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+--- Thread: Port XBMC to Android OS so that it can run on Google TV based platforms and such? (/showthread.php?tid=134031)
- davilla - 2011-08-29
SpenZerX Wrote:I think next year this devices will flood the markets with low prices. And they will be based on Android. So its best to start from scratch with an XBMC for Android. Split it in 3 or more APPS for movies, music, pictures, TV ... with nice widgets and modern touch user interface (somthing like Youtube on Honeycomp). Than Mobile Phones, Tablets (sales will rise!), TV-Mediaplayer running android can enjoy the new XBMC.
SpenZerX
Dream on, not a chance in hell that xbmc will be split up into separate apps.
- topfs2 - 2011-08-29
davilla Wrote:Dream on, not a chance in hell that xbmc will be split up into separate apps.
+1. And if propose to start from scratch then you might aswell start new applications instead.
- DuMbGuM - 2011-08-29
SpenZerX Wrote:So its best to start from scratch with an XBMC for Android. Split it in 3 or more APPS for movies, music, pictures, TV ... with nice widgets and modern touch user interface
Very reasonable, certainly not asking too much of the devs there anyway..
Would love to see XBMC on Android devices but for now at least the atv2 fits the bill pretty well, development is moving along nicely and it is even a similar price to the Revue, which is pretty low. I wanted to buy that unit instead of the atv2 mainly because I despised the jailbreak process from when I had an iPhone, but also in hopes XBMC might be ported to it (even just for that lovely keyboard), but you have to go with whats available..
Still good to know that an Android version may indeed be possible at some point, right now I'm happy enough to wait for VLC for Android to hit my Desire HD which should be soon. :p
- magwe - 2011-09-06
I don't know if people following this thread have read this thread. Even if it doesn't solve porting XBMC to Android it could solve porting the XBMC experience. This solution would even give you a consistent library and UI shared between your tablet, TV etc..
- VeeV - 2011-09-22
Topfs2, are you sharing your work somewhere for us who want to help to use as a starting point? Is someone taking the ownership on the Android port or it it just free style? I've plenty of free time and I'll be happy to help. I might just need a bit of help and someone pointing me into the right direction, don't know realy where to start.
- HwyXingFrog - 2011-09-26
Once that Android market is available on Google TV devices (Logitech Revue, etc), and there is an SDK available, then that is when this thread and feature can actually be worthwhile.
This could possibly happen when Android Ice Cream Sandwich is released.
It would be awesome to have XBMC run as an app on GoogleTV (I'm assuming similar to how it does in iOS, I don't own an iOS device myself to know).
The reason I'm intrigued by this is for two reasons.
1) GoogleTV is planning on getting embedded directly into more TV's in the future, which if XBMC would be available as app, we wouldn't even need an external device
2) New tablets with the capabilites would be great for running XBMC (Again like the iOS version for the iPad)
Currently there are a lot of things preventing this from happening in the short term.
- lack of Android hardware for developers (a lot of developers have iOS devices, and an ATV2 for $99 is tempting for me)
- lack of a specific standard hardware for all android devices (that's where iOS has all it's advantage)
- lack of an SDK for GoogleTV, and not having the Source for Honeycomb released
I'm hoping Ice Cream Sandwich and more devices with GoogleTV will help us get towards having an XBMC App for android.
- tobi11 - 2011-09-26
Google TV SDK is available here.
But the Native Development Kit is not supported, which is a prerequisite for XBMC.
- HwyXingFrog - 2011-09-26
My bad, that's what I meant, NDK.
- haden - 2011-09-30
davilla Wrote:Dream on, not a chance in hell that xbmc will be split up into separate apps.
I use XBMC on XBOX since the first hour, currently I am using ATv2.
But, always seeking the simplest solution I have found a hardware invasion of set top boxes based on Android 2.2. The hardware platform is full HD, the remote has mouse functionality similar to the Wii, very usable. These set-top boxes are relatively cheap, price around 99 euros (I am in EU). I suppose it is time to consider a port of XBMC on Android. Of course as a single application (I agree with Davilla)
- zoetap - 2011-10-01
About needing a custom ROM for XBMC would CyanogenMod be a suitable candidate if you could get the backing from it's developers ?
It is supported on a good number of devices already and if you had to flash a custom ROM it may as well be CyanogenMod given it's popularity.
Rockchip 2918 based devices cheap enough to make XBMC for Android port worth while? - RockerC - 2011-10-17
I think I might have stumbled onto a 1080p capable hardware platform that might make an Android port of XBMC worth while.
DealExtreme.com now sells this "1080p Full HD Android 2.3 Network Media Player" box for only $115 US-dollars with free worldwide shipping
http://www.dealextreme.com/p/1080p-full-hd-android-2-3-network-media-player-w-3-x-usb-sd-hdmi-wifi-lan-ypbpr-av-out-optical-101713
could possible be found much cheaper elsewhere like eBay or China import, just google "Android TV Rockchip RK2918" to find other sites like
http://www.chinashop-easy.com/products-wholesale-cheap-2398-Android+TV+Google+TV+Rockchip+RK2918+.html
These boxes may look different outside but all uses Rockchip RK2918 SoC, checkout the hardware specification on Rockchip's website
http://www.rock-chips.com/product.php?id=78&width=830&height=500
http://www.32bitmicro.com/component/content/article/423-rokchip/835-rk2918-rockchip-rk29xx-cortex-a8-soc
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockchip
Rockchip Android TV Box at Hong Kong Fair 2011
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLcA1AHzkLQ
To summarize, this Rockchip RK2918 SoC package contains a ARM Cortex A8 Single Core processor capable of running up to 1.2Ghz, with 3D GPU hardware graphics using Vivante GC800 that claims to do up to 57 million triangles per second and full OpenGL ES 2.0 and be fast enough to smoothly run all the latest Android 3D games.
The above "Android TV" box uses Rockchip 2918 chipset and 512MB DDR II RAM with 2GB built-in flash memory and supports USB mobile HDD up to 1TB, or SD card up to 32GB.
Other features of this Rockchip Android TV box hardware package include
- Neon co-processor and 512kb Cache
- 2D/3D graphic processor (GPU), supports OpenGL ES 2.0/1.1, OpenVG 1.1, DirectFB, GDI/DirectDraw, Flash Graphics Processing Unit, 60M tri/s at most.
- H.264, VP8, RV, WMV, AVS, H.263, MPEG4, WebM VP8, and more 1080p video decode
- HDMI V1.3, supports resolution up to 1920 x 1080
- 3 x USB + LAN + AV-Out + YPbPr + HDMI + Optical + SD
- LAN and WiFi 802.11b/g
- Supports 2.4GHz wireless mouse/keyboard (3 meters operation range)
- 1 x Remote control (2 x CR2035 battery/included)
- 1 x AV cable (139cm)
- 1 x HDMI cable (140cm)
- 1 x Audio cable (106cm)
Vivante GC800 GPU
http://www.vivantecorp.com/GC-Series.html
http://www.chipestimate.com/ip.php?id=18719
"Rockchip claims that their RK2918 processor has a better performance than the Samsung Hummingbird in the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7″, Samsung Galaxy S1 and that it’s also faster than the Apple A4 in iPad1 and iPhone4"
As for very cheap tablets based on the same Rockchip 2918 SoC checkout ranges from no-name, to N5Zero, and the newest Archos Arnova 8, also many more
http://www.dealextreme.com/p/7-capacitive-touch-lcd-android-2-3-tablet-pc-w-wi-fi-agps-usb-host-hdmi-4gb-rockchip-rk2918-73312
http://armdevices.net/category/chip-provider/rockchip/
http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/26/archos-arnova-8-and-10-tablets-hit-the-bargain-bin-video/
http://www.alibaba.com/showroom/rockchip-2918.html
If XBMC could be ported to Android and run on these devices then could it contend with the Apple TV 2 and other iOS platforms for XBMC users?
If can be ported to Android yet then perhaps we could just run Linux on any of the these Rockchip 2918 devices?
- RockerC - 2011-10-17
EDIT: Ops, duplicate, please delete this post only
- SlyMaelstrom - 2011-10-20
I know what makes an android port worth it... IceLibrary. This alone has made XBMC a very useful tool with absolutely zero local content. I'd love to have XBMC on a tablet or a phone that simply uses IceLibrary to fill in all of its content.
- anonymlol - 2011-10-21
Google TV add-on for the Android SDK (final)
Market for Google TV coming soon
Apps for Google TV (Youtube Clip)
- phat - 2011-10-24
I actually have a prototype RK2918 STB device from a Chinese manufacturer and RockChip themselves. It's running a version of Android 2.3 that's from a tablet.
I'm not an engineer, but I can connect XBMC dev's to the right people who I'm sure can get them info and hardware to help with the porting.
It's a really nice device and I would love to have XBMC on it.