14 DAY TRIAL // Sigma Designs, like so many other companies, did not miss out on the opportunity provided by CES 2012.
The main attraction at its booth is said to be the EasyTV, basically the smallest media player ever to be created.
Still in the stage of reference design, a prototype as it were, the credit-card-sized item, nonetheless, can receive 1,080p video over Wi-Fi and then send it through an HDMI cable to the HDTV.
Most notably, it does not need a power plug, not of the usual kind at any rate.
Instead, it gets all the energy it needs via the unused USB port at the back of the display.
Thus, any TV can become a Smart TV by calling upon the services of this small creature.
EasyTV is powered by Sigma's SMP867X multimedia chip, which supports DLNA and Wi-Fi Direct.
Unfortunately, this invention won't become an actual product unless a manufacturer decides to adopt it. Hopefully someone will.