[clue-talk] Linux-driven BitTorrent appliance ships

[Peter Kuykendall]

http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS2052643284.html?kc=rss

Feb. 03, 2009

Myka is shipping an embedded Linux device that downloads, stores, and plays 
BitTorrent media files on an attached TV. Available in 80GB, 160GB, and 
500GB models, plus a Developer's Edition with a 1TB disk, the Myka 
appliances offload BitTorrent peer-to-peer duties from a PC.

Announced last April under the name "TorrentTV," the open source Linux 
hardware and software platform has been slow to reach market, but is now 
available for orders, with shipments due in four to six weeks, says Myka.

"We ran into a financial headwind last fall with the financial crisis," said 
Myka president Dan Lovy, in a brief interview, "But we have established a 
creative financing arrangement, and now we're moving again." Myka's 
manufacturing partner, CompleteTV, has started full production, he added.

The launch has been accompanied with a $100-off promotion on the 1TB 
Developer's Edition, which offers a "screw-driver friendly" case, with "all 
the consumer-dangerous Linux tools left running (telnet, FTP and the rest)," 
says the company.

Billed as an "open," DRM-free (digital right management free) alternative to 
Apple TV, the Myka player embeds a copy of the BitTorrent client, so users 
can free up their PCs for other storage and Internet access needs (see 
farther below for more on BitTorrent). Available with 80GB (Myka 80), 160GB 
(Myka 160), 500GB (Myka 500), and 1TB (Myka Developer Edition) hard disk 
drives (HDDs), the appliance connects to the Internet through an Ethernet 
connection or WiFi (802.11/g). It can download content from the Internet, or 
from networked PCs, and stream the content to an attached TV display.

The Myka box runs embedded Linux on a Broadcom BCM7403 system-on-chip (SoC), 
which is a kissing cousin to the BCM7405, offering DVR features in place of 
the latter's picture-in-picture support. The HD-ready SoC boasts 450 DMIPS 
performance, says Myka, and is the source of all the Myka device's signal 
outputs. The MIPS32-based SoC provides integrated AVC (H.264/MPEG-4 Part 
10), MPEG-2, DivX, MPEG-4 Part 2 SD SP/ASP, and VC-1 video decoding 
technology, says Myka. Broadcom combines the decoder with a CPU, data 
transport processor, audio decoder, and 2D graphics processing. Other 
features include video scaling and motion adaptive deinterlacing, six video 
DACs, stereo audio DACs, and a peripheral control unit for set-top box (STB) 
controls.

The Myka appliance boots Linux from 16MB of flash, and has 256MB of DDR 
memory. It includes two USB ports, says Myka, as well as HDMI, composite, 
S-video, and S/PDIF ports for linking up to a TV. It offers video-out at up 
to 1080i, and supports 4:3 and 16:9 aspect ratios, says the company.

The company has disclosed more details on the devices, and much more 
additional information on both hardware and software will be posted in the 
weeks to come, said Lovy. "We think there's an opportunity to enhance the 
product through the open source development community, and we hope to build 
up a developer base," said Lovy.

Myka's architecture is divided into server and client subsystems. The server 
supplies business logic and rules, and overseas account management, 
scheduling, adding channels and interfaces, and creating new program guides, 
says the company.

The device subsystem itself, meanwhile, "was purposefully made very dumb," 
says Myka. Its interface, download scheduling, and updating are all 
controlled by the remote server. The device can play local files on its own, 
but downloads are managed by the server.

"The device is more of a slave than most," said Lovy. "The UI and business 
rules all come from the server, so the idea is that as you create different 
interfaces and applications, they can be downloaded easily to the device. 
Once you have set up a developer's account, you can essentially point a Myka 
box at a channel, and download code and interfaces directly to the box."

Major device-side components are said to include:
PHP/HTML interface -- The interface is expressed solely by HTML, PHP, and 
JavaScript, which the company says makes it easier for open source 
development.


PHP API -- PHP calls perform tasks such as playing a video or starting a 
BitTorrent download. The calls will be published and extensible, said Lovy. 
"We are gathering PHP calls as quickly as we can, and will post them soon," 
he added.


Web services -- Communication to the Myka server uses web service calls, 
periodically polling the server for new commands such as file downloads, UI 
updates, and adding new services.


Base-level functions -- Basic device controls for playing videos, etc.


Linux and BCM7403 API -- Core Linux functions have been "abstracted away," 
says Myka, and exposed through the PHP API. The device currently runs a 
version of Red Hat Linux, said Lovy.

Myka Guide screen, and Star Trek content screen
(Click on either to enlarge)


The Myka user interface (UI) is rendered in HTML, with Flash support being 
planned, says Myka. Designed to be displayed on a TV and operated with a 
remote control, the browser interface offers full HTML support, with CSS and 
JavaScript to control behavior and appearance, and PHP supporting dynamic 
elements, says the company.

BitTorrent survives Goliath

BitTorrent gained popularity among file sharers in the late 90s because its 
decentralized distribution protocol allows network usage costs to be borne 
by downloaders rather than file originators. It eliminated bottlenecks, 
privacy issues, and shutdown concerns associated with centralized systems 
like Napster, and created a situation where the more popular a given file 
becomes, the faster it will download.

BitTorrent was once associated with illegal media file downloads, but in 
recent years, BitTorrent, the company, has been cutting deals with various 
entertainment content companies including 20th Century Fox, MTV, Paramount, 
and Warner Brothers. The deals let the company provide licensed, 
downloadable, and ad-supported streaming content for its Torrent 
Entertainment Network (TEN) entertainment site. The site now boasts over 160 
million installed clients, says BitTorrent, and the company also licenses 
its technology to other companies such as Myka.

BitTorrent has managed to avoid copyright infringement lawsuits, but over 
the last year, it has tangled with another industry giant: Comcast. After 
Comcast was shown to be sabotaging BitTorrent users' full access to 
bandwidth on its broadband cable network, a class-action lawsuit was filed 
against the cable giant. Comcast, meanwhile, accused the company of 
fostering a technology that hogs bandwidth and slows down Internet 
connections for others. Comcast claims the technology accounts for half of 
its Internet traffic.

Last Spring, however, the two companies struck a deal based on a compromise. 
Comcast maintains the right to slow (but not halt) traffic for users who 
consume excessive bandwidth, but is not allowed to discriminate by type of 
application (such as file-sharing) or by company.

Availability

The Myka TorrentTV devices are available for order now, with shipment in 
four to six weeks, says Myka. The prices, shown here with product names 
referring to available storage in gigabytes, are lower than originally 
announced: $280 (Myka 80), $320 (Myka 160), $390 (Myka 500), and $360 (1TB 
Developer's Edition, normally $460). For information may be available here.


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