Mini MD

[aico]

Hi,

I hav a bus-system with audio devices installed in my home. So the bus-system has a "line in" where i can connect a MP3-Player. When playing MP3 I can listen them in all my rooms where the bus-audio ist installed.

My idea is:
to build a "Mini MD" that only plays MP3 files, no video playback is needed. This "Mini MD" schould be as cheap as possible.

A Asus EEE-PC is to expensive for this case.

Did anyone build a "Mini MD"?

Thanks
Johannes

[purps]

Try and get hold of an old laptop I would, making sure it is capable of PXE boot. I have an old Toshiba Satellite A30, they go pretty cheap on fleaBay now, and I know it PXE boots. Otherwise look at a miniITX board like this (intel graphics) http://www.ebuyer.com/product/191129 or this one if you want nVidia graphics http://www.ebuyer.com/product/220411 (I actually use the Asus miniITX ion as an MD, which is a few quid more, don't have personal experience with this Zotac one).

[totallymaxed]

Hi,

I hav a bus-system with audio devices installed in my home. So the bus-system has a "line in" where i can connect a MP3-Player. When playing MP3 I can listen them in all my rooms where the bus-audio ist installed.

My idea is:
to build a "Mini MD" that only plays MP3 files, no video playback is needed. This "Mini MD" schould be as cheap as possible.

A Asus EEE-PC is to expensive for this case.

Did anyone build a "Mini MD"?

Thanks
Johannes

I think this would suit you needs...as it all it needs is a 'spare' sound card (USB one will do fine) and it can be added without any new MD's at all;

What we do is add what we call in 'Dianemo speak' and Audio Zone Controller - that is and instance of Squeezeslave that outputs to a sound card (ie an additional sound card) attached to either and MD or your Core. We use either USB sound 'cards' or PCI ones. We have systems with 6+ Squeezeslaves running on an Atom based MD - the MD still works 100% as normal for all media (ie TV, DVD streams or Audio streams etc) while the Squeezeslaves output via their own dedicated soundcards independantly.

See this Wiki article that explains how we set up Squeeze slave; http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Squeezeslave_on_the_core

All the best


Andrew

[aico]

Hi Andrew,

Thanks, thats it... 

[tkmedia]

I use a happuage MVP running mclient for areas where I don't already have a Media director. The MVP also has spdif which is a nice feature.




Tim

[totallymaxed]

I use a happuage MVP running mclient for areas where I don't already have a Media director. The MVP also has spdif which is a nice feature.




Tim

Audio Zone Controllers using Squeezeslave can use USB sound adapters... and these can have analog Stereo, spdif, and all the other types of outputs found on soundcards. You can find a basic analog Stereo USB sound adapter for about £9UKP if you on a budget... and one with spdif will start at about £15UKP....its the cheapest way to add audio zones to your system by far. Its one of the 'hidden' little Jewels in LinuxMCE :-)

All the best


Andrew

[tkmedia]

I am not sure how far you can run a spdif or analog  or RCA cable ... so.... Where i have a cat5-6  run only .... like my detached garage the MVP works nicely ... either with a pair of powered speakers or using the spdif. But always happy to hear other options..

And yes where applicable I am using squeeze-slave with a usb sound card.



Tim

[totallymaxed]

I am not sure how far you can run a spdif or analog  or RCA cable ... so.... Where i have a cat5-6  run only .... like my detached garage the MVP works nicely ... either with a pair of powered speakers or using the spdif. But always happy to hear other options..

And yes where applicable I am using squeeze-slave with a usb sound card.



Tim

There are a number of approaches to this;

- You can locate the sound card local to the MD or Core that is attached to and then use CAT5 to distribute the Lince level analog stereo to the remote amplifier. This will be reliable upto 20m in our experience. Alternatively you can use spdif over COAX and this will easily run out to 75m or more without any problems.
- You can locate the USB sound card remote from the MM or Core (using USB-CAT5 adapters) so that it is local to the Audio Amplifier. This will work at distances up to 30-40m.
- You can locate everything centrally in a rack and use low-loss speaker cable to distribute the speaker level signals to the in-room speakers.

All the best

Andrew

[tkmedia]

Sounds Like good options if you can run more cable drops with various coax etc.

But unless the usb sound card can be connected to adapters that work over a network switch, I think the MVP or a squeeze player may be best.


Tim

[totallymaxed]

Sounds Like good options if you can run more cable drops with various coax etc.

But unless the usb sound card can be connected to adapters that work over a network switch, I think the MVP or a squeeze player may be best.


Tim

Well unless you dont have any CAT5 at all then yes a SB would fit the bill. But if you have a single CAT5 then you can use one of the options in my earlier post for practically only the cost of a USB sound adapter. Alternatively if your MD is local then you can just attach a USB sound adapter to that.

Most of the time a USB sound Card is the lowest cost option (unless you already own the MVP or SB that is!) and will work with even limited cabling.

All the best


Andrew

[aico]

Hi,

I orderd two of them - Startech Virtual 7.1 USB Audio Adapter

they should arrive in four days...

then we will see...

[rperre]

totallymaxed, can you disclose which usb sound cards you guys use.

I am on the squeezeslave forum trying to figure out why my usb sound cards do not work.. ralphy on that forum is very helpful.

We might have it figured out and i'm building squeezeslave with a change as we speak. But having 1 md or the core with multiple USB audio devices running squeezeslave is exactly what i'm trying to accomplish to have sound in different parts of my house.

Richard

[totallymaxed]

totallymaxed, can you disclose which usb sound cards you guys use.

I am on the squeezeslave forum trying to figure out why my usb sound cards do not work.. ralphy on that forum is very helpful.

We might have it figured out and i'm building squeezeslave with a change as we speak. But having 1 md or the core with multiple USB audio devices running squeezeslave is exactly what i'm trying to accomplish to have sound in different parts of my house.

Richard

If you look on the Squeezeslave wiki page you will see we mention Startech usb sound cards as supported; http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Squeezeslave_on_the_core I would suggest looking at some of these as they are very inexpensive and of more than adequate sound quality unless you are looking for true 'Audophile' sound quality.

To be frank we have not found a usb sound card that fails to work to my knowledge - much of our testing is done on our Cascade/Dianemo builds which are based on 710 so your experiences on 0810 should be if anything even better.

All the best

Andrew