Re: Media Servers

["David Anumudu" <david.anumudu@xxxxxxx>]

Keith

interesting thoughts...

I am a kat5 user, and have been wrestling with the task of delivering
whole
house audio / video / computing / gaming .

to achieve that I have come to the conclusion that svideo/rgb
distribution
sourced out of the back of set top boxes etc is not up to the task if
you
are a home theatre/av enthusiast.

If you want to drive plasmas, projectors, lcds (basically all of the
new
types of display devices that have a specific native resolution) , then
you
need to have a pc to drive them at that custom resolution to achieve
best
performance, with the video scaled to that resolution. Add on to that
the
fact that many of these devices now have DVI then again a PC per device
is
required..So, that takes care of the output, source selection etc..How do
we
get the input?

My thoughts here are again that everything broadcast should be captured
and
streamed on the LAN as MPEG (using capture cards for Sky/Tivo/games
consoles, DVBs card for non sky satellite, DVBt cards for freeview),
and
existing personal DVD/music collections ripped on to hard disc and
simply
shared across a network filesystem

this gives the best quality, and the greatest flexibility, allowing any
connected device to either pull the stream off the LAN (giving a true
'matrix / kat5 switcher solution), plus each device can also do its own
thing locally..

it just needs the co-ordination and integration of a number of
technologies
/ applications out there which individually *almost* deliver this..

anyone up for collaborating on this?

regards
David

----- Original Message -----
From: "Keith Doxey" <ukha@xxxxxxx>
To: "UKHA Discussion (E-mail)" <ukha_d@xxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, January 09, 2003 11:08 PM
Subject: [ukha_d] Media Servers

<snip>
> Total flexibilty - the ability to watch what I want, listen to my
music,
> view my photos, email, surf, a bit of work maybe. Thats what the
reviewed
> machine and software claimed to be able to do. But I want to do it
from
> anywhere in the house and I also want anyone else in the house to
be
> exercising their freedom of choice at the same time.
>
> What do I need to achieve this.....
>
> 1. A data network - GOT THAT
> 2. Display devices - I have PC's with monitors and I have TV's.
>
> The PC's would be used for "proper" PC type tasks such as
email, work, and
> surfing where the resolution of a TV is not up to the task and the
task
> itself tends to be a private one rather than a shared experience.
The
whole
> family dont want to see me typing email etc.
>
> The TV's need a way to convert signals on the data network into a
picture
I
> can watch and audio I can listen to. Several people already have their
own
> "Set Top Box" based on the Via ITX PC's. I see these as
highly suitable
for
> that task and they could also be used for games etc where only
simple
> controls are needed. Obviously some form of IR control would be
required.
>
> 3. Source devices  - 1 or more servers for the mass storage of
media.
> Located in node 0 or similar.
>     Live feeds or PVR - dedicated Mini PC with a
TV capture card doing the
> recording or streaming. Programs could be buffered on the local hard
disk
> and shipped off to the central server as processor resources allowed
to
> avoid stuttering problems .
>



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