Multimedia Home Entertainment System for Linux

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..."

Comments

Ugly hardware..

[MikeFM]

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.

Re:Legality of playback

[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.

Looks a lot like MythTV

[timothy]

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