Designtechnica Forums: List of Known Networked Media Devices

In my last post, I mentioned my search for a home media device, but I didn't list my feature wishlist:

• 802.11g capability
• stream DiVX, MPEG, and quicktime video from any networked PC or mac
• stream MP3 (any encoding including variable bitrate), WMA, iTunes purchased AAC files, and streaming MP3/Realaudio from net radio stations
• streaming Slideshows of jpegs and tiffs from my PC and macs
• RCA connectors to home theater box, would be nice if it had S-video and digital audio as well

While continuing my search, I stumbled upon this comprehensive list of networked media devices at Designtechnica. Nothing quite fills out my wishlist, but it looks like the technology is catching up. The Joyport (at a pricey $699) does almost everything but 802.11g.

Comments

[Peter Rojas]

I haven't had a chance to test this out myself, but the customer service rep I spoke to at Gateway swore that you could put an 802.11g card into their Gateway Connected DVD player, which can stream DivX, MPEG, MP3 from a PC and has S-Video and RCA connectors.

[Matt Haughey]

According to all the specs I've read and what people have said, I didn't know you could watch DivX on the gateway, but according to their site it does now list DivX as a suitable format. I would guess the PCMCIA slot would accept a 802.11g card though, so I'll consider picking one up for sure.

Hopefully a faster network connection would also allow higher bandwidth video to stream, but how do you figure out what bitrate a mpeg or divx file was encoded at? I looked in my windows media player's properties on a mpeg and the bitrate area is blank. Are most movies <3Mb or is that limitation on the Gateway a problem?

[Matt Haughey]

...and I've just ordered a Gateway connected DVD player. I'll post a full review after I've gotten it up and running.

[Alexander Grundner]

The best your going to find is the PRISMIQ MediaPlayer. It basically covers all your requirments except AAC (your iTunes tracks) and Quicktime.

http://www.prismiq.com/products/techspecs.asp

If I'm not mistaken, DiVx is an MPEG-4 based video compression technology and should stream as an MPEG-4 file.

[Joe Bezdek]

Hi everyone. I am one of the co-founders of DivXNetworks, the company that created the popular DivX video technology. (Note the capital D and capital X. That is the correct way to spell the name of the technology.)

While it is true that DivX video technology is based in part on the MPEG-4 video standard, it is _not_ true that a generic MPEG-4 video playback device is capable of playing back all DivX video content. Many companies (like Gateway, as we've just recently learned) claim their devices support DivX video when in fact they only support MPEG-4 video. When we learn about these sorts of companies, we contact them and insist that they correct the record.

To help end consumers make sense of all of this, we created the DivX Certified program (http://www.divx.com/divxcertified/) for hardware devices. Before a device can call itself "DivX Certified" and bear one of the official logos, it must be tested by our official certification labs and pass a defined set of criteria.

So if you ever have a question of whether a device truly supports DivX video, look for the DivX Certified logo and name. FYI, as of this writing, the only two officially DivX Certified hardware devices are the KiSS DP-500 and the Phillips 737.

Hope this helps! Feel free to drop me an email if you have any questions.

[brett]

A device that's not listed but that is fantastic is the Gameshark Media Player for the PS2.

I've been using it for a month now and it works really, really well. Just connects to your networked PS2 and streams music, pics and movies from your PC or Mac. I'm using wireless (works fine over 802.11b) and 99% of divx movies play perfectly. It doesn't do everything on your wish list - no AAC or quicktime - but it's here now, and it works.

Only $45 or something like that - and $199 for the PS2, which obviously you can use for much more. You can use it with optical sound output, S-video, or just RCA outputs from the PS2. Check it out.

[Matt Haughey]

Ah crud, well, I'm hoping the Gateway can play some of the DivX shows I download, but I won't hold my breath.

[MrBlank]

Why do you need a home media device? Can't you just get a cheap e-machine PC, throw in a wireless card and an ATI All-in-Wonder or TV card? It would even have a remote. Or, build something nicer using an MSI Mega PC system. (http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproduct.asp?DEPA=1&submit=Go&description=N82E16856101220) Since it's a computer system, it can be upgraded as you need it and it will do anything a PC can - and you don't have to hack it to do what you want.

Isn't Microsoft making some sort of 'Media Center' version of WinXP that makes this stuff easier?

[Matt Haughey]

Yeah, mr blank, I mentioned the PC angle in my last post, but the interfaces are usualy clunky on home theater PCs, and more importantly, I'm trying to reduce the number of devices near my TV. The Gateway or KISS dvd players let you have the power of a home theater PC, but in a dvd form factor, and I get to replace my old dvd player with something more powerful.

I have used a PC workstation for home theater stuff before, and they're generally large, loud boxes with bad interfaces that are difficult to work into an existing system.

[Andrew]

What about a chipped xbox running xbox media player? That would do most of the stuff on your list there...

[Jeff Winkler]

Another vote for QCast/Gameshark media player.. ps2 has digital audio out, and you can get high-quality svideo/component outputs. plus it's a dvd/cd player - and games.

It basically plays all the non-proprietary codecs, which is fine by me.

$200 for the networked ps2 - no modchip or dodgey downloads needed- 50 (?) for the software - small, stable, functional, affordable and stylish.

[Jeff Winkler]

>> but how do you figure out what bitrate a mpeg or divx file was encoded at?

GSpot - http://www.headbands.com/gspot/ does a nice job of showing all the techie details including audio/video bitrates and codecs used.

[marc]

Does anybody know if a PAL version of the gameshark media player exists?

or any other program doing the same.

[ajay barve]

I am running the latest version of the gateway software and it does not recognize the DIVX movies I have created from my dvds using drdivx software. Anyone know what how to convert dvds to divx so that the gateway connected dvd player software will recognize them.

Thanks,
Ajay.

[Case]

I'm trying to find an 'open' platform for pvr type applications, and while this list is a great start, it doesnt tell me a few rather important things.

First of all ofcourse, can it be hacked
(the prismiq and roku devices being excellent examples of 'hackable' media players) and (much harder to determine, and rarely addressed) what's the performance like.

Im sure they're capable of playing one mpeg stream, but if Im connecting a device like this to a 42" plasma I would like it to be able to play one 'full size' (ntsc) stream and say, 4 'picture in picture' streams. Any insights ?

[robert]

anyone know if you can play itunes library through the Kiss DP-500 networked DVD

[Luis Percy]

I love your site. It´s really a pleasure to read through all this interesting stuff and it home.

[Mr Wheezl]

QCast/Gameshark/Medio

What r u on? The player is full of bugs! Crashes almost in every DivX after playing 50%, the playlist crashes, takes forever to load, cannot handle MPEG2 (choppy, crashes).
Support is great, though they never manage to update the product (no bugfixes seen so far).

I thought the PS2 solution seemed like a good idea at first, but the 200Mhz CPU is not packing enough to decode DivX or any other format carrying decent resolutions.

The OpenSource XBMC for the XBOX is the way to go if you can stand having a bunch of noisy fans in your living room.
I can't.. so I am still looking around for another solution.

[t.j]

how can get a 6minute video to play load faster on my website

[Ryan Standeven]

XBMC is the stuff :D
Noisy fans are only if your a douche bag and don't know how to use settings and turn the fan speed down
ya, i guess that was pretty harsh of me.
XBMC does have it's problems... and Xboxes do have their quirks... like, my box is super quiet as opposed to my buddy's where you have to leave it on for an hour in advanced before it calms down enough to watch a movie without Mr. 50 Db fan going off in the background.

XBMC does all of that...
if that's not what you want... I'm not sure what you could do short of making your own out of something like a Mini-ITX board and a TV-tuner card (those things are hott:) ).
I'm needed elsewhere...

[cj]

dude u could get a used xbox and softmod it.. Add XBoxMediaCenter and have like a linksys wet11 connected to your xbox so you could connect to your wireless network if you already have one. then setup XBMC's xml file so it could access your pc's/macs via smb. you could view image slideshows, play videos, and listen to music taht way.. all on your tv.

[DigitsPro]

u guys have some very interesting stuff to expose.. really :O