JAPAN: Onkyo announces NT-A1 smart TV add-on dongle
Just announced in Japan by Onkyo Digital Solutions is a wireless adapter able to turn any television into a smart TV with internet access.
Selling for ¥9980 (around £80), the Onkyo NT-A1 plugs into a spare HDMI input on the TV, and comes with a mains adapter, a remote receiver and a handset.
It runs Android 2.3 'Gingerbread' on a 1GHz Cortex A9 processor from UK company ARM, and has 512MB of RAM and 4GB of internal flash memory. As well as connecting TVs to the internet, it can also be used to stream music and movies.
It connects to a home network using IEE802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi, and is capable of outputting video in 720p or 1080p resolutions.
Additional connectivity is provided by a microSD slot able to take cards of up to 32GB from which music and other content can be played, and a USB port to allow the connection of a keyboard and mouse for internet use, or the connection of USB memory devices.
There's no news as yet whether the product will be sold outside Japan, but we have asked the question of Onkyo HQ and will update when we hear any more.
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Comments
I use a Roku for viewing iPlayer which works very well, but I'm disappointed that the platform has remained pretty static for months. Have been waiting for 4OD and LoveFilm to appear... ... ...
These small Hdmi stick Android PCs are currently all the rage. Many are running Android Ice Cream Sandwich (including Google Play Store access) and some come with 1gb ram. Check out Oval Elephant or MK802II (original may have electrostatic problems addressed in mark II). There are other larger units such as Pivos xios ds (currently US only) who have engaged with the open source media player xbmc to run it on their unit (the Sumvision Cyclone Nano Slim Plus is, I believe, the UK equivalent, but not sure of xbmc functionality!). Xbmc are also working on an Android version of their media player.
Thats disappointing! looks to be a nice neat solution for those of us with a an 'older' non-smart TV.
It's not coming to the UK or Europe, so you won't be able to plug this in to your TV anytime soon.
Be nice if it had an ethernet port as well but I guess there's only so much real estate available for physical connections.