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Modular Home Network PVR at CeBIT
Mackus Daddius writes "This ought to give the MPAA a conniption:
'The Lancaster system is modular, consisting of a TV tuner (analogue or digital), a hard disk module and an interface module that ties the system together and connects to your TV. The modules are connected using standard Ethernet connections, giving you flexibility over where the modules are placed and used. Multiple storage and interface modules can be used, increasing the capacity of the system and allowing multiple TVs to be used for watching programmes.'
From the ZDNet UK article and here's an
article with pics."
I like that they've broken up the components (network connection / tuner / storage), but I'd be more optimistic about actually gaining from commodity pricing of storage etc. more if:
:)
:)
- the storage format was non-proprietary and not crippled (can anyone even tell from these releases what storage format they're using?)
- there were some high-speed ports (firewire / USB2) that would work with currently available external hard drives. On sale, it's not unreasonable to find firewire external drives in the range of a dollar per gigabyte; considering that this comes with an 80 gig drive, that would be a good upgrade.Ethernet connection is nice -- but only if that actually allows access, and isn't just a friendly-looking port
- Better yet (though more unlikely) built in software for archiving via an external CD burner.
I picture instead that they'd like you to buy ever more boxes that say "Lancaster" on the side if you need more storage. I'd love to be wrong about that!
timothy
jrnl: http://tinyurl.com/c2l8yr / foes: http://tinyurl.com/ckjno5
This is the reason I roll my own PVR instead of buying a TiVo. I can do anything I want with my PVR, but a TiVo is somewhat crippled, in that respect. Rolling your own PVR can be a fairly big project, requiring some amount of work. The Lancaster seems like it's a step to bridge the gap between the two types. Ease of use, but the power of modularity, expansion, and (maybe?) interoperability between my non-PVR entertainment components. Perhaps instead of upgrading my PVR, I can just upgrade my file server, and get use out of it for both the PVR and any data storgae needs as well.
Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. It's just that yours is stupid.
We're building a linux based pvr already, ours not only is a pvr, but it decodes all the dishnetwork and expressvu satellite channels. ECM proof, no cam or ird used :)
http://www.id-discussions.com advanced Dishnet work discussion thread
I built my own PVR with all the fixins'. Radeon All in WOnder 8500DV, 240GB of storage, 48X CD-Burner. And I have it directly connected to my 55in HD widescreen TV. I never miss an episode of Smallville or Monster Garage. Its connected to my router so I have access to all the shows from anywhere I choose. Watch them in the bathroom on one of the laptops, while I'm getting ready for bed, or download them to a friends house to watch them over there. I still think building your own PRV (computer) is the best bet.
And I did it all for way cheaper then the current manufactures are selling their Windwos Media Center PCs. Can you believe they want 2,000 or more for some models.
I do not think they have this product in production yet. The information is vague and general. I can not get to any information on this from the entree point of the vender's web site. I think the marketing department is trying to create excitement for a product that may be in development.
That said, I think it will be a good product when it is finally out. I hope it has good file sharing ( NFS? SMB? autoconfig?)
Religion is the main cause of atheism.
Plextor is showing off a new 52x32x52x cd burner, a new DVD burner, and a new version of PlexTools, which apparnetly is due out in the US pretty soon, too! the new version of PlexTools has some pretty cool features, too, including the ability to password protect CD's, to burn 980mb on a 700mb cd (i don't really understand how this works, but oh well), and the ability to make plextor drivers more quiet? i dunno, but you can read about all this here
also, LiteOn is planning on releasing some new CD / DVD burners, as well as entering the standalone DVD player business. Nero is also showing off Nero 6, and an MPEG4 / AAC codec they have in development called Nero Digital. you can read about all this here
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What's a mystery to me is why we still bother with different storage formats - hard drives for files and mp3's, DVDs for movies, different hard drives for the PVR, and so on. What we really need are home entertainment components which don't have any storage of their own, but simply have ethernet jacks to connect to a centrailzed hom mass storage device (RAID/SAN/NAS/whatever). Rather than have 100GB in my PC, 40GB in my PVR, 5GB on a DVD, and so on, just have ONE storage device for the whole house that can hold your computer files, MP3s, PVR shows, and ripped DVD movies.
Talk about convergence! Buy one huge RAID box, put it in your basement, and hook everything up to it through a home metwork. It would be more expensive at first, but if the electronics industry started making devices to take advantage of it, costs would go down (no more local storage), and the convenience would be amazing - watch your PVR movies on your PC transparently, listen to your MP3s on your living room stereo instead of PC speakers, store a library of movies without changing DVDs, and so on.
That's an MSWin problem, not the card.
With the (still in alpha) open source linux driver, a capture(cat /dev/video0 > file.mpg) takes 2% cpu on my PIII/450.