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Prisimq MediaServer Support For Linux
martinde writes "The Prismiq Media Player is a networked set top box that can play MP3s, streaming media, browse the web, and do other cool stuff. It runs Debian on the dedicated hardware client, but in the past it has required a Windows server on the backend. It looks like now there is
beta support for Linux in the backend. Anyone tried this device, with or without Linux?" This is a device that I've been playing with/testing - our sister (Yes, Virginia, they are owned by OSDN) site Thinkgeek sells them. Pretty cool device - reminds me of a XBox Media Player in terms of function, but with less soldering, and a keyboard. I'll be trying the Linux backend server - that would solve one of my major complaints, which is that the media server currently is Windows-only.
Begin "This is shameless thinkgeek advertising" whining by lamers in 3...2...1...
it's available on Thinkgeek, the box is Debian based, there is now a server (back-end) available for Linux (which has oddly enough only been tested on RedHat and SuSE when the box runs Debian?), and it's similar to what you can get w/the XBox for only $100 more (and not quite as much effort or "illegal" behavior).
Does that about answer it?
Pretty cool device - reminds me of a XBox Media Player in terms of function, but with less soldering, and a keyboard.
Less soldering? How can you have less soldering than *none*? Have you found some way to quantify negative soldering amounts?
The theory of relativity doesn't work right in Arkansas.
The xbox media player XBMP, can do everything this can do and more. xbox=$179, chip=$20, media player which is constantly updated=free. Plus you can play some fun games.
This is just another ad for thinkgeek crud.
-eric
Other than "available on thinkgeek", there are no other differentiating factors mentioned. Got any others?
I *thought* that 802.11a/g wasn't available in Linux as of this time. If this machine runs Debian, where's the drivers? And where can I download them?
This is a test. This is a test of the emergency sig system. This has been only a test.
The biggest problem I see with this (or with using an X-box for similar things) is the lack of any display or controls on the box itself. I don't want to have to turn on the TV to listen to music, and I don't really want to have to search for a remote either. Why can't people put a very simple user interface on the front of the box??? Something as simple as the iPod interface would be great and very functional.
Lemme get this straight... getting linux to run on a TRS-80 and form a beowulf cluster with a modded atari 2600 is slashdot material, but a linux-based PVR solution isn't?
Yes, my only tool is a hammer. And you're starting to look like a nail.
With a wireless 802.11g card and the ability to play back a ripped DVD it would make a great video jukebox.
Such products frustrate me to no end, because the idea is good, but the execution is poor.
Then again, these limitations might have something to do with tyhe influence of the MPAA w.r.t. playblack resulution via analog outputs (still, that doesn't explain not having component out at at least 480p).
You could've hired me.
buy.com has this on sale for only $189 after $50 mail-in rebate. It's their 'price mistake of the day' item. There is currently a free shipping coupon available at my site. See link below in my signiture to find the coupon.
Looking for any old 8-bit Heathkit/Zenith software/hardware - http://heathkit.garlanger.com
At least we know that our home entertainment center is once again immune to some stupid farking windows worms....
Next, maybe we can look at other trivial things, such as the SCADA systems that run utilities, and the komputarmaschines that are used by the Dept. Of Defense, IRS, CIA, etc...
do() || do_not();
to many features that I wont use. For my movies, I got a DVD player. For IM, I rather use my computer since reading text from TV is too painfull for my eyes. For mp3s, I want something that fits my home stereo equipment and connects to my iTunes library (AAC + playlists).
This brings me to the related question : why is there so little hardware available that plugs into my home stereo (a Marantz system in our living room, pretty decent and it used to cost me half a leg so I'd rather not replace/extend it with a computer that takes up to much space and would just sit there doing nothing in a hidden corner) and in my airport network ? All I really want is a stereo tower box that is stylish, fits my stereo and performs the features of my iPod (okay, forget parachute) without having to haul my iMac to the living room. the iTrip is one way to go, but I would prefer something that goes wirelessly straight to my music library.
Could it be that too many hardware vendors are tied to much to the recording industry, which still considers mp3 pretty much illegal ?
When will I end this grieving ? When will my future begin ?
Checkout "Audiotron"n /producthome.asp
http://www.turtlebeach.com/site/products/audiotro
Its music only, but it doesnt require a TV. Internally, i think its based on WindowsCE, but it uses SMB so any Samba server (including linux) can drive it. Its very slick.
*clap *clap* -- Another wonderful, gramatically correct, hyphen/(parenthesis)-laden sentence from a /. (slashdot (Thinkgeek's sister site)) editor. I, (for one--ofcourse), thought he was talking about playing with his sister (or something )--but that was before before I managed to read it through.
An Indian-American Hindu committed to non-violent thought/speech/action alarmed by the global explosion of radical Islam
"PRISMIQ MediaManager software requires Win98SE or later..."
You mean I have to run crappy Windows to get this working???? Please confirm.
According to the User reviews (the poor souls who actually bought this device) the unit is pure CRAP. Don't listen to this hype. Who cares if it runs Linux, it's unbearably SLOW according to some reviews I have read awhile back. I was actually considering this too.
This product was actually covered in a previous slashdot story from a couple of months ago, seen here.. The Seattle Wireless group reviews this product, gives a live video demonstration of it, and basically describes how it works. You can see the video here under the July archive. It's the last segment in the video.
I just got a Prismiq, and I have to say that for playing MP3 files, it isn't there yet. In order to run the linux server, you have to install on windows first, import the media files and then copy some control files over to windows. The bad news is that the server on windows is a bit flaky when dealing with large numbers of files. The documentation says that the limit is 50k files, and I am nowhere close to that.
The UI doesn't make it easy to find anything as it all based around a flat list of 'playlists'. I suspect that the model is that you are supposed to construct playlists on the PC and then import those. *WRONG* This is supposed to be a consumer device that is no more complex than a cable box to operate.
By comparison, I also have two Rio Receivers ($99 each) being controlled by jreceiver (runs on Linux). These boxes only do MP3s and have a (small) LCD display builtin. They support hierarchical navigation by album/artist/genre/etc. This actually makes it possible to play all your 'Pink Floyd' (or whatever). With the right firmware, the Rio also supports a jukebox mode where you can add new tracks/playlists to the current queue.
The good news is that the Prismiq people appear to be actively developing the product, so there is hope.
for similar device (for music) that has it's own screen see slimdevices.com for the Slimp3 player.
I guess this answers the eternal question...
"Does it run on Linux?"
Seriously though I think it's only a good thing that this box uses one of the most hardcore of all Linux distros in its core (hmm, maybe SourceMage GNU/Linux is more aimed at the hardcore Linuxer, and let's not forget Gentoo), and now, finally, the back end is being ported to Linux. An all-Linux solution is only a good thing!
-uso.
Dreams, dreams, don't doubt dreams, dreaming children's dreaming dreams. Sailor Moon SS
DVD-ROMs can be had for ~$30 or less retail now. I'd buy the unit right now if it could do everything it claims (well) and play media off of a DVD or CD (including true DVDs). As it is right now I'd still have to have two boxes to do virtually the same thing.
:)
Know what can accomplish all this for $200 or less? The X-Box with XBMP (X-Box Media Player) and the DVD remote can do everything this unit can AND it can play DVDs (even in progressive scan mode with some hacking) and it can be done with software hacks. I bought an X-Box specifically for this and it works wonderfully. I just don't play any games on it or use X-Box live so I avoid MS patching their wonderful dashboard holes.
This sig is worse than my last.
They say the device plays DivX, but since it doesn't have an MPEG4 decoder, it all has to be done in software, and I'm skeptical about the device's ability to play high-bitrate MPEG4 (DivX, XVid, others) streams. And while they say that the device will be easily extensible to support future formats, if they are anything like MPEG4, then it certainly won't be fast enough to play them.
MIPS is kind enough to provide a newsletter which comes up in a search for "4210A" which contains the following interesting paragraph:
But, as the specifications for the PrismIQ show, they are not in fact including a VR5500A, just the VR4120A-based PD61130. I assume this plays the majority of MPEG4 content today, or else they wouldn't be selling it, but as bitrates rise, I believe that they will be in trouble.
Note that I have never seen let alone tested one of these, so I am just wanking in the dark here, but it doesn't seem likely to really provide the necessary longetivity. We all know that amazing things can be done with a 200MHz MIPS chip, go ait down at an SGI Indy sometime if you don't believe me, but I think the lack of an MPEG4 decoder will hurt them in the long run. There are numerous MPEG4 hardware solutions available today, and unfortunately, they did not see fit to use any of them.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Little confusing, the title and the body have two different spellings.
Human nature is the same everywhere; the modes only are different. -- Earl of Chesterfield
Why not just glue a remote and receiver to the front of the box?
But the hardware quality is poor, the software has stability/lockup problems, it runs WindowsCE, and it's SMB client is not fully compatible with Samba.
Cool idea, poorly implemented.
-a.e.mossberg
Most of the SCADA systems are ancient affairs, not even capable of running Windows- and most of them aren't even on the Internet.
You don't need to worry about a MS Worm bringing about a massive nation-wide blackout.
You DO need to worry about terrorists taking control of a couple of substations by remote through the unsecured SCADA system or by physical means. Control of a substation means you can induce things like brownouts and blackouts in a given area serviced by the substation. Get control of enough of them and the recent blackouts on the east coast would pale by comparison.
I am not merely a "consumer" or a "taxpayer". I am a Citizen of the State of Texas
The majority of people already have dvd players though, but they don't have streaming music/video players. I don't want my streaming device to also play dvd's. I'd rather have separate devices so I can upgrade items when I want to and not run the risk of losing functionality.
First, the theory behind this device is fairly good. There's limited processing on the client device, and the heavy lifting gets done by the server, the way things ought to be.
The actual configuration files are human-readable with a little bit of effort, and I've even hacked mine up with some success to redo playlists to make more sense.
The bad news is that for large collections of audio (and probably also video) the playlist navigation on the client is really unacceptable. There's only a single level of playlists, so you can't do a lot of things that you would normally do with a hierarchial setup that makes navigating easy. The other problem is that scrolling through the playlists is very, very slow, so in reality a old Rio receiver is faster to navigate, which is a real bummer since I got mine in hopes of having a clean replacement for the Rio's lackluster playlist navigation :-(
On the positive side, they have a user site prismiq.org with good forums that a number of users have been using to communicate how to make limited improvements on both the client and server side. I do think it shows a lot of promise, but don't expect it to be an out-of-the-box instant solution to your media problems...
- Mike
The thing that annoys me about this device (and most of the streaming music devices) is how they access your music library. You usually need to install some piece of software on your windows/linux box in order for the device to work. That is such a stupid way to do it. You should be able to use windows shares and the device should work off of those. No extra software to install for you or to support for them. It just works. This is one of the reasons the Audiotron is so awesome. But the Audiotron only has a 10mbit connection and doesn't have on screen control or support video.
The box would be great if I could hook it to a monitor ( or modern TV) to it, not to an old TV like my Atari 400.
Workable price. Usable feature set.
Don't plan on being able to surf the web or really be able to do IM with this toy unless you've got a top of the line TV.
NTSC television has an average effective resolution of something like 480x480. If you've got a decent TV, that is. A higher quality set may have as much as 512x480 and a lower quality set will have something along the lines of 320x240 resolution- many televisions are at THAT resolution. While you can get a 640x480 scanline converter to allow you to display pictures, etc. on any TV set, the effective resolution trims the edges of the image on the screen and makes it blurry as all get-out on over half of the TV's out there.
I am not merely a "consumer" or a "taxpayer". I am a Citizen of the State of Texas
This will be out in stores shortly as the Game Shark Media Player...
Supports Linux!!!
Works with your PS/2... GREAT PICTURE on my big screen, lots of features, plays DivX,Xvid,mp3s and still picture slide show...
A STEAL at $50....
Run Linux, Windows, Mac, whatever on the backend, use your PS2 on the front end. Even use the handy DVD remote. Available from BroadQ or shortly from GameShark it has all the functionality I can glean from the Prismi?q box without yet another piece of hardware.
I had a Rio Receiver, then moved up to the Audiotron.
Hardware quality- I would rate the hardware quality as pretty high. Optical out is nice, the unit feels sturdy, the LCD Display is excellent (I can read it from about 10-15' away easily), the knobs , buttons , switches and remote are all what you'd expect of a decent consumer device.
Software Stability- I'm not sure what you mean here. The unit itself stays on at my house 24/7. I've never had it lockup, and I've never had it go offline for a reason it had anything to do with (ie power outages). I've made it skip perhaps twice, I suspect some kind of weird combination of high network traffic, and high harddrive use of the computer serving it.
SMB- I've used a samba server, and also a windows share box. Neither has caused me any problems at all. What isn't compatible?
The only downside I have is that it takes a long time to initially grab the list of shared files from different computers. You can save this configuration however, and use it to load from so you don't have to do the complete research when your audiotron gets cut off from power. (It takes about 10-15 minutes at least to initially discover 11,000 mp3s and wavs)
The other plus side is the API for the device is available on the turtle beach site, so you can hack together little scripts, or full featured gui in a pretty short amount of time.
Care to explain what your problem with the audiotron was?
Actually, it works just fine on Debian 3, it just didn't make the readme. And the OS on the MediaPlayer is based on Debian, but custom built for the needs of the MediaPlayer, but hey, who's counting? :)
If you already have a PS2, just stick a network interface on it ($30), and get the QCast Tuner software ($50) from BroadQ.
Their server runs on Java, and will work on Windows, Mac, and Linux platforms.
Turns the PS2 into a nice multimedia platform.
The XBox needs no soldering to run all sorts of software. I run Xbox Media Player from harddrive of a purely softmodded xbox.
There is the 007 savegame hack, and when you are there you can use the Font hack to allow the machine to boot evox from harddisk, and phoenix loader to load any ROM from harddisk as well.
I have yet to see any set-top box that can do what XBMP can do on the xbox.
You have to crack the case to solder a wire to a point, but you don't need a modchip
See, above.........
This story couldn't have come at a better time. My father recently asked me to look into a set-top box that would allow him to view a picture slide show, listen to music, and browse the web on his television over a wireless link. He set is maximum price at $1000, which is to include the wireless access point, card, device, accessories, and anything else needed to get it working.
My first thoughts were to look into the Windows XP Media Center Edition. Microsoft only license this version of the OS to be sold on specific hardware platforms, and I was hard pressed to find one for under $2000.
Next, I looked at using a similar Linux based solution. My folks are not technically savvy people, and my mom needs to be able to use this. I found a number of interesting and very useful tools, but nothing I felt comfortable putting in front of my parents without fearing a never ending stream of support calls.
I then took a look at the Prismiq. This seemed to be the right answer. It had all of the features that my pop was looking for, and even after getting the necessary wireless equipment and keyboard was goint to cost no more than $400. The only drawback is that we would be ordering this device sight-unseen. I'd really like the chance to use it before we put money down on it.
The XBox hack and PS/2 QCast both sound like interesting alternatives as well. I know that my dad is looking at this device mainly for putting on slide shows of his grandkids for his family and friends. He wants something small that will either blend in with his current entertainment system components, or can be easily hidden away in a cabinet. It must be simple to use for everyone in the family. Finally, it should be able to find new media as it is added to his home PC (Windows XP Home), and make it available without a lot of effort on his part.
Has anyone used a product like this? What is the best choice?
who the hell would compare this piece of shit to the xbox media player? it's not even close. it runs like ass. we're talking like 5 seconds to redraw a settings window.
if you want a decent player look elsewhere. really.
if we're to a point that we'll lower our standards on the decency of a piece of hardware because it runs linux, then the world is more sad than i ever imagined. there are plenty of pieces of software on sourceforge alone that work better (albeit on a pc) than this with linux.
"Prisimq" sounds like a name belonging to one of the characters in a certain Jim Theis story.
That story aside...the box has potential, but the software currently leaves a lot to be desired. They haven't released an update in about two months. The playlist functionality is bad, and the software doesn't seem to be able to display letterboxed video--it distorts everything to 4:3. The box has a Windows-based server-side component that really needed to be implemented as a service, but they chose to implement as an application instead, so someone has to be logged on to your Windows box all the time for the server software to run. The AIM client and the web browser are, IMHO, fluff. They're there, they work, but few outside of the crackhead set would use them. The box also has some stability issues--if I leave mine on for more than 24 hours, it can't talk to the network card any longer, and a continuous stream of error messages are displayed on the console. The only way to fix it is a hard reset.
All that being said, I do use it to listen to MP3s on the stereo system in the living room. But if I had it to do over again, I think I would have bought an Audiotron instead.
One thing to watch: the init command built into stock busybox is not compiled to understand runlevels, so if you need a clean shutdown, you have to rebuild it appropriately (and install the usual Sys-V style /etc/rc.d/... scripts).
You could've hired me.
I'd been toying with the idea of creating my own .WAV/.MP3 server for some time, to use as part of my audio system. In part it's because I'm lazy - I hate having to get up, drag CD's out of their storage cube, open the 5-disc changer, and plop 'em in.
I suppose I could have just bought one of those carousel changers - they can be had on eBay for a couple hundred bucks - and load all of my discs into that. But they're bulky and will be a dead-end if we move to non-CD based music distribution (which seems likely, at least at some point). And I don't want to be stuck burning CD's to load into my carousel down the road. Ick.
My original plan was to build a small Windows XP PC to function as an independent audio server. I'd get a mini-ITX motherboard with built in CPU (one of the VIA EPIA units), a big hard drive, a quiet or silent power supply, a remote and software to drive it, a CD ROM drive, and possibly an LCD display of some sort. It would require quite a bit of effort, but would be tres cool.
Problem is, it would also be tres expensive. A tiny case with a silent power supply would run at least $70 alone. Win XP and the motherboard would cost about the same or more each. Now we're talking $210, not including taxes, shipping, a hard drive, a remote or a display of any kind. Sure, I could use the television as a display, but what about that 15kHz whine? And maybe I could use a smaller drive - one just big enough for XP - and use my PC as a server. But then I'd need a bigger drive for my PC, and I'd need to network the two, and since they're in different rooms I'd be shelling out for wireless networking . . . and suddenly the cost explodes into the $700 range. More than I'm willing to spend.
I did look into a few devices designed to function as networked MP3 players, but they all have problems. The Slimp3 looks promising, with its large bright display, but it only plays MP3 compressed files (WAV's are transcoded into MP3 on your computer before being transmitted - so you get sucky mp3 quality and your PC slows down when WAVs are played) and would require an external wireless receiver. I want to play uncompressed or lossless compressed files, too. In fact, I want to have my entire CD collection available (or at the least, the tracks I'd be likely to listen to now and again). HP makes a device with similar restrictions (it adds on WMA lossy-compressed files) that's even more expensive ($300), but at least has a built-in wireless receiver. Unfortunately, it doesn't have a display. Turtle Beach's Audiotron looks the most promising, but it's expensive ($300 - $350), isn't wireless, and according to what I've read, has a shitty D/A converter. Of course, it also has digital out, but my H/K receiver is fidgety about digital sources, and tends to take a moment to "pickup the phone" when the line is dropped, cutting off the first few seconds of each track when fed a digital signal. So unfortunately, I probably need something that can feed my receiver a decent analog signal.
The Prismiq is probably the best alternative, but it requires the use of a television, which rules it out for use in my audio system. The video features strike me as being of little use - as an apartment dweller, I'll be relying on WiFi, and only the lowest-quality video can be streamed over WiFi (particularly in this high rise, steel framed, steel walled apartment building). The D/A converter is also said to be not the best. And of course, it doesn't support WiFi out of the box, so tack a good $40 onto the price of each unit.
Finally I found a device that's a respectable compromise & won't bust the old budget. It's called a cd3o, and it costs just $200. The website is here. It isn't perfect, but it scores on a lot of points. It's wireless (802.11b) or wired, with its own built-in receiver. It supports Winamp playlists. It doesn't have its own drive - it's just a player that uses your PC as its server. It doesn't just beam the ou
"I've been playing with/testing - our sister"
We report, you decide...
The Audiotron is also EXPENSIVE compared to the alternatives (particularly the cd3o), its D/A converters are said to be pretty poor (the cd3o and Slimp3 both have better specs), and it takes it forever to scan your drives initially.
While the display seems like a cool idea, in reality you can't see it well from across the room, and it's of little use for managing playlists. I think cd3o has the right idea with their client service / control panel on the server PC and voice guide on the client device. Doesn't require a television (with its inherent whine), doesn't require you to squint at a fluorescent display halfway across the room, and it knocks enough in the way of cost off the price of the unit to allow it to come with built-in WiFi reception.
well, it's not a PVR, first of all. Second, there is an air of "theres no way you can do that" to the pieces of hardware you mentioned.
This is just a half assed attempt to make some cash.
divx.com sells the Kiss DP-500 progressive DVD-player for $299.99. I just ordered one so no first hand experience yet. It looks like it generally does what this device does, plus is a DVD player, can play MP3 CDs (and much more), has a strong list of outputs, and now has a Linux driver. The manufacturer has more details.
I've had the Prismiq since February, so maybe I can add some useful info. If you've already got a home network, lots of content, and don't want to hack a game console, then this is probably the right buy. I've got access to my collection of 20,000 mp3s, 200 videos (mostly divx and mpeg2), and all the photos downloaded from my digital camera (about 4000), in my living room now. Getting internet radio on my stereo is an added bonus. I know some people don't like the fact that the UI is TV-based, but I don't know how you could take advantage of all the features from a little display like the slimp3 from across the room. Prismiq has done a good job of keeping the box current through regular (and free) firmware upgrades. Since I bought the box, they have provided the photo feature, divx support, the internet radio feature, support for 802.11g, and several (much needed) improvements to the UI. They also been very responsive when I've contacted them with feature suggestions. The told me that a September release will have a new search function built in so that I can get to any file instantly, without having to scroll through list after list. I've got a long list of things I'd like to see improved on the Prismiq (cooler UI, support for ogg, xvid, etc.), but this still looks like the best solution (for me anyway). If you're interested in hacking the box, there is a growing developer community at prismiq.org. I'd like to see them publish a full API soon.
Sorry, but you're still wrong. I'm still not dead yet!
Karma: Undead.
What's your question? The PRISMIQ runs great. The divx stream looks very nice on a TV
I used to develop software for set-top boxes for the purposes of Internet browsing. The stated resolution for NTSC is something more akin to 640x480, the problem is that while the set can SEE the signals at those resolutions, the PICTURE TUBE may/may not resolve at the full resolution, clip the picture to 512x480 or similar.
I am not merely a "consumer" or a "taxpayer". I am a Citizen of the State of Texas