Possible to send audio over IP to standard amp?

[imported_wazoo]

My computer is in a completely seperate area of my home then my home audio system that feeds the entire house.

I wonder if there is a device that will take audio output, convert it to IP traffic, send it over my LAN, and then take that IP traffic and reconvert it to standard audio near my receiver so I can than plug into my home audio gear.

For example, I have a small box that sits near a remote serial device. My PC runs a little driver that intercepts all outgoing COM traffic and converts it to IP. It then send it to this little box that has its own IP address that sits next to my remote serial device. The box, which has a serial cable and plugs right into serial device, then "decodes" the IP traffic back into serial.

I pretty much need the same thing for my audio output in XP.

Thanks!

Wazoo

 

[wseyller]

Should be possible with the right equipment? I remember reading an article about a modded Microsoft Xbox that you could hook up to the network and play music from a computer.

 

[CSMR]

There exist ethernet USB hubs I think. Then plug in a usb sound card and hope for the best.

 

[CJP]

I don't know how this would apply to you but I do something somewhat similar. I run audio on my pc and broadcast it over ip using a free program from Microsoft called Windows Media Encoder. The audio is broadcasted over wifi from my pc through my wireless 802.11b Linksys Router. I recieve the stream on my back porch with my Ipaq 5550 Pocket PC and Windows Pocket Media Player decodes it. I listen to it out there with headphones but I also listen to it in another room by plugging cheap pc speakers into my Pocket PC instead of headphones. If you could attach your sound system with a minijack (or use pc speakers like mine, only louder) it could work.

 

[crudas]

You need something like this...
Linksys Wireless-B Media Adapter

Zensonic makes a Wireless-G version of the same type of product called the Z400. That one will give you more bandwidth.

 

[Dug]

Or buy a dvd player with and ethernet port on it that can stream the music from you computer. The dvd player just hooks into your receiver like any other dvd player.

 

[Slick5150]

A modded X-box is by far the best solution I've seen.

 

[imported_wazoo]

Well.... this is for a home automation system and thus I need to have the PC send out all the audio; not just MP3's.

Someone has pointed me to a producted called Exstreamer from www.barix.com that I *think* will do what I need. Pretty cool product.

Still checking.

Wazoo

 

[CSMR]

Looks good; it doesn't seem to function as a computer sound card, so I'd check if it can take all the audio output of a computer, not just wavs and mp3s

 

[Dug]

Originally posted by: wazoo
Well.... this is for a home automation system and thus I need to have the PC send out all the audio; not just MP3's.

Someone has pointed me to a producted called Exstreamer from www.barix.com that I *think* will do what I need. Pretty cool product.

Still checking.

Wazoo

Nice little device, but how are you going to browse through folders of music with no display?
Buy a componenet device with some sort of lcd display. Otherwise you have to go back to the computer everytime you want to change songs.

 

[imported_wazoo]

Yeah.... that's the issue.

My thought is if I use an application that turns all my audio output into streaming audio, this device has a mode that seems to accept standard streams.

I've sent off an email to their tech support....

Wazoo

 

[imported_wazoo]

Originally posted by: Dug

Originally posted by: wazoo
Well.... this is for a home automation system and thus I need to have the PC send out all the audio; not just MP3's.

Someone has pointed me to a producted called Exstreamer from www.barix.com that I *think* will do what I need. Pretty cool product.

Still checking.

Wazoo

Nice little device, but how are you going to browse through folders of music with no display?
Buy a componenet device with some sort of lcd display. Otherwise you have to go back to the computer everytime you want to change songs.

I do that through voice recognition on my home automation package. It is VERY cool.

When out by the pool, I pick up the telephone, press 9 to get the computer, and they say "Play artist U2" or "Play album Rattle and Hum" or "Play my 80's songlist".

The software reads the MP3 tags and then plays what I ask.

Works EXCEPTIONALLY well....

Wazoo

 

[Ionizer86]

What about a Turtle Beach AudioTron?

 

[KoolAidKid]

Check out the Media Center by d-link: link.

 

[ViRGE]

There's the Apple Airport Express, although that's just audio from iTunes, not Windows entirely.