European set-top box manufacturer Amino Communications has announced that it has demonstrated its newest IPTV box that is running the Intel Atom Sodaville CE 4100 processor. The CE4100 was unveiled back during IDF and is designed specifically for set-top box use.
It might not mean much to the Android smartphone lurking in your pocket (or that you’d like to have there), but MIPS and Sigma Designs have been demonstrating an Android-based set-top box capable of 1080p high-definition video. The STB prototype is being positioned as “a major milestone toward the creation of a reference platform” for Android-powered home entertainment devices, with the two companies adding support for Sigma’s hardware graphics acceleration and decoding.
Back when Neuros offered developers cash prizes for adding new functionality to their LINK media device, one of the primary goals – and most interesting – was getting Netflix working. Well, coders put down your pens, as the $2,500 bounty has been claimed and there are now instructions to get it running on your own open-source set-top box.
Boxee is pretty much brand new, but they’re already releasing an update to add new features to the mix. The company’s media player software that’s currently in an alpha version for Macs and Linux only, just got an update that adds the ability to stream Netflix movies and videos from sites such as the WB network, MTV and offers up photos from the Boston Globe.
Although just a rumor before, we can now confirm that Blockbuster will be building a set-top box that can stream movies to your TV in digital format. In fact, if all goes well, we can expect a release date sometime in the holiday season, which is swiftly approaching.
Neuros has begun shipping their high definition Neuros OSD 2.0 developer kits, an open-source DVR based on Texas Instruments’ DaVinci DM 6446 chipset. Comprising all the basic hardware a developer might need to begin coding for the multiformat set-top box, the OSD 2.0 HD includes two composite and one component inputs, together with composite, component and HDMI outputs, and a total of four USB ports.
The actual price would be somewhere between 1 and 1.3 billion dollars, but that’s still a lot of coin. Both companies are suffering, and both companies could probably use the boost that this would offer to each of them so it’s a wonder why Circuit City has been sitting on its hands with this offer since February 17th.
This was a long week with no major events occurring, but there were some pretty big announcements. For starters we have a new BitTorrent Set Top Box from Myka, no more will you have to waste power by leaving your entire computer running all night just to get the latest screener from FXG or aXXo, and this little set top box will do it for you and then play it right from its hard drive for added ease. Then there were rumors abound of Blockbuster potentially putting out a new Set Top Box to push their movies, TV Shows, and other content out to.
With the Digital TV switch coming relatively soon Verizon has already started making moves in their customers favor to make the transition almost transparent to them. First off, they are phasing out the analog versions of all channels they already offer up digital versions of to customers with their set top boxes.
I hate comparing one product to another, but the Archos set top box DVR is everything the Apple TV should have been and even has an equally slick appearance. Alright, lets start with the fact that it comes in your choice of 80 or 250 gigabyte capacities, and, since its made by Archos, I wouldn’t be surprised if some enterprising modders found a way to increase that.
JP
