TV overview

The original TV typewriter helped kick off the microcomputer revolution in the 1970s by  directly modulating the RF input for an ordinary domestic TV to display characters without even a microprocessor

The same basic approach was used in the ZX80 and other early home computers using an 8 bit microprocessor with TV output.

The Nintendo or Famicom gaming system and clones is still a popular gaming system in many developing countries with hardware costs in the $10 to $25 range.

There is an interesting proposal for a $10 Educational Television Computer based on the Famicom design. (Read the linked full .pdf report).

The System On Chip designs of low end MP3 players are significantly more powerful and the mass storage capacity from flash cards in Cardpods would be a major qualitative enhancement. A  Picture Processing Unit like that used in the Famicon design represents only a tiny fraction of the silicon available in low end MP3 players. A keyboard controller is already present (for sensing button presses).

It may well be that the only application for Cardpods in this direction would be to include a USB port/hub to connect separate keyboard and mass storage in a TV or other device that provides the TV display interface and necessarily has its own 8 or even 16 bit CPU. The Cardpod would simply be a card reader USB mass storage device.

However in any future Carpod SoC design, and perhaps even in design of models using existing SoCs, careful consideration should be given to integration possibilities. The higher end SoCs for MP4 players with tiny video displays certainly include what's needed to drive a domestic TV and even low end auto Cardpods come with complete FM transmitters for audio output via car FM receivers (using another cheap chip for the FM transmitter).

There may be some scope for using the DSP,  audio output and general processing power of the Cardpod as part of a distributed system across the USB bus side by side with its simple use as attached mass storage.

At the very least it should be possible to offload the file system by presenting a file system interface as well as the block device interface, as will become common for other USB mass storage devices. Implementing something like part of the USB standard Media Transfer Protocol extensions to the Picture Transfer Protocol might not be a distraction from UC development since it could assist with synchronization directly between devices.

Generally firmware implementation of additional levels of the USB standards is probably the best path for avoiding obsolescence when TV arrives. The only immediately relevant hardware issue would be to ensure inclusion of USB On The Go.