Hasta La Gadget!

Looks like consumers are about to get another option in their search for an affordable connected TV solution: Hisense is building its own Google TV set-top box. The product doesn’t have a price — let alone a name — but will sell for under $100 when it hits shelves later this year. “Hisense adds even more innovation to the growing list of Google TV-powered devices available around the world.” Says Google TV partner manager Mickey Kim. “We’re working closely with partners like Hisense to bring services from Google and multiple other providers to your TV with an experience tailored for the living room.” Details are scarce, but the outfit promises to reveal more at IFA next week. Can’t wait? Check out Vizio’s Co-Star.

Filed under: HD

Hisense building budget-friendly Google TV set-top box, will put Android in your living room for under $100 originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 25 Aug 2012 03:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Vizio’s Co-Star Google TV hub has been public knowledge for more than half of 2012, but it might as well have been a black box as far as its internals were concerned. It’s mostly been a mystery beyond the acknowledgment of a Marvell ARM chip inside. The teardown gurus at iFixit certainly weren’t content to let that riddle go unanswered. Their exploration of the box shows that Vizio is very much clinging to the initial Marvell vision of using a dual-core, 1.2GHz Armada 1500 to handle 1080p video at that $100 price — albeit with just 4GB of flash to store everything the Android OS demands. What may interest hobbyists is simply the accessibility of the set-top box: just about every board and component comes out easily, which could lead to some cheaper DIY surgery. The full parts list is waiting at the source if knowing how your Google TV box operates is as important as catching up on Netflix.

Filed under: Home Entertainment

Vizio Co-Star teardown supplies the tech specs we never had originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 22 Aug 2012 13:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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While hardware manufacturers like Sony and Vizio have been hard at work making new Google TV devices, the folks in Mountain View have been in the lab cooking up new software features for the platform. We got to speak with Google TV’s VP of Product Management Mario Queiroz today, and he shared a couple of tasty tidbits with us.

Firstly, he informed us that there’s now a New Releases section in GTV’s listings, which makes it easier than ever to find the latest and greatest movies. Additionally, it turns out that GTV’s taking a page from the Nexus Q and YouTube Remote playbooks to let users control YouTube videos on the big screen from their phones and tablets. Essentially, you’ll be able to bring up a video on your mobile device and have it populate on your TV with the tap of a finger. However, unlike Apple’s AirPlay — which delivers a similar UX by streaming video from a mobile device to an Apple TV — Google’s tech simply has your Google TV device stream the video directly from the web. Naturally, Mario wouldn’t dish out any more details about new feature, nor would he say exactly when this functionality will be pushed out to the public, but rest assured we’ll let you know when it does.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Software

Google TV now lists movie New Releases, to let users control YouTube vids from phones and tablets originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 25 Jul 2012 21:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.

Just two years ago, Google TV paved a way for Android to enter the television via integrated sets, Blu-ray players, dedicated TV add-ons and pay TV set-top devices. For now, the product may almost be as much of a hobby for the purveyor of questionable eyewear as Apple TV is for Apple, Google’s mobile OS competitor. But it’s clear that the platform isn’t all things to all couch potatoes; the last several weeks have seen the launch of two new, contrasting approaches to getting Android on the big screen in the home.

Continue reading Switched On: Android’s TV Triple Threat

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Software

Switched On: Android’s TV Triple Threat originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 15 Jul 2012 17:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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For all of Google’s emphasis on integrating its own services across Android, playing YouTube videos outside of the official YouTube app has usually required losing some piece of the experience, whether it’s backwards compatibility, mobile optimization or just keeping viewers in the same app where they started. As it turns out, Google was well aware of this problem during Google I/O this year and teased a solution while everyone else was still recovering from their Nexus 7-induced fevers. A new YouTube Android Player API will let third parties integrate a full YouTube player into their Android apps with adaptive streaming, orientation and other special tricks intact. Any Android 2.2 or later device (including Google TV boxes) can come along for the ride, and views will count towards producers getting paid. Full details are only coming in the next few months, but app developers who’ve been craving a chance to slip in some viral videos can get an early look at the API near the start of the session video below — or just load the Google I/O 2012 app, which has the code baked in.

Continue reading Google slips out YouTube Android Player API, third-party apps get full Nyan Cat experience (video)

Google slips out YouTube Android Player API, third-party apps get full Nyan Cat experience (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 06 Jul 2012 13:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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