BeoPort
| Product : | BeoPort |
|
| Produced from : | 2005 - Present | |
| Designed by : | ———————– | |
| Finish : | Black | |
| Desirability : | 3 |
If you have your own computer connected to the World Wide Web a whole new world awaits the Bang & Olufsen user. Computers are equally useful for storing complete music collections and for listening to Internet stations online. But Bang & Olufsen invented a simple solution to facilitate what is normally undertaken on a computer, but around your house. Their invention is named BeoPort which is a compact box that forms a physical interface between a computer and a music system to easily and conveniently distribute Internet radio and music files around the house via Beolink.
By using a Beo4 remote control in a Link Room one can gain access to all of these files as though the computer were in the same room.
BeoPort and the BeoPlayer software were both designed by Bang & Olufsen software engieers to make all of this simple. Using newer B&O systems like BeoSound 4 and BeoCenter 2 - which may be linked to a computer and the Internet - BeoPort brings Internet radio into any room into a house, controlled via a Beo4 terminal which shows tracks or station information in its display.
The BeoPort link goes both ways. Once the connection has been made, a computer may access and control these modern Bang & Olufsen sources: receive video signals and display them on a computer screen or choose the audio source and preferred volume while working; watch TV on the computer, just as you would anywhere else in the house.
The BeoPlayer interface is familiar from the Beo4 remote control, so the mouse and keyboard may be used instead. And for the final touch in integration, an infrared receiver may be connected to BeoPort in order to control a computer with the Beo4 remote control terminal.
BeoPort was formerly known as BeoLink PC2 (see below).
BeoPort types:
Tip: When using BeoLab 3 with BeoPort pins 2 and 7 are required to be short-circuited in the Power Link cable which is used to connect to BeoPort
Version history - BeoPort
Version 4.83
New features include:
Based on market feedback after the release of version 4.82, a number of issues and errors have been corrected
Version 4.82
New features include:
Based on market feedback after the release of version 4.81, a number of issues and errors have been corrected
Version 4.81
New features include:
Windows XP SP3 compatible
Based on market feedback after the release of version 4.80, a number of issues and errors have been corrected
Version 4.80
New features include:
Windows Vista SP1 compatible
Windows XP SP2 compatible
Version 4.65
New features include:
Music covers introduced in N.Music and PcCd
Retrieval of music covers in PcCd
Retrieval of music covers and meta data in N.Music (requires selected Bang & Olufsen products)
Integration and transfer of music to Serenata and BeoSound 6
Version 4.61
New features include:
It is now possible to select the playback scope in N.MUSIC, either to play tracks within a particular group/folder or to playback in all groups/folders
A number of faults have been corrected, among others:
When playing back videos in PHOTO, the aspect ratio might be wrong.
After update from previous version to version 4.54, an exception might occur.
Thumbnails in PHOTO are not saved on cache, and therefore re-generated every time the PHOTO source is started.
The update notification shown after a software update might occur more than once per software update
Version 4.54
Based on market feedback after the release of version 4.50, a number of issues and errors have been corrected. Primarily concerning content in playlists and error messages when starting the different sources N.MUSIC, N.RADIO and PHOTO
Version 4.50
New features include:
N.RADIO information is now send out on MasterLink, so multiple display line audio masters, such as BeoCenter 2 and BeoSound 4, will show information on the playing N.RADIO station
Further video functionality in the PHOTO source has been added, such as cue and skip in videos
New video engine in PHOTO, improving performance and stability
The possibility to select whether slideshow in PHOTO should run only within the current group of photos or within the complete collection.
Improved handling of medias when used in connection with the BeoMedia 1.
Support for the music format AAC in N.MUSIC, when used in connection with the BeoMedia 1.
A number of faults have been corrected, among others:
Fault where an error dialog could arise during firmware update has been corrected
If a defective BeoPort box is found during firmware update, a dialog is shown stating that “The connected BeoPort box can not be firmware updated, possibly due to a defect in the box. Please contact your local retailer for assistance.”
A fault where BeoPort in option 2 could cause an error dialog while switching between the N.RADIO and N.MUSIC sources has been corrected.
In seldom cases, the Genre tag in N.MUSIC was not displayed properly for .mp3 files.
Version 4.01
Product name changed from BeoLink PC2 to BeoPort
New features include:
New N.RADIO source introduced, offering more than 3000 internet radio stations from around the world. This new source is also distributable throughout the BeoLink system
New PHOTO source introduced, enabling easy organisation of digital images and video clips from digital cameras
BeoMedia 1 compatible, offering the possibility to handle medias and playlists on BeoMedia 1
N.MUSIC tags distributed through BeoLink. This gives the possibility to obtain information on the current playing track on a Bang & Olufsen music system with multiple display lines, such as BeoCenter 2
Audible feedback, when operating the sources N.MUSIC and N.RADIO through the BeoLink system
Source names changd to be in accordance with new Beo4 source names
Following faults has been corrected:
New firmware to address possible stability problems on Master Link
Version 3.10
New features include:
Possibility to drag in music files and folders to N.MUSIC, allowing selective adding af music
Added support for the two graphics/tuner cards Hercules All In Wonder 8500 and Sapphire All In Wonder 9000
Following faults has been corrected:
New music playback engine with improved stability and compatibility
USB connection stability improved, e.g. causing the error message “USB transmission timeout” to appear
Switching user on Windows XP could cause the BeoLink PC 2 to fail
Screensaver being activated on Windows XP while N.MUSIC or PC CD were playing, could cause an error
N.MUSIC or PC CD could stop responding and be using 100% CPU time, in connection with special software plugins
Running non-administrator mode on Windows 2000 or Windows XP could result in an empty music database
An error could occur when activating N.MUSIC from a link room with BeoLink PC 2 in option 2
The USB driver installation could stop responding or ask user to connect the device even if this was allready connected
Several minor error corrections
Version 3.02
New features include:
Added support for TV tuner card HaupPauge WinTV PCI with the new 881 decoder chip
Microsoft WHQL approved driver for Windows XP included
Following faults has been corrected:
Error where registration could take a long time to determine a missing internet connection corrected
Version 3.00
New features include:
Support for Windows XP (Functionality OK, Microsoft WHQL approval pending)
Support of tuner card HaupPauge WinTV PCI
New and easier way of copying music CD´s to harddrive and BeoSound 2, using drag and drop
Possibility to view and edit CDDB information of a playing CD before copying
Copy directly from a music CD to BeoSound 2 now possible
Now possible to select different copying quality when copying from CD to hard drive and from CD to BeoSound 2
Playback while copying from CD
Possibility to set whether the source PC should turn on when BeoLink PC 2 is started
Localised language versions of the On-screen Guide. Languages available are:
- English (UK)
- Danish
- French
- German
- Italian
- Dutch
- Spanish
- Swedish
- English (US)
- Spanish (US)
- French (CDN)
- Japanese
Following faults has been corrected:
“COM server warning” or locked operating system on Windows 2000 when shutting down the PC while BeoLink PC 2 is active
Various errors in connection with suspend mode and BeoLink PC 2
The BeoLink PC 2 could jam the MasterLink causing it to react slow or not respond at all
Faulty or missing detection af TV tuner card in CONFIG
It could occur, that tracks being copied to hard drive were tagged with the wrong information on e.g. title and artist
BeoLink PC 2 caused a fatal error if a file with no name and no tag information was found during SCAN
Recording errors on some specific CD-ROM drives corrected
On Windows 98 with Internet explorer 4.x or 5.0 an errormessage could occur saying “Not registered. Your BeoPlayer won´t work”. Now an explanation on how to resolve the problem is given
Version 2.21
When recording a CD with PC CD, the tag information were not written to the WMA files in the previous version 2.20. This issue is corrected in version 2.21.
Version 2.20
The following faults have been corrected:
Recording error where the display reads REC ERR could arise in PC CD in connection with a specific type of CDrom drive
Music files sometimes not found during Scan in N.MUSIC, if the files are placed in the root of the drive (E.g. C:\)
Music files not found during Scan in N.MUSIC if the system attibute is set
Wav-files not found during Scan in N.MUSIC
Installation could hang during the step ´USB driver installation´
Registration fails to find internet connection, even if available
Different error messages could occur during installation on japanese Windows XP
Version 2.1
The new features include:
New WMA codec 8 that enables you to record music at a lower bitreate for same quality. It is now also possible to encode in 64, 80, 96, 128, 160 and 192kbps.
Support of download of music to MP3/WMA hardware players. BeoLink PC 2 support players with WMDM interface. The following players have been tested:
- BeoSound 2
- Iomega Hip Zip
- Thomson Lyra
- Microtech Zio!
- Frontier Labs Nex II (No support in Windows 2000 and XP)
- Creative Digital Audio Player JukeBox
- Rio 800
Stand-by funtion have been changed. If PC goes into stand-by (suspend mode), N.Music will keep playing (however battery operated PC´s will continue to close down N.Music).
Drag out functionality introduced
Default recording quality is now set to 64Kbps
Forgotten username functionality added to registration
The following faults have been corrected:
Activation of triangles for operation bar and play list improved, and corners of the screen have been made “triangle free” area
Progress bar added to track name in all lists
New improved tagger introduced
Random improved
Version 1.1
New features include:
Support of tuner card ATI TV Wonder
Functionality for North America
Improved support for Suspend mode
Listen-in when pressing play on BeoLab 2000 (Option 2)
Mix mode functionality changed (simplified)
Following faults has been corrected:
Bad sound on PAL I (UK) on link frequency
Mute on headphones
USB problems in connection with Windows 98 gold
Improved TV picture quality
Version 1.01
Fault corrections:
Periodically a fault message could occur: “Communication error” and the operating bar could get stuck. N.Music would not be available from other rooms
When shutting PC down, while BeoLink PC 2 application was still active, periodically there could come a “COM server warning”
Version 1.0: First official release
Version 0.9: Prelaunch version for selected Bang & Olufsen retailers
