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Firefox OS for TV: UX Overview

blog.mozilla.org

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Re: Firefox OS for TV: UX Overview

#61

Post by jbk »

mikeryan wrote: post #39
jbk wrote: post #33

First, I fail to see the difference with the UX of the other smart TVs. But mostly, as it is still Firefox OS, I don't see how people will be able to do cool multimedia applications, without access to native code and threads. Implementing DLNA, SMB, AFP shares, listening to network devices, hardware decoding, perfect audio/video synchronization requires threads and probably native code. Limiting to HTML5 videos is go…

Limiting to HTML5 videos is going to be a very light. Or they will re-implement all the media center and multimedia code themselves, supporting all codecs and formats (and subtitles)? Generally on Smart TV's the video decoding isn't handled by the browser/render, instead handled by the underlying media player and hardware decoder. Pretty much all the TVs (Samsung, LG etc) use HTML5 video with much wider support for c…

All the TVs are moving to native SDKs, in order to have good games and good multimedia apps. This is true of Samsung, Sony and LG. Games on Firefox OS are a joke.

If you want extra codecs, media players or media center, you need to write them in native.

Re: Firefox OS for TV: UX Overview

#62

Post by leppr »

dangrossman wrote: post #42
martingordon wrote: post #2

I hope someone can save us from the "grid of icons" UI that pervades set-top boxes. The grid works fine for handheld/desktop applications where access is non-sequential, but when we're using just directional arrows, that's a lot of tedious button pressing. Traditional TV service has the advantage of shortcuts by way of being able to jump to a channel directly using the number pad, but the top set-top boxes don't have…

Samsung and LG smart TVs both come with what's essentially a Wiimote as a remote control. It's a motion sensor that controls a pointer on the screen like a mouse. http://i.imgur.com/XEn3vBk.jpg Note the overlay over the TV image, and the salmon colored pointer near the vudu icon. No grid and no directional arrows.

Looking at the image and assuming a similar level of precision as the Wiimote, it looks like it would be hard to quickly land your cursor on the right 'ribbon' and I would much rather have a grid with big, easy to click on tiles.

On the other hand that stylish ribbon design looks like it would work well with directional arrows, 1 right for Netflix, 2 left for CinemaNow, quickly gets into your muscle memory.

Re: Firefox OS for TV: UX Overview

#63

Post by yellowapple »

What's the feasibility of getting this variety of Firefox OS / B2G running directly on real hardware either now or in the near future? Ubuntu for TVs ended up being miscarried because Canonical didn't provide anything prospective hardware developers could easily download, build, and deploy to prototype hardware (and end users / software developers couldn't do the same with COTS hardware), and it would be a shame if the same happened to this for the same exact reasons. It looks like there's already the ability to run it in an emulator (with some custom make flags for Gaia), which is a start, but the ability to, say, pack this into an ISO or USB image and boot it on an ordinary HTPC would make for a really compelling home media platform and probably drive implementation rather significantly (rather unlike what happened to the TV variant of Ubuntu).

Re: Firefox OS for TV: UX Overview

#64

Post by yellowapple »

What's the feasibility of getting this variety of Firefox OS / B2G running directly on real hardware either now or in the near future? Ubuntu for TVs ended up being miscarried because Canonical didn't provide anything prospective hardware developers could easily download, build, and deploy to prototype hardware (and end users / software developers couldn't do the same with COTS hardware), and it would be a shame if the same happened to this for the same exact reasons. It looks like there's already the ability to run it in an emulator (with some custom make flags for Gaia), which is a start, but the ability to, say, pack this into an ISO or USB image and boot it on an ordinary HTPC would make for a really compelling home media platform and probably drive implementation rather significantly (rather unlike what happened to the TV variant of Ubuntu).

Re: Firefox OS for TV: UX Overview

#65

Post by yellowapple »

mikeryan wrote: post #40
martingordon wrote: post #2

I hope someone can save us from the "grid of icons" UI that pervades set-top boxes. The grid works fine for handheld/desktop applications where access is non-sequential, but when we're using just directional arrows, that's a lot of tedious button pressing. Traditional TV service has the advantage of shortcuts by way of being able to jump to a channel directly using the number pad, but the top set-top boxes don't have…

Its not the lack of number pads, its the lack of "numbers" for the content.

It's both, really.

I personally use a wireless mouse with a trackball on the PC running my living room TV (Slackware, XBMC); previously some generic Chinese handheld, but now I use a Logitech M570 (which is what I also use on most of my desktops). Works much better than having to mash directional buttons all the time.

Re: Firefox OS for TV: UX Overview

#66

Post by yellowapple »

darklajid wrote: post #28
the_mitsuhiko wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I really wish the trend was TVs becoming less smart How so? Ever since I switched to a Smart TV I pretty much removed all other boxes that were standing around. My Samsung solves all the problems I had separate boxes for before. The only thing that is still connected is a PS4.

I post that in most discussions about smart tvs. I have one, connected it to the internet once, disconnected it and did a firmware reset. Never again. That particular thing - a Samsung, mind you - installs adware/crapware/shit when you first connect it. We can argue about the featureset in general and if the 'smart' part is usable in general (I .. don't think so), but it is especially annoying if you look at the devi…

Is this a new thing? I helped setup a Samsung Smart TV for my grandparents a couple years back and there wasn't any such adware/crapware installed. To my knowledge, this remains the case even after I did a firmware update a couple weeks ago (though the "Smart Hub" has been a bit buggier lately).

Re: Firefox OS for TV: UX Overview

#67

Post by yellowapple »

spyder wrote: post #59
wlesieutre wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, if reasonably priced monitors in the 30-60" range existed, I'd take them over a smart TV. As far as I can find, they don't.

There are a few: http://www.newegg.com/Large-Format-Displays/SubCategory/ID-6...

Jesus; quite a few of those monitors are bigger than my living room TV.

Re: Firefox OS for TV: UX Overview

#68

Post by wlesieutre »

spyder wrote: post #59
wlesieutre wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, if reasonably priced monitors in the 30-60" range existed, I'd take them over a smart TV. As far as I can find, they don't.

There are a few: http://www.newegg.com/Large-Format-Displays/SubCategory/ID-6...

Huh, thanks! A bit more expensive than a bottom-end TV still, but worth checking on when I replace mine! Since all I use it for is a Roku and occasionally as a screen for my PC, I'd be happy to do away with all the extraneous stuff like a giant remote and all the TV channel related buttons.

Re: Firefox OS for TV: UX Overview

#69

Post by darklajid »

yellowapple wrote: post #66
darklajid wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I post that in most discussions about smart tvs. I have one, connected it to the internet once, disconnected it and did a firmware reset. Never again. That particular thing - a Samsung, mind you - installs adware/crapware/shit when you first connect it. We can argue about the featureset in general and if the 'smart' part is usable in general (I .. don't think so), but it is especially annoying if you look at the devi…

Is this a new thing? I helped setup a Samsung Smart TV for my grandparents a couple years back and there wasn't any such adware/crapware installed. To my knowledge, this remains the case even after I did a firmware update a couple weeks ago (though the "Smart Hub" has been a bit buggier lately).

Nah, happened about 2 years ago. That's how old the device is.

I understand/guess that this is a regional thing (Germany here). No clue WHY Samsung things it can sell out their customers like that, but all of the "content" was German crap.

Re: Firefox OS for TV: UX Overview

#70

Post by Caspy7 »

jdboyd wrote: post #55
listic wrote: post #49

I wonder if Mozilla is in communication with Matchstick.tv developers? http://www.matchstick.tv/ https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/matchstick/matchstick-t... Matchstick developers have gathered quite a lot of support for their croudfunding campaign, by promising an open software and hardware TV streaming stick due this February, and for a low price ($16+). Then, come February, they pissed off the vast majority of…

Their backers may not have asked for DRM support, but they did ask for supporting services that require DRM, such as Netflix. I participated in the kickstarter. What I am interested in is less a physical product and more an open platform, but I suspect we won't actually be getting that.

The DRM is being implemented via EME which is a sandboxed* plugin that's invoked by the app. If you don't use it you don't get it. There is no monitoring or reaching into other parts of the app or OS. Firefox (the desktop browser) allows you to disable the EME (which also deletes the plugin). This would be expected behavior on Firefox OS as well.

You seemed to indicate that the DRM addition would make it not an open platform so though I'd share that as it still seems like a potentially positive situation.

*at least in Firefox

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