[Engineering Feature]
The Connected Home Remains Stuck On Pause
Product advances continue to roll in, yet it's the potential standards convergence that may finally turn the tide for well-managed, consistent home multimedia delivery.
Multimedia nirvana is coming to the home... hopefully sometime in our lifetime. A flood of HDTVs, set-top boxes, home-theater PCs, and universal remotes (I have six, by the way) has poured into the market, yet getting them to play together is a challenge even a geek would like to avoid.
Nonetheless, the climate is improving. Next year, we’ll likely see a convergence around standards such as UPnP (Universal Plug and Play), DLNA (Digital Living Network Association), Gigabit Ethernet, and 802.11n. In theory, delivery of high-definition (HD) audio and video throughout the home will be possible across devices and from different vendors and content providers. Just about anyone will be able to connect devices together correctly on the first try.
Currently, audio and video content is available from a variety of sources, from on-demand movies via cable and satellite to Internet radio through a PC or dedicated network device. What’s lacking is any sort of coordinated or consistent interface for using and managing all of this content. Still, electronics stores will be packed with new ways to hear and view all of it.
Impending Tsunami Riding atop the crest of the multimedia wave is HDTV. Now that HDTV is ubiquitous and a requirement in most parts of the globe, eyes and ears will be turning to other devices to complement this centerpiece.
The first point of contact is well established, with set-top boxes from cable and satellite companies being required for almost any type of HD content. On-demand and DVRs are standard fare, but these typically closed systems require other sources like DVD and Blu-ray players, home-theater PCs, and other sources to be connected directly to the HDTV through other inputs.
The latest in set-top box design is coming from companies like 2Wire. It’s looking to add to the sources of content as well as provide more interaction and services. Home security and home automation are just a couple of areas where a single box can act as a gateway for content as well as user control. Much of 2Wire’s work shows up on the back end, where providers need to be able to manage the new services.
Home-theater PCs like those based on Advanced Micro Devices’ AMD Live! Maui platform are becoming more robust with HDMI connections to displays and HD audio support (see “AMD Live! Home Cinema Platform” at www.electronicdesign.com, ED Online 20164). These often run Microsoft Vista and the Microsoft Media Center. They can also run MythTV, an extensible open-source DVR package, and commercial DVR software (e.g., SageTV).
Dedicated devices like set-top boxes and home-theater PCs will suffice for many. Still, there’s an expanding list of DLNA-based solutions that will change how people look at media distribution.
DLNA: THE TIES THAT BIND DLNA is a standard built on top of UPnP, which is built on TCP/ IP (Fig. 1). As a result, DLNA can work over a range of networks, with Ethernet and 802.11 Wi-Fi as the typical transports of choice. Gigabit Ethernet and 802.11n provide the bandwidth necessary to deliver uncompressed HD video streams.
DLNA defines a number of device classes, including the media server, media player, media renderer, media controller, and media printer. An actual device can support multiple classes, although a typical DLNA environment will have at least a pair of devices, say, a media server and a media player.
A media renderer and player can display content, with the renderer being controlled by a media controller. The user of a media player can select its content from a media server. Also, as noted, a device can incorporate multiple classes. For example, a PC could provide its local content as a media server, display content via a media player, and be controllable from a remote system by providing media-rendering services.
Many consumers will think of portable media players when looking for DLNA media players, but devices like Samsung’s LN40A750 LCD HDTV are changing the game (Fig. 2). Besides delivering top-notch video, this HDTV sports a 1-Gbyte RJ45 Ethernet connection in back with a DLNA-compatible media player built in.
Older Samsung devices could handle audio and images via a USB port, but this HDTV can stream movies from media servers, including D-Link’s DNS-321 Network Storage Enclosure (Fig. 3). The DNS-321 can handle terabyte drives like Seagate’s new Pipeline HD drive. The SATA II drive is designed to handle up to 12 HD streams when used in a DVR. The DNS-321 will be limited by the Ethernet connection.
Several DLNA media players hide under the guise of gaming machines. For instance, the Sony PlayStation 3 can stream content from DLNA devices on the network in addition to playing Bluray movies and streaming content from the Internet.
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