I should be sleeping but I'm having insomnia again so I might as well write something. This is an idea I toyed with, some years ago. I was setting up a TV set in the living room and I was annoyed at all the cables and all the different boxes that I had to connect. There was the TV, with an analog tuner that I would never use because we had already switch to digital. Then there was a digital converter box (for antenna reception), a cable tv box, an xbox and a dvd player. So I sat down for days thinking on a better way to do this.
One thing that came to mind was the computer's 5.25 drive bay. For those who don't know, is where the cd drive is at. But this computers started having this bay spaces long before the cd drives were invented. In the beginning, actual hard drives were placed there. Then floppies were made to the same dimensions so they could use existing bays. Then came CDs, then DVDs, then BlueRays. Now we have dozens and dozens of gizmos that are made to fit in the same old 5.25 bay that was initially intended for hard drives.
I then started thinking that we could do something similar for TV screens. Make TV screens with 5.25 bays on the sides and make peripherals/modules for these bays. Gaming Consoles, Cable TV Boxes, DVD Players, Satellite Receivers... make them all in this new 5.25 standard and insert them right into the TV. The TV itself would be just a display, much like computer monitors are. You could bundle a simple antenna receiver with the purchase of a new TV, but everything else should be a module that inserts into the TV.
Benefits of such a standard:
- No cables to deal with, just insert the module and go.
- Modules can use power from the TV.
- Would use less space
- Look cleaner/neater
- TV itself could be upgrade-able (processor module)
- Need more power? add a power module
- Ran out of HDMI ports, add an HDMI Connections module
In my humble opinion, this is the way it should have been from the very beginning. And this are the random things I think about when I try to sleep.
Rube out o/
One thing that came to mind was the computer's 5.25 drive bay. For those who don't know, is where the cd drive is at. But this computers started having this bay spaces long before the cd drives were invented. In the beginning, actual hard drives were placed there. Then floppies were made to the same dimensions so they could use existing bays. Then came CDs, then DVDs, then BlueRays. Now we have dozens and dozens of gizmos that are made to fit in the same old 5.25 bay that was initially intended for hard drives.
I then started thinking that we could do something similar for TV screens. Make TV screens with 5.25 bays on the sides and make peripherals/modules for these bays. Gaming Consoles, Cable TV Boxes, DVD Players, Satellite Receivers... make them all in this new 5.25 standard and insert them right into the TV. The TV itself would be just a display, much like computer monitors are. You could bundle a simple antenna receiver with the purchase of a new TV, but everything else should be a module that inserts into the TV.
Benefits of such a standard:
- No cables to deal with, just insert the module and go.
- Modules can use power from the TV.
- Would use less space
- Look cleaner/neater
- TV itself could be upgrade-able (processor module)
- Need more power? add a power module
- Ran out of HDMI ports, add an HDMI Connections module
In my humble opinion, this is the way it should have been from the very beginning. And this are the random things I think about when I try to sleep.
Rube out o/