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Sagemcom’s Android TV ecosystem

Sagemcom has unveiled a ‘TV ecosystem’ based on Android, with a compact set-top box, tablet and wireless HDMI connector.

The French electronics manufacturer expects the gear to appear mostly as white label products for TV operators, after unveiling it at IPTV World Forum 2012 in London.

The TV Buddy set-top box and the un-named tablet both run Android 4.0, AKA Ice Cream Sandwich.

The set-top box works through a variety of control interfaces, from IR remote to mouse, although ours was demonstrated using a Logitech infra-red remote control with built-in keyboard and trackpad.

As you’d expect with ICS, it’s initially an icon-based environment but gives developers and operators a wide range of scope to create their own environments fit for the living room.

The tablet, with a screen we estimate at around 7in diagonal, can project to the TV either through an HDMI-equipped dock or via built-in wireless HDMI.

Sagemcom’s wireless HDMI adapter plugs into a free HDMI socket and takes power from the USB ports now found on many TVs.

It should work directly from the tablet over your domestic WiFi, although in the crowded WiFi environment of the conference floor, Sagemcom added a booster module – this one powered from the tablet’s micro-USB.

The tablet can either project the entire desktop to a TV screen, or video from apps like YouTube, which run in the background while you do other tasks on your tablet.

Sagemcom works with brands including Freesat in the UK, so we can only hope that a little of this magic rubs off on its forthcoming Freesat G2 receiver, or comes to the UK through another white lable deal.

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