Can I display the current live TV feed in a full screen googleTV app

Question

In a GoogleTV full screen app, can I render the current live TV in a media control (for example the user might be currently watching House on NBC).

Since there is no such thing as a ticker or side app in googleTV (like there is in SamsumgTV or Yahoo! widgets) I would like to allow the user to continue to watch their show within the full screen app while also viewing simple app content.

Also, if you can do this, what is the best way to stub out and simulate the Live TV feed in the emulator during development and testing.

Sweptwing

Answer 1

In a G+ hangout one of the Google TV developers mentioned that the live TV is implemented as an Android app. Other apps cannot get access to the live video stream.

If you look at this video at 1:30 you will see that Christian Kurzke from Google shows a screenshot of Google TV with widgets: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOPExK8WTz4 Since Google TV is based on Android I'm assuming that it should work exactly like the home screen of mobile devices.

The Google TV emulator documentation mentions that there is a way to emulate a live TV video source: http://code.google.com/tv/android/docs/gtv_emulator.html#Running

Kafiristan

So does that mean that the "built-in" android app that google provides and is used when you watch live-tv has privileged access to an internal non-documented API? Is there documentation that states a 3rd party fullscreen googleTV android apps cannot display the live video stream coming into the googleTV box? – Sweptwing

I have not seen documentation on this; I can only go by what the Google developer stated. Only the live TV app has access to the live tv stream. He also mentioned that HDCP prohibits access to the video feed for other apps. – Kafiristan

The community has voted and you are the winner! :) I am still looking for an authoritative reference/link to these limitations. If anyone has more information please continue to post here. Thanks. – Sweptwing

Answer 2

I am pretty sure that the TV stream is special. It is not an app, and it is not available to apps. I think GoogleTV has Picture-in-Picture so you can still watch TV while using Apps, but integrating the live stream is not possible, unfortunately. This is probably mostly due to copyright concerns from the media companies.

Trilateration

Answer 3

Google TV uses Picture in picture.

Picture in Picture allows you to watch a live TV feed while simultaneously using other features on your Google TV. Surf the web, browse pictures, or play a game without missing a second of your favorite TV program.

for more info check this link

Logan