Initial TViX comparison with Kaleidescape

Well to start with the TViX and the Kaleidescape is in two completely different leagues but they can still complement each other in some ways. And that was the reason for me to get a TViX setup when I already had a Kaleidescape system that to manage. The TViX is a multipurpose media player and should hopefully eat what ever it's feed with. Kaleidescape on the other hand handles your DVD and CD library for you in a sophisticated way but it doesn't do much else.

What I needed was a simple and not to expensive (compare with Kaleidescape players if you like) media player that could be used and administered by the crew onboard the yacht which I'm currently working on. I wanted to give the users as much freedom as possible while I still had to ensure that the system would continue to work. An option would ofcause been to get a media PC but this felt like it could introduce more troubles and support issues for me than it would ease anything. The solution which I'm currently are trying out is instead a TViX M-6500A player with a QNAP 109 Pro II for content storage.

I initially had some trouble to get the QNAP to install properly on the new drive but a full reset and to start from scratch seams to have getting it all working as expected. When coming from the Kaleidescape with their well described ethernet control protocol it was a bit of a set back to realise that the TViX natively only had IR control. Using a hacked firmware (see http://www.binary-art.net/) I did get some elementary ethernet to IR control over the box, still not quite two-way communication but a step in the right direction. Lets hope that the people at Dvico enables a proper two-way protocol for the TViX shortly, perhaps this could make it into an actual contender with some Kaleidescape installations.

Configurations continue and if everything goes well I might write about my experience as the system starts to get used for real.