2. The main players
● Consumer Devices
– Networked DVD Players
– Sandisk Sansa TakeTV
● PC
– Window Media Centre
– Apple TV
– Myth TV
● Consoles
– Playstation 3 / Xbox 360 /Wii
– Xbox Media Centre
3. Convergence
● quot;The convergence of PC media with the home entertainment system is
something that has been promised for several years now. Tech-savvy
computer users can easily have gigabytes of music, images, and video
on hard drives, locked away from the living room setup. Many of us are
looking for a simple solution that will allow our stereo/TV equipment to
simply become network devices so they can consume any shared
content. On the surface it sounds like a simple proposition - yet few
devices can achieve this goal, and of those even fewer do it well. Some
people resort to just plugging a computer into their setup so they have all
of the features and media support, but finding good 10-foot interfaces can
be challenging.quot;
● atkulp, http://features.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/11/16/1722231
4. Networked DVD Players
● Networked DVD Players plays many audio and video
formats out of the box including photo/JPEG discs. They
can now streaming content over the local network and
the internet. They can switch between DVD and network
content with the click of a button, and they look like
regular dvd players
5. KISS DVD Players
● Supports Xvid, DivX, Mpeg4, Mpeg2, H.264, Ogg, Wmv9, WmvHD
● Online services through Wired and Wireless Connections
● Plays HD through HDMI or Component
● USB and Card slots in some models
● Plays and up-scales DVDs
● Looks like a dvd player
● Costs between 150 – 350 pounds
6. Flash based players
● SanDisk today announced the U.S. availability of the
Sansa TakeTV video player, a media player that offer
drag and drop video content from PCs to TVs. Using the
Sansa TakeTV is claimed to be as simple as using a
USB flash drive; drag video files to the TakeTV player
and then plug it into its TV cradle. The cradle plugs into
the standard AV sockets of televisions, and then an on-
screen guide lets users select the content they've stored
using the including remote control.
● http://www.infosyncworld.com/news/n/8471.html
7. Sandisk Sansa TakeTV
● Supports Xvid, DivX, Mpeg4, etc
● Uses USB for transfer
● Costs 60-90 pounds
● Uses Sandisk's video platform
● Small but ugly
● No High Def support
● No Network support
8. PC
● Some people live with there computer, some
hate the sound of the fan or blinking of the led
lights. Some throw them behind glass or wood
and love the power and flexibility
9. Windows Media Centre
● Supports most windows media, mpeg2, mpeg4
● Online services through Wired and Wireless Connections
● Programmable Plug ins and Extensions
● Excellent user interface
● Sinkable interface
● Comes bundled with most Windows PC's now
● Possible to buy a complete WMC system at a store or even DIY
● Media centre extenders
10. Apple TV
● Supports mpeg4, h.264 and mpeg2
● Online services through Wired and Wireless Connections
● Tied into iTunes and iTunes music store
● Official Plug ins
● Good user interface
● Plays simple High Def
● Odd DRM modules for content
● Small Footprint / No Fan
11. Myth TV
● Supports all media formats even Wmv HD, h.264, Matroska, Ogg Theora
and Flash video
● Online Services though Wired and Wireless Connections
● Programmable Plug ins, Extensions and Engine
● Good user interfaces
● Sinkable interface
● Do it yourself project, can be difficult
12. Current Generation Consoles
● Somewhat PC like but sold and supported as
Consumer Electronic Devices
● All network and internet aware
● All play some kind of media
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jimmycanuck/79330165/
13. Playstation 3
● Supports Mpeg4, h.264, Mpeg2
● Card slots and USB for Media playback
● Media legacy of the PSX
● £299 – £399
15. Wii
● Supports image formats
● Flash video via Opera browser
● Ogg Vorbis and Ogg Theora to come via Opera browser
● Not really made for Media playback
● £180
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sameli/298195013/
16. Xbox 360
● Supports all Windows media, Mpeg2
● Made to work with Windows Media Centre / Windows Media Player
● Not really made for Media playback
● £200 – £300
17. Xbox Media Centre
● Supports Everything thanks to Open Source projects like FFMPEG (even
flash video)
● USB, Ethernet slots / Network and Internet aware
● Supports simple High Def (including up-scaling to 1080i)
● Excellent Interface and Skinable
● Programmable (python) Plug ins, Extensions and Engine
● Works with iTunes, Windows Media, uPnP devices, Samba shares, etc
● Standalone or Networked
● Moving to Linux
● Xlink Kai network
● Less that 50 pounds
