LG acquires webOS from HP to power smart HDTV sets - Page 2

No doubt Wall Street will love them to bits too

It was the wife!

Fair play to LG for not just using Android. WebOs is still open source and LG make phones so maybe we'll see it rise again. Anything that isn't Android is good by me.

One can always hope that Apple actually does something innovative with the Apple TV.  Jailbreakers are the ones who are innovating in this area.  it is too bad that they haven't cracked the ATV3.  Unless Apple does something or a jailbreak shows up for the ATV3, the world is going to move on to different hardware.

I guess the only question there would be which would be the better choice and how much it would have cost them to pick up WebOS. Maybe they did look at it and determined it wasn't worth it. I think they would have been one of the only companies to actually take it and turn it into a full ecosystem ala Apple.

 

Is Samsung really moving forward yet with Bada (I haven't followed it at all) or does it seem to be more of a failsafe in case Google/Android turn on them?

 

3/10; this is terrible baiting.

Wasn't meant as a bait at all.

I am in the market for a second tv box and I'm patiently waiting for Apple to do something with their hobby.  Right now, beyond itunes rentals, the ATV doesn't do anything more than my smart TV does.

Do you not own an iPad or iPhone?

What? You have a TV with Optical out?

Because of course needing a second device for full functionality is an elegant solution.

Needing, no. Using vertically integrated solutions to make you interaction between device more natural and fluid, yes.

I really can't believe that you're scoffing Apple's AirPlay as a failure of technology. Shame on you.

 

You're confusing needing with having and full with optional.

Interactions is one thing, if you have photos, videos, or music that you'd like to show on a TV then AirPlay is an elegant solution. What i don't think is a elegant solution is having to stream media to one device and then sending it to another.

How do you figure? I know that Apple TV has many features and functions on it's own but for it to function at it's fullest potential a second device is needed.

I have no idea what you mean by this and how using the remote that came with your SmartTV is better than being able to have all the increased features and usability options that occur between the Apple TV, Mac and iDevices.

Function at its fullest potential? A second device is needed? Don't imply that it's a hobbled device that can't function unless you buy other products. So the iPhone can't function to its fullest unless you have an Apple TV because otherwise AirPlay goes unused. You're talking like a shill that is trying to slam Apple for actually making devices that work much better when paired with ecosystem. None of the devices are crap on their own but they are all much, much better when paired. Can't say the same for other vendors.

I don't need the remote, I can go to the TV and change channels, adjust the volume, choose a different input, etc but if I want to watch HBO GO on my TV I have to first stream it to a iDevice and then stream the stream to Apple TV via AirPlay. Correct me if I'm wrong but doesn't that render the iDevice useless to anyone that might want to use it?

Yes i have both. If you're thinking about airplay. Yes i have used it but can't say i'm happy with that approach.

You're talking about HBO GO, the most desired feature that the Apple TV doesn't natively support. That doesn't prove that the Apple TV or hobbled or any other pejorative comment simply because it's better when added to a rich ecosystem.

Also, you haven't proven that the stream from HBO, goes to your iDevice, and then to the Apple TV. I don't use that app but network data I've grabbed from pushing other data via AirPlay have shown that the Apple TV doesn't get the data routed to it from the iDevice or Mac, but gets it directly from the internet with the iDevice acting as a controller (note the included remote is also a working remote during this). It's much more inline with VoIP which uses SIP for initiation and control and using RTP for connecting the two end points for data.

I never thought I'd see the day where people claim that an interconnected, easy to use ecosystem of connected devices is bad for computing. This is what I've always want since a child as sci-fi stories made the future of tech more seamless. Now I am reading people want their options to be fewer and more complex.


Not happy with that approach? It's better to have to use a simple remote control to then plug away at a directional controller to type in the name of something you already have seen on your Mac or iDevice and can load on your Apple TV with a whooping 2 seconds of gestures?

Maybe rather than flapping your gums you should check out what a jailbroke ATV2 is capable of.  If the hackers can add that much functionality, why the HL can't apple.

Speaking of flapping gums (and not thinking about what you just wrote) you're implying that 1) the jailbreak community should not have features that supersede what Apple includes by default despite that being the entire point of the JB community and they get to build off of Apple's foundation, and 2) that if Apple doesn't include something you want it's because they don't have the capability without any mention that their considerations could be other than difficulty of coding. These points clearly shows that you aren't looking at this situation rationally.

I have a feeling that you're still unable to see the forrest for the trees but perhaps so here is a concept video created by the developer that made the very first app that could do cut/copy/paste on the iPhone. So your argument is that because he could do it in 2008 Apple should have before him. You're wrong. I chose this video for several reasons but most importantly about what he says soon after 20 seconds into the video.



http://vimeo.com/1447477

Bottom Line: If you want half-assed, poorly supported or suable features whose driving goal is all another check box on a spec sheet then go to Android.

 

My biggest complaint with the Apple TV vis a vis AirPlay is the computer requirement to run a local iTunes Library. It'll never ever be addressed, given that they now expect you to buy everything in iTunes and redownload it whenever you want to watch it instead of having it locally at all, but still.

 

XMBC. Plex. I'm so impressed.

 

That's so deadpan it shouldn't need a sarcasm indicator of any sort.

I hate that TV Shows and Movies are the first two icons but those are stuff to buy or rent form the iTS, not your own TV Shows and Movies. I want my library's icons up first in the order I choose and I want the iTS to be accessed by drilling one level down. Now I understand their reasoning and I might not the majority here in my usage needs but it would be great to add remove icons so that I can have my TV Shows and Movies and Podcasts and iTunes U icons on the first row and then remove the others and replace it with just a simple iTunes Store icon, much in the same was you can pull in and out items in the Customize Toolbar setting in most Mac apps.

I also dislike that the only way I can find to link to my iTunes library is through Home Sharing but that Home Sharing has no granule control of what you can share. It's all or nothing. In iTunes Preferences there is a Sharing tab that allows you to select library categories and Playlists, but that is for the old-style sharing on a local network which I don't think exists with the iOS-based Apple TVs.

Finally, the biggest long standing issue with Apple TV is that you have to change your TV's monitor's input for it to work. With everyone I know, including myself, this limits its use considerably. I'm not necessarily for an Apple HDTV for a plethora of reasons but I am all for one of several solutions that allow the Apple TV UI to overlay at any time without ever changing the input of the monitor.

Since your google skills are so limited how about this:

 

XBMC, 1Channel, Icefilms, CouchSurfer, NaviX, NBC, CBS, ABC, ABC Family, CW, WB, RSS Feed, Weather, Media Player, ESPN Video, Fox Sports, Fox News, Nascar.com, WSJ Live, Food Network, History, Lifetime, USA, A&E, AMC, Biography, Bravo, Nat Geo, Nat Geo Wild, HGTV, Nickelodeon, NickTeen, NickToons, Oxygen, Spike, SyFy, TV Land, MTV, VH1, G4TV, GSN, Radio, Trailers, TMZ, NASA, Icecast, Internet Archive, Blip.tv, College Humor, TWiT, Yahoo Music.  International packages are available:Arabic, Chinese, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Hebrew, India, ItalianKorean, Norwegian, Pakistan, Persian, Russian, Slovak, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish, Vietnamese and Philippino

 

In reply to Solipsism, I'm not saying that Apple has to be ahead of the jailbreak community, but it would be nice if they weren't 3 years behind.

 

PS.  My TV will stream directly from a NAS drive, no need for itunes to be running.

 

I set up my sister with an Apple TV that has her entire local library on it, only. Saves her the trouble of going through a large DVD collection. But she has Down Syndrome, so it had to be simple enough for her to understand and use. 

 

Turning on Parental Controls lets you completely remove all pseudoapps you don't want to see, so that leaves her with "Computer" and "Settings", which she can totally understand*. 

 

She can use a DVD player's remote just fine, but the simplicity of the Apple TV's, coupled with the fact that Apple has the cleanest and most understandable interface on the market, made swapping out her DVD library for an Apple TV a no-brainer. 

 

So anyway, you can entirely remove ones you don't want to see and move the store ones to a lower level, but I do like your idea of switching around the entire concept; making the Store one button instead of the local stuff.

 

But again, never gonna happen. "The cloud is the future" and all that crap. 

 

*Heck, when I get an Apple TV after it jumps out of "hobby" status, this is exactly what I'm going to do.

 

Absolutely. I don't get why Apple doesn't combine those two. 

 

Ah, but not if it's your only device connected to the TV… which I'm of the belief will be the case for millions once Apple revamps it a third time.

 

We're considering dumping everything else and moving to an Apple TV-only setup, but there are a few things it just doesn't do yet that we feel we'd need.

 

So piracy…

 

…and web browsing, which was never usable on a TV. Okay, great.

 

So all of these are actual broadcast channels just streamed? Or just those one minute snippets with 30 second ads that you can see on their website anyway?

 

If it's not what broadcast sees, in the entirety of what broadcast sees, why do I care?

Bullshit! Show me the functional AirPlay protocols, app, API, and OS integration that existed 3 years before AirPlay existed.

Show me the media streamer OS that existed 3 years before the Apple TV existed that was as functional or more functional than the Apple TV. I had media streamers before the Apple TV was on the scene and they all sucked. Oh, they supported the aging and weak DivX-based codecs which Apple has never supported but you were lucky to be able to watch a program without it stuttering, freezing or crashing. They sucked.

You're bitching without acknowledging that the JB community is building OFF another company's work. It's Apple's HW. It's Apple's OS. It's their foundation that is so good that these people that want more from their Apple TV have a platform from which to build off of, not build in spite of.

Your point? I'd love to see how those files are organized and presented and why you think this is the direction Apple should go for all their customers because it's something you want. You sound like the people that claimed the iPod would fail because you sync through iTunes and do a drag and drop copy/paste into a mounted disc in Finder or Explorer like those PMPs, which people claimed were better. You know what I say to them: How do you like them Apples?

the whole topic was about what the jailbreak community has added in terms of functionality.  I would expect Apple could do even better, instead what have they done;  added MLB, NHL wow.  Where I am ATV2s are selling for about $200 because they can be jail broke, so it is not just me who wants the extra functionality. 

That's not only irrational but selfish. They added stuff but since you don't want it it's crap. I personally like Hockey as a sport and would jump at the chance to go to a game but have no interest to watching TV and don't care about individual teams or players. Baseball on the other hand I dislike with every part of my being. I find nothing enjoyable about that sport.

That said, in no way do I feel slighted that Apple added MLB to their Apple TV. Lots of people love that sport. A lot more than those that use a NAS for storing their home media. So why hate on Apple for servicing the masses? Why must everything be about your needs and damn the rest?

I would love for Apple to build a proper iOS-based home server that would store a family's entire media and allow a lot of the work to be moved from the Mac(s) which are clearly no longer the ideal hub for the future. I think they will eventually do this (or something like it) but do you think I should bitch because Windows has a home server solution that's pretty good?


PS: The fact that a thriving JB community exists is not proof that Apple has failed but that it is succeeding. If there comes a time there is no JB community for the Apple TV you likely won't know about it because the Apple TV will not be something you've thought about in many years.
Edited by SolipsismX - 2/27/13 at 8:31am

 I just hope that that is the case.  Right now it looks more likely that the JB community will move on because of how well Apple locked down the ATV3.  The programmers who are creating products such as XBMC will also move on and add funtionality to competing devices..  Consumers will also move to these if they have significant advantages over the ATV.  That is why in my original post I expressed my hope that Apple would do something with the ATV

Those are completely separate issues. If they move on because they can't get in it's a completely different issue than them moving on because the platform doesn't appeal to them. People shoplift and rob homes because it's easier than robbing a bank, not because a bag of Fritos or a Blu-ray player is a better score than vault full of cash.

They won't move on. They can't move on. There is a host of reasons that XBMC can't be hosted on many systems which is why you don't see XBMC on Roku despite Roku's success.

Let us also not forget the writing any code for AppleTV should be very simple comparatively, at least for anyone who has already written the app for iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch.


XBMC can not work on the Popcorn Hour, NMT (Networked Media Tank), Tvix, Mvix, Myka, Netgear Digital Entertainer, Ruku, Dlink DSM, Sage TV HD Extender, or any set-top-box that uses a Sigma Designs' chipset for the following reasons:

• Sigma 862x (older boxes) use an ARM Processor (porting to ARM processor architecture is being worked on though)
• Sigma 863x (newer boxes such as the PopcornHour) use MIPS processor architecture.
• No GPU (and thus no 3D hardware acceleration)
• No OpenGL support
• Sigma won't release sources needed to access the video acceleration hardware, even though these sources are statically linked in the kernel of the microLinux distro they use.
• ffmpeg doesn't support Sigma's acceleration, even if we did have access to the hardware and sources

So, for XBMC to happen on a Sigma-based platform, the following would have to happen:

• Port XBMC to compile on ARM and/or MIPS
• Sigma has to release their tarballs
• These drivers have to support some type of 3D acceleration
• If this 3D acceleration is not OpenGL compatable, or doesn't have an OGL wrapper, XBMC would have to change it's code to support this new acceleration
• If all this happened, the ffmpeg project would have to support the video acceleration in the same way that they support VDPAU (as there's no way ANY video can run on a 200Mhz ARM processor, not even SD)

1. "Waldo22." Published 18 Apriil 2009. http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=40236. XBMC Media Center Forums.

I would not typically use a forum post as a source but the author supplies references for his comments.


Edited to supply supporting evidence regarding my claim that XBMC can't run on Roku.
Edited by MacBook Pro - 2/27/13 at 12:07pm

It actually is easier to rob a bank, but it's a federal offense and a manhunt will ensue, whereas robbing a house will be just another break in.

You are correct that there's no other media player/streamer service on the level of AirPlay, but Xbmc has been around for 10 years. Many people jb there ATVs just to have it. What exactly are they doing with it I cannot say.

1) How does being a federal crime and a nationwide manhunt make the idea "easier"?

2) How is swiping a bag of corn chips from 7-11 harder than robbing a bank vault?

One doesn't have to rob the vault. Robbing a teller is quite simple. Most guys just hand them a note, no guns blazing and tying everyone up. Plus it's easier to get away with. No federal agencies are going to go over a 7-11 with a fine tooth comb looking for evidence.

So how is it easier to write a threatening note, give it to a teller, have them give you the money, without alerting the police or giving you tracking or die packs than snatching a bag of chip?

I use XBMC often on Macs then use AirPlay to stream to AppleTV.

Now you're downgrading it to swiping a bag of chips versus robbing a home which you originally said. Tellers are instructed to just give up the cash, how many videos have you seen of convenience store robberies gone bad? Most bank robberies occur without incident and the people on line are usually unaware of what's going on until the robber is gone.

XBMC has been ported to the ARM based raspberry pi.  All it takes is $35 dollars of hardware and an SD card.

1) Downgrading? My original comment mentioned Fritos quite specifically. I meant a vault when I mentioned bank but since I didn't specify and your argument that a bag of corn chips was harder than stealing from a bank teller I went along with it. You even included reasons that support my argument as part of difficulty in stealing is planning on how you can reasonably get away with it.

2) And now you're implying that bank robberies occur without others knowing which means that stealing corn chips is therefore harder? You can't seriously believe something so idiotic.