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Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
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144124-denon_avr_4311ci.jpg


Engadget reports that rolling out AirPlay support for some home stereo equipment vendors may be as simple as deploying a firmware update for compatible equipment already on the market. The music portion of AirPlay allows users to wirelessly stream music, including details such as song titles, artists, album names, elapsed and remaining time, and album artwork, to compatible devices around the home. The technology will also be utilized in iOS 4.2 to allow users to push video and photo content from their iOS devices to other compatible devices such as the Apple TV.
Denon's admittedly pricey AVR-4311CI -- which was introduced in late April -- may very well end up being the first major product to gain iTunes AirPlay compatibility retroactively. Yeah, retroactively. According to an updated product listing, the AVR will see a "planned upgrade" in the fall of 2010 that will "provide Apple iTunes AirPlay compatibility [that will let you] stream your favorite music to the AVR-4311CI."
The Denon AVR-4311CI receiver retails for $1999 and offers an array of features including existing networking support for Rhapsody, Napster, and Pandora streaming, as well as access to PC-based photo, video, and music content. From the updated information on Denon's site, it seems that the hardware is already in place to support Apple's AirPlay streaming, with only a firmware update of some sort required to flip the switch on it.

Article Link: Denon Set to Roll Out AirPlay on Existing Home Stereo Equipment
 

techapocalypse

macrumors member
Aug 9, 2010
50
0
Just a little over budget. Nonetheless great to know that it can be added to already released players. Now we need everyone to email these companies and make this a standard feature...
 

hugodrax

macrumors 65816
Jul 15, 2007
1,217
609
Wow 2 Grand for a made in Asia product with 40-50 bucks worth of components slapped together and a buck fifty worth of labor.
 

cRuNcHiE

macrumors 6502a
Jan 2, 2007
778
46
Do their receivers already come with ethernet/wifi then?

What purpose does networking serve on them already?
 

NebulaClash

macrumors 68000
Feb 4, 2010
1,810
0
Apple just unleashed a great business opportunity in the audio equipment market. Look for AirPlay ads all over the place.
 

ArtOfWarfare

macrumors G3
Nov 26, 2007
9,541
6,027
Do their receivers already come with ethernet/wifi then?

What purpose does networking serve on them already?

offers an array of features including existing networking support for Rhapsody, Napster, and Pandora streaming,

Evidently the same hardware used to make those features work can be used to offer firmware updates.
 

tkermit

macrumors 68040
Feb 20, 2004
3,581
2,833
Good for the people who already own it or were set on buying it already. For everybody else:

You either buy this for $2000....or simply add a $99 Airport Express (providing bit-perfect digital audio output) to your existing stereo - which you have been able to do for 6 years now. Hmmm...Let me think that over.
 

ArcaneDevice

macrumors 6502a
Nov 10, 2003
766
186
outside the crazy house, NC
Good for the people who already own it or were set on buying it already. For everybody else:

You either buy this for $2000....or simply add a $99 Airport Express (providing bit-perfect digital audio output) to your existing stereo - which you have been able to do for 6 years now. Hmmm...Let me think that over.

Except nobody buys an AVR for one function and nobody buys a Denon at this price point just so they can stream audio from iTunes.

They buy it to output the audio from multiple sources, to multiple speakers in multiple sound formats. In addition to video conversion.
 

pooryou

macrumors 65816
Sep 28, 2007
1,329
63
NorCal
Damn no love for the Denon AVR-3808CI?

Oh well I already have Airport Express anyway, not sure there is any real advantage.
 

jettredmont

macrumors 68030
Jul 25, 2002
2,731
328
Wow 2 Grand for a made in Asia product with 40-50 bucks worth of components slapped together and a buck fifty worth of labor.

... and a wealth of audio engineering and experience, yes.

You sound like a Windows guy grousing that a Mac is made up of $1500 in parts and sold for $2500. You gotta pay for the R&D somehow, and "slapped together" is hardly accurate when it comes to top names like Denon (or Apple) (though of course results may vary depending on the specific product).

Denon has a good name out there for audiophiles. If I were one of them, I'm sure I'd think $2000 for this receiver was a pretty good deal, just like I think $2k for my iMac was a damned good deal.

In any case, to the point of the story: if you're a top-notch hardware manufacturer and you already have the hardware in the box to support something like this, it's good that you respect your customers enough to upgrade the product to support it.

That having been said, I'm no major audiophile, so a $99 AppleTV or Airport Express is more my style :).
 

sjo

macrumors 6502a
Aug 30, 2005
510
0
AirPlay support for some home stereo equipment vendors may be as simple as deploying a firmware update for compatible equipment already on the market.

No real surprise that the upgrade is simple firmware upgrade since the Denon AVR-4311CI already supports DLNA, a standard that does what airplay does and much more. And with lots of devices supporting it already available.

Apple just had to again"innovate" their own proprietary interface to do something that has been widely available in the markets for years.
 

Eauboy

macrumors regular
Jan 28, 2008
148
27
Washington, DC
Also, kudos to Denon for adding features to a product they've already sold, as opposed to making shoppers buy the latest version.
 

LagunaSol

macrumors 601
Apr 3, 2003
4,798
0
Bummer, just as I feared: high-end models only. :( Guess I'll stick with my Denon AVR-1910 and Airport Express (or get an Apple TV for $99).
 

mattster16

macrumors 6502a
Apr 18, 2004
743
489
C'mon Denon no love for the $499 AVR-790? Pretty please, I want this!! Too bad there's no usb/ethernet/any way to update the firmware. On a side note, wow Denon really bastardized their most recently released receivers...glad I got the previous model.
 

JPark

macrumors 6502a
Jun 5, 2006
662
158
No real surprise that the upgrade is simple firmware upgrade since the Denon AVR-4311CI already supports DLNA, a standard that does what airplay does and much more. And with lots of devices supporting it already available.

Apple just had to again"innovate" their own proprietary interface to do something that has been widely available in the markets for years.

I've tried using DLNA with devices purchased within the last year and a half. It sucked. Not in the "It was a pain to get it to work" sense, but in the "It was a pain to figure out that it wasn't going to work" sense. Maybe it's improved since then, but I have a lot of doubts about that "standard."
 

phlavor

macrumors member
Jul 23, 2002
31
0
While I find the integration cool, at this point it is far more economical to add an AppleTV to an existing AV Receiver than to buy one with wireless functionality.

What I would rather see companies like Denon and Onkyo doing is rolling out AV Receivers with wifi control interfaces and iOS remote applications.
 

tkermit

macrumors 68040
Feb 20, 2004
3,581
2,833
Except nobody buys an AVR for one function and nobody buys a Denon at this price point just so they can stream audio from iTunes.

They buy it to output the audio from multiple sources, to multiple speakers in multiple sound formats. In addition to video conversion.

Very true of course. My comparison was definitely unfair.

I'm just a bit baffled by the recent general excitement about the airTunes part of AirPlay. It has simply been rebranded and has existed for a long time already. Of course it's convenient to have it integrated now into products and I commend Apple for their efforts to cooperate with manufacturers of stereo equipment, but it remains to be seen what effect this will have on the price, reliability and usability of the forthcoming products.

Personally, when buying expensive stereo components, I like to separate functionality as much as possible. So, I'd actually rather add an APX+DAC to a separate amplifier, which seems like more of a high-end solution to me, than to have it all integrated into one product. I also try not to buy stereo equipment with integrated iPod docks (unless it's explicitly and solely for the purpose of iPod-listening), because I'm not wholly convinced that it will be a lasting standard, and by "lasting" I mean decades, not years. Seems more sensible to me to connect an external one to the stereo.
 
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