Art Packs" of everything from museum-quality art to hot-rod cars as memory cards that work with the device. And, the company will release a C/C++ SDK for the HD1000 before 2004. Finally, there's something to actually show on your $5,000 54-inch plasma TV or 37-inch LCD TV." (Roku is also one of the companies mentioned in an earlier posting about using hi-def displays as digital art galleries).
Now people have something to shorten the life span of their expensive Plasma displays... I think it would be cheaper to just to buy a few art prints (cheaper and higher resolution too) and rotate them every few months. Of course, the expensive "I've got way too much time on my hands" coolness factor would be diminished somewhat.
Broadcast HDTV is allocated 19.2Mbps for 1080i (1920 x 1080 x 60Hz interlaced)
The speeds go up in 40Mbps, 200Mbps, and 1.5Gbps quality steps depending on the
edit level (contributor, studio, and raw).
To store broadcast 1080i, you'd need 19.2Mbps. DVD is around 9Mbps.
19.2Mbps * 60s = 1152Gbpm or 140MB/min or around 8.2GB per hour.
This could be like a non recording VCR/ dvd in a way, great for rentals. Let me explain; One could take a media card with enough storage. The equivalent of a VCR tape/dvd. This way you'd only need to rent something that had a particular movie on it, and also watch it on your High Definition capable Television. Since it would obviously have the Broadcast flag set in the cards, and unit, you'd not be able to copy and/or without restrictions with any technology which also was compliant with the Broadcast Flag Law. It' be the great next thing in line to rentals. Like Dvd was to VCR. This would be to DVDs. Can you see people renting movies like this with such great quality?
If I recall correctly, HDTV was being proposed for the UK during the mid-to-late 80's, but effective lobbying from a certain Mr. Rupert Murdoch, who had recently introduced his very expensive and (then) loss making satellite tv system "SKY" (which wouldn't be able to carry HDTV signals) killed the matter stone dead.
Corporation, n. An ingenious device for obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility. - Ambrose Bierce
Finally, you should be aware that the DVI inputs on HDTV sets will not necessarily accept PC/Mac DVI signals, so keep this in mind (and try before buying) if you're looking for an HDTV to interface with your G4.
It's all to do with relative gains.
NTSC to HDTV is quite an improvement. PAL and PAL+ to HDTV is less of an improvement. 768x572 vs 800x600 is a negligable gain and 768x572 vs 1280 x 1028 is a gain but not enough to warrant the additional expenditure by the service providers/cable companies and the like. The additional bandwidth required would reduce the number of available channels and no broadcaster will go for that scenario. Then there's obtaining the content which is thin on the ground.
I would rather have good quality digital PAL widescreen broadcasts in number than a few HDTV ones. PAL widescreen projects fine to about 4m x 2m using my cheap projector system.
HDTV is partly marketing and it is being as a carrot, a way of getting people to upgrade to digital in the US. In the UK where there's a lot of digital usage already it's not needed.
Hmm...that's funny, I could have sworn that MythTV has had this for a while. It's pretty easy, pick up a pcHDTV card for $200 and make sure you've got some significant hard disk space and you should be ready to go.
Reminds me of Microsoft bragging about their future "Implicit Query" technology when dashboard already has it.
My Slashdot account is old enough to drink...
So, it looks to me like this thing isn't a PVR. It doesn't record -- it's just a player. It will play High-Def quality MPEGs, but, ummmm...., if this ain't a recorder, how do I get the HD MPEGs in the first place? Neither ReplayTV nor TiVo record at HD. Does this make sense only if you already have a HDTV tuner for your PC? If you've got that, though, and a way of getting HD signal out of the PC, why do you need this?
I've had a Roku box since the beginning of November. It's hooked to a 42" Panasonic Plasma (852x480) running at 1080i. The other end of the Roku is hooked to a wireless 802.11g game adapter. Any shared files/directories are automatically mounted and can be browsed with the UI.
The Roku can be programmed via shell scripts or you can use the included remote for selecting music and/or pictures.
The UI is still a little rough, but they are working on it (two beta releases since initial release), and it keeps getting better.
I'm looking forward to the release of the SDK and hacking a screensaver, as the screensaver selection is pretty limited- bouncing Roku logo, string art, or bouncing clock.
I still haven't been able to play any mpeg files, but the still picture slideshow looks great. Roku Support says more picture/movie formats are coming 'soon'.
All in all, it's a good off-the-shelf solution for playing music that is easy for the family to use. I expect it will get better with each release...
To put a witty saying into 120 characters, jst rmv ll th vwls.
Xbox doesn't go to 1920p. There is a no 1920p.
The max would be 1080p, and it is outside the HDTV spec and the Xbox doesn't do it either.
The Xbox does 720p and 1080i, the two HDTV resolutions (480p is EDTV).
1080i is 1920x1080 shown 60 fields a second (30 frames a second). It contains the same amount of information as 720p (1280x720 60 frames a second) but due to the tricks interlacing does to your mind, 1080i appears to contain more info.
We didn't choose to add DVI because of the additional cost and complexity. We felt that customers would overall be well served with component and and vga. Of course, DVI is being considered for future products.
-Patrick
-Sr. Software Engineer, Roku.
Of course there's a remote. You can also control it via the serial port or by telneting into the HD1000. And, if you'd like to control it in ways we don't currently provide, grab the SDK (once it's available) and code away.
-Patrick
-Sr. Software Engineer, Roku.
Sure, but can the XBox do it with no noise, in less than 1RU while allowing to play back HD Transport streams that you've recorded from the ATSC tuner/capture card in your PC?
-Patrick
-Sr. Software Engineer, Roku.
We didn't choose to add DVI because of the additional cost and complexity. We felt that customers would overall be well served with component and and vga. Of course, DVI is being considered for future products.
-Patrick
-Sr. Software Engineer, Roku.
No, I'm afraid your assessment is incorrect. The HD1000 is a HD Media Player. We couldn't (or at least shouldn't) call it HD without supporting at least 720p or 1080i. Of course, we support both, in addition to 480p and 480i. Of course, the HD1000 doesn't record anything, but can display your photos in 1080i and playback HD ATSC trasport streams in 1080i or 720p (or 480p or 480i if you really want to)
- Patrick
- Sr Software Engineer, Roku
Yes, but the more electrical connections you have, the more potential to introduce ground loops and hum into the entire system. I usually prefer optical over coax because it keeps things electrically isolated. Especially if I have the equipment spread out over multiple circuits.