Peripherals

[Squidge]

Logical, Squidge, we need your confirmation to close this subject for good: will it charge through USB to AC as fast as it will charge through DC to AC (using an adapter)?

What? :wacko:

 

[jedisolo]

My creative Zen external charger comes with a USB to AC adapter plug so it shouldn't be a problem for the pandora to have the same thing.

 

[craigix]

We have always planned to include a charger.

 

[javaJake]

Hoorah!

Edit: and I logically assume, since you'll be distributing in the US, it'll come with US-"compatible" chargers.

 

[#1 GameMaster]

We have always planned to include a charger.

Well I'm glad to hear that because USB charge does seem to take to long and then you would also be able to use it well it's plugged in and not have to worry about buying an AC adapter just to use it like this.

But since you are going to sell them in the U.S. they will come with the right plug piece won't they.

 

[Zoppe]

Maybe a 2.0 Mpixels camera?(inside the pandora!) an extra battery would be useful, and i think that the cradle(or whatever is it called) could be included in some kind of bonus package with the normal contents plus the camera the wrist strap the cradle and the extra battery would be nice. it would be even better if that bonus package(value pack) was not a limited edition! IMHO

 

[God Ginrai]

We have always planned to include a charger.

Thanks for clearing that up. I didn't want to have to go through the same mess that I did with getting my GP2X charger with the Pandora.

-God Ginrai

 

[Frogboy]

Maybe a 2.0 Mpixels camera?(inside the pandora!) an extra battery would be useful, and i think that the cradle(or whatever is it called) could be included in some kind of bonus package with the normal contents plus the camera the wrist strap the cradle and the extra battery would be nice. it would be even better if that bonus package(value pack) was not a limited edition! IMHO

If you are referring to a GP2X type cradle then you'll need to something else to throw into your "Value Pack". There will be no use for a seperate cradle since all or very close to all of that functionality will be built into the console itself. I'm not criticizing your idea in any way especially since the PSP, GP2X and countless other similar devices have come in some kind of "Value Pack" but I really doubt that Pandora will offer such a thing. The reason it that just about everything that most people want comes with the initial purchase. I really doubt that there will be much extra stuff to buy and most of it will probably not be sold as Pandora accessories. The camera is a good example of this. If you can find one that has drivers then you'll be able to use it. An extra battery would be nice and they might sell them on the site but you probably be able to go to any site that specializes in selling batteries or maybe even something more general like Amazon and find them for much cheaper. How many people actually bought the GP2X rechargable batteries? I wasn't going to take the chance that they repackaged Energizer rechargables because those totaly suck. I passed on the SD cards as well. They wanted way to much for those. My point is that Pandora is a very complete machine that wil not need a lot of extras and most of the extras will probably only appeal to a minority of the users. When you don't include a charger, battery and a bunch of other stuff that most people are going to want then you can sell a "Value Pack" but these guys are being really cool about giving us all of the stuff that should come with console up front.

 

[Snu]

even if a true cradle isnt applicable, what might be nice is a specially designed (to fit the pandora's form) usb hub and battery combination (provides more power to the usb and the pandora). maybe it could include bluetooth as well, some usb hubs do.
i think such an addon would be quite useful.

 

[emphyrio]

I would very much prefer to have a cradle which can be left connected to TV, ( possibly has a harddisk inside) and which powers the pandora.
This would greatly reduce cable clutter, and have the convenience of having everything connected with simply placing the pandora in the cradle.

 

[God Ginrai]

even if a true cradle isnt applicable, what might be nice is a specially designed (to fit the pandora's form) usb hub and battery combination (provides more power to the usb and the pandora). maybe it could include bluetooth as well, some usb hubs do.
i think such an addon would be quite useful.

Now a cradle like that would be nice, I have to say.

I would very much prefer to have a cradle which can be left connected to TV, ( possibly has a harddisk inside) and which powers the pandora.
This would greatly reduce cable clutter, and have the convenience of having everything connected with simply placing the pandora in the cradle.

Come ON. That's just plain ridiculous to ask for. If you want a hard drive, buy an external harddrive and plug it into the crade by USB. Putting a hard drive in would be too much trouble, would cause complaints from people who want a cheap cradle, and would cause complaints from people who figure "If it's got a hard drive, then it should be * big" (* representing some figure larger than what would be chosen) Stick with Snu's idea.

-God Ginrai

 

[C B Felterbush]

I think a TV cradle is a great idea, i have been making rough sketches for the last week of what they could look like. For utility purpose it could have a charge adapter, four usb outlets in the front, a TV link, perhaps a dedicated EXT HDD usb in the back, and some Audio outputs. Some may even want a VGA out. I wouldnt mind.

 

[nubie]

I think a TV cradle is a great idea, i have been making rough sketches for the last week of what they could look like. For utility purpose it could have a charge adapter, four usb outlets in the front, a TV link, perhaps a dedicated EXT HDD usb in the back, and some Audio outputs. Some may even want a VGA out. I wouldnt mind.

Well, for all intents and purposes a "TV cradle" would just be a glorified port replicator/USB hub/external storage device.

I don't know about VGA out, for one the Omap doesn't support it, and the quality of most (if not all) S-Video to VGA adaptors under $200-$300 is worthless (Since the video is in an interlaced format a line-doubler is required to get the "full" resolution, this by the way is useless for an LCD screen because they will not show native pixel resolution and instead will stretch and smear and generally ruin the quality, this goes for Plasma and DLP as well), and you would have to use a CRT VGA monitor anyway.

So no to VGA. (waits for the people complaining about how their HD TV looks like crap with S-Video. Well Duh, you didn't get one with line-doubling and aspect correction)


I don't know how many of the outputs will be on one edge, if it is all but one you could still plug in the last cable by hand. I like the idea of a "bare" cradle that allows you to pick up your own hard drive, but the cost would likely be prohibitive for me.

I might like slim a "port replicator" with an anchor mechanism (for screws or Zip-ties) that would enable a quick disconnect from the "media center", it could even incorporate a nice USB hub.

 

[C B Felterbush]

unless my eyes decieve me, the omap has s-video , qvga and xga capabilities. and XGA is beyond VGA so i think you are wrong.

A Video Display Controller or VDC is an integrated circuit which is the main component in a video signal generator, a device responsible for the production of a TV video signal in a computing or game system. Some VDC's also generate a sound signal, but in that case it's not their main function.

http://focus.ti.com/general/docs/wtbu/wtbu...contentId=14649

look-cb

 

[Frogboy]

unless my eyes decieve me, the omap has s-video , qvga and xga capabilities. and XGA is beyond VGA so i think you are wrong.

A Video Display Controller or VDC is an integrated circuit which is the main component in a video signal generator, a device responsible for the production of a TV video signal in a computing or game system. Some VDC's also generate a sound signal, but in that case it's not their main function.

http://focus.ti.com/general/docs/wtbu/wtbu...contentId=14649

look-cb



I see that too. Very interesting. Can you plug XGA in to a VGA input? I've never seen a XGA adapter/converter before.

 

[cappuchok]

I see that too. Very interesting. Can you plug XGA in to a VGA input? I've never seen a XGA adapter/converter before.

Ahem. Don't mix up your computing terminology, please... :rolleyes: :blink:

 

[C B Felterbush]

Slight display education, it helps not to get the terms and complications of the display world confused.

VGA is a standard created by IBM in 1988, today it has been surpassed by nearly all types of display outputs, this format is being used largely in mobile devices.

A term used as SVGA or Super Video Graphics Array, is not a display type but rather a collective of different display resolutions and qualities. XGA, eXtended Graphics Array is a standard created by IBM in late 1990, and has become the primary resolution in projectors. XGA is a id a display type that falls under the SVGA umbrella.
They use the same "VGA" plug. though the actual adaption of the interface has gone far beyond its original capabilities.

XGA supports resolutions of both 800 × 600 pixels with high color (16 bits per pixel, i.e. 65,536 colors) and 1024 × 768 pixels with a palette of 256 colors (8 bits per pixel)

So you you have seen many XGA outputs, you just didn't know it. -CB

 

[nubie]

unless my eyes decieve me, the omap has s-video , qvga and xga capabilities. and XGA is beyond VGA so i think you are wrong.

A Video Display Controller or VDC is an integrated circuit which is the main component in a video signal generator, a device responsible for the production of a TV video signal in a computing or game system. Some VDC's also generate a sound signal, but in that case it's not their main function.

http://focus.ti.com/general/docs/wtbu/wtbu...contentId=14649

look-cb



Yes, but those outputs are used to drive the main screen, the only "external" output supported is S-Video (I realize I was one of the more vocal people demanding RGB/VGA on the GP2x, but that was because the Conexant encoder chip clearly supported it).

The Pandora will not have an off-chip encoder, to keep price, power consumption and size down.

If you have a page that shows RGB HV pins I am more than glad to agree with you, but that is not my current understanding.

Edit:

Notice that the block diagram shows "Parallel-Serial" connection to "TFT Display", IE for the screen, and I think QVGA and XGA describe possible resolutions, not any sort of Analog display signal:

XGA = 1024x768 pixel resolution http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XGA

QVGA = 320x240 (Quarter VGA, VGA=640x480) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quarter_Video_Graphics_Array

VGA refers to the Video Standard, the Video connector, and the Display Resolution. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VGA

If the OMAP had listed the QVGA and XGA under a DAC then that would refer to the Video Standard, since they don't it refers to an LCD digital signal.

More to the point: http://focus.ti.com/docs/prod/folders/print/omap3530.html
QUOTE
Display Subsystem

• Parallel Digital Output
  Up to 24-Bit RGB
  
• HD Maximum Resolution
  
• Supports Up to 2 LCD Panels
  
• Support for Remote Frame Buffer Interface (RFBI) LCD Panels

[*] 2 10-Bit Digital-to-Analog Converters (DACs) Supporting:

• Composite NTSC/PAL Video
  
  [*] Luma/Chroma Separate Video (S-Video)

[*] Rotation 90-, 180-, and 270-degrees

[*] Resize Images From 1/4x to 8x

[*] Color Space Converter

[*] 8-bit Alpha Blending

 

[C B Felterbush]

my feeling is if it can send signal to an onboard lcd then it can sent signal to an external one.

Did you ever see an original GBA tv-out converter? you simply tapped into the onboard display signal. That could be done and would be a nice cradle option.

 

[nubie]

my feeling is if it can send signal to an onboard lcd then it can sent signal to an external one.

Did you ever see an original GBA tv-out converter? you simply tapped into the onboard display signal. That could be done and would be a nice cradle option.

Obviously I wasn't saying that it was technically impossible, just you would have to disassemble the Unit to put an in-line adapter in the LCD ribbon cable. (IIRC the GBA and PSP tv-out conversions were quite bulky).

Basically it isn't just a case of "wouldn't it be great if the cradle had", it is a case of "I need to perform expensive surgery on my expensive device to change its function, appearance and structural integrity".

While I would likely do this (and get 800x480 pixels out of it, which I am not quite sure how I would display, except on a CRT PC monitor with enough adjustment in the Vertical stretch to make it 15:9).

Personally I would sooner convert the entire screen into a projector, that way the screen is larger and no quality is lost:

http://www.lumenlab.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=15796 (not to mention if this thing can really play media over Wifi you could really use it to . . . watch some media , whoops, I meant Top Gear, not . . . Other Stuff. :unsure: )