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Building an MP3/DVD Box for the Home Audio System?

Posted by Cliff on from the as-the-computer-infiltrates-the-stereo-cabinet dept.

_typo asks: "I was thinking about building a nice MP3/VCD/DVD playing box for my home. Such box would stack along with the rest of the home entertainement equipment. I need suggestions about the case to use, the hardware to put in it and the software to drive it." This is similar to the Ask Slashdot on Home Theater Systems, but this approaches the issue from a different angle, that of building your own device to run the DVD/VCD/MP3 aspect of your mega-stereo system. Off the shelf products can do this decently well, especially with DVDs and VCDs, however about the best player of MP3s in existance, aside from the portables, is your average home computer. DVD/MP3 combos will play some MP3s fairly well, but even the best ones have problems with certain MP3s that will play well enough on a machine with a decent MP3 player.

" There's a few problems I need to solve to be able to do this.

First is the case to put the harware on. I've been looking for a case that's roughly the height and width of a 1U or 2U rackmount case but just 13'' or 14'' deep. It should have room for a standard motherboard, a hard drive, a DVD-ROM, and a front-mounted LCD.

To put inside this case I'd need a motherboard with Ethernet 10/100 and video-out included (to have less boards hanging around), and a reasonably good soundcard. As for CPU and memory, anything should do if it doesn't generate too much heat. This setup shouldn't need a fan, to avoid noise in the room.

To interface to the thing I'd like to have a wireless keyboard of some kind with a trackball and a IR remote interface. For the IR remote I think I can use lirc's plans to build a small IR receiver but I would still need to find a way to mount such receiver on the front of the case.

To drive all this I'd need proper software. Linux and X are the base options I'm most confortable with, but I still need the software to browse and play my MP3 collection and playback my dvd's (OMS?). Doing some Web browsing would be nice too but that seams easy enough to do with any regular linux browser.

Finaly I would like it to be cheap to build. Any help will be appreciated."

9 of 22 comments (clear)

  1. allwell iDVD3036 by maken · · Score: 2
    Check out
    http://www.gctglobal.com/Products/iDVD_set_top_box /idvd_set_top_box.html

    This is the box you want! Its only anounced on /. every other week.

    Specs:
    Main Board Processor
    x86 Pentium Media GXM 233MHz
    Memory
     64 MB SDRAM
    TV-Out On Board
     Direct NTSC/PAL output
    Audio
     16 bit 3D surround Sound Onboard
    LAN
     Realtek 8139 10/100 Base T Wake-On-LAN
    IR Interface
     Yes (Optional)
    Flash Disk
     Support DOC 4MB to 144MB or Disk on Module
    Expansion Slot
     2 PCI (1 x PCI/ISA shared) and PC104(ISA) socket
    OnBoard IDE
     2 x Ultra DMA33
    Floppy Disk Connector
     Yes (Desktop type)
    I/O Connectors
     2S, 1P, 2 x USB, PS/2 Mouse, PS/2 Keyboard
    BIOS
     Award BIOS, DMI, PnP Green
    Power Supply
     65W, 5V, 12V ATX
    Software Support
     Microsoft Win95, 98, NT, WinCE, RTOS QNX, Linux
    Modem
     V.90 PCI Topic 56K Modem
    DVD ROM
     DVD ROM
    DiskOnModule/DiskOnChip
    16MB
    MPEG-2 Decoder
     Sigma Design EM8400

  2. Re:a link or two.. by gmhowell · · Score: 2

    Pick up a couple of extra power supplies while you are at it. We've got several (20+) at the place where I work, and we've replaced at least a half dozen power supplies.

    But, they do run linux (not sure if the video out works. Never got that far.) Heck, there are even drivers on the install CD that came with it (although, if memory serves, they merely duplicate some drivers in the kernel sources).

    --
    Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. -John Lennon
  3. Another solution... by cr0sh · · Score: 2

    I have been involved in the hacking of the Acer NT-150 set-top box for quite a few months now (check out the link above). The box is quite low power (AMD 586/133), and will just barely play MP3s, once a hard drive is connected.

    One thing that popped up in our discussions about how we could play MP3s, and still have power to do other things (or at least play MP3s at a higher quality) was the concept of using the NT-150 as a client, and streaming the MP3s off a server, over the network interface, then piping the resulting audio to the sound card.

    None of us have done this yet, but we did manage to find a few GPL'd bits of code that supposedly do it (links are on the site). Basically, you have a back room server doing all the decoding, and the client merely handles the redirect to the audio device, which uses very little processing power. I would imagine that a similar method could be used for other streams as well (though it would probably require a much better CPU than what is in the NT-150).

    You might also look into this company...

    They make a machine that has OK specs, and can probably do what you need it to do, is pretty cheap, and looks to be PC standard based. Not sure if the low price ($199) will get you a machine with normal video out, or only VGA, and I don't know whether you have to have the internet service they provide or not to get the deal - but might be worth looking into.

    One other thing - a few months back /. had an article about homebrewing a 1U web server - it used an AMD 586/133 as well, but I am sure something else could be used - I doubt you will be able to get away with using no fan on the CPU, unless you use a custom xtra large heat sink - most CPUs don't run that cool, and for what you will be doing (and considering how much will be on board and handled by the CPU in some manner - video mostly, but sound and ether to a minor extent as well), a fan will almost surely be needed. It won't be that loud, though - so don't worry too much about it (aside from electrical noise isolation, of course)...

    Worldcom - Generation Duh!

    --
    Reason is the Path to God - Anon
  4. I'm planning on the same thing... by jerkychew · · Score: 2

    Here's your start... check out <a href="http://www.lanner-usa.com/em-586.htm">thi s</a> motherboard. It's about the size of a CD-Rom drive, and it has VGA,10/100, sound, and even LCD onboard. I don't know what kind of quality you're gonna get from the onboard sound, but there is one PCI slot as well, so you can jam a SB Live! card in it if need be. The boards can be found on Ebay for around a hundred bucks. Shave down your Linux kernel, throw it on a RAM disk, and you can probably get a pretty damn quick boot time. I've been planning this in the back of my mind for a long time, but I haven't gotten around to doing it yet.

  5. BeOS... by petee+moobaa · · Score: 2
    Yup, I'd go the BeOS route. Fast boot times, nice query related filesystem, and there's been a ton of work done on similar systems (try Scot Hacker's mp3box or go straight to Be In Your Stereo for web based interfaces.

    Use CL-Amp for the tunes, go and grab an IRMan and BeInControl for the remote control, and you're set. CL-Amp also has a bunch of plug-ins that support LCD displays, monitors, etc... check BeBits

    The only downsides are that BeOS can be a little fussy about hardware (/me = Asus P2B-S, SB-Live Value), and that Samba support is, erm... well, it's there, but it didn't work for me; but BeOS can happily mount your CIFS shares (or ftp in/out, or telnet in/out, ...)

    FWIW, I just used a standard Abit desktop case (hidden, quiet fan), with only the IRMan exposed...

  6. What about adding a Tivo/ AVI playing support. by pmowry911 · · Score: 2

    I'm thinking about building a box to act as my Jukebox. But also as the internet system for my daughter. I want her to be able to browse to the web to play nickjr.com and disney, watch avi versions of her movies so the DVD's can stay in the closet, and record broadcast TV from my Quest VDSL circuit. Am I dreaming, or is this practical?

  7. I'm looking at the same thing. by Jason+Pollock · · Score: 3

    Here's what I'm looking at:

    1. Motherboard - Advantech 5864L - video in/out, network and built in sound.
    2. Riser card 2xPCI.
    3. SBLive (so I can have digital audio!)
    4. DVD decoder card (if you need that, I don't)

    Add a small hard disk, a read-only linux image, and you are good to go. The hardest part will probably be getting the video out to work under linux. I haven't been able to find any references online. :)

    They even make a small case and power supply, here, but the case is a little ugly. The power supply doesn't appear to have a fan though.

    I'm using an earlier version of the board as the basis for my car-based mp3 system. Works really well. Can't say anything about the PSU, it became available after I started with my system.

    Jason Pollock
  8. Look this up by Coward+Anonymous · · Score: 3

    BeOS - BeOS is far more useful than Linux or Windows. Boot time is minimal (15 sec. at worst), the file system supports rudimentary DB capabilities so you don't need to install MySQL, Perl and other monstrosities just to play a couple mp3s and there seems to be some work in this area. I would post some links I had but my computer died.

    Heat - Get an old Celeron and underclock it to about 100Mhz. That should give you more processing power than you need for mp3s (I don't know about DVD, though) and consume less power than a 486 - don't need a CPU fan.

    Form factor - you can try to find used NLX form factor boards and cases. Some NLX mobos come with Ethernet and TV output built in which is ideal. Sometimes they come with sound but you are probably better off getting a better sound card. The only problem with NLX is that you might have trouble finding a board that will let you underclock. Don't know.

  9. A few links by Van+Halen · · Score: 4
    I was getting all geared up to build myself one of these almost 2 years ago, did some research, bought most of the parts, and then didn't have any time to actually build the thing. Ah well, such is life. ;-) For now, my custom perl script allowing me to instantly call up any of my 300 CDs worth of mp3s is good enough.

    Here are some useful links I found while doing my research:

    I don't know anything about DVD stuff, but hopefully these will be useful.
    --

    Say hello to zMac.