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Build Your Own Set Top Box
Kon writes "There is a lot of talk lately about how Divx and other type codecs will spawn a new industry upsurge in the manufacturing of player hardware. But what is the purpose of buying hardware when you can build your own? The only limitation is the software, but projects like Media-BOX and the Divx Project will hopefully change this ;-). And why stop with Divx, when you could potentially use this cheap home-made box to handle everything from games to HDTV (via HD tuner board) to Mp3s? Food for thought." Media-Box is Windows only, but its a long ways along. And that divx site, well, I can't read it. But this stuff is looking really excellent. I'm still itching for the Linux equivelant. I wrote a decent MP3 wrapper, but still want the online browser/tivo/mp3/dvd box. Its inevitable, but it won't happen soon enough.
Ok, first off you're going to need some sand. Lots of sand. .18 microns or below. You may have to try a few times to get this right.
Next get some bauxite ore and some copper ore. We're going to use aluminum interconnects, so the copper will only be used for the motherboard.
First off, take the sand and use it to form a silicon wafer 12 inches in diameter. (Note, previous versions of this howto specified 8 inch wafers - these will work, but your cost/chip will be much higher.
Next, purify the bauxite ore to create an ingot of pure alluminum.
Ok, now we're ready to create the general purpose microprocessor at the heart of our set top box. Using the alluminum, the wafer, a magnifying glass and a laser pointer, create a 6 issue wide superscalar 64 bit microprocessor with at least 256 KB of l2 cache. For best results, try to keep the feature size at
Be sure to have a very clean environment for this as microprocessor cores are very succeptible to dust. Your garage is not suitable unless you give it a thorough cleaning first.
Now that you have the microprocessor, the next step is to package it. It is important to use a pin grid array rather than a ball grid array as you may wish to upgrade the processor later.
*rest of guide clipped for space reasons, but you can get the latest version from the linux documentation project.*
--Shoeboy
Checkout http://www.indrema.com This looks like what you want!
Antec KS780 for the case. It's a black desktop ATX case.
At this point I'm a little wary of setting this all up on Linux. It seems like it would only take a few hours to do it on Win9X since all of the software and drivers are already written. But eventually I want to write a sort of 'front-end' that has a main menu of functions like DVD, MP3, CD audio, Web browsing, TiVo, and of course, my collection of emulated games. I'd be glad to contribute to your project and to help in any way that I can so this thing can become a reality. I don't want to have to run this all on Windows.
---- Just another spud server.
P3-600
Abit BE-6
256MB PC-100
WD 40GB HDD
3Com 3C905B Fast Ethernet Adapter
ATI AIW Radeon DDR
Sound Blaster Live! MP3+
Philips MMS205 Speaker System (not the best I know)
Generic 4x DVD
Philips 4x CD-RW
Wireless Multimedia ready Keyboard (CompUSA speacial)
Logitech Optical wheel mouse
Windows 98SE (shut up)
Here's the kicker.......
3M MP7730 DLP Projector!
The AIW Radeon gives me the PVR features of the setop box. It also uses the Gemstar guide info that comes in with the cable signal to give me an onscreen guide, effortless recording and Reminders. The DVD is self explanatory, I hope. The Radeon does DVD playback wonderfully and The 3D performance is spectacular!
This little ever changing beauty is connected to a 240GB Media server running Linux 2.4 that's in the bedroom, as well as a fast internet connection. The setup is awesome. All my friends were at my digs sunday for the game and the thing had not one problem. We sometimes get together on weekends, get stoned and cruise Atomfilms and other broadband content sites (Yahoo's broadcast.com has been broken for months and that sucks).
I like it.
rattid,
:)
the gf2 and the radeon both have very advanced hdtv decoding capabilities. There is still a need for a tuner which a separate company makes.
This is what i was told when I was at the pre-launch briefing for the geforce2 last spring. If you look on reference gf2's, you'll see a header that is designed to attach to a tuner breakout board.
hope this helps. i would have emailed it to you but there is no address listed.
Hi,
I've been hunting high and low for a decent, small box-sized PC-compatible computer for about a year now. Trouble is, here in Germany it is close to impossible to get one unless you are willing to pay about 3 to 4 times the price of a normal computer with similar components.
- I first tried to build the box with a normal desktop case, but not only was it ugly, it was also quite loud. My dream machine is a PC-compatible system that looks like a stereo component and that is silent.
- vanilla, plain set top box hardware is hard to get in Germany if all you want is a quantity of "one".
- those few set top boxes being sold are proprietary and come with long-term contracts, so hacking them is not an option. We did not have an "iOpener" happening here, yet.
- there are very few "small" computers on sale over here. Those you can get usually are "thin clients" like the Dell Onmiplex or the Compaq Desktop iPaq that are not equipped with a TV out.
- Looking at its specs, the Multitainer is my dream machine, but it appears to have been a massive failure. I tested it at my local electronics store and it had a lot of stability problems. Also, it is curious that I cannot get a *new* machine anywhere in Hamburg (one of the major German cities). The few stores that want to sell the Multitainer all have "returned" devices from unsatisfied customers - still for a price tag of 1000 to 1250 dollars.
- I once had a hold on a bki810 computer. It was really nice, except that a) it was not upgradable with more recent CPUs and b) its TV out was sub-par. But my main problem: It was LOUD! It had the noise level of a vacuum cleaner! I tried to replace the fans, but no chance: Local electronics stores did not offer silent fans for that size...
- I've phoned down the local listing of office suppliers for small computers, but none could help me.
- I've also checked the very popular electronics classifieds, the local German eBay-style sites etc. Noone seems to sell used hardware.
After all these attempts, my summary of the problems with "build your own set-top box" is:
* Normal PC hardware is too loud. And surprisingly, some thin clients are, too.
* Few thin clients have a TV out or can be equipped with one.
* Those few thin clients that have a TV out offer a lousy picture quality, usually off-centered or not full-screen on a PAL TV. Yes, I've tried several TV out cards and none of them could come near my very cheap DVD player's TV out. Is it really that difficult?
All in all, I just wish the Multitainer would have been better. It's everything you'd need: Standard PC hardware components and a clever combination of stereo and video connectors. But apparently, it had engineering problems.
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You may like my a cappella music
VFAT is being used. It *is* limiting me to 2gig files. Get a clue, man!
FAT 2GB
VFAT 4GB
It starts off with the fact that I can't install win98 without having linux around. Win98 wants to be the only OS on my box.
Windows overwrites the MBR, yes, and that sucks, but if you have a linux boot disk you can easily drop lilo back on to the MBR edit a couple of files and WHAMMO! Dual-Boot! Or better yet, buy an el-cheapo machine and a KVM and use them both at the same time whithout needing to reboot.
Well, DUH! But I don't want all these boxes in my livingroom -- I don't have room for it all. My "entertainment center" is full with a TV, DVD player (doubling as CD player), VCR, and receiver. I'd love to play computer games on the TV, but to fit in a computer something else has to go. I see no reason why the DVD/CD player and VCR can't both be replaced by a computer. Make me a "TiVo-type consumer box" that will play and record CDs and DVDs, record and playback TV programs a-la TiVo, act as an MP3 jukebox, play computer games on the TV, do e-mail or any other software -- and I'll buy it. Nobody makes such a box, and I know of nobody who's planning one -- at any price. The Quantum QuickView certainly won't do all that -- but a homebuilt will!
If all this should have a reason, we would be the last to know.
PCChips motherboards are the bane of installfests everywhere. The PCChips Consortium is a loose affiliation of the worst manufacturers in Taiwan and in the People's Republic of China. Example member: Amptron. They are responsible for hideous abortions like the VXPro chipset, the VXTwo chipset, the TXTwo chipset, ad nauseam.
During a period when I was trying to find a SANE bitty box, I came across ASUS' version. It doesn't come cheap, and it's hard to find, but it's based on the solid-as-a-rock Intel BX chipset and has either a flip-chip socket or a Slot 1 CPU connector.
It would be great if someone did a bitty box based on Socket A and designed for Duron...the Duron would be an ideal chip for such a box.
Anyway...DON'T fsck around with the BookPC! You will live to regret it! Particularly if you want to use it with Linux.
----
http://www.msgeek.org/ -- Because you can't keep a geek grrl down!
Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power multiplied.
But I don't think the Linux version is ready yet. The only download available on the site is the Win version.
Oh... em... erm... then whats this 20GB file (actually, happens to be a movie I got off my DV cam) doing on my NTFS partiton?
I think ive been trolled...
Mark Duell
Dude,
it is zapmedia.com with their Zapstation. They are dealing with harmon kardon now to get someone to manufacture some.
it is a cool system. I don't think it's a secret. Though a friend their told me also.
-Davidu
# Hack the planet, it's important.
No - it's not. Much (much) bigger and already involved in the market. Zapstation is - well, we'll be kind and call it a longshot.
I don't read ACs: If a post isn't worth so much as a nom de plume to its author then I wont bother either.
Actually, I got a really cheap infrared keyboard with built-in mouse made by Acer for around $20. Works pretty well. Well enough that I can bounce the signal off a wall and have the IR reciever sittinf behind me pick it up.
A question about the BookPC and chip combo... how noisy is this? I'm dying to find a compact system that is inexpensive and quiet. The Athlon rig I have in my living room now is tons quiter than my desktop, but it's still too noisy.
Seems to still miss one ... Sorenson :-( Oh well, can't have it all.
Never underestimate the dark side of the Source
Visit the AV Sciences Forum, home for those of us who measure our monitors in feet!
"How perfectly Goddamn delightful it all is, to be sure" Charles Crumb
Or at least, not right now anyways.... I'm sure that's the goal, but there are so many formats and the signals are so fast that the electronics work out to be rather expensive.
just use an HDTV - 46" to 70" ought to keep you happy, and doesn't cost much more than a good large monitor. Besides you could actually find an excuse to set-up the beloved beowulf cluster to stream uncompressed hd to your monitor (1.5 gb/s).
The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers. Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part 2, Act 4, Scene 2
Here is a quick status of the project. Sorry for my english, as my former language is french. For the moment, the first prototype is working only for playing. A preview of the final casing is available in the "Proto" section. It's based on a standard pc motherboard, with an lcd control panel and an ir receptor for the remote control, both connected to the parallel port. Details of the configuration: Pentium II 350 overclocked at 490MHz Asus P3B-F motherboard at 140MHz 32Mo SDRAM at 140MHz ATI Xpert@play 8MO for the graphic card 340Mo Quantum harddrive PIO3 Sound Blaster 128 "locked on stereo"(???) DVD drive Sony DDU-220E region free For the software, it seems that they chose to develop both the player/encoder and the OS from scratch. No more details for the moment. The supported formats should be MP3 (+ playing lists), VQF, WAV (both raw of ADPCM compressed), AC3, Sun's AU, AIFF, and probably WMA. You can still use the fish, but the result is really awful.
Sure he does. The magnet sticks to his refrigerator, the resistor doesn't.
Duh.
W
No, not DIVX, it's Divx
---
LIRC supports the infra-red under Linux, your remote can do basically anything with the tools supplied with Lirc (make it execute other software, send X keyevents to windows, move the mouse around), and XawTV supports lirc directly so you can also do al your standard TV remote type stuff. Lirc can switch in and out of different modes etc.. I can press `TV' to bring up xawtv, hit `PWR' to turn off/on my monitor, standard channel buttons, video button, volume etc all work in XawTV. When I get around to it I'm going to write a little menu so I can select and play DivX files with aviplay - including pause, FF, RW, vol, sync etc ... all from in bed :-)
NZ Electronics Enthusiasts: Check out my Trade Me Listings
Not quite. Their "open source" license is a joke. They're just looking for free programmers for their $100 million DivXNetworks operation. Project Mayo is as bad as Micros~1. Check out the Open MPEG project, created by a bunch of Project Mayo/DivXNetworks refugees that felt mislead.
sup
Support for the Quicktime file format IS available, and if someone were willing to tie in the quicktime/windows libraries, then we'd finally be able to watch those damned superbowl commercials online :\
I have benn working on something similar to this. But my main problem is the resolution from my tv out card is not good enough for reading from across the room. This makes it tougher to control the system.Right now i have the computer behind the couch and a 15" monitor on a small table.I have been looking for a smaller monitor of some type but havnt found anything I can afford.
Lazy? Make 'em links!
PureDiva: Software only bundled with complete PC's. http://www.purediva.com
Ligos: Windows based PTV. http://www.ligos.com/news/pr_timeshift.html
PowerVCR: Windows based VCR. http://www.cyberlink.com.tw/english/products/power vcr2/powervcr2.asp
WinVCR: Windows based VCR. http://www.cinax.com/Products/winvcr.html
SnapStream: Windows based PTV (freeware and commercial version). http://www.snapstream.com
ShowShifter: Windows based PTV (freeware). http://www.showshifter.com
[
For a set-top sized box, I would use the NLX form factor. This is an industry standard by the same people responsible for ATX, but it's better. All desktops should be NLX because ATX REALLY SUCKS for anything but towers. The only (very unfortunate) drawback is that NLX seems to be harder to find despite being superior to micro/mini ATX for compact systems.
NLS motherboards are about 20 by 25-30 cm (8 by 10 or 11 inches). They have no slots and an edge connector on one side that plugs into the slot of an acocmpanying riser card. PCI cards plug in horizontally--parallel to the motherboard.
Many NLX cases (and industrial racks) allow the motherboard to be removed by loosening 2 thumbscrews. To add DIMMs, you can pull out the motherboard out COMPLETELY without removing ANY cards or cables--sometimes without even opening the case! Yeong-Yang makes a pretty little VCR-sized NLX case. NLX desktop cases are compact, quiet and easy to maintain (No, I don't sell them. I just think they are neat.)
As for the NLX motherboards, they usually come with matching riser cards. Asus, Gigabyte or Intel should have them, although they are not as common as ATX and may cost a bit more. The rest is just normal commodity hardware (TV tuner/capture, DVD player, huge hard drive etc.).
I have been thinking of building such a system for a year or two now. Maybe someone else will try now...
Eventually there will be no computer monitor or keyboard. You'll hook your computer to a TV set, like the old days, except now there will be no window interface, command line, or multitasking.
It'll be pure menus, pointing and clicking for everything using a remote control. If you want a box with keyboard and monitor you'll have to go to Cray or something and pay through the nose.
It looks like when he says "TV out card" he's referrering to the RCA output on most VGA cards. There are lots of "TV out cards" but they use JPEG compression.
The problem with watching movies this way is you have to go from 24fps progressive to genlocked 29.97fps interlaced. Simply using a Microsoft media player on a TV would cause studdering because it wouldn't match the 29.97 interlacing exactly.
If people start to learn to build their own hardware, they are forced to learn other things, like how the electronic signals work. Things like HDTV will no longer be closed to public eyes, as more and more people would learn how to build hardware designed to reverse engineer the HDTV security. If this gets to be widespread enough, things like DirecTV's electronic warfare act would be more of a hit to them than to the hackers, as it would take out a high percentage of their customer base. Of course, this would most likely never happen because joe blow doesnt know the difference between a resistor and a refrigerator magnet, but it's nice to imagine =)
I am !amused.
You don't know her well enough to know for sure how she would feel about you if she got to know you better or how you would feel about her if you got to know her better.
You might wind up finding that you aren't really all that attracted to her while she finds that she's fallen in love with you.
You might both wind up as good friends but not romantically interested in each other. There are plethora of possibilities.
Go ahead and get to know her (without rushing it and appearing too eager, be sincere but play it a little cool), expand your world a little, she might introduce you to someone or something (poetry, rock climbing, jazz, knitting, who knows what) that you wouldn't have experienced otherwise.
Unrequited love isn't fatal. It just feels that way for a while. Learning that the hard way is part of growing up. Might as well jump in the deep end and get it over with.
I see even classic Slashdot is now pretty much unusable on dial up anymore.
I agree with you on one point, but disagree with you on another.
/. and it leave a bad taste in my mouth. Of course, it is well within your right to write it even if I don't like it. If it gets worse, I'll just stop visiting this web site...
I think it is important that set top boxes made with contemporary off-the-shelf technology become popular. That way, artificially restricted technology will not become the de-facto standard. For example, MP3 has no inherent content-control capability and produces acceptable sound quality. It has become extremely popular and attempts by SDMI to squish it out of existence will be met with consumer resistance. With DATs, mini-discs and DVDs parasitic recording and movie distribution companies got their grubby hands on the technology before "unprotected" formats gained popularity. These technologies are now marginalised or convoluted with content-control schemes like CSS. Content-control is not a feature--it is a pain in the ass and will always be met with resistence if it is introduced into an already large market.
What I take issue with is the fact you tainted your argument for no reason with your personal prejuduces. No all people in the southern states are evangelical bigots who wish to restrict free speech. Nor do all Christians (evangelical or otherwise) harbour intolerant attitudes towards those with differing opinions or even aree with the opinions of Jerry Falwell or Pat Robertson. Conservatives and Christians to not have a monopoly on intolerant views and actions, and it is just as bad to supress or denigrate Christans as it is to do the same to Jews, Islamics, feminists or whoever else.
For the record, I live in Canada, not the southern states. I am not an evangelical Christian. I my political views are best described as libertarian--not socailly conservative. Thus, I am not personally offended by your comments. I just hate it when political retoric taints a rational argument. It happens a lot on
First, these projects seem silly. I could care less if I can watch DivX movies on my TV. I never like them as much as the real thing. So it seems like an incredibly expensive, worthless project.
What I really want is a ReplayTV thingie. I want one bad, but not only do I not wanna pay for it, I don't wanna have to spend $500.
Someone point me to a ReplayTV project.
"i blew a booger that i'd swear had it's own spinal cord" "OUCH" Caroline's Spine
And this differs from an LPX form factor case/motherboard how?
I see even classic Slashdot is now pretty much unusable on dial up anymore.
look at this: http://www.cadsoft.de/people/kls/vdr/index.htm it already works pretty fine.
I set up a project at Complify to try to bring all these pieces together. It's very new so don't criticise but contribute. Discussions will be at Sourceforge
It's an open source project so it can be whatever we want it to be.
Games, PVR, Firewall, IP Masquearading, Squid Proxy, Email etc etc... All of these things already exist. Let's just do it.
Send in your suggestions and let's make it happen!
- Paul
Building an HDTV tuner board is all well and good, but who has the resources to develop a high-quality board of this complexity? And once built, what's to say that this is going to be any cheaper to do than a commercial one, given that parts are an order of magnitude more expensive when purchased in small quantities?
The only real benefit I see to a homebrew, ghetto HDTV tuner is the lack of manufacturer-applied copy-protection systems. And even those can be circumvented.
But as for the Media-BOX in its present incarnation, I say, whoo hoo! What better way to store and watch movies on your set-top? Oh, wait - DVD. Shoot.
and, from the site - "(Sorry, Media-BOX is not a 'ripper')" - looks like they're not about to incorporate a DVD-decoder anytime soon. It's too bad - this player's possibly most important feature could be ripping movies from your PC and storing them on your set-top. For your own personal use only, provided that you own the movie, of course, etc.
Despite that, loading movies from your PC to your TV is still a real plus, allowing you to watch those downloaded pr0n movies on your home-entertainment system. Home entertainment, indeed.
Perhaps this famous fish might help to clear things a bit up? The French they are using isn't terribly complex anyway.
-- Spelling and grammar errors tend to be a sign of erroneous thinking.
Tu ne le comprends pas? Ah, c'est dommage! ;)
--
Do I play Hockey?
What you say!!
Right now, we have a marginally stable...
And we hope to get... Try these links for...
Linux support for the Creative Dxr DVD Decoder and drive. http://opensource.creative.com
Linux and infrared remote control http://www.lirc.org/
Linux and the ATI all in Wonder cards http://www.linuxvideo.org/gatos/
"The words of the prophets are written on the Slashdot walls."
Quick, before they put up the drywall, install conduit for any and all wiring, especially the wiring that you don't know that you're going to want or need yet. Then, when old standards change or new ones come along, you aren't looking at a lot of drilling or sawing or replastering and repainting, or settling for not being able to upgrade because of the hassle.
I see even classic Slashdot is now pretty much unusable on dial up anymore.
Ther is a company that announced a product at the Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas lat month that is just the device you described. They have a set top box running linux that allows you to download movies, games and MP3s. Supposedly, they also have one that has a DVD player also. One other thing, they are going to open source their software, so you could build your own box and get the same features. Pretty cool stuff. Here is the url: http://www.openentertainment.com
Vanu is trying to write software that will be able to decode anything from walkie-talkies to cell phones to analog tv signals to HDTV signals. I've seen their demo recently and it was quite impressive.
www.vanu.com
m
ps. I do not work for Vanu and have nothing to gain or loose from their raise or demaise.
The way I read it, it was an HDTV tuner. I remember reading a lot of people saying they were buying the card just for it's HDTV stuff.
DISCLAIMER: I know nothing about HDTV, how it works, or even how good it looks. I just know it's expensive and I read that stuff about the Radeon. Can someone shed some light?
Is there anything like Project DivX for miniature hard disk based MP3 players? I want to build a pocket-sized music player that is free of RIAA cripples, but my areas of experience only cover part of what's needed to achieve this.
Currently minidisc is the ultimate personal sound system for me, and whem MP3 players ditch flash RAM and move to 6gig HDDs (and become more power efficient, probably via more RAM), then they'll be kind of the hill, except I doubt commercial ones will be uncrippled, so I'd like to look into building my own dream machine.
Any pointers to projects along these lines? (Even non-miniature MP3 boxes would be great - they would help me in the areas I'm weak in, while I could work on the miniaturisation).
I can't spell biscuit. At any rate, that's just what the flight sim developers called them - it might not be their proper name.
While tiny industrial PC-compatible machines do exist, they cost far too much for this job. These boxes need to come in around $200 at retail.
Hey. Send me some email. I'd seriously like to talk with you further about these matters. Thanks :)
===
We'd need a thousand squirrels typing in television schedules.
I have been looking on into this same for some time now. about the only thing i can find that would be even some what good to us as a case would be a set top box from http://www.gctglobal.com/ i like their iDVD Box. its great.. first thing i would do is rip out the CPU and put in something that can decode divx's only really bad side.. is when i asked them for a price they said the iDVD box is 700 bucks!! FREAK! if you can get that price down.. there would be a lot of people building these types of players..
I assume that this post isn't talking about the DIVX failed Circut City venture. It is talking about the Divx ;) codec, which I think is one of the many mpeg4 codec's out there. It gives you pretty good quality at a much higher compression rate, and on the pirate scene you can rip most DVD's to the size of 2 CD's.
Mike
Good luck, I don't suspect that Sony would be very supportive, and I bet the hardware is proprietary as hell.
"The words of the prophets are written on the Slashdot walls."
Avifile Homepage
Here is an excerpt from their 'Supported compression formats':
Video ;-) ) ;-) Audio )
Win32 VfW DLLs:
Indeo Video 3.2, 4.1
Microsoft MPEG-4 v1 & v2 beta
Microsoft MPEG-4 v3 ( also known as DivX
Cinepak Video
ATI VCR-2
I263
Win32 DirectShow filters, decompression-only
support:
Microsoft MPEG-4 v3 ( this decoder is slower than VfW one, but offers wider range of picture control features )
Windows Media Video 7
Indeo Video 5.0
Motion JPEG ( using Morgan Multimedia shareware codec )
Open-source plugins:
Motion JPEG ( using libjpeg, very slow )
Audio
Win32 ACM DLLs, decompression-only support:
Windows Media Audio ( also known as DivX
MS ADPCM
Intel Music Codec
Open-source plugins, decompression-only support:
PCM
AC3
IMA ADPCM
MPEG Layer-1,2,3 ( compression into MP3 is also supported )
MSN Audio
GSM 6.1 Audio
Win32 DirectShow filters, untested decompression-only support:
Voxware Metasound
ACELP.net
It also has support for V4L compression :)
>sue to have it revoked for being in blatant violation of the First Amendment.
>However, the Supreme Court has a very good track record of maintaining the sanctity of the First Amendment.
In case you hadn't noticed, the rules have changed. As seen in Kaplin's decision (that might be overturned, but don't bet on it), the New Strategy is along the lines of "It doesn't matter what rights the constitution grants you, it doesn't grant you the right to have access to the equipement needed to use those rights in mainstream media formats".
The constitution will protect your right to yabber on HAM radio, and it will protect your right to free speech via DVD, but unlike HAM radio, you will simply not be able to purchase any DVD equipment sporting the features that allow free speech. And the law can't touch that.
This is why making un-crippled technology (like these set top boxes) is so important - it will likely be the only way to have a soap box in the dominant media format.
You might have noticed that the DVD writer that comes with the new apples can write a single DVD, but that DVD is block so that it can't be used to master your creation - in fact you can't actually master your work at all using the DVD writer.
This is a taste of the future.
We are approaching a time when the technology of cheap, affordable production and distribution could have resulted in amature content creation (like star wars fan films, eg Troops) becoming a significant part of our media diet.
In other words, we would have less need to buy content from the industry. The industry doesn't like that idea, and this is yet another reason why these devices are now designed to preclude us making or distributing content. Piracy, while a legimiate concern, is also being used as a whitewash to lever into position the necessary infrastructure to keep consumers and artists dependant on the existing distribution structure, and thus cash cows (the artists too - both sides get screwed, the non-productive parasites in the middle with the keys to the Wall make the money).
The whole thing is frightening in its genius. I think it's going to work. I think we're going to lose. I plan to build my own hardware, but that simply isn't a consumer option - it effectively means I'm just opting out of the fight. I'm not sure if there is a better way yet.
Replying to my message again
Sorry, I was thinking of making an MP3-only box when I wrote that message, and obviously a 486 ain't enough for video. I think the bisuit PCs come in much more powerful ranges, but I don't know what.
Ok, here's the specs:
333 K6-2 evergreen upgrade processer,
8MB ATI All-in-Wonder Pro,
Creative DXR3 DVD Decoder,
USR 33.6 modem w/ voice,
Creative 64 Gold value,
2 hard drives,
1 CDRW,
1 DVD,
I have been using the comp. for 5+ months and must say it works great. Only problem is due to the fact that most of my episode files(I did see the show when it was brodcasted, and did tape on VHS when it did) are a mixture of Divx, MPG, Quicktime, and ASF. To play two out of the three I need to have Windows installed.
I love my DVD drive and Decoder and recomend it to everyone I know. The only problem is due to fact that only one person is currently developing for the EM8300 chip on the card in Linux/FreeBSD, the drivers are only in 0.82 release. If you want to run DVD decoding in Linux, Buy a god damn . Creative has opened up the source on the drivers somewhat and do support an Open Source project for those drivers. One question that I am sure that has poped up on few geeks minds that own a DXR3 is "Why isn't Creative suporting DXR3 when it's supporting DXR2?" The reason is due to the fact that Creative didn't make the chips for DXR3, Sigma did. They say that they support Linux selectively, but having spoken with the developers themselves, I know that they didn't have any plans as of 10-00. Also, I do know that the DXR2 did have many problems, and I had one upuntil it died on me.
The Video card works great at 800X600 due to the work of the Gatos Project. If you do have a DXR2 and ATI, you can use the Pro to use the DXR2 to display on Monitor. I don't know if the video does work.
Soundcard and others: if it's linux compatable, buy it and use it. If a soundcard is linux compatable and has 5.1 sound, why haven't you bought it yet?!!!
Pros for my system:
1) I don't need cable, just need to go to mom and dad's place to record episodes.
2) Set your own TV network up and delete the comercials except for at the superbowl. Then you watch the commercials and skip the game. Especially this year. (where's my buck Lucas?)
3) Playlist is a very good feature.
4) who need a 19" monitor when I have a 32" TV?
5) It gives me something to tweak everyday.
6) If you have a "copy" of a movie on your comp, why do you have to go to the theater to find out that it sucked?
7) It's what made me adiment about re-learning C++ and memory calls
8) Preview homepages to see how much it would suck if I had a WebTV
Cons:
1) Windows based. I want someone to come out with an ASF 2 MPG converter that actually works, and does not do it real time. (I would do it, and have tried to learn, but I'm about 3years to late to do machine code anymore) 2) Only 800X600 may sound great on a tv, but I'm going to have to upgrade when I get an HDTV.(Oh please, please, please santa. Bring me one small one, like say 27") 3) I can't think of another one other than the mess of cables.(hahahahhahahaahahahaha!!!!!!!!!)
if anyone really wants to talk to me, (bubbles@nospam.rea-alp.com) mail me, and we'll talk. If anyone has a similer situation or a problem, ask, and if I don't know it, then I'll ask around. And if I have a problem, we can talk and I can figure out wtf Microsoft is thinking to not open up asf.
Also, Taco, Divx is just as good as ASF, and there v2.0 site is even cooler.
Sincerly,
Mark W. Wallace
PS: I also have owned all of these thing for 2+years, so don't tell me that it's not fast enough!!!!!!!
Alas, poor clippy, I loath him so.
No all people in the southern states are evangelical bigots who wish to restrict free speech. Nor do all Christians (evangelical or otherwise) harbour intolerant attitudes towards those with differing opinions or even aree with the opinions of Jerry Falwell or Pat Robertson. Conservatives and Christians to not have a monopoly on intolerant views and actions, and it is just as bad to supress or denigrate Christans as it is to do the same to Jews, Islamics, feminists or whoever else.
I'm not making any of these claims. You are.
Trust me, I just re-read what I wrote. It was an example. Nothing more, nothing less.
If I had suggested that there was some central server at UC Berkeley intended to censor all anti-liberal programming, would you have called me a liberophobe?
Lighten up.
We're going down, in a spiral to the ground
http://www.keyspan.com/products/usb/remote/ This is a good solution.. USB, works with PC and Mac, prolly Linux too if you wanted to hack together drivers. The beauty of this remote is that it works via sending keyboard commands to the application with focus, even in full screen. Thus, it can be completely reprogrammed, and made to work with any application. I suppose you could even run a macro program, and map keystrokes to mouse-movement macros if you were so inclined. I have one of these, and it works well.. the range is awesome, too.
Any particular reason you do that? The folks who hang out at the AV Sciences Forum web site can easily afford stand-alone DVD players, and choose to build home theater PCs. I consult with a high-end audio-video dealership, I go to all the trade shows like CES and CEDIA and I can assure you - a good software DVD player in a well-assembled PC delivers a better picture than any stand-alone player currently on the market (there are some pieces in prototype form that may change that when they are released).
Use software player, like WinDVD 2000 or PowerDVD, through a GeForce2 MX video card & PowerStrip scaling the picture up to the "sweet spot" of a front projector. Run it at 72 or 96 or even 120 hz to multiply the 24 fps of a film-based DVD to avoid 3:2 pull-down artifacts.
Just because you haven't seen it doesn't mean it doesn't exist. I wouldn't use a stand-alone DVD player if you paid me.
"How perfectly Goddamn delightful it all is, to be sure" Charles Crumb
Are you referring to the BBC? If so, hen yes you do need a TV licence for tuner cards, but the price is ~£105 per year per household, not per tuner. That also covers you for portables outside of the home.
This is sorta like a .zip file and a zip drive. I know the difference, but my mom is still confused :>
DIVX was an attempt to make copy-protected DVDs. Divx is an MPEG4 related codec for making .mpg files.
I can only assume that the team who developed the Divx codec hadn't heard of DIVX when the developed it. Either that or they are evil bastards.
I need a big boy displaying my movies.
Aaaargh! The image of Arnold Schwarzenegger holding up your DVD shelf is permanently etched into my mind! I think I need professional help!
No, it'll be flashing C:00 !
bu-dum-dump!
From the Tivo Hacking FAQ:
PureDiva: Software only bundled with complete PC's. http://www.purediva.com
Ligos: Windows based PTV. http://www.ligos.com/news/pr_timeshift.html
PowerVCR: Windows based VCR. http://www.cyberlink.com.tw/english/products/power vcr2/powervcr2.asp
WinVCR: Windows based VCR. http://www.cinax.com/Products/winvcr.html
SnapStream: Windows based PTV (freeware and commercial version). http://www.snapstream.com
ShowShifter: Windows based PTV (freeware). http://www.showshifter.com
Also, the Matrox G450 eTV has some PTV software that comes with it for Tivo like functionality. Not sure how it gets its program guide though.
The whole point of a Set Top Box is price. For it to succeed, it needs to be cheap.
If I can easily buy new components and make a better one far cheaper myself, including time and energy spent building it, set top boxes are going to have trouble.
With all the hype, I have still yet to see a place where I can buy a Linux set top box. Coollogic had a press release last year regarding the immediate release of their box, I think Slashdot even picked up on it.
Well where is it? Coollogic's web site seems to have not been updated since October of last year. Where is their set top box?
1) Buying up as many ATI All-In-Wonder Pros PCI's that I can.
2) Drop as 'em into a box and try and get XFree86 4 to span over all the outputs.
3) Modify xawtv (if needed) so that so you can see the inputs from a diffrent card in each session of xawtv.
4) Get TV-out working. Plug each card into a TV (I have a bunch I've been collecting for this).
Presto! Videowall!
Next we need a mpeg2 encoder board to record stuff. And more PCI slots :)
I'd want to watch CNN, MTV, ZDNET, SCI-FI, and the Comedy channel all the time. :)
Idealy I'd write my own software for viewing using gstreamer, but we'll see...
--
You're just jealous because the voices only talk to me.
What happens is that things need to get cheaper. While I like building things I'm not gonna shell out $$$ to build one of things. Media-Box is something I might use for its freeness but book PCs are a bit expensive and megahertez requirement (500Mhz plus) I can' get some cheapo computer. Though the popularity of using computers as something other than a normal computer (MAME cabinets, MP3 Jukeboxes) means that things will get better.
__________________
Just a guy with an opinion
....the TV crashed again. Honey, will you press the reset button for me.
If you look at the way that things have been going lately with regards to content distribution, it's easy to imagine precipitous and draconian scenarios involving unreasonable restrictions for set-top boxes. Take, for example, "standard" set-top boxes such as Tivo and ReplayTV. What would happen if conservative legislators passed a law requiring manufacturers of those devices to screen programs against a "black list" and refuse to show certain material?
You might wind up with a central server somewhere in the Deep South, operated by Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson or another such people. When people want to use their Tivo to record certain television programs, that server is sent the name of the program, and can send back a rejection message if the program contains things such as nudity, feminism, or Islam. You might think this is a ridiculous example, but look at the way things are going. We've got some crippling potential restrictions on how HDTV signals can be used. We've got the MPAA saying that we don't have the right to use the data our own DVDs in our own home unless we use it the way they want us to. Don't expect things to get any better.
Our last refuge might lie in our ability to develop our own solutions. We can build the codecs. We can can throw in big honkin' hard drives. We own soldering irons. There is nothing (conceptually) that is stopping us from developing our own devices. And if the government and the corporate community insist on continually levying these ridiculous restrictions on us, it might be the only option we have left. In fact, you might see a large "black market" for unregulated set-top devices spring up. The threat of this possibility should give the corporate control-freaks some pause, because if geeks have demonstrated anything over the past few years, it is that they will not be regulated. And that is a Good Thing (TM).
We're going down, in a spiral to the ground
But what is the purpose of buying hardware when you can build your own?
Umm, so you can go home, plug it in and use it?
Duh.
The revolution will NOT be televised.
Nah, they were 2 cds with mpegs...they're 1 cd now with divx...sometimes half a cd.
My plan is to pimp before they realize I'm a jackass. Hit 'em hard and fast.
What I've got buzzing around, in the back of my head, is something like this:
(That shouldn't be too expensive, right?)
Then, this box would be connected to various rooms via Coax (for video) and line-level shielded audio (for audio). Or send the audio through a multi-zone amplifier to wall-mounted speakers. Or something like that. You'd control it via infrared control, repeated from the viewing room back to the box through wireless or wired IR repeaters.
What would I do with this box? Everything.
Could be way cool. Way, way cool. Of course, a lot of things that I'm thinking about here have significant infrastructure problems -- like, say, how do you distribute HD (TV, not disk) signals through a house?
In the end, I think the plan I'm settling on involves a big UberTiVo box with multiple inputs, but feeding some massively cool RAID server (that way, I can just use a bunch of really cheap separate computers with one tuner each, if it becomes too difficult to handle more than one input per box). Then use very simple set-top boxes (the little "bookshelf" form factor) with Composite out (or just run VGA straight to an HDTV monitor), sound (to cheap speakers or an in-room stereo), and wireless keyboard and/or game controllers. If I'm really lucky, I can get this sucker to run w/out a fan, too.
Then, everything just talks back to the main server over 100-meg ethernet. ( that part's easy!)
Anyone else tackling something like this? From this approach? Or from an approach I should be aware of? I'd love to share ideas....
david.
The Sony docs from phase 1 were complete - including the systems information you'd need for Linux e.g. cache control details, system-level instructions, page-mapping registers, etc. etc. But these docs were only ever printed in dead-tree format, so it's incredibly difficult for them to accidentally escape.
The Phase 2 docs are PDFs (I have a set at home which might escape if someone asks me nicely) but they miss out this important information.
Finally, you'd need some form of Trojan to boot the machine, at least until it's chipped - and if you take a PS2 apart, the first thing you notice is that chipping this mofo is not going to be easy! It's some of the densest electronics I've ever seen. The best bet right now seems to be "accidentally" putting a Trojan download program onto a game disk, probably hidden as a buffer-overflow bug which you trigger deliberately, possibly by sending a packet on the serial port input; possibly by inserting an unauthorized CD.
All this is assuming Sony will not be supportive ... and I think that's a fair bet.
I didn't pay for my operating system either
One of the large hardware manufacturers is working on exactly this. Linux-based it's a framework for other companies to license and customize. Their goal is to supply a reference implementation of the base system which of course takes advantage of their hardware.
Presumably consumer-products companies coming late in the game to "digital-VCR's" will be happy to license this, do some customizing (either in-house or contracted with the developer) and then ship their own branded solutions.
What's interesting about this for the /. community is just how much of this turns out to be really specialized. From kernel modifications to optimized codecs to specially designed file-systems much of this can't be off-the-shelf for price/performance reasons. Apparently they're not terribly concerned about the home-brew market feeling that it'll just be cheaper to buy a dedicated box then retrofitting other hardware, attempting to get appropriate listings, maintaining the hw/sw, etc.
Of course I'm sure they're willing to sell their own industry-generic raw hardware to anyone, it's just the package that they're holding out for big fees.
Frankly even though this topic comes up again & again I think they're probably right. Sure my PC CD-player plays music fine but I prefer to have one in my livingroom dedicated to the audio system. Same with the DVD player, while it plays fine on the box & 21" monitor I've got one in the lvingroom 'cause it's better suited / more convenient there.
I expect for many of us a TiVo-type consumer box will be far more popular then a homebuilt. It's not like building your own computer 'cause the economics aren't likely to be as sweet and it'll be difficult to get source-material (the listings.)
Different but related topic:
What I *do* think would be hot would be custom-program-selection services where one could subscribe and get a selection of program-record-instructions emailed to my TV-box. Rather then it randomly recording stuff it thinks I *might* like or my explicitly setting the recording choices a third option of subscribing to a service (sushi-cooking@asianfood.com or st-nextgen-sans-wesley@stgeek.com) would be interesting.
Of course for this to work we'd need some sort of TV-listings-XML...
I don't read ACs: If a post isn't worth so much as a nom de plume to its author then I wont bother either.
The guy claims quality/bandwith similar to DivX, but the codec is GPL, and is SMP-ready.
I don't have any personal experience with it, but if I were designing a Tivo-like system that's what I'd look at first -- especially if I was trying to do real-time high-compression video stuff and was willing to get some hefty CPU power it will pay off...
-- Erich
Slashdot reader since 1997
I'm waiting for it, too. In my opinion they should forget about competing with PS2 and Xbox and market it as an HDTV box. It could easily be the only HD-DVD player and HD-Tivo in one box.
If you're gonna bash Microsoft.. Try to know what you're talking about.
VFAT 4GB File and Volume limit
FAT32 32GB File and Volume Limit
NTFS 16 Exabyte theoretical File and Volume Limit - 2 TB Limit recommeded.
I have 7.4GB uncompressed AVI file sitting on my drive right now waiting to edited, convertrd to DivX and stored on my media server. All of this stuff is possible (and stable) on windows 98. I am doing it right now. If something does go wrong and the system becomes unstable (not that it should with the proper maintanence) Make sure you have a copy of Norton Ghost 2000. It will make a reinstall a 10 minute breeze instead of a 2 (or more) hour hassle. This applies to linux as well.
What I want to know is...... If you have such a hard time running an easy-as-pie OS like windows.... what the fuck does your Linux install look like? Hehehe.
There is a saying, Use the right tool for the job. Linux at this point is not the right tool for this job. Perhaps (read someday) it will be and I will probably use it then. But for now, I am using something that works.
There are actually a whole bunch of relevant projects underway. The pieces are coming together! Some that haven't been mentioned....
http://www.linuxtv.org (Digital TV hardware based goodies and more)
http://mjpeg.sourceforge.org (MJPEG capture, playback, MPEG-1/2 encoding )
Andrew
A company called Indrema is making a Linux/Tivo/MP3/HDTV/DVD/Game set top box, and guess what it will retail for $299. goto www.idrema.com to check it out.
ShowShifer - www.showshifter.com
It also has an Open API so you can program your own add-ons.
I'm about as non-french as they come, and I can get some out of it without hitting babel anything. Were I doing a page about 'news for nerds, stuff that matters', I bet I could get some useful info on this project, especially given that its in french and not chinese, many of the terms are immediately recogniseable, and we're in the 21st century.
:-)
But your right, I should be more forgiving of rob, its not like he's doing journalism or anything. I guess I'll just acknowledge that you and rob are hillbillies and forget about it. It just goes to show you can have NT, SGI, Sun, and Linux, and still be as dumb as a brick
Cheers!
You have got to be kidding me! Just because he can't read French. Talk about insensitive and intolerant, not everyone in this world can be blessed with having a culturally diverse upbringing. In fact, very few people have that luxury. To label those people as intolerant, insensitive, and culturally illiterate simply highlights your own bigotry and ignorance.
You are an idiot!
Vous etes idiot
Usted es un idiota
Sao idiota
Sorry, I don't type with an accent.
"The words of the prophets are written on the Slashdot walls."
www.zapmedia.com
The ATI All-In-Wonder Radeon is supposed to come with software to do Replay-TV / TiVo / PVT stuff. They call in TV-ON-DEMAND(tm) and GUIDE Plus(tm). Here's a link to there product page: http://www.ati.com/na/pages/products/pc/aiw_radeon /index.html
Not for Linux but hey its a start.
"I like my sugar with coffee and cream." - Beastie Boys
Ever tried it? Or are you just spouting bullshit?
I *have* tried to get this working under windows. The results: UNACCEPTABLE!!
Windows doesn't support files larger than 2gig. Every 10 minutes, it switched files and dropped frames. Interface was extremely poor. Resulting files had to be converted, one at a time, by hand into a format I could then use to properly recompress. Resulting multi-stage re-compression sucked big-time.
Bottom line: If windows supported what I needed, I wouldn't be busting my ass right now to make a decent DVR under linux.
Daves law: People who think using windows is faster haven't tried using windows.
What would be great is a motherboard with side-on PCI slots, so you stack PCI cards vertically instead of horizonally - then possibly you could have a PCI-upgradeable system which is still only a few inches high. Maybe a 2x2 factor so you can lob 4 PCI cards in. I don't know if this is technically feasible, though.
I didn't pay for my operating system either
If only the websurfer had a more robust processor, it has a cool form factor IMHO
E.
Extra plug Ask Emperor Palpatine Magic 8-ball
www.randomdrivel.com -- All that is NOT fit to link to
Build Your Own PVR/HTPC news, reviews, &
"If IE is 'just a web browser' then emacs is 'just a text editor'."
I'm waiting for it, too. In my opinion they should forget about competing with PS2 and Xbox and market it as an HDTV box. It could easily be the only HD-DVD player and HD-Tivo in one box.
I agree, but note that they would have to charge more for it then. Currenty the plan is to profit off the games and not the consoles, as they think that is necessary to compete with the other consoles.
There is a pretty good book at Barnes and Noble which outlines creating your own USB devices. Its pretty detailed and contains a few basic projects. I don't recall the title, but it is, like I said, a good place to start.
Spring is here. Don't believe me, look outside!
Celeron 533Mhz (basically the best I could fit on my existing PII mobo)
128MB RAM
40GB ATA/100 (running at 33 :( ) HDD, 7200RPM
ATI Radeon All-In-Wonder
Logitech AST Remote - to control mouse/applications
Software to control mouse is Girder. (It's awesome)
Black desktop ATX case
Black wireless keyboard/trackball (Compaq)
Running Win98 (Radeon can't output digital audio thru SPDIF in 2000 yet)
Creative Labs MP3+ 5.1
Cheapo black DVD-ROM drive
100Mbps ethernet
It generally performs very well. I use it for DVD (only in a secondary capacity, my regular DVD player is superior and I laugh at anyone who claims their PC's DVD player does a better job than a decent component DVD player), MP3 (primarily the reason I built it), watching MPG1/2/DivX movies and VCDs. It can also act as a WebTV in a pinch, though it's running at 800x600 and the text can get hard to read, even when set at largest font.
I do have some issues with the Radeon card (besides the exorbitant price) - it does straight-to-MPEG2 capture, which is nice, but it doesn't enforce a/v synching, which isn't usually an issue until I decide to compress to DivX. Then you usually need to fire up something like AVI Info to correct the problem. I bought the Radeon because it comes with some TV-Guide type software to control listings and recording, but in my experience, it's not really worth it. From what I hear, the ATI AIW 32 is a better card for straight PVR uses.
Just my $0.02.
www.Jackassery.com
I don't know about you guys but anything smaller than 21in just doesn't cut it for me. I need a big boy displaying my movies. I don't think I could settle for divx encoding either. Maybe when the encoding gets a little better and they start adding DTS sound tracks to movies you can pirate off gnutella.
Does the BBS tax set top boxes that can capture TV,or just the TV sets? Waht about TV tuner cards.
Mind you, at 500 pounds a year, a Beowulf cluster of these would be pricey.
I looked carefully at both of these. and they both really stink.
If you cant have your Base OS/display based on an embedded Linux (or any other embedded OS) and a really light display client like nano-x or picoGUI then it's just a waste of processing power. Cripes using Winsnot9X/ME/2000 as the OS on a set-top box then piling a java VM on that... no wonder you need a P-III 600 for it.
Except for the Divix playback, you can get really nice sound/data out of that websurfer pro (I know media GX sucks) with a thin linux and Nano-x... In fact it runs very nice for me.
Dont get me wrong, both of the articles ideas looked nice, it's just the approach was slapping a pretty GUI on bloated software. How about really designing a viable set-top box....
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
You can have a look over at linuxdvd.org for a hardware mpeg2 encoder that works under linux. This should make at least 1/2 of the PVR work easier. (the other half could be done in software, or hardware if you have say a dxr2 based decoder.
[Science] is one of the very few things that raises human life a little above farce and gives it the grace of tragedy.
zealot@linux.org bounces ... could you send me a valid email address to contact you at?
As my father lik@(munch munch)...
I've been on the quest for the prefect set-top box for a while now. My main issue always came down to the fact that any case/box I thought of made to much noise (i.e. fan) or was butt-ugly or was to big. The Indrema seems to be the answer and so I'm currently holding my breath. I'm even prepared to by a developer box and pay the extra $300 or so in case there are apps that Indrema won't bless. (because of potential copy-right sillyness, like storing archived NES/SNES ROMs on the harddrive) I can port/compile them myself.
It already has the web-browsing, MP3 playing, network connection, and sleek case. It just needs someone to port Mame, snes9x, DivX, etc and we're rolling. (HINT HINT HINT) And it's running Linux!! Can you ask for more? Hack a way to patch all your old controllers to work over USB and you can stick all those old consoles in the closet!!
Now all we need is for it to materialize from it's current VaporWare(TM) state....
but it works, i guess.
-Jon
Streamripper
this is my sig.
If the US legislature ever passed such a law civil libertarians would sue to have it revoked for being in blatant violation of the First Amendment. While it's true that Free Speech is facing a challenge from coporate power right now, the battle is neither won or lost yet, but is in the process of being fought. If history is any guide, the battle to preserve Free Speech is pretty much never ending. However, the Supreme Court has a very good track record of maintaining the sanctity of the First Amendment.
Congress can pass all the laws they want, but ultimately, only the Constitutional ones stick on the books (or the ones whose Constitutionality remains unchallenged.)
To email me,subtract my nick from my email address, starting with the second character. (hint: adto.uiuc.edu is wrong)
i've got a beige G3 coming to me from a friend that's replacing it, and i plan to use that for all my living room computing.
it fits under my TV, in the cabinet with the DVD player, etc, and has built-in 10/100 ethernet, component & S-video, 6G hard drive, and a CD ROM
this last is only important in that i can use either it or the ethernet to get software onto the bugger (i remotely control it via timbuktu from the office rather than hook up a keyboard and mouse) but mostly because i have Virtual GameStation and can play playstation games with the G3, as well as quake and UT. at some point, i'll add a fat video card and USB to it, and it'll do everything my blue G3 in the office can do, as well as pumping video to the big screen.
that's the plan, anyway..
- Entertaining Bits from the Ancient Kernel Tree
That the MediaBox is Linux friendly as well. In fact, here are the requirements:
Requirements for the Linux Version
Intel CPU of 600Mhz or greater (current libs have more overhead)
2.2.16 kernel of higher, JAVA 1.3 w/JMF
20Gb+ storage space (1Gb per imported DVD) recommended @ UDMA66
Wireless mouse (not required but suggested)
Settopbox form factor PC chassis (not required but recommended)
TV-out card (strongly recommended)
Internet Connection
i can't speak for the other languages, but for spanish you would most likely use "tu" rather than "usted," changing the "es" to "eres." you also would drop the "un" unless you are modifying "idiota." Now, "idiota" probably wouldn't be the best word, but we won't get into that
I think I'm going to start translating all my posts through the fish
Final case | Friday January 12, 2001
In the heading proto, it is presented to you in " before first " the final case of the divxproject...
Photographs Photographs!!! | Friday January 5, 2001
You will find in the Proto heading the first photographs of the FIRST PROTOTYPE (I insist well on this word...) As well as the software of DivXproject-Landscape-00 reading turning on a tele 70cm...
Protoype of reading | Tuesday January 2, 2001
With the occasion of the realization of the prototype of reading of the divxproject the site opened a new heading: " proto "
You will find there the specification of the prototype as well as the premieres photographs (somewhat boned...)
Later will be added the various tests as well as the 2 protoype, that of recording...
GOOD YEAR!! | Monday January 1, 2001
The team of DivXproject wishes you a good year!!
To crown the input in this new millenium... I announce to you that the module of reading (divx, dvd, vcd, mp3, audio) of the Software SDivXpro beta 1 is finished, we carry out from now on the tests...
Large a Thank you with Jesus-Christ (Programmer of the software) who carried out a remarkable job!!
Hardware of DivXproject finished | Dimache December 31, 2000
Veiled, it is made... The Hardware part of DivXproject is finished (see the hardware page)
It misses just some information such as for example the program of the PEAK or others... But this will be completé as soon as the proto is finished.
**time-out** moreover plus when the test be finish and that the apparatus function correctly it there have at disposal on the site a card of realization detail step by step...
Hardware/Software | Saturday December 16, 2000
The Hardware page was updated with the complete description of parts PC used, the diagram and the program C of display LCD as well as the remote control IR of our divxproject.
On the software page the first screenshot of SDivXpro beta 1 software like its brief description
Excuse to us...! | Saturday November 25, 2000
I received several concerning messages the divxproject saying to me that this site was the apology for the hacking of the dvds..
I excuse myself some, because it was not the goal of the project... I would correct without more delaying the pages and would remove the references to the hacking...
The Goal of this project is simply to replace our good old men video tape recorders... it is all!!
I thank you for your comprehension...
Hardware | Saturday November 25, 2000
We are for the moment choosing the hardware which would correspond best to our requirements...
It will progressively be supplemented its advance on the hardware page...
Update | Friday November 17, 2000
Update of the site in particular of the infos on the project.
Web site | Monday November 13, 2000
Realization of the Web site
Obtaining the domain name www.divxproject.com
Realization??? | Friday November 10, 2000
All went very quickly...
In a few hours the principal functions and means of realizing was already thought...
It is just now enough to put it on paper.
Genesis | Thursday November 9, 2000
The divxprojet was born quite simply around part of tarots between friends....!
We are in IUT of electronics.
While playing we spoke about DVD VCD and DIVX... a friend asked to me whether there were not on the Net the plans for a reader VCD of show...
For my part, I do not have knowledge of it... I is thus tell to him why the VCD which is heavy and of bad quality...
Best it would be a recording reader DIVX of show...
Veiled how us the idea came...
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I had a feeling you were going to say that.
Planning to be moderated ± 1: Bad Pun.
The BookPC's are $170 from Directron.
)
Then go get an AMD K63 or K63+ 450 for $50.
K63 is a laptop processor, but works if you set the voltage at 2.1(MB doesn't to 2.0).
I clock it at 500 Mhz.
You probably need an IR keyboard or other IR controller. Keyboard is $100. Or you could have got the DVD/black version of the BookPC which came with the IR control.
Now the software. Currently I just run 'aviplay' to play divx's and some mp3 player.
But this is all manual. What is needed is a automatic way to detect and play any media when it is loaded either by disc type (CD,DVD,VCD) or by extention (Discs full of mp3,avi,mpg,mp3,mp2,mpa,ac3,vob,mov,...,xmameroms
So the architecture would be:
enum disc_type {CD, VCD1,VCD2, VCD3, SVCD, DVD, UNKNOWN};
when(disc inserted)
{
disk_type = determine_disc_type();
load_navigation(disc_type);
}
blah, blah, blah
ü or Ü
that's:
ü or ÜPotato chips are a by-yourself food.
Tu ne peut pas lire le website de DivX? Tant pis!
"Ancillary does not mean you get to rule the world." --U.S. Circuit Judge Harry Edwards, speaking to the FCC's lawyer
I was looking into doing this sort of thing for a while, and it struck me that if there was some sort of organized effort to get linux to work on the playstation 2 you would have all the necessary components in one nice, cheap, little bundle.
... with harddrive and ethernet coming "real soon now".
I mean you already have slick graphics processors, digital audio out, etc.,
Any links to current projects would be appreciated.
As my father lik@(munch munch)...
The windows version is not Java. You cannot play Divx though java via JMF since JMF does not support the windows codecs, so it would be impossible w/o say C/C++ media wrappers.
It uses C/C++ ActiveX for the core with wrapper apps. The Linux version is though. And this is so it can be tested on a JavaOS settopbox. If you work in the settopbox field then you will know that Java for interactive services is coming along nicely and could be big, especially for ATVEF et al.
My hopes are that by the time it is finalized JMF will include MPEG4, or platform-dependent codec wrappers.
You need a Celeron 500, not a P3-600. And lets face it, for $60 why complain. Thats bottom of the barrel now. MPEG4 decoding @ post 1-Mbit takes CPU time, you know. And you'll notice CPU time is around 0.1% when not playing video.
Can the ppl who have built this like mr bubbles please post their links? I'd like to check them out - only one I could find besides mine was the DiVX Project, which is progressing nicely.
Instead of waiting for sophomoric efforts by enthusiasts, why not just hack the functionality in the X-box? (when it's available) It has the power, and would be very straightforward if it were done correctly. I imagine one would be able to make it work with just about any of the new codecs. And setting up tv-out on a computer can be a pain in the ass, especially wiring it all up if you dont have your tv right next to the computer (not to mention how to control it with your keyboard and mouse 30 feet away). Sure, these problems can be circumvented, but only with added hardware costs. I say the X-box instead of PS2 because of its x86 compatibility, making it easier to port the stuff over. Im sure microsoft doesnt want this to happen (they stress that the xbox is only for gaming, and it would draw the ire from the movie companies), but how are they gonna stop a hack from being possible without restricting the freedom of game developers? The X-box with dynamically upgradeable codecs would be a kick ass combo, especially if it eventually works with DVD-ram technology to allow several movies on one disk. (all of the star wars trilogy on one disk that could play on an installed base of millions of units?) sounds killer.
Here are some quick translations of the DivX site: From the project page: The DivX project is an audio visual machine like a DVD or VCR. It will be able to record or read video and audio input of more than 2 hours but on a different support: CDs. The image quality will be comparable to that of a DVD with audio support for Dolby Surround Prologic. It will also have a DVD player built in on some of the higher configuration machines. However, the idea is to create a DVD recorder that will burn a movie to CD, a support format that costs less than $1. This project will allow us to replace our old VCRs. DivX? In a few words: DivX allows to load on a CD a video feed of up to two hours, with a quality similar to S-VHS, slighly inferior to DVD. A lot more stuff about how great it is bla bla bla but it looks like it will no be a box you can build (read not open source) but something they plan to sell.
Check out http://www.tnl.net/blog
Seems like all of us could build a kick-ass settop box if the case for it ever existed. What I want is a decent looking black case that has the same measurements as a sony 100-disc changer and accepts standard motherboards, CD/DVD-ROM, a hard-drive, and LCD... well shielded too. Something like: http://www.mesterhazy.net/LCDAT/ Why hasn't any manufacturer caught on to this yet? Why do we still have to put up with refrigerator-grade PC cases.
I'll find out what one is and let you know ;)
I didn't pay for my operating system either
Riser board in the middle for all the ISA and PCI slots, usually 3 one side, 3 the other, PS2 mouse and keyboard ports, serial, parallel, and video sockets along back edge of motherboard (but not ATX stacked style). Think 5 year old Aptiva, Presario desktops.
I see even classic Slashdot is now pretty much unusable on dial up anymore.
Try *1* CD! You just have to set the bitrate accordingly.
www.Jackassery.com
You want corn? I give you corn.
I may be wrong, but I'm never uncertain.
Maybe you should go and look at the Divx site and then you will understand why Rob did not say that he could not see it but rather that he could not read it. Everyone who has been there will understand that this has nothing to do with winders. I can not read this page on my NT, SGI, Sun, or Linux box.
Cypherpunks: Civil Liberty Through Complex Mathematics. Those who live by the sword die by the arrow.
Your timetable is too long - as soon as MPAA can inform their politicians, this will happen - less than six months, maybe as few as three.
The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers. Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part 2, Act 4, Scene 2