[bbaker6212]

I'm interested in comments/feedback from people on the new AudioCurrents.Ning.com site I created about streaming audio/video over WiFi and Powerline Communications (PLC), or Broadband Over Powerline (BPL) as it's sometimes called.

Please, before you blow the idea off as yet another un-necessary/duplicate audio discussion forum... I am not seeking to replace or duplicate AudioCircle content or topics, or any of the other "standard audio" sites.  I am seeking to extend upon "disc-less" or "PC" audio as I feel there is a real need for a differentiated site - as there are very differentiated products in this category.  On normal audio sites I find it too difficult to navigate-to or search through the masses of postings to find information on this narrower topic and related discussions.  Also, the technology is moving fast, and it's obvious to me the existing audio forums are not covering these things very well.  Eg, I found many products, and technologies on the market which are not being discussed on the standard audio forums.  Though I have not had time to write about all of them yet on the site, I will as time goes by.  And I'm hoping others will contribute as I am very interested in learning what else is out there, what works, what doesn't, etc.

please have a look a the couple
of forum posts I made there and Videos I uploaded.

btw, Ning.com get's the revenue from the (arguably annoying) r-side Google ad's. On the other hand, there are no website hosting fees whatsoever so I think it's a good tradeoff.

comments? 

thanks.

[JohnR]

Your link says "This network is by invitation only."

[Crimson]

I am seeking to extend upon "disc-less" or "PC" audio as I feel there is a real need for a differentiated site - as there are very differentiated products in this category.  Also, the technology is moving fast, and it's obvious to me the existing audio forums are not covering these things very well.  Eg, I found many products, and technologies on the market which are not being discussed on the standard audio forums.

comments? 

thanks.

The search function is your friend.

[bbaker6212]

When I first created it, I made it private (by invitation only).  I've been trying to figure out how to change it... open it up as a public site.  I'm having trouble locating where this setting is on Ning's site.  I may need to figure this out tomorrow as I'm out of time.  cheers, -Brad-

[bbaker6212]

found it. Let me see if it works...

Can I change my social network from public to private or vice versa?

You sure can! To switch the privacy setting, sign in to your network, go to your Manage tab and click the "Privacy & Feature Control" link. Once you have chosen your new network privacy setting from the column on the left, click the "Save Settings" button. This process could take a while, especially if you have a lot of content on your network. Be patient and leave your browser window open during the switch. When the process is finished, you will get a message telling you your new settings have been saved.

[bbaker6212]

It looks like it is now public. 
Let me know if you can see the site at audiocurrents.ning.com. 
You can sign up directly at this link.

Currently it is default to allow people to upload pics and videos without my needing to review them.  I hope I will not need to change this.

[bbaker6212]

I am seeking to extend upon "disc-less" or "PC" audio as I feel there is a real need for a differentiated site - as there are very differentiated products in this category.  Also, the technology is moving fast, and it's obvious to me the existing audio forums are not covering these things very well.  Eg, I found many products, and technologies on the market which are not being discussed on the standard audio forums.

comments? 

thanks.

The search function is your friend.

I'm not sure I understand what you mean here.  If you mean the search function on AudioCircle, I did not find it sufficient as my research has uncovered much, much more than what is talked about here.

[JohnR]

So, motivated mostly by curiosity - why you don't post about them here then...?

[bbaker6212]

I have posted about them here in the past.  Yes, I want to learn more about this potentially emerging space of products and technology.  But also, I don't feel this broad range of topics and products fits very well in this one (discless) forum, or any others for that matter.  The closest thing, I think is the PC Audio forum over at the AudioAsylum.  But then forum software being used at AudioCircle, and even more so at AudioAsylum do not have the features I would like... For example, free uploading of pics, videos, etc., and a more graphical presentation than only or mostly text.  AudioAsylum in particular has very limited hyperlinking only.  And then there is so much posting going on in just that one PC forum, with so little of it focused on what I want to focus on.... streaming digital audio/video over a PowerLine network or perhaps in combination with WiFi.  Most of the discussions I see are about the few WiFi media server/streaming products and/or IPod stuff.

For example, if you do a search on AudioAsylum or AudioCircle on the topics of "HomePlug", "HomePlug AV", "PowerLine", or "DLNA", you will find very little.  Heck, even finding out information on FLAC is not too easy on these forums even though there have been many postings about it.  It's there, but it's hard to find because it doesn't have it's own forum category - something like "Digital Music File Formats & Software".  I'm sure there are PC forums somewhere with a separate category for this, but I don't know where they are and then it's not likely on a site that also talks about audio, video, and home audio/video networking.

I'm not sure if I'm communicating clearly what I'm thinking.... ???

Maybe the easier thing to understand is... when I tried to research what was the latest technology and products for utilizing PowerLine Communication (PLC) networking to enable the playing of one's PC based audio in other rooms of the house, I had a heck of a time finding much.  Partly due to so few products out there, but also because there isn't any sites focused on this area.  They are either purely or mostly about PC technology, or they are mostly about standard Audio topics.

If you take a look at the DLNA.ORG site and see the direction the industry seems to be going you might understand my interest.  Really, one interest I have from a user perspective is to unteather my sound system from my PC.  At the moment I only use an integrated USB DAC + AMP connected to my PC which is limited to the 30 or so foot limit of a USB cable.  I would love to be able to have my PC in any room and my audio/video system in any other room.  And btw, my house has brick/concrete walls that severely limits the use of Wifi.

I think the closest thing functionally right now is the Zyxel product.  But it looks very low-fi-ish. I'm not sure it would sound very good connected to an outboard DAC for example.

phew!... I bet you're sorry now you asked now? 

cheers, -Brad-

[bbaker6212]

Perhaps another way to look at it is the Head-Fi.org site.  It is a subset of the audio world that you could have as a single forum category, but they chose to dedicate an entire site to the related subjects.  And home media networking - with all things PC,Ethernet, PowerLine, WiFi, FLAC, etc., is even a broader world that doesn't crossover to well to traditional audio/HiFi discussion sites.

[JohnR]

Hm, yeah but head-fi runs their own site and their own advertising (and therefore revenue).

Anyway, I do see where you're coming from. I've considered ways of making "stand-alone" circles (with sub-circles/forums) but it's not yet been feasible within time/cost constraints. Good luck with it

[woodsyi]

Forgive my ignorance here.  I basically ignored PLC as a mode of file exchange thinking that it may be convenient but it also is susceptible to noise on the power line.  Is my perception wrong?

[bbaker6212]

The reviews I have read show that the latest crop (Homeplug AV) of these devices work very well and that interference problems are greatly reduced over that of years past.  I would think that interference would be possible only if there was "noise" present on the line near the same frequency as what they are using to transmit PLC, which is very high frequency (1.6 to 80 MHz).  I'm not sure what could produce this interference except another PLC device.  But maybe things like CD/DVD players, DAC's, etc., could do it.   How other PLC devices could interfere with each other depends upon your electrical system and how far away your PLC is from, say, your neighbors.

The HomePlug AV standard was designed to provide sufficient bandwidth for applications such as HDTV and VoIP.
Utilizing adaptive modulation on up to 1155 sub-carriers of OFDM (Orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing),
# Can easily adapt to severe channel conditions without complex equalization
# Robust against narrow-band co-channel interference
# Robust against Intersymbol interference (ISI) and fading caused by multipath propagation