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[WinoOutWest]

http://www.cd3o.com/

Wouldn't this be an awesome integrated product/companion to MC/MJ?  We could control multiple rooms/zones from one pc and not have the extra windows sounds.  Wireless... I'm salivating already.  Anyone using this with MC?  They have a forum also and I'm sure if we all showed enough interest we could get a plugin developed?
Check out their products
Who's with me?

[WinoOutWest]

Seriously?
No one's with me on this?  Really?
Am I the only one that thinks this would be an awesome addition to MC?

[xen-uno]

While technically an intriguing device, it seems to have the same limitations as all the other devices of it's type (ie AudioTron)...no support for other formats. Nothing at the site leads me to believe this would change in the forseeable future. I suppose you could have MC do on the fly transcoding, but native support is so much nicer.

Transcoding is EVIL!

10^-27

[jimpmc]

I think many of people that may be interested in such capabilities are using TiVo's HMO which J River supports.  There have been many network music/video devices announced by various manufacturers, all which probably have different ways of accessing the files.

[knickelfarz]

Hello!

Take a look at this one :
http://www.slimdevices.com/
No evil transcoding...

Here is another one:
http://www.barix.com/exstreamer/
No evil transcoding...

I would like to see such devices work together with MediaCenter...would be a perfect connection :-)

So long - Boris

[KingSparta]

Let's get this thing integrated! Who's with me?

(Let's Get) Physical Charted At 01 In 1981

Listening to: '(Let's Get) Physical' from 'Back To Basics (The Essential Collection 1971-1992)' by 'Olivia Newton-John' on Media Center 9.0

[kiwi]

Actually, what I would really love to have is a device similar to the Slimp3 that takes WAVE or otherwise raw content as its input and has a digital output.  With 100mbit ethernet, this shouldn't be too big a problem, and transcoding to WAVEs shouldn't result in an significant loss in quality, certainly for things like APEs, which return the original wave when decompressed.  

Does MC work with the Audiotron?  

Does anyone know whether the audiotron does any processing when it outputs wave files over it's digital connection?

[xen-uno]

yup..

I really don't consider converting a lossless to a lossy format "transcoding". The def only applies for lossy to lossy conversions.

I don't think the Audiotron can be driven directly by MC (no plug-in exists AFAIK). It can share your media and you could use MC to generate playlists for it. Another device to check out is the SLIMP. I would pick one up tomorrow if it had ogg, ape, flac, and even mpc support (for my castenette files).



edit: knick...they both do not natively support any of my preferred formats...bummer!

[knickelfarz]

mmh ... as far as I know, there is no mobile player on the market that supports all formats. But MJ / MC supports a lot of these mobile players...

Although I would like to use more formats like OGG or APE, I decided to use only MP3 because I can use my files in the car and everywhere, too, and I can share my files with my friends without wondering if they need a special plugin etc...

I hope that someday maybe Micronas or another company will build a chip that can play MP3 and OGG and WMA and APE and so on .... but untill then, a computer will be the only device to play ALL formats. But I don't want to have a computer in every room (or in my car , only to play music.

A plugin for MJ / MC to support devices like the SLIMP would not hurt anybody...

[medmunds]

Actually, what I would really love to have is a device similar to the Slimp3 that takes WAVE or otherwise raw content as its input and has a digital output.

The cd3o c300 Wireless Network MP3 Player does exactly this -- plays uncompressed WAV, has digital outputs. And also has no evil transcoding.

[Disclaimer: I work for cd3o. Just trying to provide accurate information -- not advertising.]

Incidentally, although cd3o doesn't currently support transcoding, it's not necessarily evil. You only need to be concerned about transcoding artifacts when you're going to a lossy format. Regardless of the source format, if you're going to a lossless or uncompressed format (including raw PCM/uncompressed WAV), then what you're going to hear will be no worse than the original compressed source. Put another way, lossless encoding is, um, lossless, so by definition going through it will not alter the audio. It will, however, affect the network bandwidth requirements.

Mike Edmunds
cd3o

[mwgilbert]

Since a company person responded on the forum...

I went to your website, read all the info, and looked at the reviews. What was missing, and might be helpful to anyone considering the product, would be MP3s of sample voice prompting sessions, so that the interface with the device could be experienced.

[xen-uno]

yup..

Mr. Edmunds,

Is the processor in the c300 specific to mp3's? (it is on the slimp)...or is it more general purpose? Bottom line...could it EVER support other formats? Virtually all encoding I do nowadays is in the beloved ogg format. It looks to me that any breakthroughs on the supported formats horizon will come from a portable (read Neuros) first.


n68 LIVES!!!

[knickelfarz]

Even in the age of 200+ GB harddisks I never saw anybody with a larger music collection saved as WAV files ... I'm wondering what cd3o's "advantage" of streaming WAV could be in reality ... maybe if there was a tool that decodes all compressed sources (lossless or not) back to WAV and streams them over cd3o it would be a solution for the format jungle ... maybe MC could be that tool  

[dkan24]

I think the best thing would be a version of MC9 that runs on  dedicated hardware like one of these boxes.  

In the coming months there will be many more of these boxes coming out, lead by Linksys and all the expected companies.  I am sure that these boxes can be set to run linux or an embedded XP.

So, JimH- is there anything you guys are working on?

I would buy 5 of these boxes immediately if they could run MC9, network back to my Media Server (also running MC9) and then stream all of my content wirelessly.  

I believe that this is where all of this is headed.  I love using my HTPC and MC9, but a dedicated box would be even better.  That is why I am wishing for a better hairstyle.  That  would probably be the interface of choice for a TV.

I know that if I was building a dedicated box, I would put in 2 pci slots and a agp slot.  That way you could always upgrade the audio card, video card, and networking card.  All the box would do is run MC9, and would never crash or need boot-up time!  

I am sure I will have my wish in a couple of years!

[knickelfarz]

A "dedicated box" is build from special hardware and has the performance to do the dedicated job ... if you would like to change software and parts of the hardware, there already exists a solution: It's called ... PC!  
Maybe there is a solution to meet your wishes today ... Take a look at the "MC on a Hush Mini-ITX PC" thread
http://www.musicex.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=MediaCenter;action=display;num=1054063559

[medmunds]

Is the processor in the c300 specific to mp3's?

No, the cd3o boxes use a general-purpose ARM7 processor, and all decoding is done in firmware (not hardware) -- we're vehemently opposed to any solution that would introduce transcoding artifacts. The current firmware includes codecs for MP3 and WMA8, as well as a pass-through for uncompressed WAV. See this question in the product FAQ for more details on audio quality.

I'm more than happy to answer any other questions people might have about cd3o's network MP3 players. In fairness to our hosts here, though, it might make sense to move cd3o-specific discussions to the cd3o boards.

Thanks for your interest.

[medmunds]

... What was missing, and might be helpful to anyone considering the product, would be MP3s of sample voice prompting sessions, so that the interface with the device could be experienced.

Understood. We're working on putting something like that together right now. (We need to also show the remote control, so you can see what buttons are being pressed to elicit particular voice prompts.)

[kiwi]

How goog is the device's digital output?  have you compared it to good CD transports?  i.e. does a WAV file playing through this device and then through a good DAC sound any different than a CD in a good transport playing through that DAC?

If you've run this test, what sort of equipment was it run on?

I'm happy to move this over to the cd3o bbs, if you'd like.