9 ms·

Matchstick Brings Firefox OS to Your HDTV

137 points by bpierre 12y ago

lvillani 12y ago
Does anybody know what video codecs are supported?
- thallian 12y ago
  have a look here: http://www.matchstick.tv/developers/documents/supported-media.html http://www.matchstick.tv/developers/documents/supported-medi...
  - lvillani 12y ago
    Thanks! I didn't see it the first time I skimmed through the docs.
  - cyborgx7 12y ago
    No Theora, FLAC, or Opus? Wierd.
    - deleted 12y ago
      [deleted]
    - ZeroGravitas 12y ago
      Flac is listed (under audio container rather than codec, but since it's alongside APE, so the only reasonable interpretation is that they support those codecs). This seems to be a copy-pasted list of what the chipset supports. Opus is new enough to not really be on those kind of spec sheets, and as an audio codec shouldn't really trouble something with the specs of this. Theora can probably also be done in software, but generally there's no reason to use it these days over VP8.
ireflect 12y ago
Can anyone speculate on how WebGL will perform on this device? I am not familiar with the hardware or the current state of B2G/FirefoxOS, but have some ideas for music visualizers and interactive artwork that I'd love to port to this device.
hobs 12y ago
Well crap, I was signing up on the kickstarter and someone beat me to one of the last 10 dev units.
- jonesetc 12y ago
  I'd be willing to bet that they'll add more soon.
- sandGorgon 12y ago
  Same here. I hope they put up more devkits.
- daveloyall 12y ago
  Sorry! :)
- kumar303 12y ago
  I signed up for a dev unit but the "early prototype" part makes me think it won't work all that well ;) We'll see.
  - rasz_pl 12y ago
    RK3066 is an old battle tested design, there is nothing special about cheap hdmi sticks build around this SoC.
dublinben 12y ago
I would love to see this take off. I haven't bought a Chromecast because I don't use Chrome. I'd love a way to point my TV at arbitrary multimedia streams using any device I happen to have.
- pbreit 12y ago
  You don't have to use chrome.
  - Kudos 12y ago
    Yeah, Youtube, Netflix and Plex apps on Android and iOS all support it. And that's just to name a few.
- dmritard96 12y ago
  I will probably get one of these but thought I would point out that chromecast does allow you to do this assuming the app has integrated chromecast streaming. It is lame that its not a driver level integration in some lights but that would come with some issues around power. Doing it higher level allows for a nice handoff so that my phone isn't the middle man for hd data from netflix to my tv.
eli 12y ago
I'm definitely interested but saying it "has arrived" is premature. It's still in preproduction and the kickstarter says they're targeting February.
- Kudos 12y ago
  November for a limited run of dev kits.
guyzero 12y ago
It's going to be hard to get support from major apps without DRM support.
- callahad 12y ago
  (Edit: I don't know if this necessarily applies to Matchstick, or what Mozilla's relationship to Matchstick even is, but the following does apply to Firefox itself.) Mozilla is building an open-source sandbox for HTML5 Encrypted Media Extensions, and is working with Adobe to build a Content Decryption Module that will run inside that sandbox. This will allow Firefox users, if they choose, to consume DRM'd content, while also limiting the power of the DRM'd black box, ensuring that it can't fingerprint or run amok on user systems. More details: https://hacks.mozilla.org/2014/05/reconciling-mozillas-mission-and-w3c-eme/ https://hacks.mozilla.org/2014/05/reconciling-mozillas-missi... https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/2014/05/14/drm-and-the-challenge-of-serving-users/ https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/2014/05/14/drm-and-the-challen... http://www.html5rocks.com/en/tutorials/eme/basics/ http://www.html5rocks.com/en/tutorials/eme/basics/
daveloyall 12y ago
They politely limit participation to serious devs with this field on the form: "I have an existing HTML5 app that I will port to Firefox OS for Matchstick" with only one option: Yes. Well, I could certainly edit the DOM and fill in my own answer >:) but I don't have an HTML5 web app. Fortunately, the same equipment seems to be available via their kickstarter for $24. What the heck is this? http://www.matchstick.tv/developers/hardware-apply-check.html http://www.matchstick.tv/developers/hardware-apply-check.htm... An EULA?
- ajb 12y ago
  "you hereby agree to be bound by Matchstick’s mandatory and automatic software upgrade mechanism to upgrade the trial version of the SDK to the production version of the SDK" That's unusually peremptory for mozilla. I don't get why it's necessary, either.
  - j_s 12y ago
    This is not a Mozilla project; it is an embedded device using Mozilla's Firefox OS.
    - ajb 12y ago
      Thanks; you're right, I missed that.
- daveloyall 12y ago
  "You may not decompile, reverse engineer, disassemble, attempt to derive the source code of any software or software components of the Matchstick software including the Matchstick SDK software." ...said the makers of a supposedly open software/hardware device. The Free Software movement needs a mechanism for dealing with heretics. I propose a holiday. Let's call it "Punch Free-software/hardware Posers in the Face Day". The inaugural event should be held on 9/30/2016. More than enough time for everyone to get the memo. Then if they get punched, it's their fault.
  - 12y ago
antihero 12y ago
Does this mean we will be able to get around the codec limits that a device like Chromecast has?
listic 12y ago
What is the release schedule of Firefox OS, anyway? I keep searching for Firefox OS releases periodically, but the news keep coming up only on obscure non-English language blogs. I can Google-translate, but shouldn't the press releases, like, be announced in English, too, and make waves around the internet? According to https://wiki.mozilla.org/Release_Management/B2G_Landing https://wiki.mozilla.org/Release_Management/B2G_Landing the 2.0 reached "Code Complete" on September, 1, 2014. Does it mean that it has been released on that date? If not, then when?
- fabrice_d 12y ago
  Code Complete means that the work is mostly done on Mozilla side on this release (we still fix/backport some blockers that are found late in the testing cycle). Then OEMs have their own shipping schedule so it takes some time before you end up with devices sold or updated to this release.
  - listic 12y ago
    Is Code Complete the planned or actual date when Firefox OS reaches this stage? I didn't see any news regarding 2.0 around September, 1. Is the release model significantly different from Android, where Google publicly announces the release of each version, even if it will still take some time for phone manufacturers to incorporate this version into their releases?
- kumar303 12y ago
  No commercial Firefox OS devices are shipping in any English speaking country. It looks like you're finding community blog posts probably clustered around launch countries. Anyway, press releases are always announced in English here: https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/category/press-releases/ https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/category/press-releases/
  - listic 12y ago
    Sure. But isn't it up to Mozilla, rather than its partners, to announce the release of their Firefox OS? I can see no release announcements in this blog, either.
untilHellbanned 12y ago
Make sure to watch to the end of the Kickstarter promo video, hilarious! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2040419302/matchstick-the-streaming-stick-built-on-firefox-os https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2040419302/matchstick-t...
- agumonkey 12y ago
  That was unexpected. I hope the product will be as "good".
StanAngeloff 12y ago
This looks promising and is certainly needed in a market dominated by a $30 Chromecast. I do wonder about the quality of it all - as a Flame reference device owner I know first hand how immature Firefox OS is (dropped calls, random reboots, missing basic everyday functionality). Isn't the platform too young to go beyond phones?
- nnethercote 12y ago
  FWIW, I use a Flame as my day-to-day phone and I haven't had any problems with dropped calls or random reboots or other bad behaviour. It's a fairly solid phone, in my experience. (I'm not saying your aren't having these problems; I'm just saying that not everyone has these problems.)
  - StanAngeloff 12y ago
    The Flame is my day-to-day phone as well. I got it a few weeks back and was very stoked to try it out. The phone came with Firefox 1.3 installed and it had quite a few issues -- not logging missed calls, multitasking view not working, slow browser speeds. I blogged about my experience and got a Twitter reply [1] from a Mozillian to give Firefox OS 2.1 a spin. A couple of days later I flashed the 2.1 image on the phone and, unfortunately, it created more problems than it solved. The dialer will randomly lock up not allowing you to call a number, on incoming calls the slider will not react and you can't answer, quite often with no usage at all the phone will reboot out of the blue. Overall 2.1 and 2.2 and very unstable and appear to improve on visuals only. I.e., you get more polish, but a less usable phone. Hence why Firefox OS may be too young to move beyond the phone. They should focus more on testing and stability in order to have a reliable foundation to build upon. [1]: https://twitter.com/asadotzler/status/506516018961719296 https://twitter.com/asadotzler/status/506516018961719296
ruexp67 12y ago
Hi.. I am not a very technical guy, (so I'm up for any opinions from you techno guys), but from what I've read about Matchstick, google chrome, apple TV, Intel TV etc is that none of them seem to be able to offer up the content people are expecting these day (what they are used to getting from the various cable-satillite monopolies including live TV channels. Triniti Comm seems to be offering a great solution to high cable costs without sacrificing any content. In fact they are claiming that they can offer up to 470 channels including all the pay TV channels like HBO and Netflix, in addition to making peoples TVs into fully functional web browsers, making and receiving phone calls on your TV, home security, video conferenceing etc They also claim to be developing something called ala carte TV, which means just paying for what you like to watch. I would personally be interested in that. I'm sick of paying comcast over 150 bucks a month! I also heard they are going to be their own ISp starting this winter. I found this website to be interesting... www.thetrinitisolution.com What do you guys think?

137 points by bpierre 12y ago

lvillani 12y ago

Does anybody know what video codecs are supported?

thallian 12y ago
have a look here: http://www.matchstick.tv/developers/documents/supported-media.html http://www.matchstick.tv/developers/documents/supported-medi...
- lvillani 12y ago
  Thanks! I didn't see it the first time I skimmed through the docs.
- cyborgx7 12y ago
  No Theora, FLAC, or Opus? Wierd.
  - deleted 12y ago
    [deleted]
  - ZeroGravitas 12y ago
    Flac is listed (under audio container rather than codec, but since it's alongside APE, so the only reasonable interpretation is that they support those codecs). This seems to be a copy-pasted list of what the chipset supports. Opus is new enough to not really be on those kind of spec sheets, and as an audio codec shouldn't really trouble something with the specs of this. Theora can probably also be done in software, but generally there's no reason to use it these days over VP8.

ireflect 12y ago

Can anyone speculate on how WebGL will perform on this device? I am not familiar with the hardware or the current state of B2G/FirefoxOS, but have some ideas for music visualizers and interactive artwork that I'd love to port to this device.

hobs 12y ago

Well crap, I was signing up on the kickstarter and someone beat me to one of the last 10 dev units.

jonesetc 12y ago
I'd be willing to bet that they'll add more soon.
sandGorgon 12y ago
Same here. I hope they put up more devkits.
daveloyall 12y ago
Sorry! :)
kumar303 12y ago
I signed up for a dev unit but the "early prototype" part makes me think it won't work all that well ;) We'll see.
- rasz_pl 12y ago
  RK3066 is an old battle tested design, there is nothing special about cheap hdmi sticks build around this SoC.

dublinben 12y ago

I would love to see this take off. I haven't bought a Chromecast because I don't use Chrome. I'd love a way to point my TV at arbitrary multimedia streams using any device I happen to have.

pbreit 12y ago
You don't have to use chrome.
- Kudos 12y ago
  Yeah, Youtube, Netflix and Plex apps on Android and iOS all support it. And that's just to name a few.
dmritard96 12y ago
I will probably get one of these but thought I would point out that chromecast does allow you to do this assuming the app has integrated chromecast streaming. It is lame that its not a driver level integration in some lights but that would come with some issues around power. Doing it higher level allows for a nice handoff so that my phone isn't the middle man for hd data from netflix to my tv.

eli 12y ago

I'm definitely interested but saying it "has arrived" is premature. It's still in preproduction and the kickstarter says they're targeting February.

Kudos 12y ago
November for a limited run of dev kits.

guyzero 12y ago

It's going to be hard to get support from major apps without DRM support.

callahad 12y ago
(Edit: I don't know if this necessarily applies to Matchstick, or what Mozilla's relationship to Matchstick even is, but the following does apply to Firefox itself.) Mozilla is building an open-source sandbox for HTML5 Encrypted Media Extensions, and is working with Adobe to build a Content Decryption Module that will run inside that sandbox. This will allow Firefox users, if they choose, to consume DRM'd content, while also limiting the power of the DRM'd black box, ensuring that it can't fingerprint or run amok on user systems. More details: https://hacks.mozilla.org/2014/05/reconciling-mozillas-mission-and-w3c-eme/ https://hacks.mozilla.org/2014/05/reconciling-mozillas-missi... https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/2014/05/14/drm-and-the-challenge-of-serving-users/ https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/2014/05/14/drm-and-the-challen... http://www.html5rocks.com/en/tutorials/eme/basics/ http://www.html5rocks.com/en/tutorials/eme/basics/

daveloyall 12y ago

They politely limit participation to serious devs with this field on the form: "I have an existing HTML5 app that I will port to Firefox OS for Matchstick" with only one option: Yes. Well, I could certainly edit the DOM and fill in my own answer >:) but I don't have an HTML5 web app. Fortunately, the same equipment seems to be available via their kickstarter for $24. What the heck is this? http://www.matchstick.tv/developers/hardware-apply-check.html http://www.matchstick.tv/developers/hardware-apply-check.htm... An EULA?

ajb 12y ago
"you hereby agree to be bound by Matchstick’s mandatory and automatic software upgrade mechanism to upgrade the trial version of the SDK to the production version of the SDK" That's unusually peremptory for mozilla. I don't get why it's necessary, either.
- j_s 12y ago
  This is not a Mozilla project; it is an embedded device using Mozilla's Firefox OS.
  - ajb 12y ago
    Thanks; you're right, I missed that.
daveloyall 12y ago
"You may not decompile, reverse engineer, disassemble, attempt to derive the source code of any software or software components of the Matchstick software including the Matchstick SDK software." ...said the makers of a supposedly open software/hardware device. The Free Software movement needs a mechanism for dealing with heretics. I propose a holiday. Let's call it "Punch Free-software/hardware Posers in the Face Day". The inaugural event should be held on 9/30/2016. More than enough time for everyone to get the memo. Then if they get punched, it's their fault.
- 12y ago

antihero 12y ago

Does this mean we will be able to get around the codec limits that a device like Chromecast has?

listic 12y ago

What is the release schedule of Firefox OS, anyway? I keep searching for Firefox OS releases periodically, but the news keep coming up only on obscure non-English language blogs. I can Google-translate, but shouldn't the press releases, like, be announced in English, too, and make waves around the internet? According to https://wiki.mozilla.org/Release_Management/B2G_Landing https://wiki.mozilla.org/Release_Management/B2G_Landing the 2.0 reached "Code Complete" on September, 1, 2014. Does it mean that it has been released on that date? If not, then when?

fabrice_d 12y ago
Code Complete means that the work is mostly done on Mozilla side on this release (we still fix/backport some blockers that are found late in the testing cycle). Then OEMs have their own shipping schedule so it takes some time before you end up with devices sold or updated to this release.
- listic 12y ago
  Is Code Complete the planned or actual date when Firefox OS reaches this stage? I didn't see any news regarding 2.0 around September, 1. Is the release model significantly different from Android, where Google publicly announces the release of each version, even if it will still take some time for phone manufacturers to incorporate this version into their releases?
kumar303 12y ago
No commercial Firefox OS devices are shipping in any English speaking country. It looks like you're finding community blog posts probably clustered around launch countries. Anyway, press releases are always announced in English here: https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/category/press-releases/ https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/category/press-releases/
- listic 12y ago
  Sure. But isn't it up to Mozilla, rather than its partners, to announce the release of their Firefox OS? I can see no release announcements in this blog, either.

untilHellbanned 12y ago

Make sure to watch to the end of the Kickstarter promo video, hilarious! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2040419302/matchstick-the-streaming-stick-built-on-firefox-os https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2040419302/matchstick-t...

agumonkey 12y ago
That was unexpected. I hope the product will be as "good".

StanAngeloff 12y ago

This looks promising and is certainly needed in a market dominated by a $30 Chromecast. I do wonder about the quality of it all - as a Flame reference device owner I know first hand how immature Firefox OS is (dropped calls, random reboots, missing basic everyday functionality). Isn't the platform too young to go beyond phones?

nnethercote 12y ago
FWIW, I use a Flame as my day-to-day phone and I haven't had any problems with dropped calls or random reboots or other bad behaviour. It's a fairly solid phone, in my experience. (I'm not saying your aren't having these problems; I'm just saying that not everyone has these problems.)
- StanAngeloff 12y ago
  The Flame is my day-to-day phone as well. I got it a few weeks back and was very stoked to try it out. The phone came with Firefox 1.3 installed and it had quite a few issues -- not logging missed calls, multitasking view not working, slow browser speeds. I blogged about my experience and got a Twitter reply [1] from a Mozillian to give Firefox OS 2.1 a spin. A couple of days later I flashed the 2.1 image on the phone and, unfortunately, it created more problems than it solved. The dialer will randomly lock up not allowing you to call a number, on incoming calls the slider will not react and you can't answer, quite often with no usage at all the phone will reboot out of the blue. Overall 2.1 and 2.2 and very unstable and appear to improve on visuals only. I.e., you get more polish, but a less usable phone. Hence why Firefox OS may be too young to move beyond the phone. They should focus more on testing and stability in order to have a reliable foundation to build upon. [1]: https://twitter.com/asadotzler/status/506516018961719296 https://twitter.com/asadotzler/status/506516018961719296

ruexp67 12y ago

Hi.. I am not a very technical guy, (so I'm up for any opinions from you techno guys), but from what I've read about Matchstick, google chrome, apple TV, Intel TV etc is that none of them seem to be able to offer up the content people are expecting these day (what they are used to getting from the various cable-satillite monopolies including live TV channels. Triniti Comm seems to be offering a great solution to high cable costs without sacrificing any content. In fact they are claiming that they can offer up to 470 channels including all the pay TV channels like HBO and Netflix, in addition to making peoples TVs into fully functional web browsers, making and receiving phone calls on your TV, home security, video conferenceing etc They also claim to be developing something called ala carte TV, which means just paying for what you like to watch. I would personally be interested in that. I'm sick of paying comcast over 150 bucks a month! I also heard they are going to be their own ISp starting this winter. I found this website to be interesting... www.thetrinitisolution.com What do you guys think?