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CEDIA 2008

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Tip #105 – Encoding Matters

What can I really control?

Today we’ll look at controlling devices with IP.

Control with IP

IP controllable devices are popping up everywhere

Everywhere you turn there are new IP devices.  IR- or RF-only remote controls are quickly becoming dinosaurs.  And while some might wish that manufactures would release all new gear with IR and RS-232 codes, the truth is many don’t.  Why is that, you wonder?  Well, first of all IR and RS-232 are protocols of the past.  Don’t get me wrong, they certainly have their place but today’s market is demanding devices that can be controlled from both a dead simple remote and their desktop miles away.  Protocols like IR and RS-232 are great when you are close to the equipment you want to control.  But,  they are not options when your client wants to check the security cameras while away from home.  This is a job for IP-controllable devices. 

The number of IP-enabled remotes entering the market is another indication of this trend.  While having a staff of programmers to write proprietary code certainly still works, it is expensive and at times not very profitable.  Include an IP enabled remote, link to the browser interfaces and now you have eliminated programing cost and headaches while giving your client access to their equipment in ways they may not have considered or thought possible.

The current IP trend indicates that manufacturers recognize the need for flexibility and are willing to give clients what they want.  Your clients want flexible devices and interfaces whether they are in the same room or miles away.

What can IP control?

Devices controlled via IP

There are many, many choices when it comes to devices that are IP controlled.  When looking at control in general you’ll want to consider not only how the system is used but where it is used.  Any desire at all to control things remotely over the web means that you’ll want to narrow your focus to IP products.  You’ll also need to choose products that can work with popular firewall choices. 

Another, sometimes overlooked benefit to IP controllable products is their web interfaces.  Many manufacturers offer straightforward web interfaces to their IP addressable products.  Using and integrating these interfaces with a browser-capable remote can mean getting a handle on those custom programming costs.   Eliminating unknowns will not only be good for your client, it will also be good for your bottom line.

IP products do have different considerations, however the end result of flexibility, cabability and interoperability will result in happy clients singing your praises to all their friends. 

So many choices, how do you decide?

Once you understand how your clients will be using their new system, the choices will start to narrow.  While it is certain that  bells and whistles attract many clients, at the end of the day everyone wants a system that fits the way they live.  As you begin to figure out and understand how they live you’ll be able to guide your client towards the right choices for them.  

The makers of the moodSeer audiophile music server are here to aid you.  We strive to create robust products that exceed your expectations to give you the winning edge.  Talk to us, we are happy to answer your questions and help you bridge the IP gap.

AV in IP

Audio Visual equipment and IP

We have all seen the trend of IP features inching their way into AV products.  Clients more and more want to be able to control many aspects right from a single interface.  Enter IP, and the possibilities become endless.

IP addressable products mean that an IP interface can control a security camera, dim the lights, watch a movie, turn music on in the kids room all from a single interface, controlled from a single wire.

To the IP professional, control and distribution over a network is second nature.  Such a person thinks it quite normal that hundreds of devices can be monitored and controlled over a single wire — or no wires at all.  The inner workings of time-sliced packets, routing across subnets,  and digital error correction are well known.  But the acoustics of sound, tuning a room, and the ineffable experience of ‘warmth’ in music might be completely baffling.  Can we see how important it is to respect the different worlds of knowledge embodied by the IP nerds and the audio nerds?

With the right merging of knowledge, not only can you create glorious sound but now you can enable your clients to control even more aspects of their home.  Do you remember back when power windows were not “standard issue”?  In the not too distant future we won’t remember when smart home features were not “standard” either.

IP in AV

IP and Audio Visual equipment

As IP becomes more prevalent in the AV world, we are seeing more and more IP experts turned AV dealer.  The skill of IP from the corporate world serves these people well as you transition to a AV dealer, large or small, as long as they find the right expertise in home acoustics and AV electronics.

Fortunately, IP networks are becoming simpler to administer.  Now, it is hard to imagine life without broadband connections and wireless access points in every home and all kinds of products that take advantage of this bandwidth and bring instant gratification to clients old and young alike.  Music is one natural use for such bandwidth.

Combining the two equals success

Becoming a master of  both the finely tuned ear and the finely tuned network will put you in a position to excel.  Add to this  great products that offer ease and flexibility and are engineered with you in mind and an eye towards what your clients will want in the future.  The result; your clients will be delighted at how you truly make the complicated simple.

The makers of the moodSeer audiophile music server are the networking and distribution experts.  We strive to create robust products that exceed your expectations to give you the winning edge.  Talk to us, we are happy to answer your questions and help you bridge the networking gap.

AV in IP

Audio Visual equipment and IP

As an AV dealer there is no doubt you you have been watching even the 2-channel audio market change and develop in surprising ways.  Every day new products hit the market that offer networking features.

Like it or not, the world of AV and the world of IP are becoming more and more closly related.  Ignore it at your own peril.  Most have seen this trend and have prepared for it.  Blessed with well tuned ears, years of experience and great tools they can do the work of tuning home theaters with their eyes closed.  But the challenge of tying in networking features and interoperating with disparate systems is somewhat new.    It is almost as though the 2-Channel world is entering the computer age. 

These tough economic times have hit some dealers right in the pocket book.  Now, more than ever, it pays to integrate even more knowledge to serve your market.  Imagine a 2-Channel dealer who can talk IP.  Who can integrate great music server products to satisfy those lifestyle clients.  The ones who want different music in different rooms and don’t want to keep track of CDs, load CD jukeboxes or even handle those hundreds or thousands of CD again. 

Consider digitizing music and distributing across the home to bring something a little bit different to your clients.

IP in AV

IP and Audio Visual equipment

Combining the old and the new is truly a combination of skill and art.  This unique combination can help you expand your business in good and bad economic times.  Today 2-channel clients want music all through out their home.  You might think of these clients as 2-channel lovers with lifestyle taste.  They want all the quality you have to offer and the experience of immediacy that IP addressable products can offer. 

When you deliver this wonderful WOW experience you can be confident you’ll get a Yes again and again.
 

Combining the two equal success

Becoming a master of  both the finely tuned ear and the finely tune network will put you in a position to excel.  Add to this  great products that offer ease and flexibility and are engineered with you mind.  The result; your clients will be delighted at how you truly make the complicated simple.
 
The makers of the moodSeer audiophile music server are committed to networking standards that make integration easy.  Products that exceed your expectation and a company dedicated to supporting you will give you the winning edge.  Talk to us, we are happy to answer your questions and help you bridge the networking gap.

Tip #61 moodseer Puts You In Control

Today we’ll investigate how encoding and ripping formats can change your listening experience and how open standards guarantee the audiophile experience. Not only formats we use today but formats yet to come.

Music Formats and Closed Systems

Closed Systems – music formats are chosen for you

How does a closed system affect music formats?

In today’s market choice is critical. No one likes to be told what they can or can not have. But, when it comes to music formats and encoding schemes, that is unfortunately the landscape we live in today.

Many closed systems will focus on file encryption, ease of ripping, or even speed of encoding rather than sound quality. Yes, the music can be ripped fast, but does it sound as good as possible?

Lets face it. When you are encoding your music it takes time. You don’t want to spend a large portion of your life ripping your music or pay a small fortune for someone else to do it for you. But what happens when you make compromises in this area? Closed systems can leave you stuck with music that just doesn’t sound as good as it could. Yes, you can add a better equipment but if the file created and the encoding method is not the absolute possible best, you simply won’t get the best sound possible, period!

Why do manufacturers make these choices for you? In a fast paced world everyone wants things fast and your clients are no exception. But, remember, you’ll rip once and listen many, many times. Take the time to learn about the encoding schemes different manufacturers use and support. Don’t get stuck with a “compromise” encoding scheme or even some proprietary method that can’t be changed or moved later.

Music Formats and Open Systems

Open Systems – Flexible Music Format Choices

When all of the components of the system use open standards – you can use up-to-date standards and file formats. As new open formats hit the market, open systems manufacturers will have little or no work to do to support them. And what about open formats that give you better sound quality like variable bit rate encoding (VBR)? Most manufacturers don’t want to talk about VBR encoding schemes because they can take a long time to generate the final file. But, lets face it, you only rip your music once. However, you listen to it many, many, many times. Isn’t it worth a little waiting to offer your clients the optimal file quality? Only an open system will have such flexibility.

Not familiar with VBR encoding schemes? Simply put rather than choose a fixed coding rate for a track the track is examined one time slice at a time and the best encoding method is chosen. Complicated sections will be encoded at a higher bit rate and less complicated sections less so. The end result is a much better quality compressed file and the next best thing to those much larger lossless files.

Be sure to ask about encoding schemes when considering products, you’ll be glad you did.

How Do I Decide?

Choose flexibility and choose a system that can grow with you into the future.

How much music does your client have? What kind of music does your client have. What kind of equipment does your client have. How do they experience music daily. How important is file clarity?

The moodSeer system records your music in both lossless and high-quality VBR MP3 formats. Excellence takes time, patience and persistance. We won’t stop until you have the absolute best music server in the market.

Where music is stored and how it is stored has a significant impact on the audiophile music experience.

Today we’ll investigate how open systems effect getting music not only in but out of your music storage system.

Loading Music and Closed Systems

Closed Systems – each system does its own thing

How does a closed system affect loading music?

Simply put – it depends!  All manufacturers are different of course but some manufacturers make this process easier than others. While there is always a way to get music in the system it might entail something as difficult or time consuming as re-ripping your music!  Some manufacturers offer “load” options to initially bulk load or copy already ripped music but these options might be  hidden from your clients and require extra work on your part.  Getting the music out might be the next problem you encounter.  This could make the music storage choice feel a bit like a roach motel, the music checks in but it never checks out.

You certainly want your clients to be happy and the best solution for each client is different.  When making product suggestions be sure to ask not only about the state of their music collection today but how they use it.  The client with a more static music collection will have very different needs than the client with a fluid collection.

It is important to consider options such as moving music back and forth from an iPod, external libraries of music as well as adding new music from CDs.   The answers to these questions and more will help you determine if the features in a particular closed system will excite or frustrate your clients.

And, finally, if a music storage system is closed – you may need to be involved a little more often to assist with  proprietary control devices, transfer methods, loading or unloading options when clients want to add or change the music on their server.

Loading Music and Open Systems

Open Systems – many systems working together

When all of the components of the system use open standards – you can use everyday standard options to move music.  Create a network drive then drag and drop the music from an old library or storage location to the new library or music storage location.  While drag and drop music copying  might seem like a must have feature be sure to ask.  Only an open system will have such flexibility.

Open systems make training easier as well.  Support of standard features such as Network Addressable Storage devices (NAS) and network addressable servers make system support easier.  With an open system there are no special rules to learn unique to the system.  No proprietary implementation means the rules and process of creating an IP based network are already known and understood.   Communication is easier and copying or moving music is easier as well.  You can even implement standard back up procedures so your clients music is protected and backed up.  You’ll sleep like a baby knowing your client’s music collection is backed up and protected.

We all know those little things that you think should take 5 minutes that inevitably take much longer can begin to nibble away at your margin, ultimately reducing your bottom line.

How Do I Decide?

Choose flexibility and choose a system that can grow with you into the future.

How much music does your client have?  How often does their music collection change?  With open systems – you can create a single remote storage vehicle made up of one or many physical storage mediums that allow your clients to easily manage a large library of music.

We at moodSeer are committed to designing with open standards.  That is why our clients are able to move their music from an internal drive on the moodCenter, to a NAS drive located somwhere on the network to their iPod and back again.  Life can get complicated but your music server choice shouldn’t be.