Linksys DVD player w/ WiFi and ethernet 338
An anonymous reader writes "Linksys has announced a progressive scan DVD player with 802.11g and ethernet. Users can stream MPEG2, MPEG4, DivX, MP3, WMA, and other formats from their PC to the TV. Sure I can do this cobbling together other tools, but this is a self contained box even newbies can use. Think how many people could install and config a router and an AP, versus the number of people that can plug in one of the self-contained wireless routers? "
place your bets... (Score:2, Interesting)
Anyone want to place bets on how long before ____Insert OSS project here____ finds their work on it?
Take your pick- busybox, mplayer...the linux kernel(with modified drivers based on GPL of course)...
Re:Gateway has something similiar (Score:4, Interesting)
Now this I really like! (Score:5, Interesting)
This on the other hand is my idea of the future. A single, well thought-out component of a larger, modular system. Having a PC with a nice screen instead of a telly is one thing. Having all the media files that are on your PC availible across a wireless network through this handy little gizmo is quite another. Where can I get one? When can I get one? This could cut down on just so of the many (frankly worrying) chunks of wire spaghetti that currently run between PC and TC/HiFi.
Re:WEP (Score:2, Interesting)
But maybe this starts a new era of "going to the movies". You can ask your neighbour what he's going to watch this eve...
Region free? (Score:5, Interesting)
Huh? (Score:5, Interesting)
What would be much more useful would be a DVD player that hooks up to your TV, but can DIVX encode video (from DVD or any other video source) and stream over 802.11g to another TV, or to your computer for archiving and storage. That way, your TV gets a perfect picture from your DVD player, and your computer can receive and save streams of lower-quality video for any purpose.
- David Stein
Re:New meme: War Viewing (Score:3, Interesting)
Some guy bought one of those wireless camera/receiver combos and hooked the receiver up in his backpack with a little LCD screen. Then he walked around a big city and interecepted security cams and such. I think his conclusion was it was really boring.
At least with one of these you might get to see some more interesting things... I wonder how long it will be before someone develops a PC based client for the server software for these media boxes. Although the transmission protocol may be standard, I imagine the server and stream formats are all different between this one, Gateway's, and the handful of other ones on the market. That would make "war viewing" pretty difficult.
Doesn't support divx (Score:1, Interesting)
Re:Huh? (Score:2, Interesting)
Sould I even bother? (Score:3, Interesting)
Thinking that they just put that there because it required a Windows share to hook up to was overly optimisitc, it needs to run software on the PC as well.
That rules out OS X and Linux users. I would also hazard a guess that this one will do the same, since their other similar media product [linksys.com] has these restrictions.
Just PC (aka Windows?) (Score:3, Interesting)
Is *any* OS supported via some sort of file share (http/ftp/samba), or will Linksys require some special streaming client?
I didn't see the details from the press release, but if it's just looking for a SMB fileshare you specify though a web interface (which would make the most sense in my mind), that would be the best and most open solution.
Re:Now this I really like! (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:WMA? But no AAC or Ogg Vorbis (Score:1, Interesting)
Ogg support, 80 gb HDs, networkable...
these are nice.
Try the Liteon LVD-2002 (Score:2, Interesting)
It should cost you a little more than $100.
Re:Gateway has something similiar (Score:2, Interesting)
Still, I wonder if this will be cheaper than an xbox...
Someone needs to explain this product to me... (Score:2, Interesting)
This seems like a product that utterly failed to go through any strategic analysis. Some pertinent questions might be:
1) Why would I want my DVD player somewhere other than by the Television that it plays on?
2) Why would I want to pay more for a streaming device like this when I can buy a DVD player for like $50?
3) Why would I want to play my music (MP3, WMA, etc.) through the speakers on my television, or route said signal through my television?
It seems to me the segment for this kind of home media player is already well served by more targeted products. Specifically I would point to the rise of Digital Media Receivers that stream audio and video from NAS or a PC. They come (generally) with LCDs for management, are network and even wireless ready, and are fully adaptable.
In the case of people who want the NAS and digital receiver together you have things like the Tivo, Digital Media Players, etc.
Just seems to me like someone at Linksys/Cisco decided to merge a buinch of products with little thought (read: frontal lobotomy victim) to how such a device would be used and whether there is even a market for this (read: alternate reality).
-Rick
The TiVolution is here!!! (Score:3, Interesting)
You can even hook up your PS2 to your DSL line via a router to trash talk online. This new device would be just another step in that seemingly inevitable integration process.
The best part about this is that there are many players in this game. Thankfully, it's not just an MS Media Center PC dominating the category.
Kiss Technology available now (Score:5, Interesting)
The DP500 is open source based (uCLinux) and works well with Linux hosts (there are several projects supporting it on SourceForge).
Re:Pricing and Availability (Score:3, Interesting)
"But will it play a Divx CD (and if not, why the hell not?)? Will it play SVCD (from the media)?"
The general consumer doesn't give a rat's *** about whether it can do these things. If it plays DVDs then they are ready. Sure it can be argued that such a product is "obviously geared towards techies" but I don't think that's entirely the case here. Either way...if it can play divx streamed from the pc, why would it not be able to from a "divx cd"? As long as the data sent is in the proper format when it leaves the pc it should be able to handle it.
"The press release is damn poor, leaving such obvious points unaddressed, does not reflect well on the product."
The press release is just as it said. A release to the press. It gets word out on what they're up to and gets consumers eager to buy it so that when it does come out the consumer has been waiting an opportune amount of time (as judged by marketing department) and will jump at the chance to finally get it.
Re:WEP (Score:4, Interesting)
GPL-violation available now, too (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Gateway has something similiar (Score:3, Interesting)
Nah. You are probably thinking of streaming video over the internet, which nearly always, buffering... buffering...buffering... sucks. With things like Real Video, most people's internet connection isn't nearly fast enough to stream anything remotely resembling good quality. Over a LAN, however, those concerns are unfounded.
Tip top, exceedingly high dvd quality divx or xvid is only about 1500 kbps bitrate. Plus 160 kbps audio and you only have 1.7 megabits. Far under the speed of 100 mbps LAN, although it may test the speed of 802.11b, which has about a 5 mbps real world speed, I've heard. Keep in mind that that example was really high quality divx. Most divx video has bitrates of a megabit or less.
DVD MPEG2 video is of course much harder, as you have video bitrates of 6, 8 or more megabits. But you don't get DVD video over the internet, so you might as well just play it on the Linksys' dvd player.
The vast majority of people would be using this device with a ethernet connection. That would stream any video you could throw at at. And an 802.11B connection would handle divx just fine.
WPA and bandwidth concerns (Score:3, Interesting)
Its 802.11G using WPA. You can't crack it like WEP. Maybe you'll get lucky and your neighbor will use a passphrase like "password" or some other dictionary word.
54mbs in contention, in the air, and at 2.4ghz may (or probably) cause frame skipping and other problems when Johnny fires up the microwave, your other neighbor's b network starts doing massive file transers, Joan from upstairs talks on her cordless phone, etc. The press release mentions that you can use ordinary cat-5 cable instead of the wireless. Something tells me many people are going to go that route if they live in a 2.4ghz heavy trafficked area.
Look at it this way, you're getting around 20-15Mbps (probably closer to 15) of real world usable bandwidth with 802.11g. DVD quality movies use around 6-9 Mbps depending. Unless conditions are very good, you won't get DVD quality stuff without some problems.
I do wonder if the DVD drive will read data CDRs with divx files on them and play them. Can't see why it couldn't do this and if it does I'm totally buying this thing when it comes out.