China Kicks Off Homebrew Bluetooth Alternative 'Star Flash' As It Pushes Universal Remotes (theregister.com) 53
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Register: China's Electronics Video Industry Association last week signed off on a standard for a universal remote control -- a gadget Beijing thinks locals need because they're struggling with multiple remotes, but which is also a little more significant in other ways. The standard requires remote controls to allow voice control, and to use one of three means of wireless comms: Bluetooth, infrared, and Star Flash -- more on that later. It has been hailed as a boon for consumers who apparently struggle to find the right remote control to use as they navigate between televisions and set-top boxes.
This standard reportedly detects which device a user wants to control, makes the connection, and eases the chore of directing a stream from a set-top box to a display. Device-makers have been told that televisions and set-top boxes must support the standard, and they've quickly complied: local media report that Chinese consumer electronics outfit Konka has already delivered the first Smart TV capable of handling the universal remote. Building a standard ecosystem for universal remotes has obvious benefits for consumers, who should be able to use one unit across multiple devices and won't be tied to proprietary tech. But this move has other benefits for Beijing, thanks to its requirement to use China's home-grown Bluetooth alternative, Star Flash.
Star Flash is one of the projects run by the SparkLink Alliance -- a group that lists hundreds of Chinese developers and manufacturers as members. Huawei contributes tech to the group. Chinese IoT hardware vendor Qogrisys has described it as an upgrade to both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi that incorporates ideas used in 5G networks, is capable of handling multiple simultaneous device connections, sips power sparingly so battery-powered devices go longer between recharges, and can stream lossless stereo audio. Chinese consumer electronic and automotive brands are already keen to use Star Flash, and the Alliance is promoting its use in industrial settings too. China will promote use of universal remotes in 2025 -- meaning the protocol may soon appear in millions of domestic devices, giving manufacturers scale to justify further investment.
This standard reportedly detects which device a user wants to control, makes the connection, and eases the chore of directing a stream from a set-top box to a display. Device-makers have been told that televisions and set-top boxes must support the standard, and they've quickly complied: local media report that Chinese consumer electronics outfit Konka has already delivered the first Smart TV capable of handling the universal remote. Building a standard ecosystem for universal remotes has obvious benefits for consumers, who should be able to use one unit across multiple devices and won't be tied to proprietary tech. But this move has other benefits for Beijing, thanks to its requirement to use China's home-grown Bluetooth alternative, Star Flash.
Star Flash is one of the projects run by the SparkLink Alliance -- a group that lists hundreds of Chinese developers and manufacturers as members. Huawei contributes tech to the group. Chinese IoT hardware vendor Qogrisys has described it as an upgrade to both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi that incorporates ideas used in 5G networks, is capable of handling multiple simultaneous device connections, sips power sparingly so battery-powered devices go longer between recharges, and can stream lossless stereo audio. Chinese consumer electronic and automotive brands are already keen to use Star Flash, and the Alliance is promoting its use in industrial settings too. China will promote use of universal remotes in 2025 -- meaning the protocol may soon appear in millions of domestic devices, giving manufacturers scale to justify further investment.
Obligatory XKCD (Score:5, Funny)
https://xkcd.com/927/ [xkcd.com]
Re: (Score:3)
They have the volume to make it happen though. Look at Tuya, the IoT protocol. So much supports it now, including Home Assistant, that it's become one of the major standards (along side Matter and Apple's crap).
Tuya is zigbee (Score:2)
Star Flash (Score:5, Funny)
Sounds like one of those fighting moves in anime where the protagonist shouts out the name of his special attack before doing it - "STAR FLASH!"
Re:Star Flash (Score:4, Funny)
Sounds like one of those fighting moves in anime where the protagonist shouts out the name of his special attack before doing it - "STAR FLASH!"
Fool! Your starflash is nothing compared to my 802.11bn and even that is only a draft! You haven't even imagined my final form!
Ignorant bullshit (Score:2)
Chinese IoT hardware vendor Qogrisys has described it as an upgrade to both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi that incorporates ideas used in 5G networks, is capable of handling multiple simultaneous device connections, sips power sparingly so battery-powered devices go longer between recharges, and can stream lossless stereo audio.
Ideas used in 5G networks: Like wireless?
Multiple simultaneous device connections: Bluetooth controllers can do this if you don't get the cheapest, shittiest Chinese one
Sips power: Bluetooth LE
lossless audio: Qualcomm aptX Lossless
It's an upgrade from Bluetooth because... it does the same things as Bluetooth?
Re: (Score:2)
If Slashdot were implementing geo-blocking by some method (all of which have significant vulnerabilities, not least to VPNs with outlets at some large ISP/ interchange in any country they choose to access), then you might have a point. But if you can read this comment, then Slashdot aren't taking any such (effective) steps. (I'm making no effort at such circumvention ; my ISP may be, but I wouldn't know. Or care.)
Oh, you mean "a government d
Re: (Score:2)
Since when could you get lossless stereo audio over BLE?
aptX Lossles requires Qualcomm Bluetooth High Speed Link technology for increased bandwidth over standard Bluetooth.
You've listed a bunch of incompatible things. Good job.
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You can do all of those things at once from the same host. At most, you need multiple controllers, most generations of which are dirt cheap and all of which can be converged into a single package if you want.
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Or you could use a Star Flash chip, with similar power to BLE, but 10x the bandwidth of full Bluetooth at 12Mbps
That also supports a high speed mode that's faster than most WiFi at 1.2Gbps
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Seems like the real news here is that China has discovered how to bypass physics.
You're not going to be able to do all of those things at once with Star Flash any more than you can do them all at once with Bluetooth, and for the same reasons.
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IMO, it's not the doing them all at once that's the selling point - obviously, it doesn't sip power like Bluetooth LE while in high performance mode comparable to WiFi at 1.2Gbps (or maybe it's not obvious to some?). The selling point seems to be that it's one protocol that may be implemented by one chip with autonegotiation, so you get the best of both worlds and don't have to source chips from multiple vendors or deal with backward compatibility that each necessitates within their own stack. And its their
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It can also be implemented and sold globally without being controlled by Bluetooth SIG, an American entity controlling the standards and trademarks.
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it's not controlled by the same people as control Bluetooth.
On investigating (because I don't otherwise care, the first thing I can find about the management of Bluetooth is that it is managed by a committee that [Wiki]
Well, that sounds like a recipe for slowing development to a crawl. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing - for a widely adopted standard. But isn't necessarily a good thing in a rapidly advancing filed, such as com
Voice (Score:5, Insightful)
The standard requires remote controls to allow voice control
I wonder why they would want microphones in every remote.
Re: Voice (Score:3)
That, and what I bet theyâ(TM)re after by demanding all tvs use it, is that manufacturers start including their hauwei chip in all tvs, even ones shipped to the west. That chip of course will be backdoored to high heaven.
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No doubt modems/routers/APs will be required to have it as well
Re: Voice (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm more worried about the innocent remote sitting next to my recliner, or more worrisome, sitting on the side of the boardroom with an active microphone and a brand new protocol that might or might not be connected to a 5G cellular system.
SparkLink: Oh, that constant encrypted data stream from the remote? That's just the device polling for new, active devices and searching for the least used channels for best data transfer. The constant band hopping is part of a proprietary QoS algorithm. Data is sent back to our R&D labs to better train the voice recognition. Nothing to see here. Move along.
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You might want to go back in time and warn yourself and others about all the remotes with mics in them that we already have on the market. How is this different? And why do people think something powered by 2 AAA batteries is going to be capable of streaming uncompressed stereo audio 24x7 to anything? You know your phones all have mics too, right?
FYI, the mic in my Chromecast and Roku remotes gets turned on when I either push the hardware mic button or the mic icon, streams that short clip, and that's it. C
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"For some reason the telescreen in the living-room was in an unusual position. Instead of being placed, as was normal, in the end wall, where it could command the whole room, it was in the longer wall, opposite the window. To one side of it there was a shallow alcove in which Winston was now sitting, and which, when the flats were built, had probably been intended to hold bookshelves. By sitting in the alcove, and keeping well back, Winston was able to remain outside the range of the telescreen, so far as s
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You could ask Amazon, apple, Google, Nvidia, and all the other western companies that did it first.
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The standard requires remote controls to allow voice control
I wonder why they would want microphones in every remote.
I more wonder why no citizen in any other country ever cares about that, while ironically using hardware Made in China.
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I wonder why they would want microphones in every remote.
Same reason Google, Apple, and Meta want it.
Re: Voice (Score:1)
Voice control, of course.
Oh, and to tickle all the tin foil fashion victims.
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Voice control, of course.
Right? Has no one else every tried to search for anything using an on screen keyboard controlled by the directional pad on an IR based remote??? It's hell.
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It would be so easy to safeguard this with a switch that's a hardware disconnect for the mic, but I'll bet that won't be included.
Remotes (Score:2)
What am I missing?
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They also became obsolete once everything started being connected with HDMI. They're mostly irrelevant.
Re: Remotes (Score:1)
They're very inconvenient to use, ime.
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I'd say there are a lot less (decent) universal remotes than there once were. HDMI connectivity might solve for some problems, but I love a good programmable remote control - and these days, pretty much no one makes such a thing.
Most universal remotes still require you to 'select' which remote you want to use. In my simplest use case, that would mean 'selecting' TV to turn the TV on, and selecting Amazon to control the stick, and then back to TV to adjust the volume (although a newer TV might get volume con
Fuck China (Score:3)
Honestly, why do we put up with this spying bullshit? I'd rather not have cheap useless shit than support their terror.
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Pay 10x more for a worse American made product. Assuming you can even find an American version.
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Re: Fuck China (Score:1)
What spying bullshit?
Are you projecting like a good little Yankee?
I have been disappointed in wireless "upgrades" (Score:3)
I agree it feels like an excuse to sneak spy tech into the home, but also I feel like wireless protocols stagnated a ton. Every few years they increase the number (Not 4, but 5! now) and pretend it matters a lot.
I'd prefer something like 'threads' has tried to do for the home automation space... something that tries to merge/meld various camps into an interoperating super group, at least until everybody makes stuff that works well together anyway.
Heck I wish devices had to publish their API so random consumers could write their own automation/tools for this. And force them to support a set of typical actions/information (on/off, channels, etc).
Anyway, guess we'll see what this becomes. It just baffles me how terrible everything is still. And how customers are left to just deal with whatever they are handed, unless they're an engineer (and even then...).
Wha? (Score:2)
Who the hell uses a remote control these days?
Re: Wha? (Score:1)
Who doesn't?
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Is there any other common device that uses remotes? Cookers? Fridges? Steering wheels? FM radios?
Oh - found one : I've got a remote for my DVD player. Somewhere. Probably in the cupboard with the discs, all of which I've transferred to the computer connected to the TV, which I shift to looking at a different source using the TV's remote.
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... TV ... Is there any other common device that uses remotes? Cookers? Fridges? Steering wheels? FM radios?
Yes, of course. (What's the name for questions like that - like Occam's Razor for dumb questions?)
TV
Receiver
Stereo
Projector
Media device (Chromecast / Roku / FireTV / AppleTV / etc..)
Game system (Xbox, PS, Switch, etc.. is a controller not a remote?)
Cameras (GoPro / Insta360 / DSLR / etc..)
Lights (Normal home lights, Ceiling fan, Cabinet lights, Christmas lights, etc..)
Air conditioner
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Star flash? (Score:2)
Bold attempt to spawn a homegrown standard (Score:1)
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Turn off TVs with my phone? (Score:2)
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