Bluetooth Audio

[Fuego]

This looks interesting for an unwired audio solution.

http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/02...oth_goes_boom/

I'm thinking multiple BT audio devices paired to their respective BT boom boxes and some way to route the sound to the appropriate BT audio device. Probably only need a single BT dongle paired to multiple devices and then multiple copies of HS speaker plus whatever audio media solution one chooses (maybe WinAmp plus plugin?).

Haven't checked the cost though and I'm assuming it uses BT 2.0 audio standard for the higher quality.

Not enough use made of BT for HA in my opinion, given that it is geared for this kind of end to end device connect.

Yep, just checked on http://www.parrot.biz/uk - it uses AD2P, so audio quality should be good. Price is a little steep at 150 GBP, but then again it is a fast way to get your sound out and about in 2 or 3 locations (or more if you can afford it).

[Malarcy]

Spotted this as well while on the parrot site - might also be of interest - don't know what (if any) the programmable interface might be.

http://www.parrot.biz/uk/products/parrotphotoviewer7

Malarcy

[Steve Q]

I thought Blue Tooth had a very short transmission range (10 feet or less)!
What advantages would Blue tooth speakers have in a Homeseer environment?

Steve Q

[Fuego]

I thought Blue Tooth had a very short transmission range (10 feet or less)!
What advantages would Blue tooth speakers have in a Homeseer environment?

Steve Q

The Parrot Boom boxes specify 30 metres max range. However, I get 60 to 70 metres out of most bluetooth devices using the Belkin Bluetooth dongle which is supposed to be 100 metre range. This is the Bluetooth 2 spec, which also gives a higher bandwidth for audio (up to 1 Mbs - or it might be 2 Mbs, can't recall - as opposed to 720 kbs - although early generation BT audio on PPCs rarely reached over 198 kbs due to chipset design limitations).

Bluetooth has the advantage here that it is emulating the types of devices that are of interest, for example com ports, audio devices, modems etc., so to Windows it looks like a conventional wired connection, whether via a cable, or as an integral device within the operating system. In this particular case, you'd have multiple audio devices showing up on your HS machine - like having multiple sound cards, any of which one could pipe HS Speaker output down, or music, using multiple instances of standard desktop applications, or simply be selecting the appropriate audio device to output to. A BT audio link could be made to a PPC this way too and possibly bi-directionally too, using headset BT profiles, thus allowing for remote speaker/mic combinations. This kind of thing is what BT was designed for. You could use HS scripts or plugins to control the routing of the audio and maybe also X10 remotes to select play, pause, skip, etc., pretty much like wired sound using multiple USB soundcards.

If you used WiFi, you'd need to find suitable applications and devices that provided the necessary protocols such as RTSP (real time streaming protocol) and other such media distribution protocols. Of course, with a PPC or a tablet PC, neither technology excludes the other, so one can still use WiFi for Web access and control too.