That is a very good idea! It would give Slim an additional revenue stream and may not require that much work.
If the manufacturer were to install the same Ubicom IP3023 processor and Xilinx CPLD that Slim uses in the Squeezebox, I would guess that Slim could just provide them with a modified firmware image. In order to have the firmware as close as possible to the Squeezebox, perhaps Slim could either specify or supply the networking devices, but nearly everything else is there: - power supply - DAC - remote interface The only big problem might be the display. Even high-end receivers don't have nearly the display the Squeezebox does. But the receiver manufacturers are very interested in networked audio for their mid- to high-end receivers. It's a big selling feature for them. Nearly every manufacturer has come out with or will come out with something. This "something" is very basic, even for the ~$2K receivers like the Denon 4306. It usually consists of MP3 playback only. Sometimes limited streaming Internet playback is possible (Onkyo NetTune). Everyone will agree Slim beats them by miles, and in fact even Roku demolishes such primitive systems. It solves another problem for the receiver manufacturers: software. SlimServer is highly developed and capable, and free! I shudder to think what receiver manufacturers would cook up on their own! But it offloads software support, which I doubt receiver manufacturers could handle. To anyone at Slim Devices reading this: a few months ago there was a highly-placed product manager at Pioneer answering questions at AVS Forum: Chris Walker, Manager of New Technology, http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/member.php?u=7511438 This is actually a very exciting idea. Squeezebox functionality integrated into a receiver would allow that receiver to utterly dominate the networked receiver field. The others would struggle for years to keep up...by then SlimServer will be in version 7.0+. This is actually a very exciting idea. Due to cost reasons, I will always be using a receiver for audio (I can't afford a separate 2-channel only setup). If there was a receiver that had integrated Squeezebox functionality and didn't cost much more than receiver + Squeezebox I'd be all over it! -- Mark Lanctot ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Mark Lanctot's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=2071 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=21892 _______________________________________________ Discuss mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
