Hi All

This is my first post, so please treat me gently!

I would like to make sure that my wife is kept happy with the B&O multimedia setup in our house.

We currently have a BeoVision 7-40 and BeoMedia 1 in the lounge which is linked to a BeoSound 3000 and BeoLab 3500 in the kitchen.

My wife finds it cumbersome to choose what MP3 she wants to listen to in the kitchen by either (a) walking into the lounge and turning on the TV, etc. or (b) using the Beo4 at the 3500 with trial and error.

What she would like is some way of "seeing our music as a list" (to quote her) on the BeoMedia, choosing it and then hearing it on the 3500 in the kitchen.

How could this be done, either with B&O equipment or 3rd party product? 

Is it possible to use a computer touch screen, or an iPhone to scroll through and select a track and have it play?

It needs to be as easy as possible to use (no offence meant) and reliable.

I await your comments.

Thanks...

Another B&O TV in the kitchen? I know it then defeats the point of the BL3500

EDIT: Or if your collection doesnt change often, a beo5 with the direct album commands programmed in...

Hi Paul, and welcome! By using B&O equipment this is not possible with your setup. Computer touch screen panels are available (ex. Crestron or similar), but very costly to just want to control your music. A product to look into is Kaleidescape if you decide to control both music (CD's), and your DVD library. Works fantastic with both Beo4 and Beo5 remotes, and allows you to also create playlists. However, when listening to your music in a link room with only speakers, you will still find the problem of not being able to view a song list. Another suggestion is using a laptop that you may already have, and purchasing BeoPort / BeoPlayer.

I hope this info helps you, good luck!

Regards,

Paul

timhanna:

Another B&O TV in the kitchen? I know it then defeats the point of the BL3500

Yes, another B&O TV is an obvious choice, but didn't really want to fork out the £3000 and have a TV that is too big (we have a neat 15" at the moment) and make more holes in the wall for the link cable plus wall bracket!

timhanna:

EDIT: Or if your collection doesnt change often, a beo5 with the direct album commands programmed in...

Unfortunately, we are adding new music all the time...

...thanks for your suggestions.
 

Yes, the B&O shop gave me a demo of Kaleidescape which was gorgeous, but my wallet (and my wife) cannot stretch to that at the moment.

My wife has the BeoPlayer software on her laptop already, so how does this BeoPort work?

At the moment she can play a song from the BeoMedia to the laptop speakers via wireless, but if we could make the music go to the 3500 in the kitchen by using the BeoPort that would be fantastic and the problem would be solved!

I use an Apple Airport Express.  I have one per receiver (B&O and non-B&O).  The Airport plugs into the AUX socket.  This allows me to stream music directly from iTunes (we have one computer that acts as a central iTunes library) to any or all of the systems.  My wife is able to control the music selection from her iPhone.  If you set the volume loud on the receiver, you can then use the iTunes volume control to manage volume as well.

-Rob 

Since you have both, BS3000 and BL3500 I would consider Sonos and put my music on a nas.

The upcoming BS5 may also work for you .... prob too expensive .budget solution even cheaper then sonos would be an Apple TV with an Ipod Touch as a remote.  

Agree with the above - the sonos system works very well ( albeit with limits) but with a £10 subscription to Napster, you have (almost) limitless access to millions of songs.

Apple gives you options to use B&O remote control ( subject to products owned and specific set up ) but sonos has its own dinky little controller, that also shows cover art, and works fine via A.AUX

 Official line - wait for Bsnd 5 - stop gap solution, get sonos.

Best Regards

David  

Hi everyone and thank you all for your replies.

I have been playing around with a few options;

1) I bought £5 worth of audio leads and plugged them into the 5-pin DIN socket on the back of the BeoSound 3000, then selected A.AUX on the Beo4 and streamed music from the wife's laptop. Hey! It works and she can use the (I think gorgeous) BeoPlayer software, but it means a cable hanging from the kitchen unit shelf. Not pretty. Still, it proves the theory, so now we need something neater such as...

2) Buy a USB digital audio transmitter which plugs into the laptop and its receiver sits behind the BeoSound 3000.

3) Buy an Apple iTouch and use an FM transmitter while it sits neatly on a Dock charging.

I rather like the Apple / FM transmitter idea, now I just need to buy the wife a nice iPhone for her birthday in a month... hhmm.

What do you people think?

Great! I just got my iPhone last week, and I am "hooked"! It's amazing, but one warning: If you have kids, dont let them use it! They will also get "hooked"!!!

Regards,

Paul

Have you thought about using a non B&O tv in the kitchen and tuning a channel ie 6 into the link frequency and then every time you switch the 3500 on it will turn the modulator on and bring the picture through to the tv.

enabling you to see what your doing while controlling it on the bl3500

Kokane81:

Have you thought about using a non B&O tv in the kitchen and tuning a channel ie 6 into the link frequency and then every time you switch the 3500 on it will turn the modulator on and bring the picture through to the tv, enabling you to see what your doing while controlling it on the bl3500.

Ooo, sounds interesting - tell me more!

Sorry, I am not a B&O guru - when you say "link frequency" do you mean that there is some sort of broadcast that goes through the aerial cables? What should I see when I try and tune in my kitchen TV - the same picture like the BeoMedia interface?!

 

yeah basically!

This will mean whatever you can pull through on 3500 which would have a picture (Sky, dvd, pc etc) would be able to be seen on the tv in the kitchen via the link frequency

If you goto the Beovision 7 and press tv on remote then goto menu and then goto tuning there should be an option saying link frequency (if i remember correctly this is usually factory set at 599) this will show you the frequency it is on, this can be changed by using the arrows on the remote.

Then goto the other tv and tune into the frequency it says on the B&O tv.

If for some reason the picture is poor change the link frequency on the B&O tv and re tune the kitchen tv.

Repeat the process until you get a good pic.

NOTE

The only thing you will need to do is take an aerial feed from the Link out (modulator) from the B&O tv to the other tv. if you do this it will mean you wont get normal tv pictures or freeview on the tv.

You will get Sky, Virgin, freeview if it is attached to the B&O tv via scart a this will come down link frequency as well. plus you will still be able to control it via 3500

 hope this makes sense