I lean to the side of having the audio solution separated from the video solution. To begin the formats of the source files are different, are processed differently and the different formats will evolve over time and at different pace. A better format for audio or video that requires different hardware might emerge and render half of the combined Audio/Video box obsolete.
Like many others I believe that disc (CD/DVD/BR) media is on its way out. Maybe not today or tomorrow, but eventually. There are several solutions related to video content that have already been mentioned here. Recording off the air/cable/Intenet (DVR-like) purchasing the content (DVD/Blueray) and VOD. Having a mix of all these in one box is something that companies like Tivo are trying to tackle. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but having a solution similar to the Squeezebox solution for video is a bit more complicated. To begin, ripping DVDs is not as straight forward as ripping CDs. Most DVDs have copy protection and copyright restrictions that "currently" would make the development of a "legal" and "commercially viable" DVD ripping program almost impossible. The number of licenses required to produce such product will require the legal team from hell because the movie studios copyright contracts are very complex and restricts the way of how, when and for how long you can use their content. VOD streams and digital video purchases are tied to the ID of one single box. If you buy a digital video for box x you can not play it in box y. Even if the box is made by the same vendor. I doubt that this will change much in the near future as the movie studios learned a valuable lesson from what happened to the music studios. They know that content is king and will protect the goose that lays the golden video eggs at all cost. <Dream> As I mentioned in another thread, Logitech should try to acquire a company like Vudu that already has a purchasing video service, a VOD service and a box with some of best video quality (HDX) around. They can enhance the Vudu box (or a similar product) and make it a video "companion box" to the Squeezebox and build a single user interface to control both. Not a browser-based interface, but something with an interface like the one on the Tivo or Vudu boxes which can be controlled with a single remote while interfacing with the TV or a Computer. I might be a little bit biased here because I own a Vudu box, but I like their pay as you go VOD and their SD/HD/HDX video purchase models. Adding an off the air/cable/Intenet (DVR-like) module that saves content on a server will make it a full audio-video solution. </Dream> -- tamanaco ------------------------------------------------------------------------ tamanaco's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=4620 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=62455 _______________________________________________ discuss mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/discuss
