[HH] hack your Samsung TV, Google sells Motorola's set-top-box business

[Tom Metro]

Kurt Keville wrote:
> Good catch, Tom... it's got VFP so there is hope for it!
> 
> From their wiki...
> 
> # cat /proc/cpuinfo
> Processor : ARMv6-compatible processor rev 7 (v6l)
> BogoMIPS : 599.65
> Features : swp half fastmult vfp edsp java

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARM_architecture#Floating-point_.28VFP.29

  VFP (Vector Floating Point) technology is an FPU coprocessor extension
  to the ARM architecture. It provides low-cost single-precision and
  double-precision floating-point computation fully compliant with the
  ANSI/IEEE Std 754-1985 Standard for Binary Floating-Point Arithmetic.
  VFP provides floating-point computation suitable for a wide spectrum
  of applications such as PDAs, smartphones, voice compression and
  decompression, three-dimensional graphics and digital audio, printers,
  set-top boxes, and automotive applications.

Ummm...ok, and how is that useful on your TV? Use for video
decompression? Play a 3D game on it?

Do you plan to cluster a bunch of TVs into a supercomputer? :-)

I'm still of the opinion that building "smarts" into a TV is a bad idea.
Your TV has a 3 to 5+ year usable lifespan. Your set-top-box has a 2 or
4 year lifespan. A smart TV is going to spend a good chunk of its time
permanently coupled to obsolete hardware and software.

These smarts also tend to be proprietary. This project was the first
mention I'd seen of one being hackable. (Though there are TVs running
Android, which will be semi-hackable.)


In other TV news...

Disappointing that Google chose to sell off Motorola's set-top-box
business, rather than infusing it with much needed new technology and
fresh ideas.

http://www.theverge.com/2012/12/7/3739546/google-motorola-cable-box-auction-wsj

Who knows...Google may still do something in this space, but just saw no
value in what Motorola had. Although you'd think they would still see
value in the established relationships that division had with the cable
cos. Of course if they plan to be the cable company (see Google Fiber),
who need a sales channel.

 -Tom