Homegrown Wireless Media Servers? 42
blurg64 asks: "I am about to move into a new house and am keen to be able to stream my mp3 collection out to my stereo. With all of the new media servers out there such as the Squeezebox, cd3o wireless network player and even HP's Wireless Digital Receiver offering, I was wondering if any /. readers had any tips or experiences in building a cheap wireless media server?"
Gameshark PS2 WET11 (Score:1)
Re:Gameshark PS2 WET11 (Score:1)
But this thing is great. It plays everything that I have and then some. and it is linux and OS X friendly.
I'm not 100% sure but I've had to use the wired PS2 controller for it not the dvd remote. But the ps2 here has built in IR and did not come with a remote but the sony DVD remote works on it for DVDs...
If your PS2 is already networked you can find the software for less than 50.
Re:Gameshark PS2 WET11 (Score:1)
Thanks,
- Mike
Re:Gameshark PS2 WET11 (Score:1)
get an EPIA (Score:4, Informative)
one of the MII boards with PCMCIA & CF slots built in
mini-itx.com [mini-itx.com]
You'll be paying a whacking premium for something called a "media center"
Re:get an EPIA (Score:2)
in the US or Canada. Any readers know a US
individually purchasable analog currently
available?
Re:get an EPIA (Score:2)
worldwide shipping
Servers? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Servers? (Score:1)
it is a streaming media server, and you dont need the slimp3 devices to use it.
it streams to WinAmp just fine. runs pretty sweet.
Re:Servers? (Score:2)
slimp3 = ethernet client device
squeezebox = ethernet or ethernet+wireless client device
Re:Servers? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Servers? (Score:1)
Re:Servers? (Score:1)
It can talk to a number of clients, including a piece of hardware you can buy called Squeezebox. [slimdevices.com]
The Squeezebox runs some onboard software that acts as a client to the Slim Server. It has jacks so it can plug into your audio system,
I attempted it (Score:5, Informative)
Re:I attempted it (Score:2)
How does your p75 deal?
Or are you running the server on another machine, and just using the P75 as your client?
Re:I attempted it (Score:1)
Try TIVO and their Home Media Option (Score:5, Informative)
I'm in the same boat of moving to a new place. Currently, everything, including TV and TiVO, is served by my main computer, and while that works well for a single guy, it doesn't work so well for a married one.
Since I have a receiver, will buy a new TV, but don't have a CD player, I figured it was cheaper to buy Tivo's Home Media Option [tivo.com], which uses my computer to stream mp3's and images through my Tivo and by extension, stereo. While I'm sure Tivo's media server is fine, I installed the JavaHMO [sourceforge.net] which not only lets me serve up mp3's from my linux box, but also movie listings, weather reports, and even stream mp3's off shoutcast. Since I rip all my CD's to file anyways (usually ogg, but Tivo doesn't support Ogg :/), now I can access my entire music collection plus internet radio stations through the simple Tivo interface. Add a wireless 802.11b USB adapter, and you have a nice wireless media server through your Tivo.
Re:Try TIVO and their Home Media Option (Score:2)
Not to be a troll, but why not? That's exactly what my 2 tivos are doing, one in my living room, and one in the bedroom that my wife loads playlists up on in the morning when getting ready for work...
Avoid Wireless if you can (Score:5, Informative)
The microwave kicks on, TV/audio goes nuts. Phone rings, same thing. Even if you unplug everything electrical around you...odds are you still won't be happy with the quality.
Errant crackle and pops just ruin it all.
Re:Avoid Wireless if you can (Score:1)
Re:Avoid Wireless if you can (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Avoid Wireless if you can (Score:5, Informative)
Definitely, avoid wireless for the media computer, you're better off avoiding the ever-crowding 2.4G bands.
Where you want to go wireless is in the FM band. Something [hobbytron.net] like [arstechnica.com] this [ramseyelectronics.com].
Plug it into the sound-out of a cabled media computer. Put the computer wherever you have the space (closet, basement, attic) and keep your stereo clutter-free. Serve the jukebox control interface via http on the local wireless network and control it via laptop, pda, whatever. Tune the FM transmitter to a free space low on the dial (89.3 or so), and listen to your streams on any stereo in/around/outside the house. So long as you aren't stepping on any other nearby frequencies, and the reception drops off enough a few houses away, you shouldn't have much worry about complaints.
Re:Avoid Wireless if you can (Score:2)
I went powerline.. I actually get near 14mbs speeds at home using speedstream powerline hub->dlink powerline/ethernet converter at work I bought the same hub, and speedstream 2521 powerline->wifi accesspoints, unplug, move, and replug as necassary..
My experience with homegrown (Score:1, Interesting)
The other side of the equation (Score:5, Informative)
The client, though, is a tougher nut to crack. If you only want to stream MP3s, then a product like the Audiotron would be excellent; you don't have to worry about finding a good Linux-compatible character-LCD based control system (which you probably would want to use, in this case), and then programming it. The Audiotron-type products are probably best in an audio-only environment, although you could probably get by with a second PC, especially if you can stand to have a small keyboard, mouse and monitor in your rec room. Wireless might be a problem, but I'd imagine anything that doesn't natively grok 802.11x would work with an AP on the other end of a short network cable.
I would advise you to take your thinking beyond just MP3s, though. If you were to get a Shuttle [shuttle.com] or similar small form factor PC and put a TV card, Linux and MythTV [mythtv.org] on it, you would have an excellent PVR system that would also play MP3s and even act as a frontend to emulators like MAME and ZSNES. Even if you don't want a PVR (already have Tivo, don't watch TV, whatever), you can still use the other functions. Also, most of the small form factor PCs I've seen are designed to be small, quiet and non-intrusive - it probably wouldn't be much worse than a system like the Audiotron, from an annoyance standpoint. If I were in your shoes, I'd seriously consider taking the money I was going to spend on an Audiotron or similar product and putting it towards one of these babies.
Re:The other side of the equation (Score:4, Informative)
However spening a little more (it does add up) you can get fanless Mini-ITX solutions (like Hush see logicsupply.com $700-$900). Combined with an acoustic management enabled FDB harddisk like Seagate barracuda, the noise output will be kept at minimum, ie. your CRT TV on mute or the flourescent lights will be louder.
Re:The other side of the equation (Score:2)
I'm sitting 3 feet from my Pentium Three full size tower, with Winamp playing at a respectable but low level and I can't hear the PC fans at all.
Re:The other side of the equation (Score:1)
Re:The other side of the equation (Score:2)
Old computer + Winamp + Win98 (Score:4, Informative)
You can read about what I did here [upenn.edu]. It's a headless Pentium 350 running Winamp on top of Windows 98 (yes, really). Winamp plugins let me control it through a web browser and automatically search the network for mp3s. The files are kept on a separate machine with a big hard drive.
I recently added a next-generation user interface device called a 'three-button mouse', but I haven't updated my web page yet. The 3 buttons are 'stop', 'next' and 'play', which is pretty much all I need. On the rare occaision I want to mess with the playlist I use the web interface.
Not the most elegant or advanced solution, but it was all done with stuff that I had already or could download for free and it fit my existing setup with minimal hassle.
Re:Old computer + Winamp + Win98 (Score:2, Interesting)
I have one and love it. (Score:1)
amd athalon 1ghx with 256 megs of ram.
via kt133+ chipset
40gig hd to boot from, 120 for media, adding more disks beceause this is full.
(shame) windows xp pro,
all hooked together by a linksys wireless router.
no sound card
no video card
crappy generic network card
all you need to do is mount your network share as a disk, and there you go, just a big slow drive, plenty fast for mp3, I'm listening to them right now. I can watch most of my divx movies over the wireless, svcd playback is choppy.
goin
LCD - crap, Monitor - good (Score:2, Informative)
I've got a fairly decent solution (Score:2, Interesting)
I have a 40 GB HD in there and utilize a Creative Labs Extigy (USB 'puter to extigy, optical extigy to stereo).
I have no monitor or keyboard attached, so I use VNC (http://www.realvnc.com) on my 802.11b enabled laptop to control the sound from anywhere in the house.
It is great at parties, because I can just load up a playlist with hours of music, and let it play. Also I leave
my ghetto setup... (Score:1)
Iteration II is the notebook hooked into the stereo...as I replaced my Toshiba Protege 1110CT PII with a 12" iBook, it works pretty well for this...or I just plug the iBook in and let iTunes do the w
The server side is easy enough (Score:4, Informative)
I wrote up the whole process [ath0.com] including configuration. I finally got ALSA working this week, but I haven't updated the page with that info yet.
Use mini-itx for the server (Score:4, Insightful)
HomePod option (Score:2, Informative)
pentium 133 laptop (Score:2, Interesting)
I can then log in using my laptop (wifi, also a source of some files) over http and control all aspecs of winamp, including browsing the network shares. I can also VNC in =] Just a note, my network is 11g, and I have not tested it on 11b.
It works won