How Does Ubuntu TV Look in Action? Like This…

By , Published January 9, 2012

More information on the newly revealed Ubuntu TV has been made available online by Canonical.

Alongside a new mini-site to promote the OS to device manufactures, a short video showing off the UI of the entertainment-orientated OS spin in action has been put online.

Features

The official ‘Ubuntu TV’ site lists a features to be found in the OS.

  • Easy integration of broadcast, online services and applications
  • Modern broadcast TV experience – search , watch, record and play
  • Millions of movies and TV shows streamed over the web on demand
  • Shared-screen experience with iOS, Android and Ubuntu devices
  • Pause on one device, resume on another
  • Ubuntu One integration
  • App framework

Details on the technical specifications needed for devices to run Ubuntu TV are also noted, with Ubuntu TV supporting both ARM and x86 processors; requiring a minimum of 2GB disk space for for installation and at least 1GB of RAM for memory.

The code for Ubuntu TV is to also be made available online for developers to play with.

Does Ubuntu TV Stand a Chance?

The Smart TV market is in its infancy. Despite manufacturers having touted internet connected TVs as being ‘the future’, that ‘future’ never quite arrived as quickly as they’d hoped.

But change is on the horizon; CES 2012 is awash in a sea of smart TVs - most of which tout Google’s Android as their OS de choix.

Timing will play a key role is just how successful Ubuntu TV becomes. Canonical are hoping that the first Ubuntu TVs will appear before the year’s end, but the bad news for them is that the Android-powered TV army will have been available long in advance – and it’s the early adopters that tend to dictate trends.

The other uphill struggle will be in creating a developer ecosystem around the platform. Whilst Android continues to swell at the seams with 3rd party developers Ubuntu TV will likely be dependent on traditional Linux developers during its infancy. If these developers can add enough value to the platform to attract both consumers and the imagination of other developers then Ubuntu TV won’t be the stillborn smart TV many are predicting it will be.

2012 is going to be one exciting year indeed.

Related posts:

  1. ‘Ubuntu TV’ to be Revealed at CES
  2. Ubuntu Heading to TVs, Smartphones and Tablets
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  • http://twitter.com/x_soh Suhail سهيل الكويليت

    Looks awesome!! =D

  • http://twitter.com/zzecool zzecool

    Record Series …. hmmmm

  • Anonymous

    Yay! Now it is a lot more concrete to me.
    Looks good.

  • Alessandro L

    Hope it can be built in a desktop too..

    • https://launchpad.net/~natew Nate Wiebe

      I would love to put this on a small form factor PC and connect it to my TV. Also a Sickbeard lens would make it even better. (http://sickbeard.com/)

    • Freddi

      Definitely. I hope there won’t be UI confusion between “lenses” and “launcher” (the launcher is here used with a different purpose than on the desktop).

      • Anonymous

        Aah, I didn’t think of that!, your right. They probably shouldn’t have a launcher at all then, but instead a horizontal list af lenses like it is on desktop unity..

        Guess it would make it more minimal design.

        • Freddi
          • Anonymous

            That’s pretty sweet!, I really digg the netflix screen.

          • Anonymous

            LOVE the netflix screen :D

        • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000678236470 Hans Heintze

          The problem here is that it’s more difficult to navigate with a remote than having it on the side.

          • Anonymous

            Perhaps your right. But I don’t see how it is more difficult to navigate a horizontal menu than a vertical menu system?

            I guess you would need a menu button which would highlight the icons in either of the menues, and then just press left/right or up/down.

    • Shane Quigley

      Me too it definitely looks cooler than boxee and they are drooping support for the desktop. On the other hand a minimum of a gigabyte of ram is a lot for a tv.

      • Anonymous

        yah but this isn’t your grandmother’s TV. Its a cross between a TV and a computer. a teleaputer.

    • http://twitter.com/christermadsen Christer F. Madsen

      I just hope the Movies and YouTube integration comes in 12.04 :) It’s a beautiful way of browsing your movies..

      • http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/C6S22ANL35LHAH27EX43XFQKTQ Klau3

         I hope the Software Center will have a Lens section in 12.04
        :))

        • http://profiles.google.com/krnekhelesh Nekhelesh Ramananthan

          Yeah a lens section would be awesome. There are so many lenses in development now…and the software center would be the best place instead of adding countless ppa for each of them…

      • Anonymous

        I just wonder how they are going to deal with drm once content providers get involved. i hope canonical stays true to its roots.

        • Anonymous

          I think there going to lock this part down, because after looking on the site there looking at and for content partners and providers, though like a lot I would love for this to be part of the OS, were getting closer to Spotify, add Hulu, Netflix to a special menu on the Ubuntu TV app that looks like unity but is setup for special lens apps that can be added to keep it more priority; PS sorry for my spelling but having a bad cold but got up out of bed to read the news on Ubuntu TV

        • https://launchpad.net/~jgjones JGJones

          For broadcast TV – no DRM is used (it’s actually illegal to use DRM in broadcasts in USA I believe) and the same for UK.

          Streaming videos are a different matter though (for BBC iPlayer, could use get-iplayer?)

        • https://launchpad.net/~jgjones JGJones

          For broadcast TV – no DRM is used (it’s actually illegal to use DRM in broadcasts in USA I believe) and the same for UK.

          Streaming videos are a different matter though (for BBC iPlayer, could use get-iplayer?)

          • Anonymous

            best program ever lol.

        • Eymert Versteegt

          I think they WILL have to make some sacrifices if they want Ubuntu TV to become a seriously competitive platform. Unfortunately, in this world, DRM is here to stay. If you don’t go along with it, you will miss out.  You can see the same happening with XBMC already. They would introduce a system where companies can develop closed source addons. Unfortunately, still no support on that in the upcoming Eden version.  I completely like open source and keeping everything as open source as possible. But getting religious is an attitude that will deprive you from a lot of things….

          • Anonymous

            1. Install distro 2. install flash 3. install mp3 playback codecs
            Yeah -guilty as charged!

    • http://linuxubuntu.myblog.it Germano Costi

      Ubuntu tv the BEST!

  • Ohad Basan

    Might be ending up in cheap tv’s since it’s open source and doesn’t require any license agreement (like integrating the android market in GTV)

    • Bart Willemsen

      Possibly, but I think it’s also interesting for higher-end TV’s. :P Android is also installed on both high-end and cheap-ass devices.

      • Anonymous

        Yes, true.

    • https://launchpad.net/~natew Nate Wiebe

      Not to sure, if you look at the hardware requirements for UTV, they look fairly demanding for a TV. (bottom of page: http://www.ubuntu.com/tv/features-and-specs )

      • https://launchpad.net/~shnatsel Shnatsel

        Oh my! 512Mb video memory! I don’t have that much on a desktop!

    • http://profiles.google.com/nathanlee2 nathan lee

      great! cheap TV’s could use an awesome interface. BTW, this is like saying that all android phones are going to be cheap and crappy because that’s also open source free.

  • https://launchpad.net/~caswiddershoven Cas Widdershoven

    How are they going to implement “record series”, what data do they relay on? I mean, the UPC settop box I have (in the Netherlands) has actually a rather crappy tv guide, most of the time, that data isn’t correct…

    • Bart Willemsen

      I don’t know which provider you got, but I actually never had any problems with the TV guide (Also from The Netherlands, but I am with UPC).

    • Anonymous

      Seeing as the EPG in the demo was UK DVB, I would assume that record series works the every other DVB PVR on the market and uses the EPG data contained in the broadcast.

  • http://twitter.com/zzecool zzecool

    Ubuntu gave me hope that they Take Design seriously Fonts , Unity etc and yet again we go back to the Past ……..

    Perspective  Gradients  Edgy Shapes ————–> Disaster  ..

    Im sure they can do much better ! 

    • Bart Willemsen

      I think the interface of Ubuntu TV looks really modern actually.

    • Anonymous

      giowck: Looks good.

      Sunhail: Looks awesome!! =D
      Glaasje: mmmm, nice…
      Bart Willemsen: This looks really good actually :D
      Ruben Grimm: Looks awesome…

      Some disaster when every other comment seems to like the design.

      • Anonymous

        Well spoken!

      • Anonymous

        well there’s a difference between pretty and good design…

        • Anonymous

          He was discussing edgy shapes and gradients though which are generally in the “make it pretty” side of design.

          My objection though is to people who people who state that something is rubbish, because they dislike it, when clearly they are in the minority.
          I mean I don’t particularly like KDE, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a great DE. That doesn’t mean that the people working on KDE are idiots or the KDE is a disaster, in fact I would be sad it I heard that KDE was ceasing development. I am glad it is there.
          People are taking time to create something which is benefiting others, that is a great thing and the core of the Linux community. I you happen to like what they’ve done, great. If not, that’s unfortunate, but it doesn’t make said project any less brilliant.
          Perhaps you have an idea which would make the project better, fire them off to the developer. If you think it’s generally rubbish, then perhaps you are looking at the wrong piece of software. If you’re looking for a super car in a ford dealership, your in the wrong place, it is not the manufacturer who is wrong for not having made one.

  • Glaasje

    mmmm, nice…
    Now where can i get it and can in change the background?

  • Rodislav Moldovan

    One of my friends bought smart tv from samsung. He forgot that he have no subscription to any cable-tv provider.  He uses only internet.

    Now imagine if he had ubuntu on it. TV how it must be!
    Ubuntu. TV for human beings! True!

  • http://twitter.com/medgoode Matthew Goode

    http://www.ubuntu.com/tv/contributors is an interesting page. It addresses the MythTV and XBMC question, as well as listing the architecture. The ‘Sidebar’ part of Unity appears to be a new addition to the other recognisable elements, such as ‘Dash’, ‘Indicators’, etc.

  • http://twitter.com/madhi19 John G

    Look a bit like a mix of XBMC and MythTv with a nice Unity paint job on top.

    • Anonymous

      I like this better than XBMC and MythTv. XBMC you can’t record with yet either.

    • Anonymous

      I really hope this works with a MythTV backend.  Their frontend has given me so much headache and XBMC is quite lacking with Myth features.

  • Darren Nevares

    Ok so does it have internal memory or would we have to you a server for our own media and to record a series?

    • Bart Willemsen

      Probably. It’s not any different than existing smart TV’s. It will have internal memory.

  • Bart Willemsen

    This looks really good actually. :D

  • Ruben Grimm

    Looks awesome. Now I’m waiting for at least one manufacturer to announce the first Ubuntu TV-powered device. If that doesn’t happen, Ubuntu TV will probably be dead before it is alive… Let’s keep our fingers crossed.

    • Freddi

      At least at one thing Canonical was clever: They surprised us all before the competitors announced Google TV2 / iTV.

      Now: get it onto real hardware and into the shops…

    • Anonymous

      I think Canonical should go and speak to the Vizio guys who will be at the show, launching their new Desktop,Laptop range who are manufacturers in TV already.  They look SWEET. Just right for Ubuntu 12.04 and Ubuntu TV to sit on.  http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/desktop-hardware/2012/01/09/tv-maker-vizio-to-launch-laptops-and-pcs-40094768/

      Ubuntu should not be on anything less exciting that machines like them.

      • Will Moorhead

        Vizio would be the perfect target for canonical. I believe they don’t have googletv or apple or anything, only their own home-grown “internet apps”. Looks like the perfect match

        • Anonymous

          TELL THEM!!! NOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWW!!!!

          • Anonymous

            Who would I contact??? and how?

          • Anonymous

            Who would I contact??? and how?

  • http://profiles.google.com/chronos.hun Dávid Horváth

    Looks awesome..

  • http://twitter.com/davbren David Gross

    This’ll be great for companies like Hanspree. I’d actually consider buying one. This is *exactly* what I was after. With the addition of lenses for things like LoveFilm and iplayer. Who needs anythign else?

  • http://twitter.com/jcwx86 James Womack

    Do you know if we’ll be seeing this as something that can be installed on existing HTPCs? I don’t plan on buying a new TV in the next few years, but have a HTPC running XBMC at the moment. Would like to check out Ubuntu TV, if it is installable on x86 boxes.

    • Freddi

      It won’t be closed, otherwise it wouldn’t be free!

  • syncdram syncdram

    odd, looks just like my netfilx on my wii

  • Anonymous

    I am surprised it functions really good despite the awful impression the static images give.

  • Anonymous

    This actually looks better than Google tv IMO…

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_YI6YF5MODP2ZBSHKHC6PJ4GQJM DexterP17

    I wished I would have known they were going to release the tvs first I would have saved my money and not bought one the last Christmas.

  • seamus williams

    I LOVE IT!!!!!! I WANT IT And so begins the rise of the ubuntu fanboys 

    I love the video wallpaper i hope that is a stand alone wallpaper more over i hope its is the 12:04 default 

    • Anonymous

      Me too. Bring it on!  

    • Varttaanen

      I want one too!

  • Anonymous

    Is it just me or does anyone else cringe when they see that horribly offensive purple background. I think if they shipped Ubuntu with any other colour than purple they would attract more users just from that. (And no, not pink either)

    • Georgi Karavasilev

      I have no problems with the purple, however I have major issues with the default “Purple salad” wallpaper. It is no THAT bad on the desktop, but it looks horrible on the TV. White text on light purple background is hard to read. Same goes for the white indicator icons on the top right – light icons on light background are hard to see.

      • Wyatt Kirby

        My problem isn’t with Purple, merely with this particular shade. Looks somewhere between red-wine vomit and Pepto-Bismol…

        • http://www.FreezingMoon.org/ Dread Knight

          My problem is with the white grid that’s added to the “TV customized” Ubuntu wallpaper, because it blends with the white text.

      • Jason Gray

        I agree 100%. That was the one major complaint I had when I watched the demo video. Cheeto vomit on purple tie-dye is a horrible background for any color text really. It only works on PC’s because you’re generally no more then a couple feet away. Run Ubuntu on a HTPC(I do) and you’ll see how much of poor choice it really is. The default background should be the dark purple they use for the default background of the terminal.

        On a totally unrelated note. That little tag after you name:  ”I am obsessed by HER. There I said it :D” You can’t be obsessed, “by” someone, it doesn’t make any sense. It should read “I am obsessed with HER.”

        • Georgi Karavasilev

          On trust me,  U don’t wanna talk about HER with me. Grammar doesn’t counts in this case, nothing counts :D

          • Jason Gray

            Whatever, look stupid then I don’t care.

          • Anonymous

            You missed a comma. It should be “Whatever, look stupid then, I don’t care.” Without the comma, you are saying he will look stupid, then afterwards, you won’t care about it. Which makes you look stupid.

    • http://openid-provider.appspot.com/delanayeb Bertrand

      It may be you. I think it’s an easy way to distinguish the Ubuntu product.  Many others all have these sad black/darkblue/gray colors, purple seems more joyful to me, while still serious (not pink or flashy). I like the product I picked to be different and recognizable.

      E.g., I felt terrible for all those people who mimicked (more difficult for now in GS/Unity) the look and feel of Windows or OS X via DE-of-choice-Look.org. What’s the point if you don’t actually use them?

      • Anonymous

        Who else clicked the “DE-of-choice-Look.org” link thinking it was real? ;(

    • The Negative Shape

      what about dark grey with red&silver text

    • Anonymous

      New Darker bg please!

    • http://ubuntufan.jouwweb.nl/ Ivo

      Everyone has another taste, so I think it would be a good idea to ship a few wallpapers by default, and let the user choose.
      They do the same on the PC.

      • Callum Saunders

         The best thing would be for it just to have media playing in the background, a tv channel. Backgrounds are for ‘desktops’, i dont want a ‘desktop’ on my tv i want to turn it on and be watching something straight away.

    • Pedro Silva

      I honestly love it. It’s pretty (imo) and just says “Ubuntu” at first sight to me.

    • http://profiles.google.com/nathanlee2 nathan lee

      Personally I love it – it’s ubuntu branding. On the other hand, that’s a REALLY easy thing to change, even from TV to TV. I just hope individual manufacturers try to change the UI, because inconsistent UI’s is pretty bad in android devices as is.

    • Callum Saunders

       It’s not the purple that annoys me, it’s the overall sickly pastel-like look of the interface i don’t like.

    • Anonymous

      For me the problem is the wallpaper, not the colour of it. It’s quite… cheap looking.

      • Anonymous

        They are marketing to Chinese manufacturers *badam tsch* ;P

    • Anonymous

      No, you’re not the only one.

      It looks childish with that designg, like a cheap toy.

  • Anonymous

    I mean this comment in the nicest possible way to people that like the colour purple as colour blind as you are. :P

    • Anonymous

      No it’s just this particular colour. The colour purple is my favourite colour. This colour is bland, boring and even kind of offensive all at the same time. Moreover they need to at least animate that background… Static images on TVs just look bad (and lazy).

  • Callum Saunders

    Wow. It looks so…cheap.

    I don’t see the point in the indicators on the tv platform.

    But i am glad it’s getting attention.

    • Adam Martinez

      Keep in mind the whole design is probably *very* new and changes should be expected

      • Callum Saunders

         Yeah, i completely get that it’s new and stuff, but if you show it off to the world at CES then people are going to judge it on what they are being shown.

    • http://profiles.google.com/nathanlee2 nathan lee

      I disagree – to me it just looks good.

      Indicators on a TV platform make sense to me too, when considering what those indicators are: Power, time, volume, and wireless connection are all useful when your TV is connected to all. It’s also better than having TV-specific interfaces for all that, like it is now

      • Callum Saunders

        A TV doesn’t run on batteries so i think its safe to assume it’s always got power if it’s turned on. Time, fair enough. Volume has worked fine on TV’s for years without any sort of visible indicator, you judge volume on what you can hear, you can’t change the volume from the indicator so i think it’s unnecessary. Probably the only time you will worry about wifi is when you first boot it up, which i’d assume would be sorted in the setup. This isn’t mobile hardware, it tends to stay in one place – plugged in.

    • Anonymous

       TROLL POST ^^^^^^

      • Callum Saunders

        It’s an opinion.

  • Callum Saunders

     I’d imagine the colour scheme could prove too low contrast for TV’s, could be difficult to read the name of the movie you are going to watch.

    • Anonymous

      I’m sure other colour will be available to choose. 

      • Callum Saunders

         That’s irrelevant

        • AJ

          is it?

          • Callum Saunders

             Well yeah, if something has usability problems by default then that is bad regardless of whether there is an option to change it or not. Your average user doesn’t change settings.

  • Ramon Taylor

    I love how fast it is.

    • Freddi

      Does anyone know:

      - Is the video a mockup video or can people at CES use it and try it out?
      - Is it based on Unity 2d (qt)?
      - Or is it based on Unity 3d?

  • Fatriff

    Why not just release this on the Desktop aswell?

    • AJ

      they haven’t said if they will push out a specific one for desktops. If so I would love to get it put on a small desktop box to sit quietly behind my non-smart full HD TV

  • Mihai Coman

    Is this working code or a concept?

    • Anonymous

      Working code: https://code.launchpad.net/~s-team/ubuntutv/trunk

  • Anonymous

    I want an UTV for me. Bring on the Ubuntu TV, and the Ubuntu Phone.
    I’m liking it so far. 

  • https://launchpad.net/~exeleration-g Exeleration-G

    When I was looking at the screenshots, I thought that it’d be hard on the eye, but after seeing this video, I don’t think that will be a problem.

  • Karl Plesant

    The music sounds likes a crappy  david ghetta track.

  • Russell Hart

    I don’t like the time line tv guide they are never good in practice. 
    It would be better for each channel to have a list of about 10 shows. 

    I would like to see the internet browser and if you can install all ubuntu software centre apps? The success would be largely down to implementation. Manufactures should provide usb sockets and be aware that this is more extensible than competitive products. 
    It already looks better than Apple TV just for having pre-installed browser. Another strong competitor is TiVo and Virgin TV (UK). 
    How would you compare this to TiVo interface, which already has apps like iPlayer, Spotify, YouTube etc. ? 

  • Glennz NL

    Lol, it´s qt.

  • http://profiles.google.com/lunarcloud Samuel Sarette

    Needs Netflix to succeed.

    I don’t even have cable. Netflix and Hulu are TV for me.

    • http://twitter.com/SirTravers Justin T. Travis

      I’ll second that. I dumped traditional TV about the same time I started
      using Ubuntu as my primary OS. If we could get Netflix to work on Linux
      I’d have no need to dual boot anymore. If we can get Canonical to convince Netflix to open up to Linux then this thing has a great chance at success!

    • http://twitter.com/SirTravers Justin T. Travis

      I’ll second that. I dumped traditional TV about the same time I started
      using Ubuntu as my primary OS. If we could get Netflix to work on Linux
      I’d have no need to dual boot anymore. If we can get Canonical to convince Netflix to open up to Linux then this thing has a great chance at success!

    • Shane Bryson

      It was announced weeks ago that Netflix will be start supporting Linux this year.

      • Glenn Liddell

        They already do on certain hardware; Netflix works on Cromebooks.

    • Callum Saunders

       Canonical are a UK company so i don’t know how easy it will be for them to make deals in different countries. Although i would be very happy if Lovefilm, 4OD & iPlayer appeared.

  • dandonio

    Looks smooth in action. Easily recognizable too. I wonder how the remote should be used. By just watching the screen you wouldn’t really know what button to press in order to access the sidebar, probably some reserved key I suppose?
    My only worry is that the interface might be a bit too crowded for a television. Why would you need a ‘power’ button on a television (that it’s also used for config isn’t that obvious to a non-Ubuntu user). Furthermore what’s the use of seeing the wifi connectivity thing? People expect it to ‘just work’. If it didn’t they wouldn’t know what to do anyway. 
    If they focus on trimming away the fat (and they still have plenty of time to do so) this might turn out to be a very nice thingie. 
    Developers should just constantly keep in mind that a television should be the ultimate no-brainer. The content should take the front stage, the underlying software should be hardly noticeable to the average user. Furthermore, if it can’t be used on sight by a drunk, tech-impaired  family member, it should go back to the drawing boards.

    I’ve got good hopes for it though, at least regarding the software. The talk about the usefulness of a ‘neutral’ player seems a bit too vague for comfort.

  • Anonymous

    I wonder if they could strike a deal with OnLive or some similar game streaming service to offer video game capabilities out of the box. It would basically be the entertainment portal of a hotel TV rolled up in a convenient package at home!

    • http://rubenverhack.be/ Ruben Verhack

      And the game being able to be remotely controlled by your tablet or smartphone! (which runs android or ubuntu phone by then)

    • Adam Martinez

      That.would.be.amazing.

      For once I feel like Canonical has such a big opportunity to become a big name with this. Ahhhh

  • http://twitter.com/cal3briley Caleb Riley

    Here is my take on it: http://spiceofdesign.deviantart.com/art/Response-to-Ubuntu-TV-278493286

    • http://rubenverhack.be/ Ruben Verhack

      Much much better, much more “neutral” if that’s what they are aiming at.

      I wouldn’t mind if the launcher was still more unity-like, but the colours are much better. And maybe a bit less transparancy, as I need to focus hard to be able to read everything from a distance.

    • Freddi

      I like it very much! But on the other side, red/gray/purple does not remind of Ubuntu/Canonical. I agree that the CES preview was a bit too aubergine and glowing, but maybe they allow custom backgrounds or take the background from the currently playing movie or from daily photos from the internet (like bing).

      • http://rubenverhack.be/ Ruben Verhack

        Is it? First link I tried (ubuntu.com) has this (see image). Not red by orange, but these three combined is a wonderful colour palette that is distinctive to Ubuntu. 

        They should use the other two colours a bit more. Although, I admit, it’s still really soon to start discussing about colours. But first impression counts!

    • Callum Saunders

       Fantastic.
      Only comment would be i would say the background video should be blurred and darkened a bit to put more focus on the dash/guide. But bravo sir.

    • http://profiles.google.com/bwat47 Brandon Watkins

      Yours looks much sleeker

  • Robert Campbell

    It would be tedious navigation this with a traditional remote. How about we start using tablets as the remote(The TV’s display is fed to the tablet over WIFI). Instead of scrolling through lists item by item, we could just touch an item to select it. We would then have a touch screen experience with our TV without touching our TV screens with our icky fingers. 

    • http://openid-provider.appspot.com/TheMerkinman Merk

      That’s a very expensive remote

    • http://openid-provider.appspot.com/TheMerkinman Merk

      That’s a very expensive remote

      • Robert Campbell

        Yes, but worth it. It’s a tablet so you can use it for other purposes. The TV remote would be just one application you run it.

        • daas88

          consumerism*

  • http://openid-provider.appspot.com/TheMerkinman Merk

    No point it getting worked up about the screenshots videos. The OEMs will just modify the theme to the point where all the UI elements and navigation is different and the same app won’t even work across different manufacturers TVs

    • AJ

      Good point, but that is where canonical needs to draw guidelines about human interface constancy - both for app developers and OEMs. It can be open source but still enforce a consistent UI irrelevant of the device manufacturer.

  • Anonymous

    I hope it is going to be themeable though. I’m guessing these designs are a bit “you either like it or you hate it”…

    I dig the idea, but this design is just…. It’s al so huge and purple! Everything is purple. It’s just purple, white and a tiny bit of orange…

  • Freddi

    Canonical tries to be the everywhere-wanted saviour – a NEUTRAL player.

    That sounds good. Especially that it’s backed even by the industry!
    On the other side, they need to earn some money to finance this business and they do this by building a free eco-system around (closed) Ubuntu One.

    But integrating all into Ubuntu One can become a limitation too. To keep real freedom (and trust) they should make a “PLUGGABLE” CLOUD integration, where you can “plug-in” alternative cloud storages if someone doesn’t want Ubuntu One or if someone uses already another cloud (own server etc) and doesn’t want to migrate. Of course some features (U1 database) only work with Ubuntu One, but it’s important to have freedom.

    There breaks out a real “war” about clouds, either you use Google services or you are locked into Apple; you use Dropbox or you have a cool Windows Phone and are locked into MS Live.

    But we can’t manage to have our life fragmented over so many clouds. What we want is one unique solution and the solution of our free choice.

    For me, that’s Ubuntu One, but it’s important to have a choice.

    • Anonymous

      People (largely) like simple solutions, and revenue from U one, software center and the music store are important to Ubuntu’s growth so they kind of do need to highlight and push them as best they can.

      What you call a war I call honest commerce, they want you to choose and go with one not fragment yourself over many clouds.

  • AneDijitak

    Looks like a cheap TV :(

    • Anonymous

      This is leagues ahead of what the UI for comcast looks like

  • Anonymous

    Looks like their search algorithm could use a bit of work. If you type the full name of a movie, that movie should appear first followed by any movie with what you typed in the name. You shouldn’t have to scroll through a bunch of movies to find ‘Up’.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_OCZ2XNYGCNSJSRYEBVX3SYJVAQ Marius

    who the hell is the #@!#@!#@! at canonical that thinks that background is not ugly and retardet ? burn it already.

    • AJ

      retardet. That is all.

  • Wyatt Kirby

    Netflix or it won’t work.

    • Anonymous

      What about in countries that don’t have netflix, which is every country in the world bar one…

      • Wyatt Kirby

        First: I’m an American — obviously I don’t care about the rest of the world. /sarcasm

        Second: bar 43. Last year Netflix moved into almost every country in South and Latin America.

        Third: I assume there are similar services in most countries; I know the UK and much of Europe has access to LoveFilm. I’m unaware of comparable companies in India and China, but I’ve never been to the region, and am confident that there must be some equivalent.

        Ideally, Ubuntu TV should support any and all of these platforms if it hopes to work. My larger — and I guess subtler point — was that if Canonical wants this to be a success (I’d imagine that they do), they’re probably going to want to support the most popular streaming service in the worlds largest TV market. Since Linux as a whole currently lacks the ability to stream from Netflix — except on dedicated devices like Roku, which runs on a Linux base — it’s not impossible that Ubuntu TVs will also lack the ability.

        The success or failure of Smart TVs is going to hinge largely on two factors: ease of use, and how simple it is to connect them with existing streaming services — whatever those services may be. If the Ubuntu TV fails to do that, it simply won’t work as a product.

        TL;DR: Without access to popular streaming options like Netflix, the Ubuntu TV is a guaranteed flop.

        • Anonymous

          “South and Latin America”? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_America#Subdivisions

          • Wyatt Kirby

            Again: American. At least where I’m from, colloquially speaking, Latin America refers to Central American countries, Mexico, and some Caribbean Islands, whereas South America refers to the entire continent below us.

  • http://jakubrusinek.pl/ Jakub Rusinek

    Maybe Linux’ place is not on desktop PCs, where it sucks like a lot, but on devices like TV, refridgerators, mobile phones etc,

    • Anonymous

      In what way does it suck on the desktop? Elaborate.

    • Freddi

      A clever way to solve bug #1.
      Does #1 exist at all for TVs?

  • Anonymous

    Well played. I wanna.

  • Shane Bryson

     Already announced. Linux support from Netflix will be coming later this year.

    • Wyatt Kirby

      Yes; but the question of integration with Ubuntu TV remains to be answered. It’s already available for Linux on some dedicated devices (ChromeBooks, Roku players, etc…) Whether or not Netflix or Canonical will integrate it with their TV software is still up in the air.

  • http://twitter.com/MrHat1988 MrHat

    “TV for Human Beings.” – That is a contradiciton in itself….

  • Freddi

    ;-)

  • Anonymous

    Why it is using Unity 2D -_- ?
    Wow! Unity looks so cool on this! No, wait…they can’t make 3D version awesome and are using 2D -_-

    • Anonymous

      Unity 3d is based on compiz and requires opengl capable devices. This would be too much for a TV.

      • https://launchpad.net/~shnatsel Shnatsel

        It requires only OpenGL ES in 12.04

    • http://twitter.com/d2kx Dennis MH

      They use “unity-2d” but with OpenGL. So the 2d is a bit misleading. It’s just the Qt version of Unity.

      • Anonymous

        Well this is a problem. All official Ubuntu, including Desktop, TV etc should all use GTK+(And nux)…or all use Qt…this makes inconsistency which is very bad idea -_-

        • AJ

          Why? This isn’t an environment that will be installed as a frontend to an existing installation of Ubuntu. Canonical wants it to primarily ship pre-installed on devices.

          • Anonymous

            Why they can’t make the 3D version so awesome like this thing :/

          • AJ

            The reason they have a 2d fallback (which doesn’t actually look that different to the 3d) is to accommodate for older systems that don’t have the memory or processing capability to run the more animated and overlayed 3d environment. TV manufacturers don’t put much ram into TVs, and if they want to get industry on side, something that uses less resources will be placable on the maximum amount of models possible, and will give the consumer the most efficient interface.

          • Anonymous

            @AJ: i know that…but 2d version looks better than 3d version -_- and this is not good…

    • https://launchpad.net/~shnatsel Shnatsel

      Using Unity 2D with OpenGL is not the problem.
      Inconsistency is not the problem.
      Duplication of effort is not the problem.
      Lack of compatibility and modularity is not the problem.
      The existence of Unity 3D is not the problem.
      Lack of proper evaluation of ideas is the problem. Ideas as stupid as Unity 3D must be thrown away in the very beginning.

      • Anonymous

        +1

  • Anonymous

    I dont understand why we need TVs nowdays? For every use e a stupid
    dedicated device? 

  • Anonymous

    Does it mean that Ubuntu TV will include DRM component?

  • http://profiles.google.com/ezr.ladislav Ladislav Ezr

    …

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000678236470 Hans Heintze

    I want this level of polish in the dash.

  • Anonymous

    Damn I have just brought a new 50″ 3D plasma LG  screen.  I do hope Canonical will do a little set top box for me to plug in :)

  • Anonymous

    I dont know what you’re thinking but i totally love this !!
    I would buy this tv if i could rent movies from my country (greece)
    I love so much the ubuntu interface ! It has style ! Windows developer dont have taste at all ! The only stylish os/ui are ubuntu and mac osx.

  • Anonymous

    Good for them! :D I can see this putting a smile on a lot of peoples’ faces. Heck, I might get one.

  • Anonymous

    Id love that video player in Ubuntu itself that looks really awesome. Its a lot further than what I seen originally but I did hear about a few projects like this built on Ubuntu core which I didnt really hear any coverage about on OMGUbuntu. To be honest im more excited about Ubuntu core than Ubuntu TV. I cant wait for Ubuntu devices to be all over and have things like Ubuntu one on my TV interfacing with all my computers and phones. 

  • Anonymous

    A nice alternative to Apple tv and roku. I’m game as long as I can put it on my own hardware.

    • http://twitter.com/regeya Shane Simmons

      They’ve got a bzr repo for the code.   Looks like it’s mainly a fork of Unity 2D.  http://bazaar.launchpad.net/~s-team/ubuntutv/trunk/files

      I’ve already got a computer running MythTV; if I can make this work with that–or if they do their own someday, if I can transfer it–that’d be awesome.  I don’t particularly want to buy a new, probably expensive, TV so I can run Unity, especially when I have other stuff like emulators, games, a ton of music, and so on installed and on a PC with a cavernous hard drive.  ;-)

  • Marcus Weiner

    Good enough for using as a MythtTV interface on my living-room entertainment ubuntu box :)

  • Jonathan Wong

    Is there any option to stream stuff from my Ubuntu computer to Ubuntu TV?

  • https://launchpad.net/~shnatsel Shnatsel

    Canonical design doesn’t disappoint me for the first time in a long while

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_QVFDTY7D5VDNQPO6O354EWUDLA JakeJ

    Still waiting for Back Track TV

  • Anonymous

    Rough, IMO.

    But at least it can record TV.

  • Daniel Foré

    Well, if you turn off the music when you watch the video it makes it look less cheesy and cheap. There is definitely a stronger emphasis on providing sensible animations, which is very nice.

    Having said that…

    There’s just way too much going on here. It looks overwhelming, to be honest. Especially that TV guide view is a total disaster. Way too much transparency. Too many lines. I really hope this isn’t a concept that somebody spent a whole lot of time on..

  • https://launchpad.net/~igadget iGadget

    Nice try, but… What about 3D content support? And how do I use this with my projector? :)

  • http://twitter.com/danizmax Daniel

    Will it be possible to install/run this on ordinary ubuntu installation?

  • Anonymous

    Hmmm… a bug here at 0:59
    “What’s Hot (0)” even though there are a good bunch of items. :(

  • Anonymous

    OMG! Ubuntu TV!

  • http://twitter.com/regeya Shane Simmons

    Is it just me, or does it seem like Canonical is looking to compete with Google?

  • Anonymous

    THIS is where Ubuntu’s market is. THIS is where it’s going to appeal to people. THIS is where Unity is a good interface. But on the desktop? Not a distro that I care for so much anymore.

  • Dmitry Pashkevich

    Looks like XBMC has now something to worry about :)

  • Nowardev-1 NowardevTeam

    nice to see tha is made in qmlqt

    it will run very well with kde aside 

  • Nowardev-1 NowardevTeam

    nice to see tha is made in qmlqt

    it will run very well with kde aside 

  • Hein Hanssen

    Looks really nice. Problem could be that Android takes a huge chunk of market share in the TV world, before Ubuntu gets a chance to compete: I hope not. What’s needed is a large TV manufacturer (Samsung/ LG?) willing to install Ubuntu TV instead.

    Nonetheless: Windows is nowhere until now. Yet another market where Windows fails :). I would love to see Ubuntu TV become successful, because it will surely impact the acceptance of the Ubuntu desktop environment as well. Once people get used to the Unity concept they will more easily switch from Windows to Ubuntu on their desktop.

    It’s a wise decision that Canonical is focusing on TV’s now and trying to get a tiny part of the tablet market. Android is far too dominant in this market already and it would be a huge effort to take some market share. The TV market is still open.

  • Hein Hanssen

    Looks really nice. Problem could be that Android takes a huge chunk of market share in the TV world, before Ubuntu gets a chance to compete: I hope not. What’s needed is a large TV manufacturer (Samsung/ LG?) willing to install Ubuntu TV instead.

    Nonetheless: Windows is nowhere until now. Yet another market where Windows fails :). I would love to see Ubuntu TV become successful, because it will surely impact the acceptance of the Ubuntu desktop environment as well. Once people get used to the Unity concept they will more easily switch from Windows to Ubuntu on their desktop.

    It’s a wise decision that Canonical is focusing on TV’s now and trying to get a tiny part of the tablet market. Android is far too dominant in this market already and it would be a huge effort to take some market share. The TV market is still open.

  • Nowardev-1 NowardevTeam

    is made in qml . test

  • Nowardev-1 NowardevTeam

    is made in qml . test

  • Zombifier

    Awesome! Finally Linux gets to step out into the world and prove their place thanks to Canonical.

    The TV UI needs some work though.

  • Zombifier

    Awesome! Finally Linux gets to step out into the world and prove their place thanks to Canonical.

    The TV UI needs some work though.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_QQIIGUNIXY7PBVJOFIVLONVL2M dominik
  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_QQIIGUNIXY7PBVJOFIVLONVL2M dominik
  • Pascal Schneider

    Will this be a second desktop like xbmc or a seperate OS?

  • http://facebook.com/domcan2 1roxtar

    Man, I want an Ubuntu TV!!!  Hey, I just had a thought….what if we can install Ubuntu TV on a ($25) Raspberry Pi device?  (Nah, I think the hardware specs may not be enough.  Maybe Cotton Candy?)  I know Canonical wants to keep UTV on actual TV’s, but Mark should really try pushing it to small, cheaply priced set-top boxes ala’ Roku LT.

  • Andrew Mezzi

    I hope it succeeds, but if it does fail, I hope we will still be able to download it off ubuntu.com.

  • Jeb Eldridge

    The whole Ubuntu TV interface definitely needs to be included with Ubuntu by default by the time 12.10 comes out! Add a special “Media Center” button or something, like in Windows 7. This is a perfect opportunity to show up Microsoft!

    • Callum Saunders

      By copying them ?

      • http://www.facebook.com/landoRich Lowell Denzel Orlando Richmond

         DLNA bro

 
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