HP unveils plans for digital home invasion (News.com) [LWN.net]

Set-top box

Posted Jan 5, 2005 20:20 UTC (Wed) by jamienk (guest, #1144) [Link]

I want to watch and listen to my computer files on my TV. This sort of thing is becoming a very common desire -- my non-techie friend wants to be able to play his computer songs over his stereo, for example. The pre-fabbed solutions that I've seen, to connect your TV or stereo to your computer with a set-top box, all have some sort of DRM considerations at their core: you need to run special server software on your computer that limits the file formats, OS, and conditions of use; or the client software on the TV or stereo can only play certain kinds of files, and may need to be further "upgraded" (restricted) later.

What we want is so simple, so obvious. We want to be able to play all of our files on all of our devices.

After researching, I've found that a modified Xbox running XBMC does just this. In order to mod an Xbox, you have to open a sealed case, remove cables, find and set jumpers, even solder. These things can be a bit tricky, but aren't that hard for a geek.

It's not nearly as easy to get the mod chip, get the software to run on my Xbox, and get good instructions. I've had to participate in a strange, underground system dominated by extreme paranoia. To download the needed bios and media player I've had to post a cryptic message on an IRC channel (that took a long time to find), which gave me a time-limited password to an ftp server, from which I downloaded a torrent file, that gave me a password-protected zip file, the password of which I had to search usenet for. Users in the know call this process "the usual way." These other Xbox modders who I encountered are all rare people able to modify hardware and hack together software and willing to go against the massive propaganda campaign that says that what they do is a violation of the law. Still, there were HUNDREDS of users on the IRC channel while I was there. There were THOUSANDS of peers on the torrent. Mod chips are similarly back-ordered, with huge competition of sellers posting from out of the US and chip developers. And there are several other, equally popular and clandestine ways of playing your digital media on your TV or stereo over your lan besides a modded Xbox.

Where did we get the computer files that we want to move around? From a variety of sources: bought and ripped CDs & DVDs, transferred VHS tapes LPs and cassettes, Internet purchases & free downloads, P2P networks, from friends, and by creating the content (recording music, filming movies) ourselves. But the provenance of the rest of my possessions is really none of your business, is it?

Lesson: if a company has the BALLS to sell a box that plugs into your lan and your TV and stereo and can play any media on an SMB share, they will make a lot of money and garner tremendous support. (Extra features can include CD/DVD burner, firewire/USB ports and drivers to rip/write to iPods and such.) There is a MASSIVE pent-up demand and MASSIVE desire to innovate.

HPs latest, I'm guessing, will be far, far from what I want.

See http://craphound.com/msftdrm.txt for interesting arguments against DRM.

Slim Devices

Posted Jan 6, 2005 4:44 UTC (Thu) by gervin23 (guest, #13977) [Link]

i just downloaded the server (slimserver) and client apps. the server is written in perl and the client in java. slimserver was a total breeze to install and get running (gentoo in this case). the client gives the look and feel of the hardware (main lcd screen plus the remote control).

i think it's a pretty good idea but 200+ bucks per device is a bit steep for me. also, after a couple songs, the client brought my windows box to a standstill, ugh (i've never had much luck with java anyway). one thing i would love to see (and gladly pay for) is a client for the zaurus since i have a couple sitting around :)

Slim Devices

Posted Jan 6, 2005 11:48 UTC (Thu) by Duncan (guest, #6647) [Link]

Client written in Java? Java isn't software libre. Quoting:

"I will reject it even if it is the best quality in the world, simply because I value my freedom too much to give it up for that."

Freedom, Innovation, and Convenience: The RMS Interview

Duncan

Slim Devices

Posted Jan 10, 2005 6:35 UTC (Mon) by mbp (guest, #2737) [Link]

There's also a Perl web client, or you can control it through the IR remote control, or use various other clients for the open protocol. Java is entirely optional.

Slim Devices

Posted Jan 6, 2005 10:03 UTC (Thu) by ekj (subscriber, #1524) [Link]

sure. I've been lucky enough to own a slimp3 for about two years, since before they became wireless and changed name to squeezebox.

I've got only good things to say about the box itself and the company slimdevices.

The company is clueful and open, you can send them questions or ideas and actually get useful responses.
Development is open. There's anonymous CVS. Patches are accepted. There's a simple plugin-system for expanding the slimserver.
Server runs on any platform that has Perl and is open source.
Device plays all current and future formats that can be understood by the computer running the server. (natively wav and mp3, the server transcodes other stuff)
Excellent integration of internet-radio enables convenient use of shoutcash, live365 and others. Other internet-radios can simply be added.
Basically all intelligence is server-side, meaning the capabilities of your device grows over time rather than being fixed.
No limits to size of collection other the amount of harddisk available.
Excellent user-interface making it simple to find the song, the artist, the genre or whatever you want even in a humongous collection.
Also controllable from a web-interface and by connecting to a given port (both configurable and password-protectable) making it easy to integrate with other devices and/or scripts.
Device sends all ir-commands received, including those not handled by the slimp3 itself to the server, which has easily editable mappings-files defining what button on what remote does what. I use this as a ir-receiver for my computer in general.
i2c-bus for controlling other devices trough the slimp3 (requires hacking)
Wonderful VFD-display with adjustable brigthness. About a thousand times nicer-looking and easier to read than the typical backlit lcds

The things are a little pricy, that is true. $200 or something for a device that does audio-only is not cheap. To me it's been worth every cent though.