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.

Re:And?

[garcia]

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?

Re:And?

[Glamdrlng]

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?

Sigh. No component out.

[renehollan]

Kind of useless for streaming my archived DVDs at 480p to my TV, or for later streaming HD content at 720P or 1080i from the same home server.

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).

Re:No on-box display?

[Zathrus]

Simple -- cost.

Would you be willing to pay an extra $100 for the unit for those features? Do you think the number of people who would be willing to pay an extra $100 outweigh the number of people who would no longer be willing to purchase it? And that $100 is conservative, if anything... the additional material costs, additional programming/UI design, two entirely different methods for accessing the same content, additional QA for both hardware and software, etc.

While I agree that a display and buttons are a good thing, I don't think the additional cost will come out positive in the long run. Especially since the entire point of a networked audio player is that you don't need to walk up to it and plop in a CD to listen to whatever music you want. Like I said, I agree with the advantages of not having to turn on your TV, and it's something I'd like at times, but realistically it's not a winning feature for the price.

If, however, you do want this, and are willing to give up an OSD to the TV, then look into the Turtle Beach AudioTron. Music only (obviously), no video. It does have a small screen on it, with buttons for control. Costs about the same as the Prismiq.

And there's stuff out there that has the OSD, does music/video, has an on-box display, buttons, etc. too. Be prepared to pay upwards of $500 and (often) have all the data storage be on device, with really absurd pricing for expanding storage.

No DVD Player.. Uh... I'll take XBMP.

[ZZane]

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 device has next to no CPU power

[drinkypoo]

...at least by modern standards. The PD61130 MPEG2 Decoder [necelam.com], as NEC calls it, provides 200 Dhrystone MIPS at 167 MHz / 160 MIPS at 133 MHz using an "Integrated high-performance CPU: NEC MIPS(R)-based VR4120A(TM) core". Note that these are MIPS, or Meaningless Indicators of Processor Speed. Meaningless why? They're produced by benchmarks! Anyway, it only supports up to 64MB of SDRAM... Thinkgeek's "specifications" says the processor is a "NEC uPD61130 32-bit MIPS microprocessor with integrated MPEG decoder", but they don't bother to mention that it's an MPEG2 decoder, not MPEG2+4.

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 [mips.com] is kind enough to provide a newsletter [mips.com] which comes up in a search for "4210A" which contains the following interesting paragraph:

EMMArchitecture2 is designed for mid/high-end STB/ DTV applications such as Personal Video Recorders (PVR) and wireless IP STBs. It uses the NEC-designed MIPS CPU 4120A, plus NEC's original audio DSP, versatile stream processing engine and ATA I/F, together with a PCI bus. This unique architecture allows not only a single-chip, mid-range PVR configuration, which is controlled by an on-chip 200-mips 4120A CPU, but also a high-end, multi-chip STB configuration, which utilizes a PCI to connect an external high-performance CPU such as NEC's 500-mips, MIPS-based(TM) VR5500A CPU, together with a PCI bus bridge.

But, as the specifications [prismiq.com] for the PrismIQ [prismiq.com] 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.

Re:No DVD Player.. Uh... I'll take XBMP.

[Zed2K]

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.

Yet another set-top box.

[Svartalf]

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.