Display your NFT on your TV with Darkblock TV app
Darkblock is creating a whole new experience for NFT users via the use of their protocol that handles hidden and encrypted unlockable content for NFTs. Their TV App is a great way of seeing just how powerful the Darkblock protocol is.
The Darkblock team has released an updated version of their TV app that includes some cool new features for users to show off their NFTs (and attached hidden content) on the big screen. And soon, the code will be released as open-source, so the possibilities will be limited only by what third party developers create.
Let’s take a look!
Darkblock TV App
The Darkblock TV app is available on the Android app stores (Google Play and Amazon), with it soon coming to Apple’s App Store too. Initially it only supported one chain, and didn’t have as much traction as the team might have hoped, but the newer versions now support these five chains:
- Ethereum
- Solana
- Avalanche
- Polygon
- Tezos
Displaying your content on your TV via the app is easy. Once you have the app downloaded onto your preferred device, you fire it up and a code will display on screen. You then go to the Darkblock website and Connect Wallet.
You will be prompted to choose your preferred chain (from the five listed above) and subsequently which wallet you want to use on that chain. For example, if you are using the Solana chain, you will have the choice between the Phantom, Slope, and Solflare wallets.
Next enter the code displayed on your TV and hit connect. The app on the TV refreshes, showing all the NFTs in your wallet.
If you want to change chains, simply go back to the Darkblock website and disconnect from your current wallet and connect the new one. If using Metamask, it will automatically ask you if you want to switch to the new chain. After signing the transaction the TV will automatically switch to your new wallet displaying all the NFT’s relevant to that chain.
Since we are in Darkblock territory, there is more to just viewing an NFT. We are dealing with unlockable content that is attached to that NFT. The NFT is simply the key to unlocking all additional content. The additional content is encrypted in the Darkblock and stored on Arweave’s Permaweb.
Any content is pulled straight from the Arweave Permaweb, decrypted and displayed to you. No one else has access to this content. As such, the new viewer has an authenticate ownership feature. When viewing an NFT that has a Darkblock attached to it, you will be asked to sign a message with your wallet to verify that you are the real owner.
After this you have full access to the NFT and any Darkblock content attached.
Users can select any item from the list of unlockable content attached to the NFT and view it straight on their TV. The items are labelled with a convenient icon to tell you the type of file they are (PDF, 3D model, image, music, etc). The UI is clean and sleek, and has been made to be easy to embed and integrate to marketplaces.
Through the UI users are also able to get details about any and all unlockable items, as well as to download the item (if the NFT creator has enabled that as an option), and also get a link to the item’s Arweave Transaction ID (in order to see the paper trail back to the origin).
Even though the Darkblock TV app is a powerful tool for anyone wanting to show off their NFTs on the big screen, and a big part of what Darkblock has given the Web3 space so far, it is important to know that it is not the team’s main focus. Their goal is to add value to NFTs through ownership of unlockable content and assets. The TV app acts more like a tool for them to show off the functionality behind in the Darkblock protocol.
Open Source Code
In a recent video by Joey Janisheck, he mentions that the TV app code will soon be offered completely as open source for any developer to build upon. For now though, any developers who want to embed the Darkblock TV app widget in their projects can do so via the Darkblock NPM packages on the npmjs website here. The widget is available on all five mentioned chains.
Who is Darkblock for?
Darkblock is designed in a way that it can be handy for a number of users including but not limited to:
- PFP creators and users.
- Comic book creators.
- Game developers.
- Storytellers.
An example of a combination of files that one can attach to an NFT, could be for a gaming character. A PDF could display all of the information on the character (character sheet), whilst the image displays the character themselves (or even better a 3-D model shows the players character in three dimensions), while a music file contains the theme song for that specific character.
In the world of Darkblock, NFTs, unlockable content, and Web3, your imagination is the limit.
Join our