[Jeff D]

I just got an email thanking me for being an advocate of PRISMIQ.


I didn't realize I was, but they were offering a discount on the players. I did contact them at one time asking/offering to help them get support for replaytv files, but other than sending them samples and some notes I never heard back.


Anyone know if those boxes every got direct support for connecting to replayTVs? If so I think I should get one or two.

 

[SpaceCadet]

I have a Prismiq MediaPlayer, and I received the e-mail. I got mine a long time ago (shortly after they were released) when Buy.com had one of their 24-hr specials. Actually, I tried to cancel the order, realizing that a hacked X-Box would be much better, but Buy.com never honors cancellation requests after 30 minutes, even if they aren't going to ship for a month, and Deal of the Day items are non-returnable. Some people are very happy with their Prismiqs (check the forums on Prismiq.org, not to be confused with Prismiq.com), but a lot of people, including myself, think that they suck, primarily because of lousy software on the PC and the MediaPlayer. Prisimiq isn't doing well (I doubt that they'll survive much longer), software updates have been few and far between, with very little improvement. I wouldn't expect to ever see ReplayTV support. They were supposed to start shipping a version with built-in MPEG-4 encoding for use as a PVR (using your network and PC to store the programs), but MPEG-4 quality is low. Hack an X-Box (it can be done with software only on some boxes, Microsoft keeps changing them), you'll be much happier. The only nice feature of the Prismiq MediaPlayers is their small size (and no fans), they're the same size as my Belkin routers. Actually, considering that X-Boxes are pretty lame by today's standards, and that PC's are almost free, you might build a small, cheap, quiet media PC (it can be fanless using some cases and Cyrix chips, although that will cost you more).

 

[Jeff D]

Thanks SC for the opinion. I know that the boxes are linux based and they were suppose to support external development of plug-ins for functionality. But from what I remember they never published any info on the plug-in system nor how to develop for it so that's about a useless as can be.


It would seem that if the box were powerful enough (I don't even know if that's the case) that you could handle any format you wanted. Like I said before, I just passed on some info to the in the hopes they would support direct replayTV playback, but it sounds like they never did anything with it.


Hell if they gave me one and the plug-in description I would even make the thing work. Grass roots support on a product like this would be the way to grow your installed base...

 

[SpaceCadet]

If you check out Prismiq.org, you'll notice a few things. A prominent post about ReplayTV support--using DVArchive. A Linux version (for your PC) equivalent to the Windows version of the MediaServer. The only stuff I noticed for the MediaPlayer itself were some Linux headers and a kernel patch.

 

[doublecheck]

Quote:

Originally posted by SpaceCadet If you check out Prismiq.org, you'll notice a few things. A prominent post about ReplayTV support--using DVArchive. A Linux version (for your PC) equivalent to the Windows version of the MediaServer. The only stuff I noticed for the MediaPlayer itself were some Linux headers and a kernel patch.

Yup, prismiq is pretty bad. You've just touched on a rather sore spot I've had for a few years now. I wish I had known before buying that the main tech guy is the same one that did the Agenda PDA. I got burned on that one too.


The PrismIQ "support for ReplayTV" tip is simply pointing their server software at the dvarchive repository. Whoopee. It would mean something if the prismiq could stream from a Replay directly.


The potential of the prismiq is huge, but the current software (mostly but not entirely the media server end) is incredibly bad. Eg, I have a few hundred CDs, all ripped. Neither the server nor the device can handle that many audio files. The server corrupts its meta data, the device crashes, etc. The linux server package seems better, but after a few days it starts soaking up 100% of the cpu amongst four or so java processes. At first it is a few times per day, but it starts happening more and more often until the linux box starts responding very slowly. Restart media server and all is better for a few more days.


If only I could turn off all their attempts at being "smart" and "id3 tag organized" and just navigate my dir structure. That is so simple it would be tough for even them to screw up.


I wish prismiq would release a buildable package of the device software as linksys has done for their 54g router and their network storage box. That is a huge help bootstrapping 3rd party development, especially if they also release the necessary cross-build tools.


PrismIQ? It seems Brad simply doesn't "get" open source, and cannot get the resources to do it right without the greater community.


DC