Japanese Makers To Forge An Internet TV Standard 127
An anonymous reader writes "Five Japanese TV manufacturers will form a working group to hammer out technical specifications by October for
digital TVs with Internet access. They will develop a consumer electronics version of Linux to provide functions and performance required for digital products. The resulting source code will be made available through the General Public License procedure."
GPL procedure? (Score:5, Funny)
What procedure is that? The one where someone swipes some GPL code, tries to pass it off as proprietary, and has to be badgered and humiliated until they release the source or pull the product?
Re:GPL procedure? (Score:4, Funny)
Like when software companies give away their software because they... oh wait...
Re:GPL procedure? (Score:3, Funny)
That's a great use of GPL.
I guess the BIG question is; can the resulting boxes can be mod'ed to run Windows XP?
Re:GPL procedure? (Score:4, Insightful)
Yes it is. The GPL can only succeed where there is the opportunity for companies to make profits. This is how they pay those "programmers" who develop the code, that "only" works on their hardware, even tho it is now GPL now, and anyone can use it.
I understand that lots of people have a knee jerk reaction to a company making money using GPL to make money, but uh, that is the idea: make money selling the hardware and servicing the software. If you can't use GPL to make money, no one will want to use it. Really.
Re:GPL procedure? (Score:1)
I think somewhere in there is some truth, but the GPL was started by people who were trying to STOP you from making money off it, but to entice you to add to the pool of useful code, at least thats the impossible dream I had when I read it.
Read the GPL (Score:3, Insightful)
Thats swell. But you still have to eat.
I think somewhere in there is some truth, but the GPL was started by people who were trying to STOP you from making money off it, but to entice you to add to the pool of useful code, at least thats the
Re:GPL procedure? (Score:2)
Where are these "lots of people" because I sure as heck can't find them. Even RMS advocates making money from GPLd software. No knee jerks in sight.
Re:GPL procedure? (Score:2)
They are here on slashdot. You should know that. The ones that think GPL is a eutopia where the lion lies with the sheep. Check the other reply to my comment. The commies
There are a certain amount of socialists who post pretty regularly who put down capitalism and making money with GPL pretty regular here. Perhaps I just spend too much time reading
Screw eutopia, Im
Re:GPL procedure? (Score:2)
I've no gripe with what you said when you admit it's only a tiny percentage. I only had a problem when you claimed it was "lots of people". I think, and you agree, that it's a small number of people who are unfortunately very vocal.
Re:GPL procedure? (Score:2)
If I write a graphics driver for my VGA card based on GPL code and therefore release it under the GPL too does that make my graphics driver code useless?
What would be really amazing would be a mandatory standard hardware interface for home brew experimentation 8)
Re:GPL procedure? (Score:1)
Re:GPL procedure? (Score:2)
They GPL the code so that the bugs can be fixed by unpaid OSS volunteers, and then incoporated into V2...
Or am I just a cynic?
Re:GPL procedure? (Score:1)
IMHO, anything released initially under GPL AND protected by patent will never become a real standard. Why? Because unless Microsoft feel able to implement and integrate it most home PC users will not feel comfortable downloading it, and unless Microsoft creates an implementation it will h
Re:Might not be the best idea... (Score:2)
Oh yeah, as opposed to the USA [microsoft.com]. OK, so maybe you don't consider PCs or handhelds 'electronic devices' .. but hang on .. what electronic devices does the US make anyway? Hmm .. Sony, Samsung, Mitsubishi, Toshiba, Fujitsu, Nokia, Siemens, Motorola, LG, uh ... ??
Re:Might not be the best idea... (Score:2)
Hmm
Re:Might not be the best idea... (Score:2)
gee thanks (Score:1, Offtopic)
Re:Might not be the best idea... (Score:1)
Re:Might not be the best idea... (Score:2)
Hmm .. you're right. I was a bit asleep when I made that post :/ Probably should have thought it through a bit more clearly.
Re:Might not be the best idea... (Score:2)
--Joey
Wow . . . (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Wow . . . (Score:1, Funny)
Re:Wow . . . (Score:2, Funny)
definition of forge (Score:2)
from "Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)"
Hm.. the 1913 edition you say? (Score:1)
1. To commit forgery.
2. (Naut.) To move heavily and slowly, as a ship after the sails are furled; to work one's way, as one ship in outsailing another; -- used especially in the phrase to forge ahead. --Totten.
And off she [a ship] forged without a shock. --De Quincey.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]
Re:Hm.. the 1913 edition you say? (Score:1)
j-o-k-e
Re:Hm.. the 1913 edition you say? (Score:1)
{Joking}.]
To make merry with; to make jokes upon; to rally; to banter;
as, to joke a comrade.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]
Re:definition of forge (Score:1)
So, what it really comes down to, is that the 'NewsForge' website fabricates news stories.
I wonder if they all flunked that ethics course in J school, or just a few people at the top?
Could be a good thing... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Could be a good thing... (Score:4, Informative)
To build Opera 6 for iTV you need a development platform with the following characteristics:
One of the CPUs: x86, PPC 405, StrongArm or MIPS
Linux kernel version 2.4.x
Tool chain: gcc 3.2 and glibc 2.2.5
QT 2.3.2 (Trolltech's QT embedded or QT on X11) dynamically linked and multithreaded
On the target hardware at least 4 MB of Flash and 8 MB RAM available to Opera
Re:Could be a good thing... (Score:2)
Re:Could be a good thing... (Score:2)
Re:uh oh... (Score:2)
--Joey
When you forge you mean... (Score:2, Funny)
Or more like Dell's forged printer cartridge chip standard?
Enquiring minds want to know!
TV on ADSL powered by Linux (Score:5, Interesting)
pictures and technicals details (in french) on http://free.box.free.fr/ (it's an unofficial site)
Re:TV on ADSL powered by Linux (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:TV on ADSL powered by Linux (Score:2)
Do I understand it correctly?
30Euro/m just for the 400Euro box? Or is that including the services?
An average power consumption of 20W seems a little high for me.
Otherwise, woohoo... who says MIPS is dead
Oh, and the documentation includes a description, how to install Internet access with Linux, exemplary demonstrated with Debian 3.0 (Woody). (Besides the obligatory MacOS X and 9, and Windows)
Finally, be prepared to be bom
Re:TV on ADSL powered by Linux (Score:2)
Is that.. (Score:1)
Re:TV on ADSL powered by Linux (Score:1)
My f***ing 256/128 adsl is 45/mo
You french are REALLY odious.
BTW, is it very difficult to get the french nationality?
GPL? (Score:1)
Internet TV streams, eh? (Score:4, Insightful)
$ cat Farscape_4x22.mpg | vidcast -v -dtv dig_tv &
Woo.
FIVE DIFFERENT COMPANIES. (yay) (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:FIVE DIFFERENT COMPANIES. (yay) (Score:1)
Microsoft and XML.
Re:FIVE DIFFERENT COMPANIES. (yay) (Score:2, Informative)
Just Checking.
Re:FIVE DIFFERENT COMPANIES. (yay) (Score:2)
1986 - RCA acquired by GE. A year-and-a-half later, General Electric sold its RCA and GE consumer electronics business to Thomson.
1988 - Thomson completes purchase of RCA and GE consumer electronics businesses from General Electric, creating Thomson Consumer Electronics. Thus Thomson Grand Public became Thomson Consumer Electronics (TCE) with Pierre Garcin as Chairman.
Re:FIVE DIFFERENT COMPANIES. (yay) (Score:1)
Re:FIVE DIFFERENT COMPANIES. (yay) (Score:2)
And of course once they merged they proceeded to try to screw other technology developers such as Edwin Armstrong.
Re:FIVE DIFFERENT COMPANIES. (yay) (Score:1)
Re:FIVE DIFFERENT COMPANIES. (yay) (Score:1)
In general the difference is they have no interest in making standards. Proprietary is, in their eyes, often much more profitable.
On the other hand, Japanese corporations have taught
Re:FIVE DIFFERENT COMPANIES. (yay) (Score:2)
I remember GM and the companies that supported them did that to get a bunch of their IT vendors to conform to an interoperability standard. Anyone know of any others?
Re:FIVE DIFFERENT COMPANIES. (yay) (Score:2, Insightful)
In Capitalist America, companies control YOU!
next step (Score:5, Funny)
*salivating* (Score:1)
Forgive me, this kind of stuff just really excites me a lot :-)
Regards,
Internet TV will be easy for Japanese (Score:5, Interesting)
Hell, you can get free 64K ISDN through one of the many ISDN ISPs over there.
They have the infrastructure to support it. If you were using multicast or something like that, Internet TV could be very usable even at high bitrates.
Re:Internet TV will be easy for Japanese (Score:2)
PS: Facts from the CIA world factbook
Yeah. It's even worse over here in Australia (Score:2)
Welcome to the world of high latency "broadband".
Thankfully my exchange was upgraded to DSL and now I'm sitting pretty on a 512K connection.
Re:Yeah. It's even worse over here in Australia (Score:1)
Re:Yeah. It's even worse over here in Australia (Score:3, Informative)
If I was trying to play games online I know which one I'd pick!
Re:Yeah. It's even worse over here in Australia (Score:1)
Re:Yeah. It's even worse over here in Australia (Score:3, Informative)
If I was trying to play games online I know which one I'd pick!
I had satalite for several years (was one of the first customers) until less than a year ago, they put cable out here in the sticks.
I could get a 400 ping, if all i did was PING, but for online gaming, my EFFECTIVE ping was really about 800+. This holds true for other tests I had done as well.
Oh, and Hughes service sucks. Absolutely sucks. I had been on hold with them for over an hour, many tim
Re:Internet TV will be easy for Japanese (Score:1)
The answer to this lies in the fact that Americans don't want to use the internet, for whatever reasons. Therefore it is not as easily available.
Re:Internet TV will be easy for Japanese (Score:1)
I know that and that's why the US needs a better reason than population density as an excuse for their lack of high speed internet. That's the point I was trying to make.
Re:Internet TV will be easy for Japanese (Score:5, Informative)
Actually, most ADSL customers here have already gotten their free upgrade to 12mbps. And now a lot of people are moving to fiber: 100mbps for about US$30 a month. Note that fiber to the home is available even in rural areas like Fukui prefecture, so claims that this is due solely to higher population density are simply false--the incredible disparity is mostly the result of poor US legislation.
Re:Internet TV will be easy for Japanese (Score:1)
Which legislation do you have in mind?
Re:Internet TV will be easy for Japanese (Score:1)
The U.S. government's inaction in the face of a clear market failure has left the U.S. far behind Japan, South Korea, and a growing number of other nations. As a result there are new business opportunities in these countries that won't exist for a long time in the U.S., "Internet T
There is 100mbs availble in Japan (Score:1)
But recently I heard an ad for 12mbs DSL in Japan for 2000yen (around $18).
Bill Must be Flinching (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Bill Must be Flinching (Score:1)
Sure Windows enabled electronics. Just with small correction: X Windows.
What about the chinese? (Score:2)
Internet+TV just makes sense (Score:4, Interesting)
Right now, companies like AT&T are using the same cable to bring you CableTV, Broadband internet access, and Phone service (trying to break back into the local telco market). It's the same copper infrastructure, but the technology for all of these services on both sides on the wire are all different.
If a standard like this really catches on, and VOIP takes hold, we may see providers like AT&T doing it all over IP, which could really help everyone out, as well as push broadband speeds up a notch.
Re:Internet+TV just makes sense (Score:2, Informative)
TV over IP will be quite a while before it hits mainstream, just due to bitrates. MPEG-2 is still king (at least until MPEG-LA and MPEG-4 part 10 settle down), and it's 2-4Mbps per SD channel, 19Mbps for HD. Cable modems tend to max out at 6Mbps theoretical.
Re:Internet+TV just makes sense (Score:1)
This is even better for the the Bells since they have recently gotten the FCC to say they don't have to share any wires with other high speed providers. See this old slashdot [slashdot.org] article about the court case. I looked but do not see the reference to the recent FCC ruling. Presently DSL is growing faster than Cable. This type of digital TV might tip the balance back (with the cable folks using their better bandwidth), but it might not since the cable companies seem to be struggling to keep going, rather than to
In related news... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:In related news... (Score:1)
Coming soon... the atom bomb
Hollywood Limits.... (Score:2, Insightful)
As soon as someone figures out how to get these digital TVs to send shows from one TV to another (and from one home to another), Hollywood will do to this what it did to ReplayTV and SonicBlue... crush them with legal fees.
This is how VHS got started (Score:5, Interesting)
The only threats to this commoditization are the companies involved falling out with each other and Microsoft quickly poisoning the market for this commodity TV/Internet box. I wonder if Microsoft can handle this many threats to its business model (the Office monopoly cracking, the licensing schemes being rejected by its customers, etc.) at the same time?
The other home entertainment companies don't have much to worry about because they make their money from hardware, so they can just adopt this if it ever comes together. The other group to crap its collective pants is the cable industry. They fear the PVR already, and this gives the Baby Bells an easy road in for pay-per-view and other previously cable-only franchises.
If these Japanese companies can get it to market and adopted in Japan, this could be the beginning of something interesting.
Re:This is how VHS got started (Score:1)
Japanese Newspaper mentioned TRON too. (Score:4, Interesting)
Linux is on topic, but in the same time TRON-OS is also mentioned as a candidate of standard. There is another article that API of TRON OS could be merged into Monta Vista's Linux.
All thats left to do... (Score:1)
and then wait for microsoft to adopt it, change the standard, and then take away the patent from Amazon and sue any japanese businesses using it
Ummmmm... (Score:1)
Re:Ummmmm... (Score:1)
And this is different? (Score:1)
Dan East
Who cares? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Who cares? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Who cares? (Score:2)
Great. Now I'll never get to watch what I want... (Score:1, Redundant)
Outstanding idea! (Score:1)
Hmm... (Score:1)
-uso.
Will that standard include... (Score:1)