Android software in home management devices and remote controls?

San Francisco start-up Touch Revolution says well-known companies will introduce Android-powered household gadgets before year-end: home control devices, media control devices and home phones. The new devices look to capitalize on Android's strength as an open operating system with sophisticated communications features.

All will feature touch-screens in sizes ranging from 4.3 to 10 inches, support Android as an OS, and connect to web via wi-fi or Ethernet.

Depending upon purpose, these gadgets will contain bases (for perching on a desk or kitchen counter) or have a flat shape for handheld use or for embedding in a wall.

The home control devices are designed to talk to major household systems, such as lights, locks, security and heating/ventilation/air conditioning (HVAC). The media devices play a similar unifying role in home entertainment, letting users program their DVRs, remotely control their stereo systems, and view TV listings on the gadget's screen.

Touch Revolution also sees "smart phones for the home." These cordless phones, for indoors use only, will communicate via radio waves like typical home phones or through VoIP on wi-fi. All of these devices can be programmed to do even more. As Android devices, they will be able to access the same apps of Android cellphones (unless the companies limit that feature). Expect to see most of the products before the end of the year.

Why use Android at all? Partners like the OS's ease of use, openness and touch-centric features.It's also as a bargain since Google distributes it for free.

Though just 17 months old, Touch Revolution founder and CEO Mark Hamblin spent more than five years at Apple, rising to senior product design engineer working on both the iPhone and iPod touch.

Go Android in Home

Picturall Ltd. presented their Picturall Octo media server at Prolight + Sound in Frankfurt.

For multi-screen video installations, Picturall Octo can run eight DVI outputs from a single media server and use media resolutions beyond FullHD.

With a robust video engine with playback performance up to eight layers of Full HD video, Picturall Octo has a custom codec and built-in encoder for very high resolutions, up to 6144 x 2568.

It runs on Linux OS and is controllable via DMX, Artnet, serial, ethernet and Java-based control software

Go Picturall Octo Media Server

With Autonomic Controls, users can integrate Pandora to create and play their own Internet radio stations within a whole-house entertainment system.

Your customer can use an AMX touchscreen (or another home control) to "build" an Internet radio station based on an affinity towards an artist or group.

Pandora interface is part of Autonomic's entertainment platform, so users customize radio stations. The customer can "Wake Up" with lights on in the master bathroom and listen as his customized Pandora station draws down tunes from Dylan’s "Desire" album. Autonomic software lets users build Pandora radio stations based on anything with metadata.

In other Autonomic news at EHX, the company is launching its first hardware product, the ACMS (Autonomic Commercial Media Server). The ACMS features 7.1 audio and 12 additional music zones. Loaded with Autonomic's MCS media management software and a few additional features, it offers options for scheduling media as well system-wide synchronization.

"You can have master and slaves," says Autonomic's Michael Toscano. "You can put one in each hotel and just program one of them. They all sync up."

Go Autonomic Opens Pandora's Radio

HaiVision Systems (vendor of H.264 encoders and codec systems)merges with Video Furnace (IP video delivery) and they become HaiVision Network Video. Joe Gaucher, Video Furnace founder and HaiVision’s new CTO says the combined companies would “pave the way for the future of IP video delivery”.

The company will have a Montreal HQ with a Chicago R&D & Operations center. (In effect, their CEO is in Montreal and their CTO and CFO are in Chicago. So you can guess they’re very eager to make Video-over-IP as good as possible…)

HaiVision Network Video’s Peter Maag tells us, "For Europe, we have some great overlap between HV and VF, and some great compliments. Techex for example handles both in the UK, as do 3 or 4 other key partners. For a market perspective, the “weaving” of our businesses continues the amazing compliments we have with the exec and the engineering (h/w + s/w). VF is strong in enterprise and education. HV is strong in medical and broadcast contribution. All 4 markets are key to both, so now that we are merged we can cover these segments completely.

In Europe, HaiVision definitely has/had the more extensive channel, but both are in their relative infancy. HaiVision needed an end-to-end solution position in order to simplify our propositions and expand further. We had the best encoders and codecs, but had little software to bond these into a true “solution”. Now we have to most complete end-to-end position, I think, ever offered in the video over IP segment. And it focuses on H.264 and HD!!

Having merged only 2 weeks ago, we have already totally rolled up our efforts as a single company. I am pretty proud of how mature our sales and channels are. Everyone sees this as such a natural win-win-win-win (haivision-furnace-channels-clients) move and are incredibly supportive."

Go HaiVision Network Video

Barco’s FSN Series multi-format video production switcher is purpose-built for live switching at events, small broadcast installations, corporate and industrial installations and houses of worship. The FSN switcher seamlessly integrates SD-SDI, HD-SDI, and 3Gbps along with VGA and DVI computer resolutions in a powerful, flexible and economical package.

"Our customers asked us to develop a production switcher that could handle any signal they threw at it, including 3Gbps for 1080p," says Barco.

The FSN series combines advanced video switching functionality with the power of Barco’s image processing. The switcher provides a feature-rich, streamlined package that’s modular, easy to use, and above all, offers a control panel instantly familiar to operators in the production switcher community.

The first products shipping in the series are the FSN-150, a 1.5 Mix-Effect (M/E) control console, and the FSN-1400, the system’s 14-slot video processing chassis. The base configuration includes one 8-channel native input card (NIC) and one 2-channel universal input card (UIC) that accepts any video or computer format. The base system also includes the M/E output card that provides program, preset, clean-feed, and six native aux outputs. In addition to the two standard input cards, users can add up to five additional input cards for a maximum of 38 inputs.

Barco will continue to enhance this platform in the near future with additional cards to extend the switcher’s capabilities. Future releases will include a 2-channel 2D-DVE card, a 16-channel integrated multi-viewer card, a 2-channel universal output card, and an 8-channel native output card. The FSN-250, a larger, more powerful 2.5 M/E console, will also be released later in the year, providing access to additional M/E features.

"One important feature to emphasize is that the entire system is highly upgradeable," noted Deame. “Not only can customers add cards to expand their system’s capability and creativity, but the FSN-1400 frame runs both the FSN-150 and FSN-250 control panels. It’s an investment for the long term, with a high degree of flexibility built in.”

The FSN Series will be shown in the Barco booth (SL5008) at NAB in Las Vegas, April 20 through 23, at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

Go FSN Series

Avega (the Australian Company who developed the next-gen of audio wireless technology now being used by Cisco) will roll out a video wireless system that will stream HD content over a normal 802.11n wireless network without a set top box.

Avega Systems is now a US entity. With the development team still based in Sydney this start-up could become a major CE player in the wireless audio market after investments of $7 Million last year by Cisco Systems, JAFCO Asia and Technology Venture Partners

The core of the Avega offering is an 802.11n-based hardware platform and "skeleton" user interface that clients such as Cisco can customize. Other partners could offer different features, such as gesture recognition.

Go Avega Systems