To Make MediaPortal Multi-threaded?!

[hobbes487]

xLobby already has multi-zone audio. This is something that I think could be added to MP. As far as multi-zone video, i think there are to many limitations that make it unrealistic.

[JulianBuss]

from my point of view the biggest question is: if something magic happens and MP can operate with serveral instances on the same hardware, operating on multiple sound, TV and video cards... how the hell do you want to move the video/audio to different rooms?!? What kind of (expensive?) devices to you need for this? What about quality?

Sorry to say but I think this is far more complex for the average user than having two or three simple PCs attached to a display and some speakers. PCs can be connected each other via WLAN, that's simple and bullet proofed.

In fact we are not talking about standard users here; everyone wanting to have a multi-room setup is a real power user. And for power users it's far more easy to have some MacMinis or someting like that, connected via WLAN with some central station storing all the video/music stuff. That's more or less affordable and relative easy to setup.

Handling multiple hardware devices in one PC hardware and playing with audio/video extenders which are transfering stuff over the air is quite more advanced.

[Hyperborean]

how the hell do you want to move the video/audio to different rooms?!?

I've managed to distribute audio, video and remote receiver through a cat5 cable (also named LAN or network cable) over great distances without signal loss.
So, people that already have a cat5 wired house only need to have 2 of these boxes I made for each room.

I've tested this for over 40 meter! with NO signal loss but looking at the power of the twister pairs cable there is no reason why it shouldn't work with even 90 meters!

Remember that this is a do-it-yourself solution and when using the 'conventional' tv's it works just fine but when applied to HDTV's in all 4 rooms (still not the case with the majority) you'll get signal disturbance because of the impedance difference (video signal sources have an impedance of 75 Ohm while the cat5 cable has 100 Ohm) and in this case you'll be needing those 'baluns' that regulate this impedance. Will cost about 50 to 60 euro extra for each room, but hey, if you already have 4 HDTV in tha house I don't think these additional costs will stop you from achieving your goal.

Anyway, wireless is also an option but still pricy (you always need a trasmitter AND receiver) and not quite efficient yet (until the 802.11n technology is certified by IEEE) because of the disturbance when using other wi-fi stuff (802.11g/b/a does not provide more datastream than a THEORETICAL 54mbit/s which is in practice much less. In principle sufficient for a/v distribution but still not flawless).

All with all, I think this problem is solved with my solution since you'll be needing a cat5 cable anyway if you go for the alternative (single display-single client).

[Hyperborean]

By the way, there are some interessting idea's and products that enable you to send data over the POWER supply cables that everyone has installed already!
Those guys claimed to achieve speeds over 200mbit/s !!! beginning at 200 euro.

I haven't got time nor money to invest in this but it looked okay, exept for the price and disturbance sensitivity when used nearby other devices on the powerline.

I've lost the bookmark of the product but I'll post it later on here.

[Hyperborean]

The cost of a low-end client PC per display, vs. the cost of a single mid to high end system for multiple displays also needs to be weighed.

According to my calculus the additional costs of i.e. 3 diskless clients to the main server is still around 150 euro per piece, thus around 450 extra, and then you have 3 enclosures extra !.
When implementing a product like this (with 3 addtional clients) in an average household for example, the enclosure of the addtional clients only will give you headaches when advertising it as a whole. Especially if they don't look 'nice' (not kitchen- or even bedroom-friendly). This means that you would have to invest more in the enclosures just to make the whole more attractive.
Still the 450 or 400 euro spent extra (apart from the main server) means that you can also spend it on one HTPC to enable the multi-zone distribution. That is also about the maximum you would have to add to one HTPC to make it multi-zone with extra harware and software.

Note that I'm also looking at it as a business opportunity and I'm thus also concerned with marketing issues since you'll have to convince the customer that they need this even if they didn't think of it themselves....

About the configuration, when everything is pre installed, with that I also mean tested, the end user will only have to personalize their tv settings and assign the zones. This I still see as a reasonably 'Idiot-proof' process when provided with some simple instructions.

And yes, Linux, is for this same reason not an option yet!, eventhough it has a greater potential.

[Sh4nn0w]

Netgear do Powerline HD (That's their 200Mbps version)

UK price is around £130 for a pair of adapters (HDXB101) and £56 for a single (HDX101)

Good I guess if your house isn't wired up with cat 5. Pricey, but maybe easier than gutting my walls, and in my flat block there's so many W-Lan's it may be the better way to go.

[Hyperborean]

Netgear do Powerline HD (That's their 200Mbps version)

and this in the Netherlands http://http://www.devolo.nl/nl_NL/produkte/index.html

[Hyperborean]

Originally Posted by James

Sorry I think you are confusing what "multi-threaded" means.

MP is multi-thread in that it makes use of more then one thread for processing tasks.

Yes I can see how it can be confusing since MP is indeed using multiple threads of execution to separate out data processing and I/O operations from the management of it's user interface, but the idea of runnning multiple instances of MP independantly and simultaneously still remains.

I'll try to modify my posts but i'm not sure whether I can change the discussion name...

[tourettes]

One issue you are going to face is that direct X doesn't support 3D acceleration for multiple displays.

[Hyperborean]

Originally Posted by tourettes

One issue you are going to face is that direct X doesn't support 3D acceleration for multiple displays.

VMWare seems on the right track, the 3D acceleration is not present at this time but I certainly hope that they will improve this feature...