Vizio Co-Star

[reddragon72]

Anyone looking at the Vizio Co-Star? I am really thinking about getting it but there are a few things that I am kinda wondering about.

1. It has an ARM CPU but the OS is Android Google.TV. Will the OS make it incompatible with regular android apps.

2. The GPU seems great and all but I have not seen any benchmarks. Also the CPU is not the standard three, Nvidia, Mali, or Adreno so something like Chainfire might be needed, but will Chainfire be compatible?

But I love the remote, it is the one big seller for me, and it has the blaster IR so it'll control all my electronics. There are a lot of Androids on a stick, but they still leave you with clunky control methods and that is the main turn off. But with the Co-Star if I can root it and throw regular Andy apps then there is likely nothing better... for me at least.

Thanks for any input.

 

[next121]

Although GoogleTV is based off Android it is a separate platform. You do not not have access to regular Android apps through the Google Play store, only GoogleTV apps will be available through it.

It is possible via rooting the GTV's to install regular Android apps but the second gen GoogleTV's have not been hacked & not all apps will work, also the GTV's lack the Android NDK so native apps wont work. See GTVHacker forum for more info.

No idea about the GPU it is a design from Marvell, this isn't intended for games it's meant for video set top boxes & Blu-ray players so don't set expectations too high.

 

[macyer]

Anyone knows when the sales begin? CPU? GPU?

 

[zebug]

here is the website, preorders happened already and they sold out. Shipping was suppose to happen for the initial preorders in August sometime.

Looks like they added more preorders yesterday, but today they are temporarily unavailable (according to their facebook page).

No time set for retail sales, right now it's only through Vizio:

VIZIO

 

[reddragon72]

Although GoogleTV is based off Android it is a separate platform. You do not not have access to regular Android apps through the Google Play store, only GoogleTV apps will be available through it.

It is possible via rooting the GTV's to install regular Android apps but the second gen GoogleTV's have not been hacked & not all apps will work, also the GTV's lack the Android NDK so native apps wont work. See GTVHacker forum for more info.

No idea about the GPU it is a design from Marvell, this isn't intended for games it's meant for video set top boxes & Blu-ray players so don't set expectations too high.

So would normal Android 4.0 work better? I know there are two different apps that will make video viewing better, XBMC being one of them, but I kinda like the search function for finding shows and the such. I am kinda concerned about them being two seperate platforms, but I can't help but like the Co-Star because of the remote.....

Man this makes it tough to decide.

So on the standard Android front what is a good unit to by that'll plug into the HDMI port? I see about 50 different models of "Android on a stick" out there, but they all seem to be single core CPU's and not to heft on the GPU either. plus no remote.

 

[next121]

Yes you need an Android TV box if you want XBMC, there will be no XBMC for GoogleTV unless you do some epic hacking to the box or Google release firmware updates supporting the NDK.

For XBMC only Amlogic chipsets are supported at this time. The vast bulk of Android HDMI sticks do not use Amlogic but there are some ones only just coming out of the factories.

Check out the Geniatech ATV100, you can get them direct from China via eBay and Ali-Express, they use the Amlogic 8726-M3 chipset although no-one has tested them with XBMC yet, they are that new but it should in theory work.

For set top box in the USA get the Pivos XIOS DS (aka the Geniatech ATV510), it is officially supported for XBMC and they have forums for community feedback and development.