The Squeezebox Boom is one of a family of players that streams
content from a SqueezeCenter. A SqueezeCenter must be running
for the Squeezebox Boom to work, but Logitech’s squeezenetwork.com can provide this function, too. Users can sign up for
a free account and manage their playlists in the same fashion as
with SqueezeCenter. SqueezeNetwork is handy when taking the Boom on the road.
The Sonos ZoneBridge provides functionality similar to
SqueezeCenter. The difference is that it comes in a standalone
box. Sonos’ design expertise can be seen in its dual-port Ethernet
switch, which makes wired support easy since only one network
cable need apply. If an Ethernet device (e.g., laptop) is already
there, then it plugs into one port of the ZoneBridge and the cable
into the other. Sonos players can also operate in synch, providing
room-to-room audio coverage from a single control.
Playback is the primary purpose of these systems. However,
the user interface is critical to success, especially for managing
playlists and accessing Internet sites and podcasts. This is where
DLNA will likely fall short initially, since it doesn’t address this
issue. Logitech, Roku, and Sonos have extensive partnerships with
content providers, allowing users to simply select content from a
variety of lists with the click of a mouse or press of a button.
Streaming audio works very well even from the Internet because
the bandwidth requirements are low compared to connections
such as DSL, cable, and fiber. Video is a much different story.
MORE MOVIES
Streaming video from a local source such as a DLNA media
server over a Gigabit Ethernet network or 802.11n works well.
Getting video from the Internet doesn’t perform quite as efficiently,
depending on the Internet connection. DSL can be marginal,
and cable connections work well if the rest of the users on the cable
drop aren’t all downloading lots of content. Fiber, such as Verizon’s
FiOS, is likely to have plenty of bandwidth for streaming video.
Roku’s Netflix Player performs real-time streaming (Fig. 6).
Netflix customers, who can already watch movies on their PC, can
use this box in the same manner. And, it’s designed to connect to
HDTVs. Customers add movies to their viewing queue using a
PC and Web browser before they can watch them on the Netflix
Player or a PC. A lower-quality picture is delivered if the connection
speed is insufficient for a high-def stream.
One way to provide a consistent user experience is to cache the
movie with a hard disk. Vudu and Apple TV take this approach.
Both can drive an HDTV. The Vudu XL has a 1-Tbyte hard drive,
enough to store 500 standard-definition (SD) movies (Fig. 7).
HD movies would cut this by almost a factor of 10.
Unlike the Netflix Player, Vudu customers can select movies
using the remote control and the on-screen interface. A selected
movie is stored on the hard drive. It can be viewed immediately
if the Internet connection has sufficient bandwidth to deliver the
movie in real time, as is the case with the Roku unit. If not, playback
will not start until enough of the movie has been buffered on
the hard disk. This allows uninterrupted playback. Internet users
will already be accustomed to this process, though buffering a
YouTube video clip takes a couple seconds at most.
An alternative is to have the movies download in the background.
In this case, the user can select from a collection of movies
on the hard drive for immediate viewing.
Vudu uses its own TruFilm compression technique to reduce
download bandwidth and storage requirements for HDX movies.
It delivers 1080P 24-frame/s video and 5.1 audio support on par
with HD Blu-ray disks. DVD and Blu-ray disks already use compression,
but TruFilm takes the process further. Vudu rents new
movies in HDX format for $5.99 ($3.99 for older titles). Rentals
can be extended for a week for $1.99.
DVRs like TiVo’s HD XL DVR also provide this type of service.
TiVo customers download movies to the DVR’s hard drive as well as
record television shows from cable or over-the-air transmissions.
All of these platforms could easily handle DLNA media servers if
the design has sufficient headroom. Most already provide all of the
store, decoding, and management services. Some, like TiVo’s offerings,
have already been upgraded to offer movie downloads. It’s clear
that the hardware and software will just be part of the puzzle.
Because content and content delivery are key, Vudu, Netflix,
TiVo, and Apple have developed this part of the distribution
infrastructure. It’s also clear that digital rights management
(DRM) is a major hurdle. One issue we didn’t examine was movement
of content (such as a movie) between, say, a DLNA media
server and a portable media player (e.g., the Archos 5).