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."

Comments

Good.

[James A. M. Joyce]

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.

Video player? More like "video remote"

[perbu]

This software turns the slimbox into a remote - which is not really that cool. You still need a decent video player. Paying $250+ for a remote control for your video player is, well, a bit much.

don't feed the troll

[Neophytus]

Audio formats:

* PCM (AIFF, WAV)
o Supports raw pass-through of uncompressed audio
o Sample rates: 32, 44.1 (CD), and 48Khz (DAT)
o Configurable sample rate, byte order, channels
* MP3, MP2:
o Built-in decoding for all MP3/MP2 formats
o Supports all MP3 data rates, including VBR
o Supports all MP3 sample rates
* AAC, FLAC, Ogg Vorbis:
o Supported through server-side decoding
o May be streamed in PCM (raw) or MP3 (transcoded) format

Story has got it all wrong

[BKDotCom]

Uh... I may be completely stupid but they are not playing video over the Squeeze. They're just using it as the IR receiver to control "Media Player" on a PC with "TV Out" Woo

Re:Story has got it all wrong

[rockmuelle]

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

Mama's got a Squeezebox

[AtariAmarok]

Mama's got a Squeezebox
And when Daddy comes home
He never gets no rest

'Cause she's playing all night
And the CODEC's all right
Mama's got a Squeezebox
Daddy never sleeps at night

"Well the stuntman can't eat"
says Valenti, who can't sleep
When you play illegal DIVx
Cuz it's so damn l33t

'Cause she's playing all night
And the movie's all right
Mama's got a Squeezebox
Daddy never sleeps at night

What Squeezebox is...

[Anonymous Coward]

People are comparing it to an iPod, and asking how much storage it has.

Basically it is:

A networked MP3 player

Uses your computer to store MP3s - should have enough space for movies

$249

Looks about the size of an access point

Plays ogg and flac

Re:Sounds better than the iPod

[v1]

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.