A new media player for Control4

[wappinghigh]

I'll throw this one "out there.."

Running cut down version of OSX (get a license like Savant did)

Or running Win7 or WHS and get an itunes and UV DRM license like Autonomic Controls did.

Running JRiver(see : http://www.jriver.com/corporate_solutions.html)/EV MyMovies backup combo (see http://extravegetables.com/products/my-movies)

AND user selectable to switch to XBMC

Capable of all the Hulu/Netfilx/Facebook etc streams

Branded with the Control4 (or better still DD :cool: ) logo

Inbulit 2way C4 driver (goes without saying)

Rsync capability

HDMI out

7.1 analog out

Wired and wireless ethernet built in

Inbuilt blu ray Read/write drive

Maybe 4 independent zones of analog out like the Mirage.. with an async USB port for hirez DAC freaks

3TB HDD storage expandable with an esata port and thunderbolt

No noisy fans

Same size and shape as the HC800

All for $499.90

Could it be done?

[seth_j]

This sounds like a hacked together kludge in my opinion. No way am I going to sell something like this to my clients unless I wanted to rent the spare bedroom in their house so I could be there to fix it when it breaks every couple of weeks.

No thanks.

[pstuart]

Software and drivers alone put you over that cost.

[cashmoney]

Sounds similar to a Popcorn Hour, just with a few extra features.

[pstuart]

As someone who has spent the last few months "experimenting" with the exact thing Wap is asking for... I can tell you there is just not a good way to pull it off cost effectively.

Issues

1. Windows is just not built for single user experience and single app. It can be "hacked" to do it, but OS updates, pop-ups, crashes, etc. stop it from getting back to this state.

2. There is no single app that can get you everything. Have to switch between multiple open (or launch) apps.

3. Stability... Apps crash and don't recover gracefully. Nothing worst then watching a movie and seeing a window pop up that tells you something else running in the background has crashed and not being able to click close.

4. Hardware isn't common. Apple was smart to lock down their platforms, but even so, it still has issues. MTBF (mean time before failure) rates on fans are 3000 or less hours, hard drives are 5000, ssd's are lower depending on constant writes.

5. Can't pass the "Wife and kids' test. No matter what I have done, the wife and kids can't sit down and use it. They hate having to reboot the htpc and wait for it to come back up.

6. Remote support is difficult, since most apps are full screen, and remote support tools like VNC, teamviewer, webex, etc. will not stream directstream content (full screen mode that WMC and other players use) because of DRM.

7. DRM support... This is usually a login / password methodology, so you need a good user experience for entering credentials. Imagine having an interface for streaming iTunes movies / tv shows and having to use a N9 keyboard input entering a password everytime you want to watch something.

I'm not saying it won't happen. But right now, too many hurdles exist to make it mainstream.

Hardware costs aside, the current licensing for retail software would get you to the $300-400 range.

Then for someone to develop the drivers, interfaces, etc. that would be 100s of hours, easy.

Putting it all together, would costs thousands of dollars in R & D, not to mention licensing and distribution costs. Support infrastructure, marketing costs, account costs, etc.

There just isn't a market or ability to bring something like this to market today.

[Nitro_X]

I'll throw this one "out there.."

Running cut down version of OSX (get a license like Savant did)

Or running Win7 or WHS and get an itunes and UV DRM license like Autonomic Controls did.

Running JRiver(see : http://www.jriver.com/corporate_solutions.html)/EV MyMovies backup combo (see http://extravegetables.com/products/my-movies)

AND user selectable to switch to XBMC

Capable of all the Hulu/Netfilx/Facebook etc streams

Branded with the Control4 (or better still DD :cool: ) logo

Inbulit 2way C4 driver (goes without saying)

Rsync capability

HDMI out

7.1 analog out

Wired and wireless ethernet built in

Inbuilt blu ray Read/write drive

Maybe 4 independent zones of analog out like the Mirage.. with an async USB port for hirez DAC freaks

3TB HDD storage expandable with an esata port and thunderbolt

No noisy fans

Same size and shape as the HC800

All for $499.90

Could it be done?

Wap, that is a bit overkill.

Although, I have another idea.. http://www.apple.com/macmini/features.html Now the Mac mini has thunderbolt.

J river gives you multiple zones. Running on Mac OSX. hmmm.

Thunderbolt gives you plenty of options.

1) Sound card option http://www.lynxstudio.com/product_detail.asp?i=61 (mac OS X drivers available)

2) Perhaps a high end DAC http://www.exasound.com/ (Mac OSX driver available)

3) Need more storage? http://www.areca.com.tw/products/thunderbolt.htm (newegg has them in stock) (Mac drivers are included)

4) I leave bluray out as long as your server will pick it up. You can do external bluray drive.

5) Smaller than the HC-800, but has more power than hc-800

6) J River is under development on Mac OSX

7) My Movies has collection management on Mac OSX

8) Cost is bit more than you wanted spend, but gives you apple quality.

Three different prices 1) $599

2) $799

3) $999

No control4 driver, but Control4 seems to be in sleep mode. Expect lot of people to buy Mac Mini's for HTPC's. These were the standard before people started building their own.

I probably have to go for the $799 model. (AMD for the video card is the reason)

I currently have no hardware issues on Apple products. Ipad (Original) still going, Iphone 3GS works fine, Ipad (latest one) no issues, Iphone 5 works great.

If you don't like that, then there is the HTPC option, but i have to do an estimate. That above is rather good for the cost.

[pstuart]

I'll throw this one "out there.."

Running cut down version of OSX (get a license like Savant did)

Or running Win7 or WHS and get an itunes and UV DRM license like Autonomic Controls did.

Running JRiver(see : http://www.jriver.com/corporate_solutions.html)/EV MyMovies backup combo (see http://extravegetables.com/products/my-movies)

AND user selectable to switch to XBMC

Capable of all the Hulu/Netfilx/Facebook etc streams

Branded with the Control4 (or better still DD :cool: ) logo

Inbulit 2way C4 driver (goes without saying)

Rsync capability

HDMI out

7.1 analog out

Wired and wireless ethernet built in

Inbuilt blu ray Read/write drive

Maybe 4 independent zones of analog out like the Mirage.. with an async USB port for hirez DAC freaks

3TB HDD storage expandable with an esata port and thunderbolt

No noisy fans

Same size and shape as the HC800

All for $499.90

Could it be done?

Wap' date=' that is a bit overkill.

Although, I have another idea.. [url']http://www.apple.com/macmini/features.html Now the Mac mini has thunderbolt.

J river gives you multiple zones. Running on Mac OSX. hmmm.

Thunderbolt gives you plenty of options.

1) Sound card option http://www.lynxstudio.com/product_detail.asp?i=61 (mac OS X drivers available)

2) Perhaps a high end DAC http://www.exasound.com/ (Mac OSX driver available)

3) Need more storage? http://www.areca.com.tw/products/thunderbolt.htm (newegg has them in stock) (Mac drivers are included)

4) I leave bluray out as long as your server will pick it up. You can do external bluray drive.

5) Smaller than the HC-800, but has more power than hc-800

6) J River is under development on Mac OSX

7) My Movies has collection management on Mac OSX

8) Cost is bit more than you wanted spend, but gives you apple quality.

Three different prices 1) $599

2) $799

3) $999

No control4 driver, but Control4 seems to be in sleep mode. Expect lot of people to buy Mac Mini's for HTPC's. These were the standard before people started building their own.

I probably have to go for the $799 model. (AMD for the video card is the reason)

I currently have no hardware issues on Apple products. Ipad (Original) still going, Iphone 3GS works fine, Ipad (latest one) no issues, Iphone 5 works great.

If you don't like that, then there is the HTPC option, but i have to do an estimate. That above is rather good for the cost.

{sarcasm}

Yup, mac's never crash... and Jriver on a mac runs perfect. Of course that will only get you audio. Pretty expensive solution for audio only. And what would you use for video playback that accepts HTTP requests and supports all formats? VLC? XBMC? Those are rock solid too...

{end sarcasm}

[Nitro_X]

I'll throw this one "out there.."

Running cut down version of OSX (get a license like Savant did)

Or running Win7 or WHS and get an itunes and UV DRM license like Autonomic Controls did.

Running JRiver(see : http://www.jriver.com/corporate_solutions.html)/EV MyMovies backup combo (see http://extravegetables.com/products/my-movies)

AND user selectable to switch to XBMC

Capable of all the Hulu/Netfilx/Facebook etc streams

Branded with the Control4 (or better still DD :cool: ) logo

Inbulit 2way C4 driver (goes without saying)

Rsync capability

HDMI out

7.1 analog out

Wired and wireless ethernet built in

Inbuilt blu ray Read/write drive

Maybe 4 independent zones of analog out like the Mirage.. with an async USB port for hirez DAC freaks

3TB HDD storage expandable with an esata port and thunderbolt

No noisy fans

Same size and shape as the HC800

All for $499.90

Could it be done?

Wap' date=' that is a bit overkill.

Although, I have another idea.. [url']http://www.apple.com/macmini/features.html Now the Mac mini has thunderbolt.

J river gives you multiple zones. Running on Mac OSX. hmmm.

Thunderbolt gives you plenty of options.

1) Sound card option http://www.lynxstudio.com/product_detail.asp?i=61 (mac OS X drivers available)

2) Perhaps a high end DAC http://www.exasound.com/ (Mac OSX driver available)

3) Need more storage? http://www.areca.com.tw/products/thunderbolt.htm (newegg has them in stock) (Mac drivers are included)

4) I leave bluray out as long as your server will pick it up. You can do external bluray drive.

5) Smaller than the HC-800, but has more power than hc-800

6) J River is under development on Mac OSX

7) My Movies has collection management on Mac OSX

8) Cost is bit more than you wanted spend, but gives you apple quality.

Three different prices 1) $599

2) $799

3) $999

No control4 driver, but Control4 seems to be in sleep mode. Expect lot of people to buy Mac Mini's for HTPC's. These were the standard before people started building their own.

I probably have to go for the $799 model. (AMD for the video card is the reason)

I currently have no hardware issues on Apple products. Ipad (Original) still going, Iphone 3GS works fine, Ipad (latest one) no issues, Iphone 5 works great.

If you don't like that, then there is the HTPC option, but i have to do an estimate. That above is rather good for the cost.

{sarcasm}

Yup, mac's never crash... and Jriver on a mac runs perfect. Of course that will only get you audio. Pretty expensive solution for audio only. And what would you use for video playback that accepts HTTP requests and supports all formats? VLC? XBMC? Those are rock solid too...

{end sarcasm}

J river is in development and the video portion will come later. Audio is in by the end of the year. The Mac Mini will have on board sound, but most people will use another solution, This is quite of accomplished based on the amount code that is being converted to Mac OSX. I think they stated 1.5 million lines of code. I guess, you don't have a clue on how much people spend for audio only. I seen speakers at 10K to 50K, and that is just 2 speakers. Depends on how much you want to spend. Don't have to buy new amps, but you can buy used ones. Go to audioholics and they can recommend some good equipment. That sound card is high end, and so is that DAC. It is possible to use other Sound cards, but need to make sure that it has drivers for it.

There is several video players that will work for now. J river just added in Bluray this year to J River Media center 17. I can wait on it.

Apple is just starting with more items that could be used for home automation, there is Ipad mini that is going to come out. Make a great touch panel. Eventually, Apple will announce about the new TV that they are developing.

Thermostat is rather cool.

[Nitro_X]

The 4k video option with a mac mini. Well, this video is a macbook, but it has a smaller processor than mac mini.

http://tv.adobe.com/watch/davtechtable/tech-demo-thunderbolt-macbook-air-red-rocket/

The Sonnet Chassis is about $700. How much is Red Rocket? $5k. There is cheaper options from Nvidia, but just need to watch the power requirements. Consumer cards use to much watts, so use a professional card.

Red Rocket is probably made by Nvidia.

[diamonddesign]

Wapp,

Almost done with our media player. It does everything you want and more but unfortunately the price point may not work for you. Its a low volume item (I don't expect to sell more than 30 to 50 a year) but its just designed to supplement an install that has a dune or a popcorn hour and needs something a little (lot) more capable in a special room (like a theater).

[qVAMPIREp]

Wapp,

Almost done with our media player. It does everything you want and more but unfortunately the price point may not work for you. Its a low volume item (I don't expect to sell more than 30 to 50 a year) but its just designed to supplement an install that has a dune or a popcorn hour and needs something a little (lot) more capable in a special room (like a theater).

Hmmm.... what are we talking about? Is it a HTPC?

[diamonddesign]

You could call it an HTPC although its a misnomer of sorts and I just view it as a media player. It has embedded OS and is dedicated to do what its supposed to do but not much else. However it is windows based, but what differentiates it from a Popcorn Hour, Dune, etc. is one is Linux system on a chip and one is embedded windows.

However there are huge differences in operation that you just can't do with a lightweight Linux chip (for instance my video card costs more than a Popbox V8).

i hope to have a thread late this weekend with a video. I may not make it Sunday though because, funny as it sounds, at CEDIA 2011 I showed Cody from the forums here a prototype and told him I was almost done. At CEDIA 2012 I said the same thing (but it ended up being nearly true). I've got about 16 months of development in it. I really think it kicks serious booty but it may be like a Ferrari, sure everyone would love to have one but not everyone feels like putting one in the budget. I will have one for sale at a deep discount that was built on a different chassis and different video card before I changed gears.

I'll try and at least get a teaser video up this weekend.

[wappinghigh]

^ Cool Way to go.. Look forward to hearing about it

[qVAMPIREp]

Sounds interesting for sure

[thecodeman]

I get a lot of deja vu at CEDIA

[me23]

Hey James what happened to that teaser video?

[diamonddesign]

My wife and I both got the flu or whatever is going around the midwest Sunday (and we are both the office personelle). I'm still not 100%. I wouldn't wish it on anyone. She said its the sickest she's been so be careful if its going around where you live. I got it Monday and she had it later Monday. My mother and aunt got it Tuesday and my mother was in our home for about 5 minutes and didn't touch anything. Sometimes I feel like the flu shot is the worst $35 I spend every year! We've gotta climb out of orders and emails and the critical stuff before I do the videos.

[cashmoney]

Wapp,

Almost done with our media player. It does everything you want and more but unfortunately the price point may not work for you. Its a low volume item (I don't expect to sell more than 30 to 50 a year) but its just designed to supplement an install that has a dune or a popcorn hour and needs something a little (lot) more capable in a special room (like a theater).

Any update on this?