The state of Google TV Hacking

Regarding Video Chat, the Revue only supported a new Logitech TV Cam. Is there any way to support other webcams as well?

 

It's not a Jabber chat server, it's XMPP based. You can sniff the packets using Wireshark or other protocol analyzers.

 

I was wondering this myself but for the GTV, which webcams are supported if any for the Sony GTV?

 

The android 3.1 code for Google TV doesn't support webcams - however the manufacturers of GTV hardware can (at their option) include webcam compatibility with their add-ons. This is why the special Revue GTV webcam comes with it's own drivers. The other webcams won't work because they don't have the necessary drivers. I don't believe Sony supports a GTV webcam.

 

I fixed your statement there, buddy. The point of a device driver is to allow the operating system to communicate with the respective device. That's why discs are usually included with peripherals for the computer. However, for the Logitech Revue the drivers for the TV Cam are included in the Revue's operating system. That's why it is currently the only Google TV device that can support teleconferencing.

Incidentally, when you plug a USB device in to a computer or a Revue it identifies itself through its Hardware ID. The Hardware ID has two major piece of information Vendor ID (VID) and the Product ID (PID). These two numbers identify the manufacturer and the product connected to the USB bus. The computer will try to match the Hardware IDs with the appropriate drivers and will load the respective drivers if it finds a match.

So, theoretically, if someone has a QuickCam Pro 3000 they might be able to use it with the Revue. Provided the driver is actually compatible.

 

In case anyone is wondering why the Logitech TV Cam for Google TV and Skype are so expensive; its because they have a built-in processor. Logitech specifically designed these cams to be used with devices that have a low performance processor. The processors inside the cams will offload CPU utilization by performing the H.264 encoding, so that the main device does not have to use all of its resources supporting the cam itself.

These processors aren't necessary for computers due to the robust performance of modern processors. That's why Logitech's other webcams are so much less expensive than the TV Cam.

 

The $199 bundled Logitech pricing (Revue + HD Cam) is very reasonable, but with Logitech's recent announcement, I worry about the duration of support within the Logitech HD Vid service for the Revue. I also worry about inventory to purchase additional bundles since the HD Vid service is a closed system at this point.

Resolution could be either a new 3.1 App to allow the Logitech Camera and Revue to work with other services (Google/Skype/etc) or creating a hack to allow a non Logitech web cam (with onboard H.264 video processing) to replace the Logitech camera.

IMO there is a good sized potential market for cheap telepresence ($200 + monitor) in the business community. GTV Revue looked to be such a solution until the recent announcement.

 

I wouldn't be too worried about the support of the Logitech HD ViD service in general though, since that service is being distributed with every single Logitech Web Cam. The software for the computer counterpart is also freely distributed on the Logitech HD ViD website and is compatible third-party cameras.

As for third-party compatibility of the Logitech TV Cam on the Revue, I still believe the best results would for the developer to create a formal partnership with Logitech to make their software compatible. There is no reason to be sneaky about it and it wouldn't demonstrate proper business etiquette. As still remains to be that the Logitech Revue is still the only Google TV device with the drivers and software necessary to support videoconferencing. Not even Sony implemented hardware compatibility with their Sony Webcam for TV for any of their Google TV products.

 

$149.00 revue/camera bundle at BestBuy according to this thread:


hXXp://forums.logitech.com/t5/Revue/New-Logitech-Revue-model/td-p/729588


EDIT: Actually........ maybe i'm mis-reading that thread. $105 for the revue/camera bundle

 

I believe you misread my post in that thread. The Revue + TV Cam Bundle is being sold for $105. The standalone TV Cams (next to them) were are being sold for $149. Also, this is already being discussed on this forum in this thread: http://www.googletvforum.org/forum/...revue-you-might-want-wait-until-holidays.html

 

Thanks for clearing that up. I'm about ready to head down to BB in the next 30 mins.
The Christmas idea .....i'm stealing

 

I am not quite familiar with how things work around with this but I am quite sure that with every advantage it poses for those who would eventually do the hack (though I would not likely consider it as an advantage as well considering what the developers are thinking of actually doing it).

But as with rooting an android phone, I would most likely be doing just that with my own setup.

 

I had read that with rooted android phones Google does not allow movie rentals from the android market.

 

I just got an update notice for this topic? Anyone know what's up with that?

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