Has anyone seen this yet? It can use a SMB server on your LAN to play mp3s on your stereo as a component device. It will also encode digital inputs for distribution over your LAN to other devices in your house. Still way too pricey, but VERY cool.

http://www.lansonic.com/

-Hoagy.

>>>>
Stand alone MP3 server, graphical LCD display, 10baseT Ethernet, available with up to 160GB (pricy) or with no storage. No storage model gets the MP3s from standard SMB fileshares. has tons of inputs and outputs. Can get software updates from the Net if the network is connected. Uses DHCP if available, or static IPs. Has built in HTTP server for easy setup/operation. Front panel controls are a power button and a scrollwheel which clicks in.

I bought the no storage one and it rocks. About $600. My only complaint is that the remote sensor is not very sensitive, and some commands for other units make it turn on (not play). Instead of dedicated remote it comes with a Zenith 'universal' remote and the unit can be set to any one of about 10 of the 'VCR' codes. But you can turn remote support off and just use HTTP or panel controls.

It is very cool but $700 is awfully expensive for a diskless unit. Unless there is some capability I'm missing, I'd rather wait for the Diamond or Dell digital receiver products designed by our own Empeg guys. It looks to be functionaly equivalent and will only cost around $250.

If I wanted one with a drive I'd consider the Audio Request. It's a bit cheaper than the Lansonic and has TV out (which I think is important if I'm going to be controlling this thing from my couch).

-Dylan

I think it has functionality that I haven't seen mentioned for the empeg designed devices. I can take input from a analogue device, encode it, and stream it onto the network. I don't think (though I may be wrong) that the empeg device does that ?

__
Unit serial number 47 (was 330 in the queue)...

Wait, how are/were the Empeg guys involved with the Diamond/Dell Rio Receiver?

I think it has functionality that I haven't seen mentioned for the empeg designed devices. I can take input from a analogue device, encode it, and stream it onto the network. I don't think (though I may be wrong) that the empeg device does that ?

OK, that does have some value - not to me personally, but I'm sure it would to some. But I think it would be much more viable if they had a dumbed down client version that was closer to the Dell/Rio price. Then you could have one expensive server that had a drive, could encode/stream, etc. and a number of much cheaper clients. The clients could be diskless only and wouldn't need the computing horsepower to encode, stream and serve multiple clients. The cheap clients could skip the digital I/O and A/D converter to save on hardware costs. Then I think they would have something.

-Dylan

Wait, how are/were the Empeg guys involved with the Diamond/Dell Rio Receiver?

Empeg designed its hardware, and they wrote its software and firmware. Diamond/Dell do the actual manufacturing and pay a license/royalty back to empeg.

Pretty sweet deal for Empeg, if you ask me.

___________
Tony Fabris

Not quite correct - we (ok, I ;) ) consulted on the hardware, they did the actual design. The software, from the firmware to the PC end, is all licensed from empeg though.

Hugo

And you didn't get to stick a

'Designed by Altman' sticker on it ?

I mean Pininfarina (did I spell that right ?) had it on the Ferrari's and others...

Cheers,
Hans


Mk2 - Blue - 080000431

Ok, the Dell Digital Audio Receiver is exactly what I've been lusting for for a long time now..

BUT, will the "digital jukebox PC" be able to run Linux instead of some Microsoft POS?

-Hoagy.

BUT, will the "digital jukebox PC" be able to run Linux instead of some Microsoft POS?

You're talking about the box designed by empeg? Of course it does! They're sonicblue's "Linux specialist team" for crying out loud!

Also, Lansonic claims it's the first of its kind. I don't see any press releases on their site but I'd bet the Rio Receiver was out first...

DiGNAN

Turtle Beach/Voyetra has a similar product about to come out.
http://www.audiotron.net/

At only $299 it might be a fun toy, but I don't see the problem with simply hooking your computer up to your stereo. I know someone that works for Turtle Beach in Yonkers, NY, USA and I have known about this product for over a year now (very slow to market, probably could have beat the Rio Receiver). From what I know about it, I am 99% sure that it does not run Linux (that may have changed though).

-Rob
-----
12GB MK2 Blue 090000736 (6166 in the queue)

Thanks for the link to the Turtle Beach product. AFAIK, Turtle Beach has always focused on high audio quality.

Problems with hooking up 'puter to stereo are noise and interface. I don't want to deal with wireless keyboards or mice to select playlists or songs. And PCs generate enough fan and harddisk noise to be annoying.

-Hoagy.

Of course, you could get the Dell one which is shipping now... and is a lot better performance than the Turtle beach one (though it's lacking an SPDIF out). The Dell one has very high quality audio, 24-bit burr-brown DAC etc.

And we did the software :)

Hugo

Hugo - Do you know if this is available in the UK yet? Dell, as usual, won't talk to me!

>>Of course, you could get the Dell one which is shipping now... and is a lot better performance than the Turtle beach one (though it's lacking an SPDIF out). The Dell one has very high quality audio, 24-bit burr-brown DAC etc.<<

So back to the original question, will the Dell product work with a server that runs Linux rather than Windows?

-Hoagy.

Not yet, though I'm sure this will change in the future. A PC can currently serve the unit from a SMB-mounted share on a linux box holding the music though; not quite the same, but enough for some people who have all their disk space on a linux server.

Hugo

Excellent! This is exactly what I'm looking for. All of my mp3s are on my Linux server and being shared via Samba on my LAN.

Way to go Hugo!
-Hoagy.

You could also install VMWare on your linux machine and run the stream-server in there

Frank van Gestel

This is exactly what I'm looking for. All of my mp3s are on my Linux server and being shared via Samba on my LAN.

Slow down a minute. Hugo said that it still requires a Windows PC to do the serving to the Receiver. The Windows server software doesn't care whether it gets the files from its own hard disk or a shared folder on another PC (Linux or Mac or otherwise), but you still need the Windows PC to serve it to the Reciever.

Now is it still OK?

(Sorry, Hugo, I just wanted to make sure he understood the limitations before placing his order for the device.)

___________
Tony Fabris

Ok, not perfect, but as Frank pointed out, there are alternatives. Putting up another full-time Windows machine wouldn't be too bad if Dell plans on putting out a Linux server eventually.

Thanks for the info,
-Hoagy.

Don't worry, if sales go up there are always some madmen reverse-engineering the protocol and writing a linux-server

Frank van Gestel

It seems the empeg could also be used as server; look here

Frank van Gestel

Server support for the Receiver isn't going to ship in the car player for a while (actually I don't think it has ever been officially made a requirement - Peter just threw it together because he could). I think it highly unlikely this will be a 1.1 feature, but it would be cool for a later release.

Rob