There are some whole-house audio distribution systems that have wall control units that double as an amplifier and receive a signal wirelessly. I can't remember where I saw that.

In one of my earlier rants I said that what is really needed is a standard. Not just an ethernet plug or some other kind of plug, but a standard data interchange protocol.

For a while I have started to wonder if the video game industry has replaced the "adult entertainment" industry as the pioneers in home entertainment technology adoption. I believe the video game industry would be the first to drive some device-to-device communication revolution. After all, a successful video game makes a lot more money than a successful movie nowadays. If the video game designers want their games to be able to be played by a Nintendo DS user against a PSP user wirelessly, well... money talks... The game console is poised to become the center of every home entertainment system. As a Linux zealot, I am sad to say that Microsoft may have actually out-maneuvered everyone in that race with their Xbox, and who better than Microsoft to coerce the hardware manufacturers into building some inter-operability into their systems. Heck, Microsoft has been doing just that for about 30 years before they even had their own hardware. Which means that instead of an open standard, we will all be buying software licenses from Microsoft to install in our preamplifiers. For some interesting reading, check out Apple TV. This is starting to remind me of the Newton, an Apple PDA that came out about 5 years before anyone realized they needed one. Once again, Apple is limiting its potential in order to keep their customers as happy hostages.
...end of conspiracy theories...
I now return you to your previously scheduled program.

About has hard to justify as building it into a PS3. The problem with that solution is your building another network. My is not hardwired and would be too difficult to do. I have a central router (home built) with a few access points and repeaters. My home network is primarily wireless with only the office hardwired. I could do your solution with a bride, but I really don't want to go out and buy another router, switch or access point. Not when I've seen how easy it is with the PS3. Built in wireless makes sense and isn't that much of a cost for OEM's.

I've read numerous forums where people do not plan to use ethernet because their home isn't setup for it. They don't want to deal with the hassle of setting up a bridge. Having it built-in with a switch is a cost I'm willing to pay for if it was available. I'd be stoked. One less piece of equipment I need to buy.

But I haven't seen anyone do it. Funny thing is, every company wants you to hook up your home theater to the web, but their isn't really a clean solution unless you are hardwired, which will never happen in my house. To much overhead for that.

The PS3 doesn't have a switch - it just has wireless ethernet. The PS3 is also a bit of an "odd duck" in the marketplace - it requires a network connection for online gaming (which has become an integral part of many video games these days) and its price point is dictated as much by the potential for associated software sales as by actual hardware costs. Moving closer to a "typical" home theater component, devices like the SqueezeBox have wireless because they exist solely to be on a network, but for a long time Slim Devices offered a version of the SqueezBox that omitted wireless for a $50 or so savings. Meanwhile, HD-DVD and Blu-ray players with ethernet connections have so far been wired only, as have surround receivers and processors from folks like Onkyo and Denon.

I wonder how much hassle it is to set up a wireless access point as a bridge compared to setting up a wireless bridge built into a surround receiver. You can plug the access point into a USB port and configure it with keyboard and mouse, then just move it once and stick it where it can get best reception while still facilitating network cabling. On the other hand, you'll be using a remote control (good for entering numbers, less so for typing in letters) to configure the wireless bridge in a surround processor. The configuration requirements are basically the same since you're connecting to the same house network either way. I also recall there being a few products from folks like Linksys that were designed specifically to provide a bridge like the one we're describing, as the XBox and PS2 created a large demand for it. What would really be smart for a company like Netgear, Linksys, DLink, or maybe even 3Com (somebody with the network engineering resources readily at hand) would be a "den data hub" device that offered a wireless bridge, 10/100 switch with half a dozen ports, and a form factor and setup interface that was geared specifically for tying the home theater to a house network. Heck, they probably have something along these lines and I just haven't looked for it...

Never said it did, but was just commenting on the fact that it made it very simple to setup within a network. It also has built in ethernet.

Right.. wired only but some offer net radio. In addition new TV's and other devices are coming wired for the internet.

Have you ever done it? Doesn't sound like it and if you have, then you know it is a hassle. No biggie if your technically savvy. What you pointed out at NewEgg was a router and you would need to use an access point with the router to create a wireless bridge. Your initial router would have to be setup for point to multipoint. Your access point for your second router would have to contain a hard IP address and the MAC address of your router. You may or may not be able to pick that up on a scan. Plus, if you're using a Macintosh there most likely wont be a setup CD, so you better have an understanding of IP addresses and how to setup your computer with a static address. You can also buy and antenna extender if necessary. Which is a lot cheaper than the other solutions.

You wouldn't have to configure a bridge. Your processor receives the IP address and then uses built in software for "internet connection sharing." All on one network, no big deal. No setup hassels. Just plug in your devices and they share the processors connection. You can do this on a extremely small footprint. Embedded on a chip or part of the system software.

right or you could just have the solution that I talked about and not worry about buying an additional piece of equipment.

Look, I see where you're coming from and how you see the solution and obviously I see it differently. I see the Pre/Pro as the brain of a system. All your components connect to it, so why not connect your components ethernet as well. The feature would certainly separate them from their competitors. Obviously you don't need it since you're hardwired, but those of us that aren't might really like a simple solution.

Just wanted to jump in and get my story out there.
I HAD the Pronto RC5200 remote. A good remote! Now after purchasing the MX 3000 I think the Pronto was a Great remote.
I was able to program the Pronto myself never had a problem with it, except that I had to continually operate it by battery. However it happen the docking station has malfunction.
I came into some money and was able to buy some new equipment. Speakers...B&W 804's and I decided to purchase a new remote.
While the MX does the job I thought that the Pronto was more friendly for my situation also more fun to use.
Big point I could program it myself the way I wanted, the macros the way I wanted.
The MX3000 has to be programed by someone in the know. I had someone from the audio store come out to the house for $85.00 an hour. It took three hours to hookup and program.
Do the math.
Impulse buying they call it.
Stupid mistake I call it.
Simplicity is the way to go.
I invested to much money in my remote an advise fellow Outlaws to stay away from such expensive toys.
Speakers....YES....if the finances are there it is a great move, likewise with other electronics. If you have the finances.
That does not mean that I think you should spend a $1000.00 for the likes of a Blu-Ray player if you have the cash.
Think before you invest.
I guess I am not the only one out there who has made unnecessary purchases but I wish I had the know how to program my MX3000 perhaps I would not feel as bad as I do.

I love the look of this. I really hope Outlaw starts to offer both silver and charcoal versions of their products.

I can see the attraction, but I worry that the cost (which will not be insignificant) will essentially be a penalty to the customers who don't need it.
This intrigued me because I have messed with wireless bridging (using a Linksys access point that was a pain to set up as both access point and bridge), so I started hunting around for some detail on purpose-built wireless bridges. My biggest question was how you handle configuring wireless encryption (WEP or WPA, presumably). I wanted to see the instructions for setting up a bridge. I may be overlooking something really simple out there, but what I found included the discontinued Linksys WET11 (which I remember seeing years ago), a replacement Linksys with some poor reviews on Amazon.com, a review of an SMC bridge that was pretty critical of the tedious setup procedure, and this D-Link unit that actually does exactly what we are talking about: a wireless bridge (assuming you set the rear panel switch to "bridge" instead of "AP") with four ports. The manual is close to 100 pages long, and the section talking about the bridge mode spent ten pages talking about how to set it up (logging in through a browser, entering the name of the access point, entering in a pin or other security code, and so forth). That's where I get concerned about Outlaw trying to integrate all of that into a surround processor: they will be the ones fielding calls from folks trying to configure the unit to work with dozens of different access points and network setups. The impact on their customer support resources could be painful if the feature actually saw heavy use. On the bright side, I did also find a D-Link gaming bridge (DGL-3420) with instructions that seemed more straightforward. I still think about the potential pitfalls some folks will encounter when messing with wireless networking (I've provided some free phone support for folks with wireless networks and in at least one case found that it never did quite get set up right, which may be contributing to my skittishness).
True enough. I don't dislike the idea - it really is a cool concept - I just worry that actually trying to do it (especially for a smaller company that does their own customer support) could be opening a can of worms that would cost them heavily, plus the potential first cost passed along to the customer. If D-Link is charging $100 to $130 for a device like this that's tucked into a plastic box when they have the benefit of shared R&D, the cost savings of tucking it inside an existing chassis is likely to be almost zero.

It would be cool and maybe we should invent it!! The hardware likely exists and you could use any Pre/Pro to drive it. It is just a matter of setting up a few routers to accept the output of the various players and other input devices and feeding them to the Pre/Pro so it can output to another router to send to whatever speaker amps are setup with their routers. It sounds hard, but the first one to invent a high quality combo amp/router will clean up. You could position the router amps where you wanted them and they would output to the speakers using lamp cord. You could put them in a coffee table or in end tables. C'mon guys tell me someone hasn't already invented this.

They could cut costs by including a single wireless card and one ethernet port. You could then connect one component to the ethernet port to utilize the wireless or connect a hub or switch and connect multiple devices.

There's various forms of embeded linux that use parts of LEAF as their primary dhcp, firewall, nat etc. They have a very small footprint. Even Linkys/Cisco uses linux. You wouldn't even have to use the entire package, but mainly iptables.
The Linksys WAP54G cannot or could not do WPA between two access points with a bridge. It could only to WEP with a hexidecimal key. It also only worked with another linksys access point or a WRT54G. They kept saying they would release a firmware fix, but it never materialized. I think the latest is 3.04.

You could use WPA with an access point as a repeater or as an access point client.

I hear your pain.

You definitely don't need to have it as complicated as a linksys or D-link router or anything like that. They take it to the extreme.

It can be setup with just a few options. DHCP or STATIC IP for wireless or ethernet. Inernet connection sharing shares the wireless connection only with only DHCP option and if necessary the ability to designate a router IP address, if necessary. That's to say if you're home wireless network consists of more than one network and you need to configure it to 10.0.0.0, 172.16.0.0 or 192.168.0.0 etc Obviously this would be advanced with very minimal options. Basically once you check share internet connection it automatically creates another network as DHCP through the ethernet port. No static addressing or firewalls.

You'd have:

• Wireless:
• Search for access point or wireless router.
• Select ap/router name and enter WEP/WPA key. (saved)
• Use DHCP or manually enter IP address checkbox.
• Share internet connection
  
  • Advanced Options
  • Enter IP addressing
  
  

Option:
Wired:

• DHCP or Manual Address (no shared networking with this option)

Quote:

True enough. I don't dislike the idea - it really is a cool concept - I just worry that actually trying to do it (especially for a smaller company that does their own customer support) could be opening a can of worms that would cost them heavily, plus the potential first cost passed along to the customer. If D-Link is charging $100 to $130 for a device like this that's tucked into a plastic box when they have the benefit of shared R&D, the cost savings of tucking it inside an existing chassis is likely to be almost zero.

I hear what you're saying. Fortunately most of the code is available on the web and is open source. Most of linksys code is opensource, It's just a matter of stripping out all the options giving the uses just a handful of options and automating a few tasks. No web interface or anything like that. You'll already have some security with your home wireless router etc.

model 997