Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Streaming Lots of Sooloos stuff on the way

It is indeed. As has been pointed out, people still own DVDs. I also still own DVDs, but then again, I also have a good number of laserdiscs sitting in a shelf. I've stopped buying DVDs many, many years ago when I started with recorded HD broadcasts (5000+ movies right now) and can't remember the last time I watched a DVD.

But I recently found out there's a DVD I just have to buy soon. It's The Tripods series two, which is a tv series aired on BBC in the mid 80s. I loved the series back then.

But back to the Sooloos, I think DVD-Video support is completely wasted. I personally would never use it. HD is another story, I'd love to be able to play my HD broadcasts with a Sooloos. The interface is fantastic and in combination with my own NAS, browsing my library would be alot easier.

If there's no HD support, basic music playback would be enough on a Sooloos for me.


As far as the external NAS goes, I don't think this will happen. At least not for music.
For HD-video playback, I'd love to see external NAS support as that can take up alot of space and buying 16TB of HDD storage from Meridian would be rather expensive. A single TwinStore with 1TB HDDs (mirrored) comes in at around �2300,-. For that amount of money, I can easily buy 16TB storage from any other manufacturer. 16TB is nothing when it comes to HD-video.


There are several other solutions that play HD-video (also ripped HD DVD and Blu-Ray), but none of them have the great user interface that Meridian is offering with Sooloos. My home automation is all self made and I have some time over the summer, so I'm tempted to play around with Dune 3.0 and see what I can get out of a self made iPad application for browsing the library and playing back everything through a Dune player. I doubt Meridian will deliver what I'm looking for in video, but I hope to be wrong.

In my opinion, you would be wise to wait until after CEDIA - just a matter of weeks.

Man, and i thought i was mad wit > 1000 Bluray rips..

Well, that's the worst part...
I haven't even started to rip my HD DVDs and Blu-Rays yet. They're all (except for a few) sitting on shelves and I have to search discs whenever I feel like watching a movie I own on disc format.

That's the reason I'd really love to have a Kaleidascape type system which supports HD DVD and BD, without paying the ridiculously high storage cost they're asking.

I even thought about buying the Sony 400-disc changers, but quality is an issue for me there. So I'll have to wait and see what happens next. I've heard some rumours about a possible major Dune update that would do everything I want, but there's no sign of that yet.

What's the quality issue with the Sony BD changer? Just curious.

Players like the Oppo 83 or Dune providing better quality. It's all about top notch audio and video and I'm not willing to make sacrifices in these areas.

I've yet to see any official word that new kit is coming, or even on what direction Meridian intends to take the next generation Sooloos gear, but whispers from dealers etc. suggest that it may be wise to wait a bit before taking the plunge. If you're impatient then you can do what I did: buy a TwinStore (unlikely to be made redundant by whatever comes out next) and start transferring your collection.

I actually went in to a dealer planning to buy a TwinStore and Control:10 but was really unimpressed with the Control:10 after the demo. The software is nice but I found the hardware clunky and inconvenient, and ended up using the iPhone app to pick tunes during my listening sessions. That and rumors about imminent new hardware meant I bought the TwinStore but left the Control:10.

I'd love to see a Control unit that does away with the screen and adds appodising and the ability to play video and multichannel audio. That combined with enhanced functionality in the iPad/iPhone/ iTouch app would be great. I do feel a bit silly having had a fully loaded TwinStore sitting around for the last month, but even if the new kit doesn't offer what I want it should push down prices of current gen Control:10.

Good luck with your choice.

D

Thanks for all the advice! I'm actually very impressed with the software and the user friendliness of the Control:10 so would hope that they do not do away with the screen! I think that's what makes it different/special (in my opinion)! I guess 1 or 2 more months shouldn't be too hard since i've been waiting all this time anyway.

Thanks!

Fair enough, but "providing better quality" doesn't entirely answer my question. I was just interested in the Sony changer because of solving the space problem. If you have precise criticisms of it that would be interesting. But it's no big deal, and anyway, is hopelessly off-topic...

The interface is one of the main selling points, so I don't think it is going away any time soon.

Hi DE,

How did you load the TwinStore without a Control:10 or Ensemble to run the Sooloos core software.

Can the ControlPC access and rip to it, without the other kit being available?

Regards,
Carl

Hi Carl

Not sure if Control:PC can rip to FLAC and access the TwinStore without a Core. I delivered a load of CDs on spindles to the dealer from whom I bought the TwinStore, and he then used an automated 4 drive ripper (there's a link to a video of it in action in another thread) to copy the CDs. Costly, but it meant I had just under 900 CDs on the TwinStore in only three days. The goal was to get the Sooloos system home with a good chunk of my collection already imported and ready for listening, then use the Control:10 to rip the rest of my collection at a more leisurely (and less expensive) pace. Turns out not to have been necessary given that I ended up not getting the Control:10.

To chiefhk and mrmarbach: I wasn't clear in expressing what I dislike about the Control:10. The software side of the interface is great and is what led me to choose Sooloos over the many other media server options. It provides an intuitive, powerful and visually stunning way to manage and access a music collection. What I did not like was the integrated Core/CD drive/touchscreen setup of the Control:10, which leaves interaction with a collection anchored to one spot in the room. Not that big a deal I suppose but it just felt very last generation. A less clunky detachable screen would be vastly superior in my opinion, not just from a convenience perspective (which is after all a large factor in the choice to go with a media server over physical media) but because I think it would prove less intimidating to secondary users of the music system (family and guests).

I also wasn't impressed with the feel of the Control:10 touchscreen. It wasn't laggy, but it didn't feel very positive or precise. I felt I had to type slowly and aim rather more carefully on the Control:10 screen than on other touch screens I've used. I suppose it didn't help that I'd bought an iPad about a week before I went in to audition the Sooloos system, but even compared to an iPhone or iPod Touch, the Control:10 screen felt outdated. It's hard to describe exactly but if you take an iPad in when you audition a Control:10 you will know exactly what I mean. It's just a little frustrating.

I probably could have lived with the above issues if I hadn't heard hints of new Sooloos hardware coming out soon. That was the dealbreaker for me. My hope is that Meridian will recognise that it will be hard for them to come up with a hardware interface as responsive and convenient as the iPad, and that they will find a way to bring the full functionality of the Sooloos software interface to the iPad app. Ideally they would also upgrade the Core with multichannel and video support. But whatever comes next is bound to improve in some way on the current setup, which is why I've elected to wait a while before bringing Sooloos into my home.

D