ko...@sietsma.com wrote: > I tend to think, sadly, that for slim devices to make money, they need > to > integrate video. Audio fans want their crisp neat audio interface, but > I > think the mass market wants video as well - they want their downloaded > tv/movies, they want youtube and netflix and whatever else they are > watching. > > I'd love something that was a hybrid of the Squeezebox with something > like > the WD-TV (http://wdc.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=330), give it a > simple 2-line display like the old slimp3 for when the TV is off and > you > just want audio, and a HDMI TV output for video or for more complex > music > browsing, and the squeezeserver web interface for full power. I'd buy > one! > > (actually I'm not sure how you'd do audio with the tv off - the > simplest > wiring uses HDMI to send audio as well as video, if you had separate > audio > cabling it might not play well with HDMI devices.) > It has been said before, but I can say it again, audio and video is two completely different use cases. It can make sense to mix them in the same device in the living room, but it doesn't make sense to mix them in the player you want to have in the bedroom, kitchen and outside beside the pool in the garden.
The problem with audio+video devices is that they all tend to focus on video, so you will get a video device that also can do audio. AppleTV is a great example of this, works great as a video device and can also do audio but the audio part isn't its strong side. Still, in the living room, an AppleTV is a great solution, the issue is just that it's pretty useless in the bedroom, kitchen and outside in the garden where you usually might not have a TV. However, if someone would like to create a music streaming solution for the living room, a combined device that supports video+audio might be an excellent solution, for a whole house music streaming solution I'm still very skeptical to these kind of combined devices. Of course, many (but not all) mass market users are probably going to be happy with a music streaming solution for the living room. As a side note, something that sometimes occurs to me is that people on this forum seems to plan ahead a lot related to Squeezeboxes. When we talk about Squeezebox products we worry that Logitech might shutdown the development soon and stop supporting the devices in a couple of years, but when looking at other products we don't do the same thing, is anyone sure that the WD-TV is going to be supported and sold 2 years in the future ? Does anyone know much product development WD did on WD-TV during the last 3 months ? Does anyone know what the next product in the WD-TV product family is going to be ? WD-TV is just an example, you can pretty much say the same thing about any other mass market music streaming product on the market. So, I guess what I'm saying is just that there might be reasons to be concerted about Logitech's commitment, but on the other hand we don't really know if anybody else (except for Sonos) is any better in this regard. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ erland's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=3124 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=95603 _______________________________________________ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/discuss
