Slashdot Mirror
Review: QCast Tuner for PS2
It can handle many media formats; to me, the most important are MPEG-1, MP3, and JPEG. But it also handles DivX, MPEG-2 and MPEG-4, Ogg Vorbis, and PNG, and can be updated to handle other formats. But it doesn't handle the majority of my movie file archive, which are QuickTime, and that's a shame. And if you try to open a file it can't read (I changed some .mov files to .mpg, as it filters by name), it seems to hang.
I got the PS2 Network Adapter installed first, popped it onto the back of the machine, and ran the setup disk to configure it. Then I played a game of Madden 2003 online. I scored a touchdown on a tight end slant on the first play, then got one more play at the end of the half (a 30-yard reception to Troy Brown), and then didn't take another snap. Stupid 1-minute quarters. I lost 14-7.
Then I remembered I had this QCast Tuner thing, and I installed it on my PowerBook G3/500, where I keep my images, my MP3s, and my EyeTV recordings. It didn't take much to set it up, same as with the initial setup: I manually entered my IP address, router address, etc. and the IP address of the PowerBook G3. The software on the PowerBook updated and configured the PS2 software, and restarted it, and I was ready to go.
From the main screen you can elect to view pictures, or play music and video. I tried music first, where I had shared my iTunes directory, which has one directory per artist (except for compilations, which are in a separate directory). I have 293 directories in this directory, and there is no good way to skip to the bottom of the list; you can go one screen at a time, but that takes a little while. So I picked Ben Folds to start out with.
The user interface, apart from not handling long lists well, has several usability problems. To go up a directory, you select the ".." directory, which is something that Unix geeks know, but most PS2 users would expect to use the triangle button or something.
You cannot play songs from these lists, either; you need to add them to the playlist, then hit L1 to switch to the playlist, and then play from there. To get the ID3 tags to show up, you have to hit L1 again, and select that option (along with the shuffle and repeat options). And if you leave the playing screens (which makes the music stop, so you can't manage playlists while playing music) and come back, those options get reset.
You cannot get the time remaining of a song, and the UI doesn't show the full track name -- or track number -- if it is too large for the available space (it has trouble even with track "1/10", though "1/9" fits). And you can't scan forward or backward in a song or movie (which is often the case with streaming software), you can only pause, play, stop, and skip to another file.
To make it easier to find what you want to play, you can make playlists. Select the files you want to play in the interface, and save the playlist, which is stored on the server. I didn't want to do this for all my MP3s, but I had an easier solution: I wrote a small Perl script to create symlinks to my MP3 artist directories in other directories beginning with the first letter of the artist; and I share that directory of directories of symlinks instead. So instead of going down a list of 390 artists to get to Wesley Willis, I just select W, and he's right there.
My problem with EyeTV was greater: as noted in my review of EyeTV, the filenames bear no resemblance to the contents of the files, unlike the MP3s. But the solution I wrote for EyeTV was easily modified to serve me here, too. The playlists are just text files with the path (relative to the share point) on one line, and just the filename on the next line.
I thought I could change the filename line to be any arbitrary text (like "McLaughlin Group 2003.04.11") and have one playlist for all my EyeTV recordings, but that didn't have any effect; the display still showed the filename. So instead, I created multiple playlists, one for each program. So the playlist "EyeTV: McLaughlin Group" has paths for each McLaughlin Group recording I've got saved. It would have been nice to have an EyeTV playlist directory, instead of naming the playlists "EyeTV: ", but I could find no way to make nested playlists. If a playlist is not in the root playlist directory, it is not recognized as a playlist.
I can now watch the shows I used to have to watch on the computer, on the TV. It makes me feel kinda dirty, like it should have been on the TV all along. Oh well. And any changes to my music and TV recordings are regularly updated, as the two programs run via cron every half hour (and I can even begin watching a program that is currently recording).
QCast is bitten by the iTunes ID3 comment bug whereby data is stored with a frame header of "COM ", which is illegal. So QCast doesn't recognize any of the ID3 tag at all. I can't blame QCast for Apple's bug, especially since it bit my code too; this was the final straw that made me convert all my tags to ID3v2.2.0 (only v2.3.0 and v2.4.0 are affected). Maybe the QCast people can fix that problem when they add QuickTime support (he says hopefully).
The final issue I have is how to integrate it into my TV "experience." I don't want to have to turn on the PS2 and wait for it to boot every time I want to listen to music, so do I leave it on whenever I am around? And my system isn't set up to easily switch between PS2 and TiVo and DVD; my switch box has no remote, but does switch to a device that is turned on, which is nice for DVDs, but useless for when you leave the PS2 on all the time. I could plug the PS2 into the spare inputs on the VCR (which is on a separate input to the amplifier, and has its own button on the remote control), but that is kinda sloppy. And do I buy an IR remote control for the PS2? Is there an IR remote that can turn the PS2 off and on? These are problems mostly inherent in the design of using PS2 for multimedia, and there's not a lot I can do except to try to figure out ways to do things that work for me.
Basically, QCast Tuner is a nice idea, and it works well despite its UI and design flaws (some of which can be fixed on subsequent updates, I imagine), if you can fit it into your setup (or change your setup to suit it). I'm still undecided on using it long-term, but I am going to keep trying it out for awhile and see how it goes.
I can just play media content off of my dreamcast (running linux) for less $$ =P
Just when you make it idiotproof, some idiot builds a better idiot.
This is all lies. There is no QCast tuner for the PS2. It is something the American Zionists are trying to sell to the people. We have destroyed their Playstation 2 systems, and their Dual Shocks will be driven into the sand beneath the feet of Iraqi soldiers. I myself crushed two into the sand today with my bare feet. Our victory over the Playstation 2 will be assured.
In SOVIET RUSSIA... erm...NSA AMERICA, the Internet logs onto YOU!
Doesn't your Powerbook have a video out jack? I think it would have been much easier and cheaper to buy an S-vid cable.
What ever happened to industry standards?
I mean, sure, open-source has got a million different projects going. Microsoft has their version. And all the little private companies out their are developing their own.
If we could all just get along...
What ever happened to the Sony/Matsushita deal for an open-source solution to all this? Backed by these behemoths, I think that this would finally bring some consolidation and organization to this crap.
Life is the leading cause of death in America.
The user interface, apart from not handling long lists well, has several usability problems. To go up a directory, you select the ".." directory, which is something that Unix geeks know, but most PS2 users would expect to use the triangle button or something.
Seems to me that with all the effort required to get things setup (e.g. manually entering ip addresses, having the mp3/divx files to begin with) that you HAVE to be somewhat of a computer person to even get the thing up and running, so this particular comment seems out of place.
Interesting concept, though overall they seem to drop the ball as far as usability or they decided to target the serious nerd market. It would be interesting to see what Sony themselves could do with this kind of product (or even Apple).
I find it interesting that Sony endorses (i.e. they digitally signed a CD for mass production) such an application, whereas Microsoft has fought several companies trying to do the same with XBox (wish I had links). Not meaning to start a flamewar, anyone have any thoughts on why the differing strategies? Is it that MS wants to push Windows Media Center and Sony has no product to pitch in the space so it doesnt care, or am I missing something blatant?
I think this might be a worthwhile investment for me. I have been in search of a simple media center solution for a while now. I was waiting until the Linux-on-Xbox revolution matured a bit, but now I think I can use this instead. I'm glad that it supports DivX and Xvid, I had naturally assumed it would only play MPEG based content. I am glad I was wrong.
I think you can use the L1/R1 (or is it L2/R2?) buttons to page up and down on lists. At least that's what I read on the Qcast forums the other day. I don't actually have it myself, but was thinking about it (my UK beta-test PS2 network adapter is sitting in the mailroom!).
---- Den ene knappen er powerknapp, den andre er Bender voice knapp "Bite My Shiny Metal Ass"
...when you can spend so much more.
Isn't that why mac's were created in the first place? (Ducks for cover)
Sorry guys a part of me just had to say that.
Hmmm... Pie...
Hey, this is a review of a ViewSonic V150 AirPanel! Not a QCast Tuner for PS2!
Best Windows Freeware
Nowhere in that article did the reviewer say that the MS Tablet PC sucks! see prev article
Trolling is a art,
Series 1 DirecTiVo units are completely hackable to include extraction/remote viewing of video streams.
p hp ?s=&forumid=23
p ?s =&threadid=23380
http://www.dealdatabase.com/forum/forumdisplay.
There's also a MythTV module that completely integrates the series 1 units.
http://www.dealdatabase.com/forum/showthread.ph
You can also have hacks to do caller ID reporting, sports scores, weather, etc.
http://shelob.mordor.net/dgraft/ (Follow link on the left to DirecTiVo)
Qcast's main competition is this: Xbox Media Player
/. lately), but it supports many more formats (DivX, Xvid, WMP9, with quicktime and real coming soon - basically everything mplayer supports is being worked on) and at better resolutions than the Qcast can support. It's got audio visualization for MP3 and OGG, an IMDB interface, DVD navigation, VCD and SVCD playback, and can stream video, audio and pictures from SMB/Samba shares.
It requires a modchipped xbox to run (relatively easy to do, with the 007 hack that has gotten press on
It's also free software, and actively developed.
BBK
I got the PS2 Network Adapter installed first, popped it onto the back of the machine, and ran the setup disk to configure it. Then I played a game of Madden 2003 online. I scored a touchdown on a tight end slant on the first play, then got one more play at the end of the half (a 30-yard reception to Troy Brown), and then didn't take another snap. Stupid 1-minute quarters. I lost 14-7.
Then I remembered I had this QCast Tuner thing,
ahh, that famous american attention span.
I bought mine about two weeks ago.
One glaring flaw in the Review: If you hit R2/L2 you can page up and page down on long lists of files, making scrolling long directories painless.
In general I've loved it so far. It saved me the hassle of setting up something to stream MP3's from my computer.
I run mine over 80211b and it works fine. I've watched full length Divx movies and they streamed fine.
Audio wise it's as good as your MP3's.
There are several UI problems and most are noted in the review. Not being able to play songs while you build your list is a bad one, but according to Qcast there's nothing they can do about it. I'd also really like to be able to watch slideshow's while MP3's play but that's a later release according to broadq.
Speaking of
BroadQ they maintain an excellent forum, which is regularly read by developers.
One thing the reviewer failed to mention is that the software is updateable remotetly. A new version is set to ship "any day now". Any updates that require a new cd broadq has provided free of charge to existing users.
I love mine, and use it all the time. Just for streaming MP3's around it would be worth the $50 bucks, but being able to watch my family guy episodes on a full TV makes it a bargain. If you have an internal network and a PS2 save yourself the hassle of trying to build a box yourself and just drop the $50 bucks on this thing. It will be well worth it.
You bought the QCast Tuner from thinkgeek.com, and you didn't send them an action shot!? Thinkgeek thrives on action shots. It's people like you that have made this world into the inhospitable place it is today. :-P
.:Jon:.
This space for rent, inquire within.
Can anyone comment on:
a) How the 'updates' get applied?
b) What the quality of the video and audio is? Any sync problems? Does it only handle up to a certain bitrate/resolution?
But can it play DivX files?
As a fellow Manchester, NH resident and wireless user, I find your sig to be rather interesting. However, with no contact or content info on the site referring to the project I find it difficult to quite grok the purpose. Posting anon so as not to burn karma, but mail at khrallet@hotmail.com with the username reversed if you have any info. I'm on Eastern Ave. off 93 and have an open wireless point myself.
Ever wonder why MS is so fascinated by the video game market? Sure it has the potential to be profitable one day, but that's not the entire story about why it matters to Microsoft. I doubt Microsoft would want to stake their future on such a fickle industry.
Keep in mind for a moment that televisions are in a central room in the house, they are getting much better resolution and features (HDTV), and they are near one of the two big data pipes that comes into the house (Cable). This makes for a pretty compelling location for a computer.
MS is interested in this market in part because it is possible that if set top boxes take over what PC's do today to any significant degree, that could be a huge threat to Microsoft's future. Imagine a PS2 with a cable converter that can also do word processing, surf the web, etc. That's potentiall pretty compelling and it doesn't require Microsoft at all to happen. Microsoft created the XBox at least in part as a hedge against this future. It's not so tough to get into the market now but if it took off, Microsoft could find themselves high and dry without a console they control.
A PS2 with a cable converter frankly is an unholy alliance as far as Microsoft is concerned.
-network thingy for the Ps2 $40 bucks at thinkgeek
-this video software $50 at think geek.
-shipping for both should approach or maybe even exceed $10 bucks
So it's approaching $100 bucks just to stream files off your pc to the playstation which would display them.
If you want or need wifi and don't have the hardware it's easily over an additional $100 for the access points and network interfaces that would connect to each end.
This could be awesome for people who already have some or all the hardware you need to set this up. This new product is only a set of software.
Hmmm... Pie...
is a Tivo that can record to dvd, play ps2 and xbox and gamecube and windows and linux pc games, has access to kazaa and gnutella and every other p2p network, wifi, a pda/remote that can control it from anywhere in the world as well as instantly alert me to new shows that I might like, and a menu system that doesn't pause for 3-30 seconds everytime i issue a new command (damn you hughes). Did I mention it has to be HDTV and pal and ntsc and dolby digital and dts and divx and ogg vorbis compatible. And thx certified. And cool looking. And noiseless. And upgradable in case I forgot anything. Then if it could just watch all the tv and movies and play the games by itself I could just sleep all day and know that I wasn't missing anything.
With TiVo's release of the much anticipated Home Media Option (anticipated by me, anyway), I renewed my quest to find a way to integrate my computer's media files with my TV. TiVo's solution is not an option for me, because I don't have a Series2, and even if I did, the TiVo solution doesn't work with DirecTV units (for now, anyway).
I have a DirectTV Tivo, Better than a normal Tivo (can record 2 shows at once), but still wont allow you to download video. Picked up a ReplayTV with Ethernet jack, output my tivo into the replay TV, and then used DVArchive to copy the videos over to my PC or MAC. For TV output, I just plugged my 2nd video port out from my Ati 9700 to the SVHS in on the tv.
Seems to work ok, thou the video quality is far from perfect quality that the digital Tivo records in. I was tempted to see the quality on video in on the Ati all in wonder 9700. But too expensive at the moment to try. I have an mpeg1/2 hardware encoder, but it looses audio sync after 45 minutes (known dazzle problem)
The main problem with using a 3rd party machine, (other than tivo) is you miss applications or file support on your PC. (not the use of qcast...) Even with a cheap 300 dollar kit pc with video out/in and a nic/wifi seems to better solution than software and ps2/xbox.
Pudge! What is *that*?
That's a review? You complain about a feature that exists (page up/page down in the interface), but don't comment on the technical capability of the thing itself?
I know you're a mac guy and all, but seriously - the interface doesn't make the app - especially when the app's purpose is to obfuscate the interface in the case of video/images, which is the primary purpose of the tuner.
I'm usually very supportive of what you write, but there's no "review" of the technical capabilities of the Tuner at all - no attempt to run videos of different sizes, no attempt to test the codecs, no mention that the company provides free and automatic updates of the software online, nothing.
What, exactly, makes this a review of anything more than the interface??
now how about the important question..
a hack to dis-allow Tivo from updating my V1 unit?
all they have to do is update and BOOM all my changes are gone. just like the last 4 times.
show me how to make the tivo work without the service and I'll be a very happy boy.. until then it's changes that can be deleted by the company at any time.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
"Pinky, you've left the lens cap of your mind on again." - P&TB
"I can see my house from here!" - ST:
I've been watching the QCast forums since maybe Christmas. I've wanted it, but it doesn't have the performance to play decent resolutions yet. Most of what I want to watch is anime, usually encoded at 640x480. Sounds reasonable. But as of yet, the highest resolution video stream supported is 512x384. If they can get the resolution going, I'll likely buy and get rid of the really slow laptop sitting beside the playstation.
p c&s=250608123& f=898609356&m=943608
I'm copy below a posting from their forums.
---
http://forum.broadq.com/6/ubb.x?a=t
posted April 05, 2003 11:21 AM
SVCD's are 480x480. We're still optimizing the ff/rw update for speed (which is why it's not out to beta yet), but there's a good chance that the new update will provide enough of a performance increase that SVCD-resolution MPEG2 files will play correctly...
FWIW, 480x480 files are 15% higher resolution than 512x384 files... So we would need to pick up at least 15% additional performance with the update for all of these files to play smoothly.
-- [Eric. CTO, BroadQ, LLC.]
-----
Danny Rappleyea
but the linux kit, albeit more expensive than you r solution, it will allow you to customize your PS2 to your needs.
plus you can store files locally and avoid streaming delays.
for the last time people, I am "frodo from middle eaRTH", not "middle eaST".
I recently acquired the QCast tuner, thinking it would serve a similar purpose as my SliMP3 player, but with a lot more features. Unfortunately, the SliMP3 kicks QCast's ass in terms of usability.
Granted, these two devices don't really compete feature-for-feature. Slimp3 is only for mp3's, while QCast can handle mp3, ogg, slideshows, videos, etc. But their client/server model is very similar: each relies on a server on another machine to expose media content to the client across a network. Since I had already set this up for my SliMP3 device, I thought the QCast would be a nice addition to my stable of devices that allow access to my growing media collection.
The SliMP3 is used in a room that only has an amp and speakers but no TV, so it works quite well for queuing up and listening to my music colleciton.
I put the QCast in with my main home entertainment setup, which contains my DirecTivo, thinking that it would serve the same purpose as the SliMP3, but now using my TV as the initial UI to setup a playlist.
My biggest complaint is that the QCast server does nothing to abstract information about the media on your system. It just exposes the file system to the playstation, and then you navigate it with the playstation. This forces you to keep your media collection in a maintainable hierarchy at the filesystem level. Although I'm usually pretty good about this, I really appreciate the SliMP3's ability to build up its own internal db using the tag information in the files.
On the QCast, since you can't listen to music and build up the playlist at the same time (a HUGE drawback), you're forced to create the playlist in its entirety and then set it in motion. With the SliMP3, I am able to add and remove music from a playlist as it's playing, which I take advantage of frequently.
Another drawback to the QCast is that it has its own playlist representation, using XML files. There are utilities that can convert between m3u or pls to this format, but it's a big hassle, especially compared to the ease-of-use of the SliMP3.
The final insult to this is that there seems to a problem with some users getting the software to boot consistently on the PS2. It usually takes me several reboots before the PS2 will load the QCast software.
My one hope is that the QCast is under continued development, and as another post mentions, there will be a major software upgrade "real soon now." I'm hoping some of these usability concerns will be addressed with that release.
-Scott
The interface isn't half as bad as pudge makes it out to be. It might have been easier for him to use if he had read the manual first. His complaints are the equivalent of saying "Unix sucks because when I type ls in a long directory it all goes by too fast for me to read."
The review seems to focus more on pudge's crappy home theatre setup than on the QCast Tuner. It's hardly BroadQ's fault that his home theatre setup is convoluted and inconvenient.
Finally, the review doesn't touch on any of the important benefits and drawbacks of the QCast software.
Benefits:
- Cheap as hell (less than $50), and with automatic updates for life. BroadQ has even promised to send new CDs free of charge to existing customers who request them when they finish their next CD pressing run.
- The server software is cross-platform and runs on most Java-capable OSes.
- The software automatically updates itself fairly often, usually fixing annoying bugs and adding new functionality in the process.
- The video and audio quality is very nice, even with relatively low bitrate DivX on my 46" widescreen HDTV.
- The interface (once you learn how to use it) is intuitive, simple, and very clean.
- BroadQ is very responsive to user requests and feedback.
Drawbacks:All things considered, I love QCast. It has its faults, but BroadQ is working hard to fix the ones they can, and the others are offset by the fact that for the money, this software does incredible things. I highly recommend it.
So far I've not had a decent way to play the Ogg files, which are on a computer in another room, through my suh-weet stereo system - other than a 36-foot RCA audio cable, which we all know preserves the sound quality so well...
So you're telling me that with this thing I can just share my Ogg files, play 'em through my PS2... which I can hook up to my stereo with an optical cable if I want... and get as good of a sound as if it were coming straight out of the computer?
This would really make my day.
thats funny, the dreamcast's video display is a framebuffer xserver which is slow as all hell, and eats up almost all 16 megs of the memory. linuxdc is not tweaked enouph to play any sort of video content.
How did you do it?
I own the PS2/Linux kit, and would have liked to get vlc to work on my PS2. I have since heard about QCast but sounds kind of disappointing.
However, it does work with MPEG-1 streams and probably MP3 would work as well (I've played MP3s on my PS2 but not over vlc).
The problem with MPEG2 and DiVX are processing power. Unless you program the builtin MPEG decoder, you are using the weak EE risc processor to decode MPEG-2, and it drops frames badly.
If someone were to port these formats to the native HW, PS2Linux would be a viable alternative.
r4lv3k
And how would this let me play MP3s?
Prior to my Qcast, I use the video out from my Geforce4 to view various forms of video on my TV. I wasn't always happy with the quality of the output, so I picked this thing up, in the belief that my PS2 can do a better job.
And it can.
The interface is some sort of whacked-out neo-70's style thing, that aside from looking odd as hell is reasonably functional - you can navigate directories fairly easily, L2/R2 provide page up/down, and L1/R1 provide movement between "functions" (that is, between the filelist, playlist, and settings).
You can save your playlists for later playback, so oftimes you need only setup your initial playlist and run with it.
Sound: For just playing audio, the system is great - the current version does not use the 5.1 digital capabilities of the PS2, but this is forthcoming. However, it did handle my mp3/ogg collection with little difficulty, and allowed me the standard options one would expect (random play, shuffled playlist, etc.),
About the only features missing are the ability to add to a playing playlist (apparently never going to happen - technical limitiation of the PS/2 they say), and the ability to have the timer show time remaining, rather than elapsed.
Images:
The image viewer is excellent. You can control the scaling of the images, speed of the slideshow (or run it manually from the controller) as well as thr transitions between each image. Supposedly upcoming is the ability to run an image slideshow while playing music - a very cool addon.
Video:
This is what most people care about. This thing handles all the codecs they say they do - but they currently have some size limitations (It can't play a full-res DVD Rip currently, for example). Taken from their own support site, here is the amount they have to do to have the player handle larger streams (taken from their own forums):
===
Our first, immediate goal is to get SVCD resolution files (480x480) working.
Here's a quick table of the target resolutions, and how much additional performance we will need to achieve to get each level:
512x384: 1.0 (this works today).
480x480: 17% performance increase
640x480: 56% performance increase
720x480: 75% performance increase
720x576: 110% performance increase
For MPEG2 performance, we will likely have to rely more heavily on the IPU (built-in MPEG2 hardware).
For MPEG4 performance, we will have to implement aggressive VU optimizations.
===
Perhaps the coolest feature of the software is the great customer support and free updates via the web, handled automatically - the PC software (which runs on Win/Lin/Mac I might add) checks for updates and downloads it to the PC, for the PS2 to install the next time it is used.
About the only missing Video feature I *really* want is FF/REW, and that is going to be pushed to us clients within the week, by the sound of things.
All in all, I haven't looked back since switching from video-out to the QCast Tuner.
I guess I wasn't explicit: the quality was as good as can be expected. MP3s and audio sound as good as they are recorded/encoded, and as good as your speakers can handle. No sync problems that I experienced (one thing I meant to say is that QCast plays the EyeTV recordings better than EyeTV, especially in regard to A/V sync).
As to video resolution, it handled whatever I threw at it, which is not a wide range of things. Mostly EyeTV recordings. I don't have a lot of high-quality video files around.
I seriously doubt that Sony would endorse such a device. It's possible to boot discs in a PS2 that are not signed (such as the GameShark) and I suspect they simply went that route.
a: The disc itself contains a bootloader. The bootloader downloads the app from your computer and then runs it. So updates are downloaded to your computer (and yes it does phone home to do so), then next time you run the new application is loaded to the PS2.
b: MP3 quality is good. I can play it loud enough to annoy the neighbors and assuming a 192K rip it sounds fine. I can't speak on the video quality though, I'm not a videophile and I've only used that part a few times. Check the forums for a real answer, but off the top of my head I want to say there have been some problems with very high end video. Again check the forums for the definitive answer.
FWIW, automatic updates only work with Windows, according to the insert that came in the package.
The Linux server (I guess the others, but haven't tried them) is written in Java. For me not 100% stable -- seems to fall over after a while, and sometimes hangs.
The client software hangs more often than it should. Not that often, but a lot more often than you're used to seeing your PS2 hang.
The spec details you're after are here.
Haven't tried a lot of video. Played around with some DivX exports from Premiere that were fine, but I'll let someone else give useful detail. Overall the reviewer has it about right. It supports the PS2 DVD remote, and is a lot easier and cheaper than setting up a PC to do the same thing. But it suffers from some useability issues. Not being able to edit a playlist while playing is a little annoying, but the start up is a much bigger problem. I find that several minutes to first song is a big drawback, and means that it gets used a lot less frequently than it might. That includes loading the disc to boot QCast and choosing a playlist.
How about this?
:)
S-Video out and a cordless mouse.
Don't want the pc in your sitting room?
S-Video to scart connector, video recorder, 20 metres of telly cable, 15 metres of ps/2 extension cable and a cordless mouse (Possibly a usb to ps2 converter needed here).
Another 20 metres of telly cable and a tv card and you've even got yourself a Personally-bodged Video Recorder
PC to vcr to (sky digi/cable)box to (vcr to) PC. Just like tha' hahaha.
If I am not mistaken, this product should be balcklisted since it is basically stolen code from the MPlayer package, which they have modified and not followed the license agreement. Again, I could be wrong about this but I think it is worth investigating prior to purchasing the product.
Or is this QCast Tuner missing a tuner of some sort?
If it's just networked media player software, why in Ford's Flivver are they referring to it as as tuner software? Neither the main slashdot review, nor any of the reviews in the comments mention the presence (or the lack thereof) of a tuner. The ThinkGeek information doesn't mention anything about a tuner in the specs either.
While this sounds like a neat thing, it seems awfully limited... especially without any tuner to mention. Though I already have the PS2 Linux kit which allows me to do a whole lot more than this, the idea of a tuner on the PS2 would be nice.
- Twilight1Excuse me, mods - I think you meant *Insightful*.
Of course, I don't care about Karma. When logged in, I'm capped out.
Here. Looks to me like they're attributing the source they use and complying with the GPL just fine. Maybe you should do some research before you claim that a company is stealing things. That's called libel.
Yup, sure can.
I picked up QCast a few months ago and was hoping to use it to watch stuff that I'd pulled off my TiVo. The bottom line is, they still have some performance issues to work out before you can watch high quality video. I've got a ton of stuff I've ripped from TiVo and up-sampled to Divx 640x480 from MPEG2 480x480 (SVHS - native TiVo aspect ratio for high and best quality video). They start to play okay, then it goes to slide show with audio, then it crashes. I spent weeks fiddling the Divx encoder trying to find just the right combination of size, bit-rate and quality, and was never satisfied. I did get an episode of Futurama and Cowboy Bebop to look real good at 512x384 (BroadQ's highest recommended resolution), but non-animation shows would skip frames no matter what the bit-rate was. But if you down-sample to 320x240, everything plays perfectly at pretty high bit rates - just with a noticable loss of resolution. The QCast decoder does support MPEG1/2, so I thought I would try playing a captured TiVo MPEG2 - no dice. I got one or two frames, and then crash. From what I've read on their forums, there seems to be a bandwidth problem with the PS2 itself (or rather, their software's use of the PS2's hardware), it just can't handle high-res quick enough.
The next rev of the software (due out "real soon now") addresses some of the performance issues, FF/Rew (it's missing currently), and has "expanded and enhanced codec support". Following this release, they plan on concentrating on performance issues, which unfortunately means re-writing their media player from scratch. Ouch.
I really hope they get it working, though.. If I could play 480x480x4Mb MPEG2, I'd be TOTALLY happy. I don't mind transcoding to Divx at a lower bitrate, as long as the quality is there. Its a great product with tons of potential, and a great MP3 player in the meantime. Of course once I get HDTV, I'll be screwed all over again... Oh well.
a) How the 'updates' get applied?
The server-side app phones home and gets the updates for both server and client over the Internet. The client-side app is booted from the PS2 CD, with updates stored on a small portion of a standard memory card. Whenever the client-side boots, it checks the server for updates and downloads them to the memory card if necessary.
b) What the quality of the video and audio is? Any sync problems? Does it only handle up to a certain bitrate/resolution?
Overall, the playback quality is excellent, generally as good as you would get on a PC. Currently, the QCast developers are working on an update to be released soon that will add some much needed features (like FF/RW) and some performance enhancements.
I personally have ripped my entire DVD collection to DivX, and use QCast to play them all of the time. Out of 100+ movies, I have only noticed one that had any audio sync issues, and I've been considering re-ripping it to see if it may just be something peculiar to that file.
As to the bitrate/resolution issue, yes there are limits to the processing power of a PS2. Generally speaking, DivX ripped at or below 1200kbps will play fine. 16x9 movies need to be resized and cropped to around 640x272, 4x3 movies to around 512x288 (basically, the vert res needs to be under 300 for reliable playback). QCast supports both AC3 (which QCast demuxes to stereo) and MP3 soundtracks for movies. I usually rip the soundtrack to 128Kbps MP3.
All of my music files are also 128Kbps MP3, and they sound great as well.
I've used QCast for about 6 months now, and I've enjoyed it so much it has precipitated the purchase of a second PS2 for the bedroom exclusively for video-on-demand, and an upgrade of my network storage to a 400GB array to house more media.
I have also been happy with BroadQ as a company. They are generally responsive to problems and are eager for users to be happy with the product. They have also been generous with their install base, offering free online updates to registered users. There have been some problems with the current PS2 boot CD. I have two PS2's, one is from the first run to ship in the US, the other was purchased two months ago. The old one boots the CD without problem, the new requires multiple resets to boot. BroadQ has acknowledged the problem and will be sending out an updated CD to all registered users, free of charge. THAT is good customer service!
Please mod the parent up!
The developers would not have had any support from Sony but they can release it. Where Sony would have an issue, is if the developers tried to make it look as if it IS endorsed. Expect lots of "100% UNOFFICIAL!" statements on the packaging.
Who me? Pass up a chance to spam my lame site? Never!
:)
Enter to win a free QCast Tuner here!
I have such little traffic your chances of winning are pretty good!
harsh words..
I can just play media content off of my dreamcast (running linux) for less $$ =P
that says just how i read it, he claimed to do it all on his dreamcast running linux. I also use linux on my dreamcast very frequently as a dumb x terminal on my network. so please, its obvious now that i know more on this topic than you.
If you're too lazy to use the SEARCH function at the forum whose URL I've provided...
Can anyone outside of the US who's got one of these things comment on whether the QCast disc is region locked or not?
For those of us outside the US who don't have the luxury of using something like a Tivo to store all of our digital media to watch on the TV without a PC nearby (let alone record!), this sounds like a perfect option.
yes and yes
I still think, as do most people who hang out on the forums, that you should pay the service fee. Without it, the guide data will go away.
Poke around DealDatabase's forum.
Bitching about lockups when you feed it a quicktime and tell it that it's an MPEG. "Gee when I pour syrup in my gas tank my car locks up."
".." for unix geeks yeah that anyone with a CLUE mac boy.
... then what?
I've been using QCast since the day of it's release due to being selected as a beta tester. Overall there are a few user interface issues as dicussed in the review; however, after using it a couple of times the interface becomes second nature.
The one thing surprising about the review is that there is no mention of the video playback problem. Currently video playback isn't recommend for video's whose resolution is about 540ishx360ish (can't remember the exact res). There is also issues with higher bitrate files. Finally there is no ff/rwd.
A update to add ff/rwd is due any day now and playback of the higher res files is also being worked on.
I like QCast and when it works, it works great. However, it doesn't meet my needs which is fansubbed anime playback for VHS copying for an Anime Club's Library. Most of the releases won't playback due to the resolution being 640x480. If the media your playing back is TV rips you make, then you can easily adhere to the restrictions; however, since this doesn't work for me I'm currently happy with the Xbox Media Player.
Note: The XMBP requires a modchip that contains an illegal hacked Microsoft BIOS, and it's compiled illegally (according to it's license) Xbox SDK. QCast only requires the officialy Sony PS2 Network Adapter and will run on unmodded PS2s.
a hack to dis-allow Tivo from updating my V1 unit?
Sure. Just modify the dialing script. It's in TCL, and is reasonably easy to read/learn. Anyway, the update happens in there, and all you have to do is basically comment out a few chunks of code to prevent it rebooting after receiving an update. Voila.
There's also code in the rc.sysinit startup script that actually applies the update if it is found (after the reboot). You can either comment this out, or set a variable to false so it skips that chunk of code. Read the scripts yourself and figure it out, because it's simple, really.
Anything post-3.0 doesn't use a script for the dialing anymore, it uses executable code, so it's definitely trickier to prevent it from downloading the update and auto-rebooting, but the code in the startup that actually applies the update is still scripted and easily modified.
- Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set him on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.
IMHO, from what I hear about this software, xbox media player is better, and seems cheaper to get running too!
Thats actully the primary use of my xbox at the moment, to look at *cough* movies.
That would go very well with this. Although I`m sure Sony pictures wouldn`t approve.
Direct TV recording can be done via a lirc controller ir transmitter, an svhs capture card and mplayer for encoding. Recording can be scripted and cron'd for more effect.
...then I won't reward your laziness with an answer.
Nuff said. Too much screwing around.
It doesn't do quicktime, or gif. Not interested. Not to mention being a blatant thinkgeek ad without disclosure of slashdot's relationship with it.
Since you never offered one to begin with, I won't feel hurt.
I looked into this program myself, but I wanted it to be able to at least support 480p for movies, and I have the sony component cable, as it stands now from what they have said I would have to use the cable that comes with the ps2, or the svideo cable, meaning changing cables as well when I stop playing video games. They say they are working on it tho, when it has that feature (or at least 480i) I will buy it.
The developers seem to be pretty responsive, they added ogg and png support on request from users. I am hoping that feature will be added soon cause I would love to be able to use this.
What I use now is a "video sender" that sends composite video and 2 channel analog audio over 2.4mhz. Before Qcast Tuner came out I was planning on getting the linux kit for the ps2 to use as a livingroom computer/streamer, but this look like it might serve my needs for alot cheaper. (I already have the network adapter)
From reading the forums, they seem to have gone to alot of effort to have as complete a support as you can for the many different kinds of divx (3,4,5,xvid,etc) files. This is not to be lightly mentioned as its a pretty impressive feat. It seems as they have done a good job from the things I have heard, has anyone else had experience with this?
Get the component-out support (720p would be nice) and it will be great!
Because, sometimes they just have to touch the stove.
-YY1
oh forgot to mention, spdif output (optical) is a really nice feature it has that should be mentioned.
Because, sometimes they just have to touch the stove.
-YY1
you have directv and you didn't get a tivo/directv reciever? that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. That is the only way you can record two shows simultaneously, not to mention you directly save the mpeg-2 stream from the satellite so you don't have to go about re-encoding a degraded signal and introduce artifacts.
Are you just trying to be different so you don't look like your Tivo/DirecTV friends that turn on the box and use one remote for everything? You gotta string 30 wires across your house and use 4 devices in some strange rube goldberg-like system for recording a TV show?
Interface turned could use some streamlining.
When trying to play things from my lists I found that to many videos would not play properly.
Not all codecs seem to be supported.
Definatly has issues with graphical glitches that
do not fix themselves within a few seconds.
Sound would loose sync over time.
In the end I decided to go back to using my lil portable pc box.
Maybe I try again in a bit when there are more updates.
the TiVo solution doesn't work with DirecTV units (for now, anyway)
Since when does TiVo not work work with DirecTV? Even my basic TiVo (original series) works fine with DirecTV, despite not having the built-in DirecTV tuner. Sure, I can't record two shows at once like the (more expensive) DirecTV tuner models, but it works fine, and I already had a DirecTV tuner anyway. Have they removed this ability in some way from the series 2 units? I'm sure that hacking together a PS2 based solution is infinitely more fun, but why exactly is it that the Series 2 is not an option? Is the poster merely saying that there aren't any DirecTV tuner versions of the Series 2? Why not get a regular Series 2 and a basic DirecTV tuner/dish setup? Is the poster not aware that even a basic TiVo unit can control and record off of a DirecTV tuner using little more than a serial link and an s-video cable? Have they yanked this feature from Series 2?
I don't mean to denigrate the 'because we can' factor, since I have a PS2 Linux kit myself simply 'because I could' and it sounded like fun. I'm just saying that it would have been helpful to explain why a series 2 unit wasn't an option for DirecTV under the circumstances, especially to those of us who are already TiVo'ing our DirecTV connection on the cheap. More power to you if you had some fun getting this to work, I guess.
personally I was contemplating trading up to a ReplayTV unit, but that whole bankruptcy thing sort of ruined it for me.
I didn't pre-emptively answer any conceivable question someone could ask. I provided a link to the best general hacking site for TiVos. If you had actually gone there and run a search, you would have found the mp3 project for TiVos.
I didn't mention mplayer, integrated DVD burners, on-TiVo stream editing, or any of a number of other projects, either.
I did look, and there were no solid easy answers that popped up. A lot of people saying some things sorta work but mostly suck and require you to risk severe and permanent damage to your TiVo. Yay, that's helpful.
I dont want the guide data. so I'm not going to pay for something I dont even want or use. Beside the V1 units were sold as a digital-vcr with the services as OPTIONAL. well, I want a V1 that has never been updated by TiVo that I can set the stinking clock.
All their updates to add "features" like pop-up nag screens, remove that nasty 30 second skip, etc...
for some reason the Tivo fanatics cant comprehend someone wanting to use a tivo as it was promised to work by the company... as a regular VCR.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.