Thanks David for the valuable insight. Greatly appreciated. On a side note: Using Darwin Streaming Server is free as well (like MWMS) with the benefit of a more readily available and cross-platform compatible audio/video codec: AAC/mp4.
All Apple made machines since last year ship with Intel processors. Using the freely available Boot Camp software, or any of the VMs (Parallels or VMWare) gives you a Windows compatible PC. We do cross- platform web development using Parallels. Cheers, Tom A. On Aug 2, 2007, at 12:19 PM, David Marsh wrote: > A quick note: > > We went ahead here at the planetarium and implemented a display > project based on MAC minis. So far, they've been fine. > > We have a windows PC capturing a video stream from a piece of > speciality software and sending it over the LAN, and we have MAC > mini's picking up the stream and driving 37" LCD displays via VGA. > All inexpensive and flexible. Anything we can get on a PC screen, > we can send to any/all other PC/MAC connected screens in the > building. Cost per feed around $1,000 including cost of Mac Mini > and LAN cable drop. A 'conventional' off-the-shelf video > distribution system (Extron VGA extender boxes, racked commodity > Dell/HP PCs, Omnivex type software) cost around $3,500 up per > screen feed. > > We went with MACs as they are hard to compete with as a digital > "Swiss Army Knife". I looked at building windows mini-PCs, but was > looking at approaching twice the price for an inferior spec. Macs > benefit from large-volume commodity pricing and specialized > hardware (flash players etc) will always find it hard to compete. > > I'd prefer a PC as it would let me > 1) use all my regular support tools (disk imaging, backup, AV etc.), > 2) use Microsoft's Windows Media Player > 3) and let me do everything on one platform. > > I'm using Microsoft Windows Media Services as it's free, but ended > up needing to find a third-party media player (free VLC Player) to > give good performance on the Macs. Microsoft don't offer a Mac > media player ...or at least not one that's remotely useable (trust > me on this). This is a major "gotcha" of going with Windows Media > Services in a mixed MAC/PC environment. One of those major pains > you discover in the thick of implementation too, as is should work > in theory but doesn't in practice. > > FYI a high-def (approx 720p, 1280x768) feed runs at 28.5 fps using > only 500kbits/s of LAN bandwidth. Streaming over the LAN is > surprisingly cheap and easy to do and works very well. Stream and > players seem stable too. > > I'd love to see an entirely flash-based micro PC with Windows, > Ethernet, P4 class CPU and video output on board of comparable > vintage for $500 or less (Acer "Digital Engine"?). > > DM > > > =========================================== > David Marsh > Chief Technician > H.R. MacMillan Space Centre > 1100 Chestnut Street, Vancouver, BC V6J 3J9 > E sysadmin at hrmacmillanspacecentre.com > sysadmin at vanmuseum.bc.ca > T (604) 738 7827 ext. 229 > C (604) 813 9667 > F (604) 736 5665 > ? Please consider the environment before printing e-mails > =========================================== > > > > _______________________________________________ > You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum > Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu) > > To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu > > To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: > http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l
