answered
2013-12-25 02:11:05 +0200
###There are two possible usage scenarios to this:
Presenter mode:
The user, let's say Joe wants to show the audience something be it a
professional presentation, or his vacation photos. He wants a curated
view to reach the audience. That means that he should be able to read
his notes while presenting, or skip embarrassing photos, or seek into
a video while users still see other photos or videos.
Media control mode
Joe just wants to play music on the big speakers or watch a movie.
Full blown controls like equalizer, subtitles syncing or multiple audio
tracks should be available on demand. A full file manager with smb
support, cloud services, DLNA etc are required, and the resulting media
file should be streamed directly to the dongle. None of these technologies
are mature enough today to provide a stress free experience so the more
supported technologies the more chances is that Joe will be able to play
his media without having to get up and go to his PC.
###I use a full fledged computer for my multimedia uses and I have the following functionality
I assume this the basic stuff for any dongle to be a nice home media center
PC as DLNA renderer so that I can play music from any DLNA storage to the
big speakers. This allows me to use the phone either as pure remote (choose
media already on the pc to be played) or as a provider (choose media on the
phone to be played)
PC as a youtube remote. I think of a song and I want to listen to it without
having to go to the PC. I find the song on my phone and push the URL to the
PC via custom sharing plugin. The PC opens a firefox window with that url and plays
back.
Mobile as PC keyboard. While watching, some times I need to search a movie
on IMDB or find subtitles. Using an app I send keystrokes to the pc via phone
so that I don't have to have a dedicated pc keyboard on the couch. It should be
possible to connect more than one phones to the multimedia pc at the same time
e-radio control. I can start any e-radio on the multimedia pc,
but I'd like to be able view song and other information on the phone.
Alarm clock. I can set an alarm clock for a specific time and it wakes me up
by fading in my favorite radio station.
Additionally I'd like to have
- Phone mirroring
- FM radio control
- Tight integration. Right now I am using all kinds of different apps and custom made scripts for this to work, and not everything works always as expected.
###Notes
The user interface of a multimedia computer does not need to emulate a TV. The classic computer user interface, with a touchpad or phone as controller is almost perfect for the usecase. It provides the possibility to browse the internet properly, it allows all kinds of web video and casual games to be played easily, and enjoyed by many people. It also allows fine-grained control of viewing experience relative to the current conditions, like equalisers, dynamic range compression, video filters etc.
All the technology for the above is there, but it requires a pretty good integration and lots of glue. People do not realize how fun it is to have a multimedia center at home and because of the nature of the activity (relax and listen/watch) refuse to do extra work to have a better setup, so they use tinny speakers or tiny screens to watch something when the TV and HiFi is a few feet away. If somebody provides that ease of use and the ability to connect everything in a way that works it will be loved.
I'd prefer direct wifi for smart-TVs (samsung-link) and MHL for everything else.
chemist ( 2013-12-24 21:07:54 +0200 )editTo take advantage of the voting system, we should write a single proposal into a single answer and keep commenting under these topics. Not like I did previously, when I commented previous post and proposed my own subject.
sjtoik ( 2013-12-25 15:27:47 +0200 )editPlayTo all formats to anything by any support communication (bluetooth, WiFi, WiDi, AirPlay, MiraCast, NFC, etc..) replace Android by SailfishOS on Cubox-i from SolidRun i.MX 6 Series Processor (Arm9 Cortex A9) So i have SD card with ready to use SailfishOS
redge73 ( 2013-12-29 22:34:22 +0200 )editWill the soon to be available firefox HDMI stick be something that will work with Jolla??
https://gigaom.com/2014/06/20/this-firefox-os-powered-streaming-stick-is-mozillas-answer-to-chromecast-exclusive-video/
ApB ( 2014-06-23 22:27:45 +0200 )edit