I have been looking at media server stuff from a distance for some time but have never been convinced that it was worth the effort in setting up if I ever had enough time to set the thing up in any case. Here in NZ things are a little different and some things are now pushing the desire for some audio and video distribution into a more than just an idea. Back in the UK we had Sky+ for a number reasons that are too numerous to remember but the upshot was that there was no real need for any other devices in the house with similar functionality. There was enough content (and lots of worthless content to go with it) and variety of content coupled with the record and live pause function that anything else added to would be of limited value.

They have a similar (practically the same) system to Sky+ in NZ called MySky. The real issue with MySky for me though is the lack of content from Sky in NZ coupled with the cost of the service. In $ per use it just did not make sense for us. The ability to record one channel while watching another only really works when there is actually something worth watching on more than one channel at the same time. We had no intention of getting Sky when we got here anyway until we found that they have a monopoly on the coverage of F1 plus Kyle was missing some of his favourite cartoons. We now know why Video Rental is still such a big thing here. In fact even Sky admit that there content is limited and point you to an internet DVD rental service to bolster the lack of actual content.

DVD is great compared to video tape for lots of reasons but they are still not damage resistant and they can be rendered useless very easily if not treated properly. Kyle is very good at handling the disks now but they can still be a pain if they get scratched.

I have never really gone with the flow easily and resisted most trends that were happening preferring to find an alternative that is more “open” and flexible. This included things like the iPod, preferring to try more generic mp3 player instead but as time moved along and capacity became available to store more than a handful of tunes I had another look at what was available. It was actually when Gail was going on a business trip to Athens and wanted to take some music on the plane that I began to look more closely at the market again. Gail just wanted something that would work and was not prepared to put up with as many compromises that I would so I bought her a G5 30Gb Video iPod. The build quality was just so much better than most of the alternatives and sometimes it is hard to swim against the tide when the reason is not so clear. I was impressed enough with what I saw that Gail ended up buying me one as well. (duty free of course)

I had never imagined loading up so many tunes onto any portable device before but is does become addictive. Random play and play lists are things I never really thought about much until I started using them but the real feature was just having the stuff available to listen to without the need to dig out a CD. The idea of having a similar capability for watching movies “on demand” without the need to search for the DVD does have a certain appeal. As I said before, the media server solutions is something that I have been keeping an eye on for some time but like the mp3 player market was before the iPod really took hold, this is a very immature and unstable market. The idea of an open source based device that can do it all is a wonderful idea but the support around these devices is rather sparse especially here in NZ. I have found a number of suitable candidates http://www.tvix.co.kr/Eng/products/5100sh.aspx and http://www.tomacro.com/english/index.htm but there is always a niggling doubt that by the time you get it all set up it will be out of support or there will be problems that are just not going to go away. If there were local suppliers of these devices then I would not be so reluctant to take the plunge but I have spent too many hours trying to make things work that were just plain broke! The http://www.apple.com/nz/appletv may have a limited subset of the capabilities of these media server devices but it does have a more robust support model and it may just do the job.

The trial is still under way but the proximity of an Apple Shop a 5 minute walk from the office is not really helping to keep it a fair trial.