Posted by
CmdrTaco
on from the what-the-hell dept.
gopher writes
" IMBDEV
has just started shipping a customizable MP3 decoder board that
can use either your computers serial or parallel port. It also
comes with complete source code and prototyping space so that
it can be customized." I'm not quite sure what to make
of this.
oppinion of an EE student.
by
Anonymous Coward
·
· Score: 2
Ok, I took a look. all the comments about your sound card being good enough.... that has nothing to do with it. an MP3 decoder board actualy DECODES the MP3. In other words where your proccesor(pentium etc..) would normaly decode it, it is instead decoded by this board. the board also looks to have a VERY VERY high quality audio DAC... which means it will sound very good. much better than most sound cards.
now here are the possible uses of this 1) you like to play with hardware (me:)) 2) you have a computer that is not powerfull enoiugh to decode an MP3 3)play MP3's while playing a game of quake... and have it not affect your lagg/performance etc.. i.e. all cpu time goes to quake, and not to decodeing the mp3. 3) car mp3 players... instead of buying an expensive pentium system and sound card all you need is a cheep 486 with a few megs of RAM and a hradisk. (and still have power left over to run GPS or something!) 4) it comes with source code...... make a portable with a laptop hard disk... if you are any good with microconrtollers it shouldent be too difficult.
You know it's a good product when they sell it using blinking yellow text.:-)
What about bandwidth on the Serial Port
by
jandrese
·
· Score: 2
This shouldn't be a problem for the Paralell port version, but IIRC PC serial ports can trasfer at 112kpbs maximum whereas several MP3s can be encoded as high as 224kpbs. Worse, many old computers (486s) can only transfer at 56kpbs, which cuts out a large portion of the MP3s available. Naturally this isn't a problem if you encode your own music, but it might be if you download from online MP3 resellers or fledgling bands.
It'd be more interesting if the I/O interface was changed. USB interface circuitry is relatively cheap and is all microcontroller based. Cypress sells a development board for about a hundred bucks. Chop off that parallel port and the serial port and interface with USB. Go to your favourite store and get either an USB CD or a USB hard drive (I think these are pricey, they're made for the super mobile crowd who want a hard drive that fits in a shirt pocket)
You've now got a portable MP3 player. This may be impeded if the people who make USB devices won't tell you how to talk with their CD or hard drive (or is it like SCSI and a standard?)
sounds cool if you have a 8086 or something that can't handle a 160kbps encoded MP3. But I think most of the system out there in cyber-lala-land that have a sound card in them can handle it. The only place where I think this might come in handy, is elimnating any "noise" the sound card puts out in the sound stream due to other cards in the system.
Actually, this would probably be more vulnerable to noise, as the board won't be very well shielded and the parallel cable *certainly* won't be.
AFAICT, this is a kit intended for people who like hardware projects, and that's about it. I suppose that you could build a portable MP3 player with the parts if you wanted to (if you also bought a microcontroller chip and maybe a flash card reader). Hardware MP3 decoding would be useful on sound cards if it isn't there already, but that would be integrated into the sound card ASIC instead of added as discrete components like this.
Sort of an aside (read: killing RIAA)
by
Gottjager
·
· Score: 2
While reading what the product was, I had a thought: What if soundcards started offering hardware MP3 com/dec as standard so that using MP3 audio would be more appealing in apps (read: games) where CPU usage is precious to begin with? I know there were a few 3D game engines that supported MP3 for background music and I know the now defunct crack.com 3D game was using MP3 for it's music. Probably wouldn't happen, but if it did catch on, it would be one more nail in the coffin for record companies.
We need more hardware postings, the community gets a little stale talking aboput the same thing all the time, and there are non-software nerds out there, too...
Dub
-- "The future's good and the present is nothing to sneeze at." - Roblimo's last./ post
Upgrade your old compact disc player!
by
rnt
·
· Score: 2
How about putting one of those uClinux simms in your old cdaudioplayer (after removing all the old junk from the inside...) and hook a leftover cdromdrive and the mp3 decoderboard to it?
Now your cdplayer can play music-cd's, read data-cd's (filled with MP3's for instance) and do something useful with it and you can even hook it up to an ethernet to get your music from!
Oh, and you could brag about which kernelversion *your* cdplayer is running...;-)
I already have dreams of my compact disc player sending SNMP traps when it's done playing another CDR filled with MP3's!
I'm looking for something like this.
by
Xenna
·
· Score: 2
I could use a serial cable running from my (noisy) server in the attic down to my living room stereo. The decoder is connected to the stereo. Now I can play MP3's on my server and hear them on the living room audio. I could control the server with a laptop in the living room or maybe some remote control solution.
Quite nice, although I would prefer an ethernet based decoder, that could have some other applications as well. Also I wonder if a 128 Kbps stream would run well over my serial ports.
Unfortunately I'm no good with hardware kits...
OK read this for answers :)
by
gopher0x
·
· Score: 3
I have talked to the company here is what it is.
think of it as a proccesor and sound card on a board that connects to your parallel port.
it DECODES the MP3 and proccess the audio.
in other words you need it if: 1)you want to play mp3 files on a 286,386,486 computer 2) you want to play mp3's on a pentium computer and still have proccessor power left to do other things. (like play quake to your favorit MP3 tune) If you tried to do this by useing you computer to decode the MP3, the game would be so lagged it would be difficult to move.. Try it (not if you have a dual 500!)
3) it comes with source code... you could turn it into a sterio component for your sterio system with that old 486 25 MHz MB and chip you have laying around....
4) put it in your car with that old 386 MB you have laying around!
5) show your freinds your 'gizzmo' and watch themn drool.
6) if you are any good at electronics you should be able to interface some type of CD-rom or HArdisk/ or other storage(flash?) to it for a completly stand alone player..No pPC required.
Slashdot Mirror
Ok,
:))
..... :)
I took a look.
all the comments about your sound card being good enough.... that has nothing to do with it. an MP3 decoder board actualy DECODES the MP3. In other words where your proccesor(pentium etc..) would normaly decode it, it is instead decoded by this
board. the board also looks to have a VERY VERY
high quality audio DAC... which means it will sound very good. much better than most sound cards.
now here are the possible uses of this
1) you like to play with hardware (me
2) you have a computer that is not powerfull enoiugh to decode an MP3
3)play MP3's while playing a game of quake...
and have it not affect your lagg/performance etc..
i.e. all cpu time goes to quake, and not to decodeing the mp3.
3) car mp3 players... instead of buying an expensive pentium system and sound card
all you need is a cheep 486 with a few megs of RAM and a hradisk. (and still have power left over to run GPS or something!)
4) it comes with source code...... make a portable with a laptop hard disk... if you are any good with microconrtollers it shouldent be too difficult.
5)show off to your friends?
ok my bottom line
I am buying 2
hehe
You know it's a good product when they sell it using blinking yellow text. :-)
This shouldn't be a problem for the Paralell port version, but IIRC PC serial ports can trasfer at 112kpbs maximum whereas several MP3s can be encoded as high as 224kpbs. Worse, many old computers (486s) can only transfer at 56kpbs, which cuts out a large portion of the MP3s available. Naturally this isn't a problem if you encode your own music, but it might be if you download from online MP3 resellers or fledgling bands.
I read the internet for the articles.
It'd be more interesting if the I/O interface was changed. USB interface circuitry is relatively cheap and is all microcontroller based. Cypress sells a development board for about a hundred bucks. Chop off that parallel port and the serial port and interface with USB. Go to your favourite store and get either an USB CD or a USB hard drive (I think these are pricey, they're made for the super mobile crowd who want a hard drive that fits in a shirt pocket)
You've now got a portable MP3 player. This may be impeded if the people who make USB devices won't tell you how to talk with their CD or hard drive (or is it like SCSI and a standard?)
Actually, this would probably be more vulnerable to noise, as the board won't be very well shielded and the parallel cable *certainly* won't be.
AFAICT, this is a kit intended for people who like hardware projects, and that's about it. I suppose that you could build a portable MP3 player with the parts if you wanted to (if you also bought a microcontroller chip and maybe a flash card reader). Hardware MP3 decoding would be useful on sound cards if it isn't there already, but that would be integrated into the sound card ASIC instead of added as discrete components like this.
While reading what the product was, I had a thought: What if soundcards started offering hardware MP3 com/dec as standard so that using MP3 audio would be more appealing in apps (read: games) where CPU usage is precious to begin with? I know there were a few 3D game engines that supported MP3 for background music and I know the now defunct crack.com 3D game was using MP3 for it's music. Probably wouldn't happen, but if it did catch on, it would be one more nail in the coffin for record companies.
We need more hardware postings, the community gets a little stale talking aboput the same thing all the time, and there are non-software nerds out there, too...
Dub
"The future's good and the present is nothing to sneeze at." - Roblimo's last
How about putting one of those uClinux simms in your old cdaudioplayer (after removing all the old junk from the inside...) and hook a leftover cdromdrive and the mp3 decoderboard to it?
;-)
Now your cdplayer can play music-cd's, read data-cd's (filled with MP3's for instance) and do something useful with it and you can even hook it up to an ethernet to get your music from!
Oh, and you could brag about which kernelversion *your* cdplayer is running...
I already have dreams of my compact disc player sending SNMP traps when it's done playing another CDR filled with MP3's!
I could use a serial cable running from my (noisy) server in the attic down to my living room stereo. The decoder is connected to the stereo. Now I can play MP3's on my server and hear them on the living room audio. I could control the server with a laptop in the living room or maybe some remote control solution.
Quite nice, although I would prefer an ethernet based decoder, that could have some other applications as well. Also I wonder if a 128 Kbps stream would run well over my serial ports.
Unfortunately I'm no good with hardware kits...
I have talked to the company
here is what it is.
think of it as a proccesor and sound card on a board that connects to your parallel port.
it DECODES the MP3 and proccess the audio.
in other words you need it if:
1)you want to play mp3 files on a 286,386,486 computer
2) you want to play mp3's on a pentium computer and still have proccessor power left to do other things. (like play quake to your favorit MP3 tune)
If you tried to do this by useing you computer to decode the MP3, the game would be so lagged it would be difficult to move.. Try it (not if you have a dual 500!)
3) it comes with source code... you could turn it into a sterio component for your sterio system with that old 486 25 MHz MB and chip you have laying around....
4) put it in your car with that old 386 MB you have laying around!
5) show your freinds your 'gizzmo' and watch themn drool.
6) if you are any good at electronics you should
be able to interface some type of CD-rom or HArdisk/ or other storage(flash?) to it for a completly stand alone player..No pPC required.
I want one.
Gopher0x