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Intel's Linux Based Home Media Gateway
An anonymous reader writes "This article at LinuxDevices.com takes a look at a new 'home media gateway' design that was unveiled today by Intel at the Intel Developer Forum in San Jose, CA. The device is expected to be manufactured by multiple consumer electronics manufacturers in Asia, and will enable the distribution of PC digital media to TVs and stereos throughout the home.
The gadget is based on one of Intel's new XScale processors running a customized version of Linux, provides support for JPEG, MP3, and WMA digital content, utilizes 802.11b wireless networking, and supports NTSC/PAL/S-video TV connections and AC-97 stereo connection. The home media adapter is a key component of Intel's 'Extended Wireless PC Initiative', which is part of Intel's greater Digital Home initiative."
intel in graphics.
sir bard
I bet this one will be as popular as Indrema.
Whatever happened to Indrema, BTW? I know they closed and went out of business, but for some reason I thought they'd written a bunch of code and given it out under GPL after they went under...
Wireless! I wonder what the catch is? I bet it will cost a bundle. What about DRM? I didn't read any thing about that.
On their little diagram showing photos of individual components, that the TV in the 'living room' appears to be displaying an MS blue screen?
That gave me a chuckle.
The Internet is generally stupid
The article gives the cost of one of these (material costs) at about $80. So, retail would they go for about $150?
Looking at the back, they only really have one set of AV/ out cables. Kind of disappointing, it would have been nice to make this device more like a receiver.
Moderation: Put your hand inside the puppet head!
if not it seems like a really good idea...
errr....umm...*whooosh* *whoosh* Is this thing on ?
So here's what we have so far:
Sony's new PS3 may have some digital media capabilities, but no one's quite sure. But it would seem to make sense considering that there are rumors all over that the MS XBox 2 is going to serve as a hub for digital family entertainment. Course, that's running the XBox OS (or Linux depending on the hack). And now Intel is coming out with something that's running Linux? Intel and Microsoft are usually in bed together, and suddenly they're releasing competing products and Intel's is even running Linux? People are fleeing Microsoft in droves... maybe their tactics are coming around to bite them in the butt? At first it was "Game Console Wars," and now it's "Digital Media Center Wars." Let's sit back and watch.
hmmm WMA? I thoought that was a "standard" which only works 100% on MS platforms?
My wife said to stop being stupid and use my money to buy food for homeless people, but that seems like a waste to me. Any thoughts?
Except I built it myself, and it probably cost a lot more. On the other hand, I can do a lot more with it. It's called a computer. It not only plays media files, it shares them over something I like to call a network.
I wonder if intel will stick their finger out and put some optimisations into gcc or linux for their MMX extentions.
Mouse powered Chips, Open source Processors and Lego
Is it just me, or does this sound too good to be true?
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Only "JPEG, MP3, and WMA" ? No Video? So this is basically a TiVo without the "Unpause" button, plus an MP3 player.
We used to have to get our excersize by walking from system to system, then came universal remotes, now this? Where are geeks to get their excerize now? Perphaps we need an "Intel Light" version.
I didn't see anything about ogg vorbis support. That's a pity.
Wow, talk about using you're 802.11b spectrum. Imagine having at home the following devices (assuming they detected the correct clear band!): 1. Intel's new fangled wireless media gateway on channel 1. 2. Your access point on channel 3 with your other PC's. 3. Your wireless home alarm system on channel 5, burgulars love this one! :)
4. Your cordless phone around channel 7.
5. Your wireless headphones on channel 9.
6. Your X-10 video camera blowing away channel 11!
Sounds crowded, then again who will have so many wireless gadgets at the same time? Oh wait I do!
(channels spaced according to 802.11b standard 20MHz+guard band)
Ho
they mention unpn software support. this would be nice for linux with all the upnp hardware comming out.
Does anyone still make a 1U MP3 or Internet Radio Streamer? What about that tiny MP3 streamer that was the size of a nameplate? Is that still in production?
Intelligent Life on Earth
Also, wired ethernet would be nice -- if I'm streaming unencrypted DVDs from my server to my TV I want to play nice with the ??AAs (At least to that degree) and not broadcast them to my neighbor.
Still, not a bad start: add a Sigma Designs em8470 H/W MGEG 2/4 decoder, and component or DVI video output, and it starts to look useful.
You could've hired me.
"Intel anticipates that PC vendors will bundle the media adapters with multimedia PCs in order to allow consumers to deliver music and video to their entertainment centers from their PCs."
Ok, aside from it not using the PCs CPU horsepower, how is this altogether different from a really long set of A/V cables? (or a 900mhz broadcaster?)
Oh yeah, DRM.. Silly me. Asked and answered.
Of course this is automagically wonderful because they used linux to save time during development.
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
With Intel's recent announcment that they will be embedding DRM directly into their next generation Pentium's, I imagine this new system will have DRM measures in place. And if it does, I don't want it. So their so-called push into creating a digital home is a joke and is completely useless as far as I am concerned. Unless I will be able to play ANY of my current MP's on any future system, I won't buy it unless it allows me to freely use my own music and media the way *i* see fit.
www.enthea.org
"home media gateway" gets translated in my head as "RIAA funded home media rights management filter"
might want to check the source before you turn it on...
MARIJUANA, SHROOMS, X: ONLINE?! - E
I'm sure you'll be able to use your *own* music and media as you see fit. That's not what DRM will be about, though. It'll be about downloading video and music over the Internet and not being able to record or redistribute it.
Now think about that for a second, and you'll see what Intel clearly has in mind for this thing. Sure, it'd be cool to play your MP3 collection on your home stereo using this device. (I think Intel would be idiots to not include in this box some sort of MP3 jukebox browser controllable from your television.) But that's not what this will be intended for -- it's for downloading video over the Internet and playing it on your television.
Right now, that's a bit of a pipe dream. Televisions aren't connected to the Internet without a lot of customization, and computer screen are either too small or too poorly placed to be useful for viewing. Plus you have to set everything up with a mouse instead of a remote control. This box could (emphasis on "could") solve all that, by letting you download video on your computer and have this remote-controlled box pick it up for your television, all automatically and wirelessly, so your computer doesn't even need to be in the same room of your house.
Don't worry about DRM affecting your ability to play your own media; in this case, at least, it'll only affect your ability to play somebody else's media which you downloaded, with the understanding that it's not yours to keep.
The interesting surprise for me is the idea of WMA-enabled applications running under Linux. Is this a first?
Libertarianism is rich wolves and poor sheep playing gambler's ruin for dinner.
And you're crazy if you don't think the DRM will block all non-authorized media. It is the only way DRM can work. Otherwise, crackers could just strip the content from the DRM and pass it along for all to use.
All that talk about video had me thinking it could transfer video. :-( Looks like audio only, the video is for navigation menus.
Note to marketing weasels: Don't be using the generic term "media" when the more specific "audio" will suffice.
But, please let me know when it supports mpeg streams to video and zeroconf, aka, rezendezvouss (plus a bunch more french letters, look, if you aren't going to pronounce them I don't see why I should be bothered to remember where they go in the word)
Ideally it should have a tuner and an mpeg encoder, but thats going to rack up the cost. Note I didn't say it needed a disk drive. My computers can take care of that.
I hope they put in a SCART cable at the back in any European versions they do. I'd hate to be stuck with just composite video when I could have crystal clear RGB...
From the FAQ at the Intel developer's site for this thing:
Emphasis added.
In other words, they're hedging their bets by going to market with a product/product spec/development framework that might not be all that the content providers want while still saying they're a bunch of cooperative guys.
How should we read this? How about - "Buy it when it comes out, because as soon as the CPTWG people get their act together, the next generation will be crippled"?
This is the link, actually.
Whoops - I missed the S-Video out on the first look..
Well, that'd be better than nothing I suppose.
Intel is really building a platform for low cost Set Top Boxes based on Linux. It just did not want to annnoy Microsoft and all its Pentium PC builders, so it is presenting the news as a "Home Media Gateway" tied to the PC.
If the box runs Linux and has ethernet connectivity there is nothing to prevent it from becoming a stand alone device. Just add a brodband connection and you have a stand alone media device!
I always enjoy seeing a RISC processor making it in the market. As any Electrical or Computer Engineering student are aware, from Computer Architecture courses, RISC processors are great for hacking projects with easy-to-use assembly language. Any product made with a RISC processor is that much easier to hack and customize. Hopefully there is a Xscale assembler out there soon(probably already is) because this product has great potential.
Where the Music Matters
It's running linux, and they have the nerve to include WMA support, BUT NOT OGG VORBIS?? THOSE BASTARDS.. *shakes fist*
How many times is that f*cker going to die? I've seen this posted at least once a week for the last year.
Without MPEG support, this will collect dust on the shelves.
Come to think of it, digital LCD screens were the last new consumer item that everyone at Comdex was talking about.
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They keep burying him in the annex behind the Pet Sematary.
Just cremate the guy, already.
Intel and Microsoft announced the CDS Road Map.
Fortran programmer...oh yeah. Array math for life!
If it's from Intel, why does the photo have a Dell logo on it?
"Live Free or Die." Don't like it? Then keep out of the USA
Keep your money, the rest of the world uses MP3. Even a recent Slashdot poll showed that. So you're one of eh 100 people on the planet that use OGG, hah.
It is feasable to do this stuff, and do it well. It's the "well" part that'll get you. However, if they get it right the first time, It would sell... in fact, I'd buy something like this. Yes, as an earlier poster said "computers" do this now, but nobody really knows how to integrate their computer into the home entertainment situation, except those who are really technicaly proficient.
Will they use GCC or Intel's compiler?
Since Intel is releasing this on their own and it is running Linux instead of some flavor of Win, might this be a sign that Intel is not strongly in favor of DRM hardware. Otherwise why would there be this apparent split?
Here's what the customer experience has to be to make something like this OK for the mass market:
1. Turn on.
2. Select media.
3. Push play.
What this idea would look like:
1. Turn on "media adapter"
2. Walk across the house to where the computer is.
3. Boot computer. Wait 5 minutes for boot.
4. Walk back to living room.
5. Find remote for media adapter.
6. Browse through dozens of menus and file systems to locate content.
7. Computer crashes. Repeat steps 2-6.
8. Push play.
9. Wait for content to buffer.
10. Little Johnny decides to play his new networked game.
11. Repeat steps 9-10 until (A) Johnny doesn't get to play any more or (B) you give up.
12. Turn off media adapter.
13. Shut down computer.
14. Go to bed.
I'll wait for the Apple version, thank you.
How is the Xscale an improvement to the StrongArm SA-1100?? Is there a comparison? Thanks.
blakespot
-- Heisenberg may have slept here.
iPod Hacks.com
Did anyone else notice that the antenna's are not connected to anything. And, that they look like the Linksys antennas, while the Wi-Fi card looks like one of those crappy PRISM2 cards?
It looks more like a mockup than a reference design. Some video of it working might have made it more convincing, or source code... though I guess under the GPL they can just distribute that to their licencees. (Who really don't have a compeling interest to redistribute unless say the FSF buys a kit.)
Intel has pushed numerus innovations out the door before and only to be forced to take them off the market by Microsoft. This gadget will collide with microsofts dream of being in everybodys home. It will dissapear soon believe me. The biggest thing Microsoft destroyed from Intel was their effort on building an platform ontop of their processors that would enable crossplatform applications between all sorts of processors. Like JAVA but on hardware level and thus extremely faster. MS stopped it cold by threeting to not support intel in windows.
Think of the hardware we could have had if Intel had been able to drop x86 10 years ago?
HTTP/1.1 400
So, will someone tell me how Intel (who recently stated they'd build DRM into their next generation CPU's) is going to successfully market this item to the RIAA and MPAA who just love to share their stuff </sarcasm>
Not to mention that as soon as M$ gets wind of this, they'll make sure that Palladium hammers it down.
I'm sure glad to know that we "content consumers" are being considered in this standardization process.
I need to write to "my" folks in DC about this. I keep meaning to do so, and never have time. As far as I'm concerned, the ??AA can go ahead and push all the DRM and content protection encumbrance into their delivery systems that they want, with only ONE condition:
Full capability for recording/editing/playing unprotected media must NEVER be removed.
As long as this capability is retained, I wish them luck, and hope they impose ever-more-onerous constraints on their content. They're digging their own graves by treating artists like dirt and viewing/listening like taxable criminal activities. Nor do I particularly care if there are legal consequences legislated for removing watermarks, etc.
IMHO removal of recording/editing/playing of unprotected media is and should be protected under the First Ammendment. When digital media distribution becomes the norm, gatekeepers like the ??AA gain unconstitutional power if capabilities for unprotected media are removed. Aside from this, unencumbered capabilities permit the genesis of a 'replacement media business model.'
The living have better things to do than to continue hating the dead.
Because up til now... playing videofiles just plain sucked... Slow as hell. Ok, I don't have the latest hardware at my home, but that's not the problem. If I play a video file on the same hardware on whatever linux distro or Windows 98SE, MS ALWAYS wins in performance AND quality.
And yes, next time i'll read the article before I start flaming.
Actually, playing your personal MP3 collection is excactly one of the primary purposes and usage models of the digital media adapter. Playing video over the interent on the television will be supported in future adapters. The first rev supports playback of MP3 and WMA audio, along with viewing digital photos.
The on screen application also provides the ability to browse your music and digital photo collections on your television to answer a previous comment.
-Jack
How is this a troll? Seriously.
Since Intel is releasing this on their own and it is running Linux instead of some flavor of Win, might this be a sign that Intel is not strongly in favor of DRM hardware. Otherwise why would there be this apparent split?
It's just a case of a difference of opinion within a huge company. Intel really is strongly in favor of DRM hardware; that's why they spearheaded the TCPA. Intel sees that it's not going to be able to expand the market for processors in the US because most people who want computers already have them, they already have by far the most marketshare, and their sales are now mostly from people upgrading, which probably isn't as often as they'd like since a 4GHz Pentium 4 really isn't any more useful for word processing and email than an 800MHz P3 from two years ago. So they want to expand the market by making the PC a media hub for downloading and watching pay-per-view content. Of course, just like digital satellite, cable PPV, etc., this requires strong hardware controls to prevent easy copying, so that's what they're trying to push.
Intel is really into this "convergence" thing, and they see DRM as a way to facilitate that. They obviously don't give a rat's ass about fair use rights, the ability to do what you want with your hardware (like running a different OS), etc. They use Linux now because they're opportunistic--it makes it easy to do something now in the short term, so they'll use it for now in applications like this. But in their grand view of the future, everyone's going to be running Windows with Palladium.
I must say I am very pleased to see busybox and uClibc getting another design win. It is very gratifying to see them being adopted by so many large scale commercial systems. Now if only they would share part of the money they are making. :-)
-Erik -- --This message was written using 73% post-consumer electrons--
TWW
"Encyclopedia" is to "Wikipedia" what "Library" is to "Some people at a bus stop"
But then they put one of their new DRM-enabled Pentium chips in it, and NOW IT WON'T WORK.
I was checking out Pen Computing the other day, and saw this Linux based webpad. This would be a cool addition to the intel design.
The article didn't say much. What kind of dac is in use? Anyone know?
I wonder how long before someone ports Linux to it.
Kinda off topic but...
I am serious about this.. Does anyone get a headache from 802.11. I had to stop using a wireless NIC in my laptop because it gave me a headache. Same with my cell phone, i cant use it for more than 4-5 min before I get a headache.
Anyone else?
Intel has a vested interest in fair use and will (to some extent) push this interest.
A hardware protected DRM world will not be as profitable as the free-for-all PC world has been. The reason for this is DRM devices by their very nature are either not hackable or difficult to hack.
When you look at the history of PC's it's the hackers/gamers/whatever's that have pushed the architecture far far beyone what anyone envisioned, PC's were originally meant to be a stepping stone to IBM's big iron.
A DCMA DRM world will hamper the growth of a company based on selling commodity general purpose technology.
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Once again, the second best solution has been chosen. Intel would have done better if they had selected the technically superior and more robust BSD for their OS. It is incumbent upon us to write to Intel to inform them that is something much much better than linux for them to use.
I agree with your historical views, but I don't think Intel wants to continue this. I think they've decided the PC market has expanded about as far as it's going to with this current model, and that it needs to move into "convergence" in order to grow more. You can see this from Paul Otellini's speech at the IDF a few days ago. Basically, in Intel's mind, they need to make computing more ubiquitous (beyond the hackers and gamers), so that every regular Joe and Jane has multiple computers with Intel processors: PCs, entertainment systems, "media hubs", tablet PCs, etc. and the reason they'd want such a thing is to make their lives easier through such things as music- and movies-on-demand. Of course, to deliver this kind of content, DRM is needed.
What they're missing is that Joe and Jane Sixpack really don't want to pay for every time they listen to a song or watch a movie, and actually like being able to burn their own CDs with songs they like. I've met a bunch of not-very-computer-savvy people who love this, and they're not all young. So I really am hoping that this stupid DRM crap goes the way of Circuit Sh*tty's Divx, and hopefully Intel's stock price will take a huge dive and they'll lose tons of marketshare, so they (and others) learn a hard lesson about trying to push crippled BS on their customers.