I have a large collection of FLAC and MP3 files on my home Windows server that I ripped. Almost all the FLAC files are entire album files with embedded CUE sheets. I have WiFi and CAT6 connectivity to my home theater/stereo/TV setup upstairs if necessary.
I am looking for a device or small Linux distro that will play FLAC and MP3 files through my existing Pioneer Elite receiver with the use of a remote. Integration into my TV is a must so I can see and select the song or album I want to play. It has to stream or play the files from my server - I am not interested in an internal HDD.
I believe several hardware options exist for something like this, but there is a kicker. I would prefer something that either downloads, or displays my own cover art with each album. Something in the way Windows Media Center works.
Any suggestions?
...
I am looking for a device or small Linux distro that will play FLAC and MP3 files through my existing Pioneer Elite receiver with the use of a remote. Integration into my TV is a must so I can see and select the song or album I want to play. It has to stream or play the files from my server - I am not interested in an internal HDD.
...
Raspbmc (http://www.raspbmc.com/)
What model of Pioneer Elite receiver? My Pioneer VSX-1122-K plays my FLAC files off my media server over the network using DLNA.. It has an onscreen display as well.. If yours has similar function you already have what you need.
What model of Pioneer Elite receiver? My Pioneer VSX-1122-K plays my FLAC files off my media server over the network using DLNA.. It has an onscreen display as well.. If yours has similar function you already have what you need.
It is an older Pioneer Elite receiver. I don't believe it has that functionality. If it did, would it be able to read CUE files (embedded or otherwise)?
Raspbmc? Interesting. How is it compared to Geexbox?
What model of Pioneer Elite receiver? My Pioneer VSX-1122-K plays my FLAC files off my media server over the network using DLNA.. It has an onscreen display as well.. If yours has similar function you already have what you need.
Does it do gapless playback? It's impressive that it will play FLAC.
If it weren't for the download of artwork, a squeezebox could work for the OP. On the TV, you would need to access the squeezebox server web page for display on the TV. Or if you had an andriod device with hdmi output running a squeezebox controller app, you could display the artwork othe TV.
Unfortunately Logitech discontinued the squeezebox line, so you'd have to find something on ebay at this point.
Searching around seems like the Cubox with Geexbox (XBMC) might be my best bet. I'm not sure if it will do my album art (cover.jpg) files, but being Linux it should be easy to make it happen.
I don't use cue sheets so I don't know if it will handle them or not. My assumption is not. It does not handle gapless playback. It does support Ogg Vorbis even through it's not mentioned anywhere in the literature.
I run XBMC on a raspberry pi and use that as my media center on that receiver personally. The support in the receiver is nice if I just want to listen to a certain song real quick and happen to have the remote for the receiver in my hand or don't want to dig out my phone to control XBMC.
I use for about 5 years several hardware squeezeboxes fed by a single headless server (linux based) with about 70,000 mostly FLAC files. Can control it all from my laptop, my iphone, my ipad, etc. Using Logitech Media Server (LMS) as the database. Deals with Flac, Ogg, mp3, m4a, ALAC, wav, and others. Does gapless and handles replaygain tags. Does a lot that a DLNA system can't do without lots of add-on custom programing. The squeezeboxes can be WIFI or ethernet connected. I can perfectly sync music (my own or internet radio, etc.) to multiple players or play different things to each player, all from single server source.
Of course squeezebox has discontinued this line, but there is a pretty good DIY group. New ones are still floating around and used ones (ebay, etc.). Lots of roll-your-own hardware replacement discussions at:
forums.slimdevices.com
And also see this:
http://vortexbox.org/content/149-Logitech-...nt-for-under-30 (http://vortexbox.org/content/149-Logitech-SqueezeBox-replacement-for-under-30)
I'm reading too much. Must stop surfing.
Now I'm just looking at getting an AppleTV v2, jailbroken with XBMC. It'll save me buying another box in the future to do Netflix and other things. That way I can use FLAC now and convert to ALAC later if I choose. I have the Apple ecosystem anyway....
Any reason NOT to do this? I realize that a jailbroken ATV v2 is a frozen snapshot in time and probably can never be upgraded again without breaking something. I suppose my biggest question is what happens if Netflix or Hulu decide to change the format of their streaming?
Any reason NOT to do this? I realize that a jailbroken ATV v2 is a frozen snapshot in time and probably can never be upgraded again without breaking something. I suppose my biggest question is what happens if Netflix or Hulu decide to change the format of their streaming?
Really doesn't matter so much about the future. Apple TV boxes are cheap enough to be basically throw-away when no longer useful, even if that's next year.
The jailbroken ATV didn't do it for me for my FLAC collection. Maybe I was expecting too much. Any other suggestions?
have you really looked at a raspberry pi running xbmc at all? I'm pretty sure it will do everything you want.. It even plays 1080p video.
Only $35 for the board.
have you really looked at a raspberry pi running xbmc at all? I'm pretty sure it will do everything you want.. It even plays 1080p video.
Only $35 for the board.
How is the learning curve on XBMC? If it had all the apps I needed "out of the box", that would be great.
I realize the thread is a bit old, but since it's still an actual topic...
With the Squeezebox phased out, I think a Raspberry Pi + USB audio card with digital outs + Squeezelite (https://code.google.com/p/squeezelite/) is a very solid and capable solution, not to mention cost effective.
I realize the thread is a bit old, but since it's still an actual topic...
With the Squeezebox phased out, I think a Raspberry Pi + USB audio card with digital outs + Squeezelite (https://code.google.com/p/squeezelite/) is a very solid and capable solution, not to mention cost effective.
I had started another thread after this and finally discovered Squeezebox. I was late to the whole Squeezebox train, but Squeezelite does indeed work great. I have it running on a Cubox. That + LMS does everything I want.
A vamp from here also works well as an inexpensive squeezebox replacement running squeezelite. See the Vortexbox site for forum discussions, etc.
http://vortexbox.org/content/149-Logitech-...nt-for-under-30 (http://vortexbox.org/content/149-Logitech-SqueezeBox-replacement-for-under-30)