Hello all,

after having used a RU960 for almost ever, I now have bought a 9400.
As it is pretty expensive over here in Europe I would like to take the advantage of using some of the Wifi-capabilities of the remote and not just IR.

My idea is to have a stand alone "box" with a HDD included where I can put my music (Mp3,AAC) on and then connect the audio cords to the amplifier without using a router.

Then I want to use it with a PS bidirectional (all the fancy stuff of seeing cover artworks on the remote and command the "box")

Is there a "quick and dirty" and/ or inexpensive solution on the market that allow what I want?

Thanks in advance for your support,

miwi

You can try with an Xtreamer media player (or any other such box), which accepts a 2,5" notebook disk of 500GB in it. You can then store the music on it and control it over it's http server.

Comes 100€ + your work on the script.

Does the extreamer support 2 way??!!

Media boxes like dvico/popcorn/dune dont support 2 way ( a.f.a.i.k )


maybe:

buy a apple tv and use prontotunes €269 ( 160GIG ) + $50 for prontotunes

Or buy a squeezebox duet receiver €129 and a nas (QNAP ) €155 + 500GIG! €40 + $30 prontosqueeze 2.x ( what i would do!! )

Squeezebox server will run on any PC and is free. You can store your music on the same pC or any PC on that the network it has access to. The squeezebox software suite comes with a software based player so if your PC has a decent audio system you need nothing more. With no audio capability on the PC, The cheapest squeezebox player IIRC is the squeezebox receiver which has no controls. and is basically a Duet without a controller The Receiver will need a controller to set it up esaily, but it can be set up without the controller by using some free software (check the squeezebox system forums)

there are two pronto apps that deal with the squeezebox server, slimPronto and Pronto squeeze.

I agree with Barry that Squeezebox server is an attractive way to go. As he says, it works on any PC, the software is free, and the bi-directional pronto apps exist.

I would suggest that you buy both slimPronto and Prontosqueeze (both are very cheap). Whilst they both do basically the same thing, their interfaces are very different and each has things going for it. For example, slimPronto works with the simulator whereas Prontosqueeze doesn't (so I often use it on my PC), whilst Prontosqueeze loads up quite a bit faster (so I often use it on the Pronto itself).

Thanks for your reply.

If someone can confirm that the xtreamer media player will work bi-directional and a working script is existing I would like to go with this sollution.

To be honest I do not like to first start an external PC or let it run 24/7 in order to listen to music for a couple of minutes per day.

So has anybody experience with this xtreamer box and the capability to work bi-directional with the pronto.

Thanks

miwi (from sunny Germany)

The xtreamer http server does provide song info etc. but I have not tried to make a script for it yet, so I can't say that it trully supports two way.

I have to agree the Squeezebox server way is a better one (havent remembered it before.

The squeezebox server can also be installed on some NASes. If you don't want a computer running all the time this could be an option. I know that the Synology NAS support it, I think also qnap and xtreamer's eTrayz.

Summarizing the least expensive all in one solution is Apple TV as it has build in HDD and does not need to be connected to a router. So only one device and one power cord. Also I can then leave WiFi on my router off.
Over all I will end up with ~ 300 € and have what I want.

The solution with the eTrayz+ HDD + Squeezebox will cost also around 300 € but then I need to have 2 devices soaking power and either use wifi 24/7 or have to go to the router and switch on the eTrayz and wifi function everytime I want to listen to music.

If am correct with the above statements the easier and "greener" solution would be the Apple TV.

Correct?

miwi

But if WiFi is turned off how do you intend to use the Pronto 9400? Wasn't that the primary goal?

If someone wanted to and your PC/NAS/Whatever was WOL capable then the Pronto could send a Wake On LAN to basically "Power up" your PC. I believe someone put out a script to do that. I would envision a "Start Music Page" where the WOL was issued and the PC/NAS checked to see that it is operational using a timed loop. That page would then transfer to the Squeezebox applications main page.

In my world the Squeezebox server and music repository are on 24/7. However the various audio systems are not. SlimPronto has the capability of handling that situation issuing IR or IP commands to turn on and off auxiliary equipments and even controil voiume in that way.

Most (but not all) squeezebox players are capable of issuing IR (Using the IR BLaster squeezebox plugin) for On/Off/Volume/Mute to control an audio system they are connected to.

There is also a full xAP system (A squeezeserver plugin) to send uniform messages around a network for Squeezebox state

Miwi,

Regarding your first post, I hope you are not misunderstanding the requirements for the remote.

To use network capabilities of the TSU9400, you MUST have WIFI access meaning a WAP or a Router to which the Pronto connects. There is exactly one way to avoid this. Use the Pronto in conjunction with an RFX9400 operating in standalone mode which means that the RFX9400 is providing Adhoc Router functionality and it only communicates with the TSU9X00 remote.

FYI,

I run Prontosqueeze on two TSU9600's ($60)

Run Squeeze Center(server software) and Squeeze Play (emulates the squeezebox player) on a old Dell GX520(free).

I threw a 500gig(free) drive in the dell. Run the dell 24/7.

Besides having two-way for all my music library there is two-way for some internet radio. I primaryly listen to Last.FM since its free and there is no limit on skipping tracks. Slacker works great as well but there is a limit on track skipping on the free account. Pandora can also be used but you need an actual squeezebox to retrive a special pin number.

I couldn't be happier!

to Barry Gordon:

I have never used squeezebox before. Today I installed the SqueezeCenter. I am wondering what kind of player do you use for squeezecenter? I used squeezeslave but it seems that it will open a typical command window. That's not good for me. Do you have any other good player to recommend. Thanks.

Likely that Barry uses the free Squeeze Play or he has a hardware player he bought or was provided with from Logitech.

Juiter,

You install Softsqueeze as your player (maybe Squeezeslave is also ok, but I don't know) then you control SqueezeCenter with your Pronto operating via Softsqueeze. The paucity of the Softsqueeze interface is not relevant as you don't use it directly.

Juiter;

I have almost every player developed by Logitech/squeezeserver, so the question can not be answered simply. I know that Lowpro who was a co-developer of SlimPronto (he did most of the graphics I did most of the code)used the soft players exclusively and I am sure he will add comments when he sees this thread.

I have used the soft players but not at all recently. All the statements pointed out in prior posts are valid.

If I were to want to buy one player it would be very dependent on what I wanted to do with it. If I were going to attach it to an audio system with good performance and a digital inout capability I would go with a Duet (or Receiver alone, but you would need to do a little work to set it up without the controller half of the Duet). The receiver is nice because it is small and has no control. It shouts "Hide me"!

The Squeezebox can double as a clock or rss ticker and has te ability to emit IR via an emitter to control an associated audio system .

The Transporter is a work of Art in more ways than one, but for its price it better be!

If I was going to want it to be totally self contained, the Boom Box is very attractive. I do not have their radio so I can not comment although it looks good.

If you are going to feed an analog audio system then the Transporter is the best there is, but if feeding a digital audio system (S/PDIF optical or coaxial) then the transporter is a waste of money as you would be paying for DACS you do not use, and a receiver would sound as good.

Since control of a squeeze based player does not involve the player just the server, the pronto squeeze apps (SlimPronto and Prontosqueeze) should work with all players of any type, software based or true hardware.

SlimPronto does have all of the necessary code to handle multiple players simultaneously and squeeze server will deal with multiple prontos at the same time. Naturally two prontos trying to control the music on the same player will have interesting issues, not in the software but rather the relationships between the users.

Hope that helps. If you want more detailed info drop me an eMail, my address is in my profile.