My vision is that MC will be used in a home to organize and consume all types of media, anywhere, any time.
I've always loved this vision and for me it ticks all the boxs:
- It is enduring
- It can not be done overnight
- It allows me to bang on about all the stuff I want (and have for years)!
Back to the HW. I see three different pieces of JRiver HW:
Sub $100 "Sticks" - Market is for the Cheap, easy and just works over "quality"
Based on Android & Gizmo, and needs to support:
- HDMI
- Wireless N
- Analogue Out
- USB Ports
- Micro SD Cards
- Ability to optionally support a mouse/keyboard
- Ability to optionally support wired Ethernet (through a USB dongle)
Gizmo Development Required:
- Local File Playback
- Gizmo can be "pushed to" (eg DLNA Renderer) so you can see the Gizmo instance from an MC / Other Gizmos and push content to it
approx $500 "MC HTPC in a Box" - Market is for those that want a preconfigured full MC environment who don't want to build their own but offer full "quality"
Based on MC and Windows / Linux (when it does Video) support:
- Single SSD / msata
- HDMI
- Analogue Out (quality DAC?)
- USB Ports
- IR Port
- Optionally comes with a RC/mouse/keyboard
- Optionally comes with a BD Drive
- Wireless N and Ethernet
MC Development Required:
- Windows base : would need to get and supply OEM Windows Licences
- Linux base : would need to support Video
The NUC is a good candidate as you can get it with various CPU specs and the the rest of the requirements are built in. It would be worth testing to see how good/bad/indifferent the DAC in these boxs are. They may be pretty good???
approx $500+ - pending config "MC Server in a Box" - Market is for those that want a preconfigured full MC environment to serve media who don't want to build their own but offer full "quality"
Based on MC and Windows / Linux (when it does Video) support:
- One Drive std but with support for adding multiple drives
- HDMI
- BD Drive
- Analogue Out
- USB Ports
- Optionally comes with a mouse/keyboard
- Wireless N and Ethernet
MC Development Required:
- Windows base : would need to get and supply OEM Windows Licences
- Linux base : I don't know if the current version supports the streaming/transcoding of Video