Exstreamer

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Contemporary Exstreamer, front view

Exstreamer Digital, an older model, available only in USA. Rear view.

Exstreamer Wireless, front view. Not produced anymore. Could be connected wireless using a PCMCIA slot which is on the rear side.

The first Exstreamer model, not produced anymore

Exstreamer is a hardware IP audio streaming player created by Swiss company Barix AG. A small fanless aluminium box powered by wall adapter receives a data stream from an Ethernet cable and outputs the sound into a headphone or line out. The operation can be controlled by a web interface from a web browser.

[edit] Features

• Playback only, no recording; stereo
• MP3, WMA, G.711
• RTP, HTTP, TCP, UDP, SMB and USB mass storage
• 100 Mbps Ethernet, DHCP

[edit] Web interface

Screenshot of web interface of an Exstreamer playing from a single short playlist

The unit has an EEPROM inside that stores the configuration. The configuration can be changed through a web browser and reverted to factory default. The same way firmware can be upgraded or configuration reverted to the factory default. A text page with monitoring printout is included too that can be used for automated parsing.

[edit] BRTP

Apart from standardized protocols, Exstreamer can play one nonstandard one - BRTP. BRTP is RTP with a simple non-standard extension. The listener sends one UDP datagram to the source to subscribe to RTP stream. Apart from being able to subscribe to the stream easily, the advantage of the BRTP is that the subscription packet punches a back channel through most NATs. BRTP can be served by Instreamer.

[edit] External Links

• Product homepage
• Exstreamer discussion group on Yahoo
• Review of old Exstreamer at Dan's Data
• Review of contemporary Exstreamer by a broadcasting technician
• Review of Exstreamer Wireless at LANParty.com