I have a DirecTV DVR which is a pretty slow, stupid box, but is linked to their web site, and I can download what they have on offer. I've messed with mediatomb, and so far the ratio is about three hours futzing with the setup for each three minutes of music/video I want to play, to be repeated next time because the working setup inexplicably broke. I'd like to have an option to pipe an audio stream from a cental PC to various non-digital audio systems around the house. My first guess would be an FM transmitter plugged directly into the output jack of the sound card. Every FM transmitter I've tried, though, has been barely capable of transmitting to a receiver 18" away, let alone through the steel siding to the detatched garage. I could build a full-fledged MythTV box to go beside the DirecTV box - who knows, it might even replace it - but that may be overkill, and doesn't cover listening in the garage. So what do you think I should do? I could shop around for old laptops, and put one at each listening point - I can handle setting up streaming from there. I could grab two or three $150 netbooks, and use them - they'd probably burn less electricity. I could go exotic, get some microatx or PC104 hardware and build from there. What's the best solution?
Jonathan Hutchins wrote:
I have a DirecTV DVR which is a pretty slow, stupid box, but is linked to their web site, and I can download what they have on offer. I've messed with mediatomb, and so far the ratio is about three hours futzing with the setup for each three minutes of music/video I want to play, to be repeated next time because the working setup inexplicably broke.
I'd like to have an option to pipe an audio stream from a cental PC to various non-digital audio systems around the house. My first guess would be an FM transmitter plugged directly into the output jack of the sound card. Every FM transmitter I've tried, though, has been barely capable of transmitting to a receiver 18" away, let alone through the steel siding to the detatched garage.
I could build a full-fledged MythTV box to go beside the DirecTV box - who knows, it might even replace it - but that may be overkill, and doesn't cover listening in the garage.
So what do you think I should do? I could shop around for old laptops, and put one at each listening point - I can handle setting up streaming from there. I could grab two or three $150 netbooks, and use them - they'd probably burn less electricity. I could go exotic, get some microatx or PC104 hardware and build from there. What's the best solution?
You could try one of the small transmitters from Ramsey Electronics or build a larger one. http://www.ramseyelectronics.com/hk/
Jonathan Hutchins wrote:
I have a DirecTV DVR which is a pretty slow, stupid box, but is linked to their web site, and I can download what they have on offer. I've messed with mediatomb, and so far the ratio is about three hours futzing with the setup for each three minutes of music/video I want to play, to be repeated next time because the working setup inexplicably broke.
I'd like to have an option to pipe an audio stream from a cental PC to various non-digital audio systems around the house. My first guess would be an FM transmitter plugged directly into the output jack of the sound card. Every FM transmitter I've tried, though, has been barely capable of transmitting to a receiver 18" away, let alone through the steel siding to the detatched garage.
I could build a full-fledged MythTV box to go beside the DirecTV box - who knows, it might even replace it - but that may be overkill, and doesn't cover listening in the garage.
So what do you think I should do? I could shop around for old laptops, and put one at each listening point - I can handle setting up streaming from there. I could grab two or three $150 netbooks, and use them - they'd probably burn less electricity. I could go exotic, get some microatx or PC104 hardware and build from there. What's the best solution? _______________________________________________ Kclug mailing list Kclug@kclug.org http://kclug.org/mailman/listinfo/kclug
I was faced with the same situation here. Wanted a way to pipe Sirius radio through the house without breaking the bank buying Sirius radios! FCC requirements for low power, unlicensed FM keep effective transmitter range too small to cover a house. You get much better distance with AM however, if your OK with AM (mono) sound quality! I purchased and built an AMT-3000 low power AM transmitter about a year ago. This is a legal (FCC authorized 100mW) high-quality AM transmitter. It works great and sounds as good (even better) than our local AM stations! True, I'm not getting stereo / CD sound quality, but it does / can sound pretty darn good. If you own an "expanded bandwidth AM" radio, the sound IS just as good. I listen to a lot of talk radio (read Howard Stern!) so I'm not effected by the sound quality loss as much as music. If you plan on transmitting mostly vocal tracks (like movies) I would think this would work great for you and it's kinda fun to build! rt...
To do stereo couldn't you use to transmitters and two cheap receivers. (One set for the right channel and the for other for the left) On Tue, Sep 8, 2009 at 8:50 PM, Ty Unes <riverty@kc.rr.com> wrote:
Jonathan Hutchins wrote:
I have a DirecTV DVR which is a pretty slow, stupid box, but is linked to their web site, and I can download what they have on offer. I've messed with mediatomb, and so far the ratio is about three hours futzing with the setup for each three minutes of music/video I want to play, to be repeated next time because the working setup inexplicably broke.
I'd like to have an option to pipe an audio stream from a cental PC to various non-digital audio systems around the house. My first guess would be an FM transmitter plugged directly into the output jack of the sound card. Every FM transmitter I've tried, though, has been barely capable of transmitting to a receiver 18" away, let alone through the steel siding to the detatched garage.
I could build a full-fledged MythTV box to go beside the DirecTV box - who knows, it might even replace it - but that may be overkill, and doesn't cover listening in the garage.
So what do you think I should do? I could shop around for old laptops, and put one at each listening point - I can handle setting up streaming from there. I could grab two or three $150 netbooks, and use them - they'd probably burn less electricity. I could go exotic, get some microatx or PC104 hardware and build from there. What's the best solution? _______________________________________________ Kclug mailing list Kclug@kclug.org http://kclug.org/mailman/listinfo/kclug
I was faced with the same situation here. Wanted a way to pipe Sirius radio through the house without breaking the bank buying Sirius radios! FCC requirements for low power, unlicensed FM keep effective transmitter range too small to cover a house. You get much better distance with AM however, if your OK with AM (mono) sound quality!
I purchased and built an AMT-3000 low power AM transmitter about a year ago. This is a legal (FCC authorized 100mW) high-quality AM transmitter. It works great and sounds as good (even better) than our local AM stations! True, I'm not getting stereo / CD sound quality, but it does / can sound pretty darn good. If you own an "expanded bandwidth AM" radio, the sound IS just as good.
I listen to a lot of talk radio (read Howard Stern!) so I'm not effected by the sound quality loss as much as music. If you plan on transmitting mostly vocal tracks (like movies) I would think this would work great for you and it's kinda fun to build!
rt...
_______________________________________________ Kclug mailing list Kclug@kclug.org http://kclug.org/mailman/listinfo/kclug
Philip Dorr wrote:
To do stereo couldn't you use to transmitters and two cheap receivers. (One set for the right channel and the for other for the left) LOL! - Why yes! I suppose you could.
On Tue, Sep 8, 2009 at 8:50 PM, Ty Unes <riverty@kc.rr.com <mailto:riverty@kc.rr.com>> wrote:
Jonathan Hutchins wrote:
I have a DirecTV DVR which is a pretty slow, stupid box, but is linked to their web site, and I can download what they have on offer. I've messed with mediatomb, and so far the ratio is about three hours futzing with the setup for each three minutes of music/video I want to play, to be repeated next time because the working setup inexplicably broke.
I'd like to have an option to pipe an audio stream from a cental PC to various non-digital audio systems around the house. My first guess would be an FM transmitter plugged directly into the output jack of the sound card. Every FM transmitter I've tried, though, has been barely capable of transmitting to a receiver 18" away, let alone through the steel siding to the detatched garage.
I could build a full-fledged MythTV box to go beside the DirecTV box - who knows, it might even replace it - but that may be overkill, and doesn't cover listening in the garage.
So what do you think I should do? I could shop around for old laptops, and put one at each listening point - I can handle setting up streaming from there. I could grab two or three $150 netbooks, and use them - they'd probably burn less electricity. I could go exotic, get some microatx or PC104 hardware and build from there. What's the best solution? _______________________________________________ Kclug mailing list Kclug@kclug.org <mailto:Kclug@kclug.org> http://kclug.org/mailman/listinfo/kclug
I was faced with the same situation here. Wanted a way to pipe Sirius radio through the house without breaking the bank buying Sirius radios! FCC requirements for low power, unlicensed FM keep effective transmitter range too small to cover a house. You get much better distance with AM however, if your OK with AM (mono) sound quality!
I purchased and built an AMT-3000 low power AM transmitter about a year ago. This is a legal (FCC authorized 100mW) high-quality AM transmitter. It works great and sounds as good (even better) than our local AM stations! True, I'm not getting stereo / CD sound quality, but it does / can sound pretty darn good. If you own an "expanded bandwidth AM" radio, the sound IS just as good.
I listen to a lot of talk radio (read Howard Stern!) so I'm not effected by the sound quality loss as much as music. If you plan on transmitting mostly vocal tracks (like movies) I would think this would work great for you and it's kinda fun to build!
rt...
_______________________________________________ Kclug mailing list Kclug@kclug.org <mailto:Kclug@kclug.org> http://kclug.org/mailman/listinfo/kclug
Easy peasy linux solution: 1. Master running MPD service. 2. Slaves grabbing the streaming audio off of MPD. On Mon, Sep 7, 2009 at 9:16 PM, Jonathan Hutchins <hutchins@tarcanfel.org>wrote:
I have a DirecTV DVR which is a pretty slow, stupid box, but is linked to their web site, and I can download what they have on offer. I've messed with mediatomb, and so far the ratio is about three hours futzing with the setup for each three minutes of music/video I want to play, to be repeated next time because the working setup inexplicably broke.
I'd like to have an option to pipe an audio stream from a cental PC to various non-digital audio systems around the house. My first guess would be an FM transmitter plugged directly into the output jack of the sound card. Every FM transmitter I've tried, though, has been barely capable of transmitting to a receiver 18" away, let alone through the steel siding to the detatched garage.
I could build a full-fledged MythTV box to go beside the DirecTV box - who knows, it might even replace it - but that may be overkill, and doesn't cover listening in the garage.
So what do you think I should do? I could shop around for old laptops, and put one at each listening point - I can handle setting up streaming from there. I could grab two or three $150 netbooks, and use them - they'd probably burn less electricity. I could go exotic, get some microatx or PC104 hardware and build from there. What's the best solution? _______________________________________________ Kclug mailing list Kclug@kclug.org http://kclug.org/mailman/listinfo/kclug
On Wed, Sep 9, 2009 at 12:26 PM, Andrew Beals <andrew.beals@gmail.com>wrote:
Easy peasy linux solution:
1. Master running MPD service. 2. Slaves grabbing the streaming audio off of MPD.
Well, the problem is that "streaming audio" sounds an awful lot like a "digital system", and the original question was:
I'd like to have an option to pipe an audio stream from a cental PC to
various non-digital audio systems around the house
So I guess that's right out.
But he could pipe it to a digital system at each location and use a line out to the non-digital system. Any old PC could fit the bill with a damnsmalllinux or other flavor and low low hardware requirements. If you want it quiet and clean, then any small, fanless, low-end set-top type boxes would do it. Brian Kelsay ________________________________ From: kclug-bounces@kclug.org [mailto:kclug-bounces@kclug.org] On Behalf Of Monty J. Harder Sent: Wednesday, September 09, 2009 11:52 PM On Wed, Sep 9, 2009 at 12:26 PM, Andrew Beals <andrew.beals@gmail.com<mailto:andrew.beals@gmail.com>> wrote: Easy peasy linux solution: 1. Master running MPD service. 2. Slaves grabbing the streaming audio off of MPD. Well, the problem is that "streaming audio" sounds an awful lot like a "digital system", and the original question was: I'd like to have an option to pipe an audio stream from a cental PC to various non-digital audio systems around the house So I guess that's right out.
I had considered using a router; capable of running OpenWRT and containing a USB port, along with a USB sound device. But in the end, I ran speaker wire. I have a ranch house with a mostly unfinished basement running wire is easy. On Thu, Sep 10, 2009 at 7:57 AM, Kelsay, Brian - Kansas City, MO <brian.kelsay@kcc.usda.gov> wrote:
But he could pipe it to a digital system at each location and use a line out to the non-digital system. Any old PC could fit the bill with a damnsmalllinux or other flavor and low low hardware requirements. If you want it quiet and clean, then any small, fanless, low-end set-top type boxes would do it.
Brian Kelsay
________________________________ From: kclug-bounces@kclug.org [mailto:kclug-bounces@kclug.org] On Behalf Of Monty J. Harder Sent: Wednesday, September 09, 2009 11:52 PM
On Wed, Sep 9, 2009 at 12:26 PM, Andrew Beals <andrew.beals@gmail.com> wrote:
Easy peasy linux solution:
1. Master running MPD service. 2. Slaves grabbing the streaming audio off of MPD.
Well, the problem is that "streaming audio" sounds an awful lot like a "digital system", and the original question was:
I'd like to have an option to pipe an audio stream from a cental PC to various non-digital audio systems around the house
So I guess that's right out.
_______________________________________________ Kclug mailing list Kclug@kclug.org http://kclug.org/mailman/listinfo/kclug
rod wrote:
I had considered using a router; capable of running OpenWRT and containing a USB port, along with a USB sound device.
But in the end, I ran speaker wire.
I have a ranch house with a mostly unfinished basement running wire is easy.
I'm planning on running some CAT5 in our new place and hooking up a few APs to try to cover most of the house, but for a wireless-whole-house-audio system, I'd probably do FM.
participants (8)
-
Andrew Beals -
Chris Bier -
Jonathan Hutchins -
Kelsay, Brian - Kansas City, MO -
Monty J. Harder -
Philip Dorr -
rod -
Ty Unes