It's kind of a complex history, but I'll try to break it down.
There were 3 NUON DVD players released in the US that play official NUON games. Of those, only one will play the homebrew software, and that's the Samsung DVD-N501. The other models were the Samsung DVD-N2000 and the Toshiba SD2300. RCA also released 2 DVD players with the NUON chip inside (The RCA DRC300N and DRC480N). The big difference in the two is that the 480N is progressive scan, but both players have lobotomized NUON features. Luckily both have the VLM intact, but lack the interactivity of the N501 version.
There were two models released in Europe, the Samsung DVD-N504 and DVD-N505. The N504 has controller ports and the N505 does not. Both have the ability to play the homebrew NUON games and the N505 can be hacked to add controller ports should you be able to find a set.
Samsung also released one NUON player to the Korean market, the N591 which featured an exclusive pack-in game based on the Crayon Shin-Chan cartoon.
All in all, the DVD players were on the market for 2-3 years but were never heavily advertised. They can still be found on eBay and Amazon occasionaly, along with games and controllers.
To be honest, the NUON features that were available for DVD movies were not very useful or intriguing. The problem was that movie studios didn't want to invest much money into the features since there weren't many DVD players with the chipsets, and the DVD player manufacturers didn't want to make a lot of models with the NUON chipset because there wasn't much NUON content.
Unfortunately VM Labs ran out of money before the situation could be resolved and NUON is now left in the hands of the users. Luckily some at VML were smart enough to see the commercial end of NUON coming and released the public SDK so the fanbase could play around with the hardware.
Info on the NUON features in DVD movies is up on the Movies section of NUON-Dome (http://www.nuon-dome.com/movies.html) or you can download the Public SDK and other freeware games such as Doom, PacMan, BOMB, etc from the Download page (http://www.nuon-dome.com/download.html).
-Kevin
The N501 has a flashable ROM (Samsung already issued an upgrade here ), CD-R/RW, MP3 and VCD capabilities, along with a boatload of NUON special effects and features like the VLM (150+ effects of beat-sensitive graphics that accompany audio CD and MP3 playback), 15-20x zoom depending on the player which is filtered by the NUON processor for a high-quality image. On-the-fly changes to DVD player settings, frame-by-frame strobe of images, on-screen thumbnails of multiple angles, etc...not to mention the gaming aspect of NUON.
Check out my URL above for a ton of info on NUON, if you're interested in further research.
Yes, Motorola does use NUON in it's broadband set-top box, the Streamaster 5000. I picked one up the other day, just because I had to have it. Right now it doesn't do a whole lot for me but I've got pictures of it (internal & external) up at NUON-Dome.
Agreed, I'm as interested in games as the next guy, and it will be great to have homebrew games available on NUON (and ports of open-source stuff, etc), but the potential for other applications is just as great.
I've heard things as simple as a slideshow JPG viewer, but CODECs like DIVX/MPEG4 and such would be an excellent option to have available in the living room, rather than just on the PC.
NUON is a media processor that replaces the MPEG2 decoder in DVD players. Currently 3 are on the market, the Samsung DVD-N501, Samsung DVD-N2000 and the Toshiba SD2300.
I've got the N501...I had the N2000 but I eBayed it in favor of the N501 because of it's CDR and MP3 capabilities, and improved VLM (a super-trippy on-screen light show when you play CD's). Easily the most feature-filled DVD player I've ever seen.
Actually, quite a few new NUON-enhanced DVD movies are coming out in the near future. Dr. Dolittle 2 on Tuesday, Planet of the Apes next month and The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai in January.
This, along with the Public SDK becoming available shortly should prove to be a breath of fresh air for NUON. I'm looking forward to seeing the NUON development community grow.
-Kevin
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There were 3 NUON DVD players released in the US that play official NUON games. Of those, only one will play the homebrew software, and that's the Samsung DVD-N501. The other models were the Samsung DVD-N2000 and the Toshiba SD2300. RCA also released 2 DVD players with the NUON chip inside (The RCA DRC300N and DRC480N). The big difference in the two is that the 480N is progressive scan, but both players have lobotomized NUON features. Luckily both have the VLM intact, but lack the interactivity of the N501 version.
There were two models released in Europe, the Samsung DVD-N504 and DVD-N505. The N504 has controller ports and the N505 does not. Both have the ability to play the homebrew NUON games and the N505 can be hacked to add controller ports should you be able to find a set.
Samsung also released one NUON player to the Korean market, the N591 which featured an exclusive pack-in game based on the Crayon Shin-Chan cartoon.
All in all, the DVD players were on the market for 2-3 years but were never heavily advertised. They can still be found on eBay and Amazon occasionaly, along with games and controllers.
-Kevin
To be honest, the NUON features that were available for DVD movies were not very useful or intriguing. The problem was that movie studios didn't want to invest much money into the features since there weren't many DVD players with the chipsets, and the DVD player manufacturers didn't want to make a lot of models with the NUON chipset because there wasn't much NUON content. Unfortunately VM Labs ran out of money before the situation could be resolved and NUON is now left in the hands of the users. Luckily some at VML were smart enough to see the commercial end of NUON coming and released the public SDK so the fanbase could play around with the hardware. Info on the NUON features in DVD movies is up on the Movies section of NUON-Dome (http://www.nuon-dome.com/movies.html) or you can download the Public SDK and other freeware games such as Doom, PacMan, BOMB, etc from the Download page (http://www.nuon-dome.com/download.html). -Kevin
-Kevin
Check out my URL above for a ton of info on NUON, if you're interested in further research.
-Kevin
-Kevin
Agreed, I'm as interested in games as the next guy, and it will be great to have homebrew games available on NUON (and ports of open-source stuff, etc), but the potential for other applications is just as great.
I've heard things as simple as a slideshow JPG viewer, but CODECs like DIVX/MPEG4 and such would be an excellent option to have available in the living room, rather than just on the PC.
-Kevin
NUON is a media processor that replaces the MPEG2 decoder in DVD players. Currently 3 are on the market, the Samsung DVD-N501, Samsung DVD-N2000 and the Toshiba SD2300.
I've got the N501...I had the N2000 but I eBayed it in favor of the N501 because of it's CDR and MP3 capabilities, and improved VLM (a super-trippy on-screen light show when you play CD's). Easily the most feature-filled DVD player I've ever seen.
Actually, quite a few new NUON-enhanced DVD movies are coming out in the near future. Dr. Dolittle 2 on Tuesday, Planet of the Apes next month and The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai in January. This, along with the Public SDK becoming available shortly should prove to be a breath of fresh air for NUON. I'm looking forward to seeing the NUON development community grow. -Kevin