Texas Instruments has announced that its OMAP4 platform has been Netflix certified for the 1080p Full HD version of the streaming movie company’s app, the first time a mobile platform has been approved. It’s the M-Shield security section that’s won TI the kudos, apparently, working in combination with the high-definition capabilities of the processor cores.
Although Netflix already has an Android app, its compatibility is limited to certain handsets. That, the company has previously explained, is because Android lacks standardized secure streaming protocols that Netflix can use not only to funnel their content out to phones and tablets, but also use to reassure content owners that the movies won’t be ripped and shared illegally.
TI’s M-Shield security system, however, offers a hardware-protected, trusted execution environment (TEE), running on the OMAP4’s dual ARM Cortex-A9 cores, but supposedly does away with either a dedicated chip or extra CPU cycles. There’s also support for Full HD HDMI output, which could mean plugging your Android phone into an HDTV and turning it into a mobile Roku-style streamer.
According to TI, devices with the Netflix app pre-loaded “will be launched in the near future.”
