[vdr] Re: Allwell Set-Top-Box ordering

["Andreas Mixich" <sp.amix@gmx.net>]

Micha wrote in a Mail about "[vdr] Allwell Set-Top-Box ordering":

> Has anybody in Germany ordered something from them?

I don't know.

> If yes, how much was it altogether?
> As shipping seems to be a big percentage of the whole costs (some $80 as
> somebody has mentioned) , are there other people in Germany interested
> in
> purchasing one?

I might be interested, but not yet. The reason is simple: 
a) The MPEG4 decoder is not finished yet.
b) The MPEG4 decoder is a Sigma Designs, and it might well be, it does not
decode DivX5. I want to wait until things have cleared up a little.

I had an interesting email-conversation with Allwell in Taiwan (or was it
Korea) and they gave me an intensive roundup. I woul recommend to wait a
little.

> Is anybody - living in the US - willing to act as a middleman ? Mailing
> the
> machines per ground-mail shouldn't cost $80 each!

The order, which costs approx USD80-100 is not for shipping from the US but
from Asia, and is per unit base. I am not sure how much cheaper it would be
to order more than one box, since they add weight also.

I would be interested in one or two such devices, but I will order only one
for the start.

I am also not sure which model to get. Shall I get the faster ones (don't
need a second Ethernet) or the slower ones. They are, in the meanwhile,
availalbe all in the nice finsh (Metallic).

BTW: Allwell produces boxes for some upcoming products of a well known
consumer-electronics company. Very 'Pro'.

As for the STB and DVB: They have shipped their STB to a German company,
which added DVB-s cards. According to Allwell all went fine.


Personally I do not intend to add a DVB card. I want the STB as a
client-only, a frontend to Video-LAN (and others). I would use it to replay
any stream coming from my VDR box in the bedroom, later maybe even in the
kitchen, while using the VDR-Box as a central MultiMedia server and the
default device in the living-room.

With the MPEG2 or MPEG4 decoder, the Allwell should be very cabable. I
don't know, if the CPUs are quick enough to do serious software decoding,
one needs to remember, that the streams coming from the network might add
some overhead and personally I would like to run other tasks in the back
also, such as IM and EMAIL check or some CRON events.

It also has to be considered, that Allwell sells barbone systems as well as
client/server setups with Linux preinstalled and a proprietary extensions
system. One of the main problems might be the VIDEO chip, which has no open
source drivers and one needs to use what is available. This is why I
thought it might be interesting to have a peek at the system that comes
with the whole software-suite and see what's usable. Of course, they differ
totally from the VDR system.

Micha, you get a personal copy of this mail, we might want to discuss this
in private.

Good bye,
-- 
Andreas 
<sp.amix@gmx.net>