Linksys will ship a Digital Media Adapter (audio-only for now, but audio-video soon). It’s basically a WiFi box with a bunch of analog A/V outputs. Power it on, plug it into your stereo/TV and it shows up as an A/V output device for the PCs on your network with Universal Plug’n’Play. The upshot is the ability to play video and audio on your home theater without running a wire from your PC.
I can’t figure out if this is cool or not. this article that it’ll run GBP130, about $210 (though it may run cheaper than that in the US), which seems very high, and being an OS X guy, UPnP is pretty unexciting to me, but is there a good way to do this without UPnP? Rendezvous?
“Consumers are embracing digital photography, digital music, and home networking in increasing numbers, and they see real value in the ability to use the performance, features and flexibility of the PC to extend their favorite digital content out to other audio and display devices in their home such as the stereo and the TV,” said Louis Burns, vice president and general manager of Intel’s Desktop Platforms Group. “We’re pleased to be working together with Linksys and other industry leaders to help make the digital home a reality for consumers.”
The Linksys Wireless Digital Media Adapter will reside in home entertainment centers next to the television and stereo. The device resembles the Linksys Access Point, with two 802.11b antennas. Instead of connecting to an Ethernet port, the device will be equipped with audio/visual connectors. To process JPEG, MP3 and WMA digital content, the adapter uses Intel’s XScale(TM) architecture PXA250 application processor. Using Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) technology, the adapter can be easily setup to work with other UPnP devices on the network such as a Linksys Wireless Router. Other features are currently in development by Linksys and will be announced at time of product availability.
(via Gizmodo)