The Vulkano Flow is the latest version of the Vulkano product line, and represents a simplification of the feature set to focus on “place shifting” (streaming) of live television while greatly simplifying the setup of the device and software. I reviewed a pre-release version of the Flow, so there may be very minor differences in the final software, although any differences should be minor. The Flow, like the other products in the Vulkano line, take advantage of the analog loophole in the modern digital era of television. Livestation for mac. Monsoon Multimedia >> Monsoon Multimedia provides advanced, standards-based multimedia products and convergence technologies for the PC, Mac, iPad, tablets and major smartphones. Monsoon Multimedia was founded in 2004 by a team of digital video pioneers and serial entrepreneurs with a track record of launching successful startup companies in the growing digital video space. To use it, you’ll need a set top box (either cable or, satellite) that outputs component or composite analog versions of whatever it’s receiving. If you’ve got that, you’re good to go with the Flow. Inside The Box The Flow consists of the unit itself, the required cables to hook it up, and a quick start guide. The Flow unit is 16″ by 5″ by about 1″ high, and lacks any buttons or controls other than a reset button on the side – I’ll cover install & setup in the next section. First, let’s take a closer look at the Flow. The front left has the power/status LED on top: Green means good, variations of blinking or solid Red means it’s either in setup mode or having some issue. On the front left edge is one of the strongest IR blasters I’ve ever seen (again, more on that later!). Monsoon Vulkano PlayerAround on the left side is a USB port and a mysterious reserved thing. I’m not sure what the USB port will end up being used for – at least at this point there doesn’t seem to be any way to use it. Perhaps in the final or future release it will have some use. The right side has nothing on it, while the back gets all the glorious analog jacks: You’ve got composite and component inputs and outputs, along with an Ethernet port and the jack for the extended IR Blasters. At a minimum you need to attach just the composite (Video/L/R) cable up, for standard definition analog video sources. If you have a High Definition component source, you’ll hook up both the HD and the L/R audio connections. Vulkano For MacThis means the Flow only does stereo audio, no matter what your source. The Analog Loophole (Installing the Flow) One side effect of the Digital world is the increasing difficulty in capturing/recording or otherwise redirecting the content that you receive. For example, most cable operators no longer provide clear QAM transmission of any but the over-the-air channels they rebroadcast. Likewise, the use of HDMI makes for easy component interconnect, and the loss of the ability to record (except in rare cases) anything that’s transmitted over that connection. The Flow gets around this via the last loophole available – and one that might be harder to come by in the future. It uses analog outputs (component, or composite) and encodes those on the fly, generating a high quality stream over the network. So, hooking it up is a matter of taking the analog out from your set top box into the Flow: I’ve pulled out the boxes so you can see the resulting mess!
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |