The BeoLab streaming computer

BeoMotion:

I'll publish the results and some comments during or after this weekend. 

20 people have voted so far.

Which price would you pay for such a device?
We can clearly see a tendency to a more costly device with more features.

Do you need a display?
Most don't need a display.
Some want to have an expensive graphic LCD.
So I think we should not include a display by default. With display it would just get too expensive. 

Do you prefer the old style DIN connectors instead of the modern RJ45 ones? 
Only very few like to have to old DIN connectors. 
RJ45 is my favorite, too. They are much less expensive and are available as surface mount which makes manufacturing easier.

One PL connector carries left and right channel. One is enough but two are more convenient. How many? 
It's 50/50. No problem here when using RJ45. So just let's include a second one.

Do you like to have a standard 38 kHz IR receiver for non-Beo remotes?
The majority don't want to have "normal" IR support. Let's leave that out. Of course it can be added very easily by soldering a wire to any GPIO.

Do you prefer having a 455 kHz IR receiver and a few buttons directly on the board instead of using the silver IR eye?
Again 50/50. Let's leave that out for the moment. If that device will come reality I'll order a batch of some old TSOP7000 from china. Some sellers still seem to have them in stock there. Feel free to just connect that to the IR eye screw terminal we'll add anyway. It's compatible.

Is wired ethernet important for you?
Exactly the half want to have a native ethernet port. I can understand your concerns. Although I think most people will use WiFi anyway, let's integrate it.

The device features analog and digital inputs. What would you like to connect there?
Most want to connect their BS or BV to the analog input. I didn't expect this but it's totally fine.  One more reason to have a PL input and not just a regular RCA one. Nevertheless the ADC I had in mind offers multiple inputs and we can also include a "normal" LINE-IN if there is enough space on the board in the end.

What about the case?
Hm, there is a slight tendency to just the plain PCB. Nevertheless shipping with a simple case is never a problem.

Which BL speaker you want to connect?
Just what I expected here. BL6000 and BL8000 are the clear winners! No reason for even thinking about the WISA generation.

Which streaming technologies are you using most?
Airplay and DLNA followed by Bluetooth and finally by Spotify Connect.

Are you interested in controlling old ML devices with open source hard+software?
Are you owning a BL5000 or 7000 remote?
Some people seem to be interested in this. Let's keep it for a future project.

Make a wish!
One request was IR translation support. Not sure whether this makes much sense for standard integration. Which direction do you want to translate?
Another one requested digital out support. Okay, the processor we are using offers S/PDIF out. We can bring that to a connector. Might also make some BL5 owners happy.

 

I'll keep the results in mind for creating a first sketch if I'll find some time over the next days.
Will keep you posted here. 

Thank you for the update.

Happily waiting for your great work :-)

I guess "Ir translation" is meant like "Beo 4 in -> Sony, Panasonic etc. out" so that you can control everything with the Beo 4, 5, 6 like the PUC function from B&O or the good and flexible Lintronic TT238 Translator. 

Nice idea,

Instead Ir, using Bluetooth with the Beoremote one BT ?

 

Cheers

Thanks BeoMotion for the summary.

I have a question regarding the ADC that you mention (had in mind), can you share which one it is? 

thanks in advance

BR //Goran

Thanks BeoMotion for the summary.

I have a quesiton regarding the ADC that you mention (had in mind). can you share which one it is?

 

Thanks in advance

BR //Goran

Silou:

Instead Ir, using Bluetooth with the Beoremote one BT ?

Sorry, but I don't know in detail how the BR1 BT works nor do I own one. Nevertheless it might be possible to connect it to such a board...

 

BeoLignage:

I have a quesiton regarding the ADC that you mention (had in mind). can you share which one it is?

I have good experience with TI's PCM1862. Already used in in several designs and it performs really well.

Unfortunately haven't had the time yet to start designing the board but thought about it a lot.

The survey was filled out 30 times now and most of them are also interested in ML connectivity. 
That makes me think whether a fully integrated PL-only streaming solution makes that much sense at all. If there were hundreds, no question. But for maybe 50 people I think it's a little too complex.

So what about:

An USB based solution that can be easily programmed with the Arduino IDE?
With analog audio input, a nice buffer circuit and PL + ML output? 
Connectors for the IR eye can also be added.  

That solution would offer several benefits:

• compatible with many streaming hosts (MAC, PC, Linux, ...) 
• easy debugging and reprogramming even for non-engineers
• excellent for finding out how the PL and ML protocols work in detail
• low-cost even for that small quantities
• benefit of having a realtime MCU as we surely have to bitbang the PL protocol

 

What do you think?

Hey BeoMotion.

 

I can't understand, why tis thread disappeared, because you did bringing up, what many beoworlder are waiting for. A not so costly version of the new "core" streaming device.

 

Everybody wanted more and more features and when you told them, that this will be difficult (and costlier), they seemed to loose interest.

 

But i am very interested! If you still consider to build a non b&o "core", i will definitely buy it right now.

 

My only wishes are:

- i can ru it in germany (= power suply)

- i can connect it to my BL 9

- i can stream via Bluetooth and wlan eg can connect a Google chromecast audio

 

Can this be made?

 

Sorry for my bad (germanish) english and thank you for sharing your ideas with us. 

 

Ludwig from Würzburg 

Hi Ludwig,

thanks for your input! 

Yes, not sure why only very few people are interested in such a solution. Manufacturing only 10 or 20 boards doesn't make that much sense to me. 
This is also the reason I slowed down any progress here. 

Regarding your questions: Three times YES.
So let's see where it goes.  

Greetings from Berlin.

Hi

Sorry for taking this long to enter this thread. Count me in please. I like your project a lot.

MY setup is NL only. No Masterlink. I see your device connected to my BL5s digitally while sending the right data commands through powerlink to trigger them to output the digital signal.

Since upgrading from BV7 to BV12NG and putting my Overture in the attick I haven't been able to do this. I am tired of shifting between modes.

 

/Kim 

 

Filled out the survey.

Basically I would want a solution that would be a cut-down beosystem forgoing loads of inputs however, combining modern toslink or HDMI-ARC & CEC.

Use case is a non-b&o tv and analogue Beolab 9. Might eventually upgrade to BL5 which has its own unique connectivity. Currently use a Beoplay s8 hub which is great, but no integrated streaming. Beosound Core now has AirPlay great, but only one input and volume control is the same flaky wheely. So basically the music system b&o doesn't want to make

Best would be something like Ecplise sound bar, Beoremote control, AirPlay, analogue powerlink and TV sound on/off/volume control via HDMI-CEC/ARC. So a box with an HDMI cable to tele + powerlink to BL.

If this comes to fruition, I'll buy.

I've just answered your form.

Since I'm a fan of B&O's old range (mcl/datalink) products probably due to it was those I got a graduation on at the Beo-university. I think it would be great to have a streaming computer like this that could also integrate via datalink, this so you could control it via old Beo systems or would it not be nice to start a stream and have the device turn on your old system and start streaming via the connected speakers. This way you could bring life to old classic icons.

Another project I proposed is related to the same thing to bring life to older beovisons that lack support of hdmi-cec. I would like to see a device I could connect in between a newer hdmi device and my Beovision and control it via a Beo-remote, free puc code or via datalink (from ex scart). This way I could control newer streaming devices with no support for IR. Also it would be great if this unit also could power on the beovison on correct source if it for instance receive that signal via the hdmi-cec channel. This way you could integrate your old Beovisions in a new home automation setup like Google home etc. would be awesome to be able to say play movie xxx in the bedroom and my older beovison turns on with correct source and starts to play the movie.

Just my wishes to make it possible to continue to use old BEO icons in the new modern world as well as it become more and more popular to be green and reuse equipment and not just throw it away.

Stefan

Hi,

I just found you guys here discussing interesting things.

I am in for compatibility with old datalink! All hands up.

I currently use airplay (airport express) and Crestron control system, but it would be much nicer If I could achieve this with beo remote.

Would also be nice to have sort of ML gateway build into it.

 

Regards,

 

Bart

Great to see that the whole thread didn´t dissapear - but my reply some weeks ago disappeared.

I am very interested and one of my major wishes is the ML compatibility - with airplay funtionality and so on. I filled out the survey as well.

Wouldnß t i t be a good idea to get this thread into a new/own forum thread - so it would become as prominent as this topic needed for all of us...

Kind Regards

Tom

Hi,

 

is that still on the radar, or abandoned project?

BeoMotion:

An USB based solution that can be easily programmed with the Arduino IDE?

 

very interesting idea, would make many things easy and easier for non-professionals.

Altought this is a great idea what is really needed at the moment from B&O is an open API on their multirrom system. First because after 3 or 4 iterations of their app, the iOS app is still crap but most certainly to develop tiny software solution like a Mac OS application to control multiroom speakers & volume in the menu bar. If you know anyone being able to reverse engineer the multiroom protocol, let me know! 

Considering this is a few years old I wonder if this materialized or not. I do like the idea of an MCU instead of an RPI. For me it the key would be NL integration so the device can join. you would need a Teensy or something similarly to be able to handle the audio