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Media Hardware

Multimedia Home Entertainment System for Linux 125

Posted by CmdrTaco from the toys-keep-getting-cooler dept.
An anonymous reader writes "A group at the University of Saarland in Germany has been busy developing a Linux-based networked multimedia home entertainment system. The project consists of two parts: the Network-Integrated Multimedia Middleware (NMM), to provide a common framework for audio and video playback using open source software, and the Multimedia-Box, a Linux box outfitted to be a TV receiver (digital and analog), video recorder, and a CD-, DVD-, and MP3- player using the NMM. Screen shots of the inside of the Multimedia-Box and the user interface are available, as well as videos and a detailed description (PDF) of the hardware and software used throughout. Can't wait to stick one of these on my network..."
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Multimedia Home Entertainment System for Linux More

Multimedia Home Entertainment System for Linux

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  • Hmm. Didn't ever see me doing this.
    Cool, though

    Seems like too much special hardware for something that for most features, software will do nicely

  • in honor of tonight's 300th Simpsons Episode... (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Mmmmmmm....

    Linux Entertainment System, kghallll......


  • At least it's linux, so adding codecs should be relatively simple. ;)

  • Screenshots of the inside? (Score:5, Funny)

    by chrisseaton ( 573490 ) on Sunday February 16, 2003 @12:09PM (#5314024) Homepage
    We call screenshots of real things "photographs".
  • A project like this is more worth my time than modding X-Boxes (which are too pricey outside of the US).

  • Awesome! (Score:3, Funny)

    by TopShelf ( 92521 ) on Sunday February 16, 2003 @12:11PM (#5314029) Homepage Journal
    This will be perfect for my multimedia David Hasselhof collection...

  • Legality of playback (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 16, 2003 @12:12PM (#5314035)
    I noted with some interest that this thing will play DVDs under Linux. As sucky as it is :-( , this isn't legal; like Redhat with MP3, this is a high profile target that needs the same walking on eggshells approach. All existing DVD playing software for Linux uses the illegal DeCSS codec, and I need hardly mention that the Linux kernel itself is currently in violation of the DMCA w.r.t media systems, as it has no TCPA to prevent criminally stolen movies from being played.

    • Re:Legality of playback (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      DeCSS is legal in the country where I live...

      Also I cannot imagine how movies could be "criminally stolen", since making copies for personal use of copyrighted works (except software) is legal in many countries.
    • I need hardly mention that the Linux kernel itself is currently in violation of the DMCA w.r.t media systems, as it has no TCPA to prevent criminally stolen movies from being played.

      Since when does Windows(tm) stop you from playing "stolen" movies? Isn't that what most people use to violate copyright with?

      • Re:Legality of playback (Score:4, Informative)

        by scharkalvin ( 72228 ) on Sunday February 16, 2003 @08:32PM (#5316190) Homepage
        I need hardly mention that the Linux kernel itself is currently in violation of the DMCA w.r.t media systems, as it has no TCPA to prevent criminally stolen movies from being played.
        The Linux kernel does not in anyway perform any act that will allow you to play stolen movies. It does not circumvent any protection put in place by the makers of DVD hardware to prevent you from unauthorized viewing of DVD's.
        You need additional software to do that (the same is true of the Windows OS). Do not make the false claim that the Linux kernel violates the DMCA, it does NOT, you need to install DeCSS to do that. DeCSS will run fine under the Windows OS as well. Just because no one has offered a legal, licensed DVD player (for encrypted disks, un-incrypted disks may be legally played anywhere) for linux, does not mean that one could not be produced. And there ARE hardware solutions that available for playing DVD's on linux that ARE legal (at least as long as the hardware protections are not circumvented by the driver).
        • Do not make the false claim that the Linux kernel violates the DMCA, it does NOT, you need to install DeCSS to do that. DeCSS will run fine under the Windows OS as well.
          (There, the "bold" makes it easier to see)

          It seems you replied to the wrong post. I quoted the original and got modded down. I simply made the point that Windows(tm) was used as an OS to make copyright violations more than Linux. You're right, the OS shouldn't have anything to do with do with this, at least until Windows DRM(tm) is in full force.

          mod away I got plenty....

    • Re:Legality of playback (Score:5, Informative)

      by MoonFog ( 586818 ) on Sunday February 16, 2003 @12:45PM (#5314164)
      Where is DeCSS illegal ? DeCSS is perfectly legal when using it to play DVD's you own on your Linux box. At least here in Norway, as the trial against Jon Johansen stated a couple of months ago.
      • Where is DeCSS illegal?

        In the USA, thanks to the DMCA. There is a proposal to amend the DMCA to make provisions for fair-use, but until (and if) that it passed, it is illegial to use a program such as DeCSS.
    • I've never heard anything about the DMCA requiring all digital media to be played on "trustworthy architectures." There have been a couple of attempts to pass legislation like that, but it's never gone through.

      Memes are weird. I've noticed that a lot of people think that every time someone sues over copyright infringment, they're invoking the DMCA. Sure, the DMCA is a really obnoxious, overreaching law. But a lot of its critics don't understand what it's actually saying.

    • Even in America (Score:4, Informative)

      by kfg ( 145172 ) on Sunday February 16, 2003 @01:02PM (#5314236)
      it is the creation and distribution of DeCSS that may be illegal. Not its possesion or use for otherwise legal activities.

      But here's something to think about as well. Personally I have a hardware decoder and two legitimately licensed software players. That means that, in fact, I *have* the legal right to use the decryption code to play DVD's. One could even argue I've already overpaid for that right.

      The fact that, as delivered, that code will only run on under Windows has nothing to do with my payed for right to decrypt.

      KFG
    • DeCSS is only illegal in the US. All your points about Linux kernel being in violation of the DMCA etc shows just how much of an OPRESSED COMMUNIST STATE the U.S has become. Perhaps they could erect a statue of Stalin outside of the RIAA headquarters and Adolf Hitler outside of Congress..

      • Perhaps they could erect a statue of Stalin outside of the RIAA headquarters and Adolf Hitler outside of Congress..

        We will, only we'll use the visage of George W. Bush, a real American hero.

  • Ugly hardware.. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by MikeFM ( 12491 ) on Sunday February 16, 2003 @12:12PM (#5314037) Homepage Journal
    The hardware looks big and ugly. My media center Linux box is smaller and nicer looking than the one they are using. I mean really what does a media center need a floppy drive for?

    The software looks nice though. I'll have to see if I can try it. Their software looks nicer than mine. Will have to see how it stacks up as far as functionality.
    • You're telling us you don't store your .mp3 songlists on 5-1/4" floppy diskettes?

      Get with the program, dude. Retro is kool!
      • Silly me.. and here I was packing my computers with 120Gb drives.

        Now here is a nice problem for us. How many HD 5.25" floppies would it take to store a terabyte of data? How many cubic feet of space would they take up? How heavy would they be? How long would it take to hand swap through all those floppies? :)
        • The more interesting problem:

          How many more thousands of hours will a 5.25" diskette last than a 120GB drive?
          • [Checks current inventory]

            Let's see -

            ~200 20 year old 5.25" floppies -- ~30 still work 5 20 year old 20MB HDDs -- 5 still work

            Hardly conclusive, but if you extrapolate it out and blow it way the hell out of context, I'd say that hard drives will last longer than 5.25" floppies. Then again, my storage method for the floppies is something like this - "Wasn't there a sleeve for this sucker? Oh well - I'll just cram it back in the box without a sleeve/cram it in the box with another disk that has a sleeve..."

            • So you're saying you threw away all the defective 20MB HDDs and you kept the bad floppies?

              Also, it's a good bet the 10 year old hard drives(you don't really have all those 20 year old HDDs, do you? It must be cool to have some of the biggest 8" hard drives ever made!) were built one HELL of a lot more reliably than current hard drives. The imparative for the HD manufacturers now is to make them cheap and high capacity. If they last too long, too much money was spent producing them....
              • Shit, most the time by the time I take a new floppy out of the box they aren't even any good any more. I have so little need for such small amounts of storage that the damn things go bad before I use them. I don't remember floppies going bad so quickly in years past but I buy different brands of floppies, try different computers, different OS's, etc and sure enough the floppies go bad. I have my old floppies stored pretty well and almost none of them work fully. If there are multiple files on the disk usually some will work and some won't.

                I have 10yo hdd's still in active use. Most I've found last 5-7 years but a few have made it to 10 years. I think I have only one with a hdd that is older than that and still functional. I think it's an 8086 but I'd have to check. I don't really care how long an hdd lasts as long as it is at least 3-4 years. By the time it's getting old drive space has gotten so much cheaper that it's not a problem to toss the old drive. It's easy enough to copy over a hdd to a new hdd - a lot easier than copying 150,000 floppies.

                Be a stud - use punch cards. Punch cards don't go to hell if properly stored.
              • Nah - I only had 5 of the 20MB HDDs to start with, still have all of them. Keep in mind -- 2003-20=1983, so they're only 5.25" wide and single height. I agree with them being reliabile and well-built; I have a stack of hard drives that are in the 5-10 year old range that are dead, but not one of my drives > 15 years has died, not ever.

    • I mean really what does a media center need a floppy drive for?

      Because you can stick SmartMedia, like you use in your digital camera, inside an adapter that lets it interface with a 3.5" floppy drive and look at your photos on your media center.

  • ugly (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Darth Maul ( 19860 ) on Sunday February 16, 2003 @12:21PM (#5314076)
    That user interface is ugly. Try mythTV [mythtv.org] for a great Linux Tivo/MP3/Ogg/Image/MAME media center. I'm putting one together in a Shuttle XPC [tech-report.com] box. Making it as pretty as possible increases the WAF (Wife Acceptance Factor).

  • She's going dooooown! (Score:4, Funny)

    by tweakt ( 325224 ) on Sunday February 16, 2003 @12:23PM (#5314084) Homepage
    Quick someone mirror the photos! Please? I dont want to wait till tuesday to see them :-(

  • MythTV (Score:5, Informative)

    by MBCook ( 132727 ) <foobarsoft@foobarsoft.com> on Sunday February 16, 2003 @12:49PM (#5314187) Homepage
    I've been using MythTV for a while now, and it's really quite far along. It's biggest problem is it's a bit hard to install the first time. But if you're looking for a free tivo or a entertainment hub, check 'em out.

    MythTV [mythtv.org]

    • I would say that the biggest problem is that it does not support playing from/recording-to CD/DVD. Last time I checked, it also does not support converting recorded programs to MPEG4/DivX, which would be a huge space-saver.

      MythTV sounds great, but it doesn't seem to be function-complete yet.
  • Of course it's /.ed by now, but I like the idea. I've been trying to come up with a workable linux multimedia solution for our household. We watch countless hours of anime, and windows seems excessive for just playing videos and mp3s. I'd really like to see a linux distribution geared towards being an entertainment PC.

  • Looks a lot like MythTV (Score:3, Insightful)

    by timothy ( 36799 ) on Sunday February 16, 2003 @01:42PM (#5314443) Journal
    That is, the interface (to its credit!) looks a lot like MythTV. That's important because it means the control interface could be used on a variety of low-res output devices, like those little LCD panels for the car. (How much do those cost these days?) Interfaces built on the assumption of a high-res monitor degrade poorly, but this one looks well done.

    Wrapping it all up in guaranteed-working hardware etc is a smart idea of the sort that people have been whining for it for a long time. Glad these guys actually did it :)

    Some wishlist items for the next generation:

    1) provisions for monitor-less use as a car entertainment system (there are EPIA systems which I think would have enough power to do what this box does, and I believe there are 12v power supplies for them, too).

    2) I don't see anything on there about Ogg playback (or FLAC for that matter), and these would both be necessary features in the perfect Anything Box. I don't have any music in FLAC yet, but I know I will in the near future.

    Those are pretty trivial complaints, of course :) -- easy enough to add audio playback formats. I'm sure that these could sell well at a price close to $400. If the developers are reading, I'm offering :)

    timothy

    • Mini-ITX/EPIA-M (Score:5, Informative)

      by MsGeek ( 162936 ) on Sunday February 16, 2003 @02:26PM (#5314675) Homepage Journal
      (there are EPIA systems which I think would have enough power to do what this box does, and I believe there are 12v power supplies for them, too).

      To be excruciatingly exact, the EPIA you are thinking of is EPIA-M [viaarena.com] The M stands for "Media" and this iteration of the mini-board includes MPEG-2 decoding onboard (with a dedicated co-processor, no less) and 5.1 audio. There are a few Chinese companies who are actually looking to build EPIA-M based DVD players...the Chinese name for the VIA CPU is "Heart Of China" and there is a certain amount of national pride involved in the EPIA gaining acceptance. VIA might be based in Taiwan but its boards are manufactured on the Mainland.

      One drawback, if you look at it one way, is that the EPIA-M chipset is set up for DDR RAM, not the less expensive SDRAM that previous Eden Platform systems used. However, if you look at that another way, it means a faster bus speed and a little better performance. No, it won't turn this puppy into a gaming monster system, but it will make this a friendlier platform for a MAME box, for instance.

      VIA is trying to make a play for Linux support for their EPIA platform too...the article I referenced is basically a how-to about Linux on EPIA-M [viaarena.com]. They haven't been forthcoming to the point of providing all the little details on their stuff to open-source developers, but their binary drivers have been pretty good.

      I suspect that this version of the EPIA could handle MythTV, Freevo and the other TiVo-like projects. The same cannot be said about the earlier EPIA motherboard/CPU combos...those are best left to web servers, file servers, firewalls, and other similarly light-duty projects.

      • Thanks for the linked articles!

        I've been reading a little bit on the mini-itx.com site because I like the idea of a low-power TV/TiVo (and at the price of those EPIAs, esp. the older ones, you could attach a cheap optical drive and a small monitor, make a knoppix terminal for any room in the house).

        I wonder how soon the GHz variety (and by that I mean one that is on par with Intel / AMD GHz processors) will be available fanless from VIA; that's the breaking point I'm looking for, having just assembled an Athlon system in the SS40 case from Shuttle. (For which I wish I had had smaller fingers, btw ;))

        timothy

        • Seems everyone is making an Athlon/SS40 combo these days (several people in this thread at least and myself included - at least they made it relatively easy to remove bays/drives/fans/etc. for people who don't have 6 year old hands). How long will it be until someone taps MythTV and Shuttle to just make a cheapo all-in-one PC/DVR/Jukebox package? It seems like an obvious step to us, so I'm surprised the money hounds haven't picked up the scent.

          I was under the impression that some architectural sacrifices were made on the epias that would require some sort of major overhaul to be even close to on par with AMD/Intel procs, but I'm admittedly underread.

  • Flamethrower linux (Score:2, Interesting)

    by froseph ( 549853 )
    Flame thrower linux [washington.edu] is a similar project that I have been following. It seems to be slightly dead, but still fully funtional with a "pre alpha" version out.
  • This is new? I thought I already had one called Tivo. [tivocommunity.com]
    • Why are you my foe?? Have I done anything bad to you??
      You are so heartless!
      • Hey Bud, I don't really have anything against you personally except that at one point I think you might've made a ridiculous and ignorant comment about the garden state. Sorry if I am mistaken about that. Of couse, if I'm not your not only on mine, but on Bruce Sprinsteen's, Joe Pesci's and Tony Soprano's shit lists. ;)
        • Hmm.. it was indeed ignorant, but I was pissed off NJ for their turnpike, which is really ugly.. I guess this is my nature - to write pointless crap. That's what slashdot is for.
          But I wrote it so long ago. Why did it take you so long to respond?

          I don't care much about the celebs you listed, except of the last.. I wouldn't want to mess with him (but I don't like the TV series. Sex And The City is much better).

  • Freevo! (Score:5, Informative)

    by k-s ( 162183 ) on Sunday February 16, 2003 @03:25PM (#5314944) Homepage
    Hello,
    There is Freevo http://freevo.sf.net that has a better UI! Also, you can run it under X or Framebuffer or anything else SDL supports (like DXR3!)
    As it uses the great MPlayer as the underlying player, it supports Mov, DivX, Mp3, Ogg, ... Almos every {video,music} format in the world. It also have a image browser and a cute TV Guide (now a Web version too!) and it plays Mame!
    The time shifting is in the work.
    Freevo: http://freevo.sf.net [sf.net] Mplayer: http://www.mplayerhq.hu [mplayerhq.hu]
  • Why isn't there a knoppix-like iso available?
  • Does it strike anyone else as odd that there are 3 (or more?) open source initiatives competing in this area...can anyone tell me the difference between them (because they look pretty much the same on specs to me)...and, if they do serve the same functionality, why they're bothering competing with each other when obviously collaboration would turn three not too bad systems into one insane one?
    • Theres a couple of reasons, the first is pure geek - "I bet I can make my box into a complete entertainment system" the second is also pure geek "My Linux Entertainment Unit is better than your Linux Entertainment unit".

      Seriously though competition is good. With different groups competiting for the same market you can be sure that the cool features will be coming thick and fast.
  • The xbox is probably cheaper than most other PC-based boxes, and with a modchip installed (total cost for xbox+modchip about $250) you can install Xbox Media Player [xboxmediaplayer.de] on it.
    I have used it for a couple of months now, works like a charm for playing dvds, divx, xvid, mp3 etc.
    Check it out!
  • My problem with all of these media boxes is that they all rely on having files on the drive (except DVD). I just don't have that much HD space. It'd be nice to have a system that can automagically queue up media (DivX, etc.) from CD-R when I stick the disk in the drive. I also think that all these systems (freevo, mythtv, etc.) all suffer from the problem of trying to do to much, but don't seem to do any of them exceptionally well.

    (And don't say "HDs are cheap now!", because they're not. I'm a student, and can't afford squat. That's why everything is on CD-R.)
  • this time as a thesis work? Well ...
  • When will we see support for a board that integrates an analog tuner and an MPEG2 encoder? Once we get support for boards like that you will see an explosion of do-it-yourself Digital Video Recorders.

    They are out there [hauppauge.com]. Hauppage also has a newer card (the 350) with even more features.

    Mail Hauppage (sales@hauppauge.com). Tell them how many you would buy if they would start supporting open source. Be sure to tell them that binary Linux drivers are NOT "support". I want to see these cards working under *BSD, too (that means documentation, not a Redhat-only kernel module).

    By the way, I am in no way suggesting that Hauppage is the only company making these things. I just can't think of any others off the top of my head. If you know of others, post below with the relevant links and contact info. Let's get after these hardware companies: I want to build my own DVR, dammit.

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