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Squeezebox MP3 Player Hacked to Play Video
Xenna writes "The Squeezebox MP3 Player has found a new application: With the Videobox software
and some cabling it becomes a networked Video Player. This is the latest development to come out of
the active community Slim Devices have managed to attract around
their very hackable MP3 players. Only last week the SoftSqueeze
software player was announced on the Slim users mailing list. The Squeezebox was reviewed on Slashdot last December."
It's gratifying to see a company which is aware of the "geek" segment of the market and is willing to produce intentionally hackable and extensible media players for us to play with. This can only be a good development and I hope they do well.
With all the flames for the iPod and its battery, I can't help but wonder.. do these people think that most consumer products with rechargeable batteries allow the batteries to be replaced easily, if at all? I just threw out a cordless screwdriver whose batteries stopped taking a charge, and there was no replacing them. A few months ago I threw away a rechargeable flashlight for the same reason. So what is it about the iPod that makes it deserve such relentless attacks? Do a google search on "ipod battery" and I'm sure you'll find dozens of sites that offer replacement batteries for the iPod, with detailed instructions on how to do the replacement - that's more than I can say for any of the rechargeable items I've thrown away in the past few years.
I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
This definately appears to be the case. I read the post and hoped that they were actaully streaming video to the squeezebox and using some clever server hack to modulate the video signal and send it out over one of the audio channels. This is not the case at all. They're just using the Squeezebox as the remote control for a PC connected to the TV.
While this isn't as exiciting, it's still a nifty hack. One of the great things about the Squeezebox is that its form factor and UI enable it to integreate seamlessly into an existing AV system. Not only does it look like an AV component, but it acts like one too. The UI is simple and it's easy to control with the remote control.
Other hacks let you use the Squeezebox to check weather and stock quotes. If your PC is already connected to your computer and you have a Squeezebox, this hack lets you control your audio and video using one remote and the simple display provided by the Squeezebox. It's looks like it's a natural way to combine two similar things (audio and video) under one UI, even though the data paths are completely separate.
So, even though it's not a streaming video hack, it's still a nifty hack.
(it's worth noting that I'm a Squeezebox owner and love the hacks that people have done for it - the few times I've had a cool idea for it, someone's already done it! It's a great community and it's great that Slim Devices has opened up the software for tinkering.)
-Chris
Elgato just released EyeHome which streams audio/video from your Computer(Mac Only) via Ethernet to a TV for the same price. It looks sweet, XLR8YourMac has had a bunch of users review it. It only accepts Mpeg1, Mpeg2(non-VBR), and DIVX streams from their "EyeHome Media Server". The same company Sells nice firewire tuners with TIVO like software that incorporates into the setup.
Seriously though, if you want a good TV frontend for your computer, get an Xbox and put Linux on it (no, you don't need to buy a mod-chip). It costs less than any other option and is a lot more flexable.
Since this just makes the $250 Squeezebox a really expensive remote for you 'puter, you might want to consider some other products instead.
If want you want is just a remote for your computer, then the Keyspan Digital Media Remote provides a $40 dollar alternative.
If you want to stream video to you TV from your Mac, then El Gato's eyeHome will pull this off at the same price as the Squeezebox. It will also stream music from iTunes and do slideshows from iPhoto, with no hacking required. ( I know.. what's the fun in that :) )
If you want to wait for Microsoft Announceware, you could get the Windows Media Center Extender for XBOX and use the XBOX to stream video to your TV.
Or at ~$150 you could get the Linksys Wireless Media Adapter . This is the first round of Intel's Digital Media Adapters , of which there is a good review of the technology at linuxdevices.com
Enjoy -jim