Slashdot Mirror
Tiny Integrated Home Theater PC w/Display
Mark J. Foster writes "After searching for a solution that would let me control my home theater PC without disturbing the video to the projector, I finally decided to roll my own. I've integrated a Shuttle SS40G, with a Xenarc
700Y RGB-interfaced 800x480 TFT widescreen LCD: The fully-integrated package looks like this. For full details, check out my 'Special Edition' Shuttle 40G." This machine reminds me of the "lunchbox" style of PCs, but this one's got a much smaller footprint. Excellent mod.
You'd want to be careful that you didn't get this confused with your microwave... although both would look great if you put a dvd in 'em and turned them on 'high'.
Does this make my brain look big?
...last night, and the movie got to a really quiet romantic scene.
I think the guy was about to propose, but I was startled by an almighty BONG and a 3 foot by 1 foot modal dialog box covering most of the screen politely informing me that a newer version of Windows Media Player was available.
Microsoft: Don't do that.
In 1989, Andy Warhol said 'Tiny is the new big.' I'm inclined to agree.
In today's society it's not what you've got, it's what you've not got and not having a 60" plasma TV with surround sound but having a 8" with two tinny speakers is what we're all aiming for.
I applaud you, Sir. Your device looks like a cross between a 1950's kitchen appliance, a miniaturized techno fridge, and a Mac Cube, and would be at home in any quiche eating Pascal programmer or Mac user's home.
mogorific carpentry experiments
The screen looks cool, the shuttle case looks cool. Why go through all the fuss? I doubt the space gained is relevant.
For a homemade it's quite ok though.
We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
View my mirror of the pictures here
...there seems something very wrong with associating the word "tiny" with a "home theater".
"Ask not what your country can do for you." --John F. Kennedy
The pictures I'm referring to come from ftp://ftp.talix.com/pub/screenshots/shuttle -- Mark J. Foster's FTP site. (Oooo, I'm evil for posting that address... hey, at least I didn't make it a link!)
Mark, that thing is gorgeous!!! I love the idea, I've been thinking about small screens, just not quite like what you've put together. Bravo, well done, extraordinary work!
(Shuttle ought to hire you to build these for them to show off / auction off at trade shows!)
One thing I noticed, though... in ftp://ftp.talix.com/pub/screenshots/shuttle/Shuttl eBack.jpg the pile of power cables (I think there might be a power brick in there for the (external) monitor?), cords, and assorted connectors (don't forget the power strip, too!) is almost half the size of the computer itself!
Ouch.
Next project -- integrate a wireless keyboard & mouse, single-cable connection for the external monitor that includes power, video and audio, and a single power supply that will drive everything. (Yeah, I know, sorta like a Mac with their combined video/USB connection. Hey, I never claimed it was an original idea.)
"...America's great minds of today, teaching America's great minds of tomorrow. Poor bastards." -- A Beautiful Min
I've not seen many laptops that would make a good HTPC. A desktop PC with AGP and PCI ports is just more flexible for this type of thing and likely cheaper too, although the cost gap is probably a lot closer in this case with the added LCD display.
Hi, Touch!
It's something I considered, but ultimately not to go with the touch screen for several reasons:
1) The Acrylite GP protects the LCD
2) I use a remote control, so I don't need the touchscreen
3) I don't want fingerprints on my screen
4) It looks cooler! When power management kicks in and the display power turns off, the TFT panel essentially disappears under normal room light; it's just a smooth black cube.
Having said all that, a touchscreen version could make a lot of sense!
Best Wishes!
MarkF
Hi, Biglig2!
For me, the A/V rack is right next to where I sit, and the projector is about 15' behind me.
One thing I do have to say: I'm definitely not a prototype builder! I used to head up several different portable computer engineering teams, but personally I'm pretty much a klutz mechanically. This is actually the first PC I've ever modified!
Thanks for the kudos!
Have Fun!
MarkF
The question is why would anyone like to have one machine controling everything
Because it's more efficient?
A well designed HTPC can replace a CD changer, a DVD player, a pre-amp, tuner, a TiVo, and a scaler/deinterlacer. And even if you buy the cheapest AV equipment and the most expensive computer equipment you'll come out ahead on the HTPC side.
Not to mention that you have all of that in one box the size of a desktop computer.
The biggest problem remains the interface -- you can do a lot with programmable remote controls, but it's still not as simple or reliable as components. Probably the biggest issue is the feedback component. A pre-amp may have a simple LCD saying "CD" or "Tuner", but HTPC's tend to use Windows interfaces which are more intrusive and nearly impossible to use without some kind of video output.
Of course, you gain a lot of flexibility - you can do anything with the HTPC you can do with a regular computer - but try explaining how to watch TV to a visiting relative (heck, my mom had enough problems with the TiVo when I was on my honeymoon).
As usual, the hardware side of things has been conquered first. Now work has to be done on the usability. And doing things like integrating a small LCD screen onto the system does a lot toward that goal.
Seems like a typical thing a bad magazine would do. Elegance is not throwing hardware on the problem until it's "solved". Why would I want RAID in a PVR? Why would I want a DVD-R in a PVR? What I'd want is a small unit (preferably fanless) with a DVD reader (possibly) and a HDD for caching. And a network connection.
The DVD recorder is in your workstation. The HDD RAID is in a fileserver.
E.g. put a small Via EPICA MB in a box. Put a HDD and DVD reader in there as well. Hook it up to your LAN and store what you want on it. Take it with you to your neighbour and play the movies there. Take it with you to a party and use it as a small MP3/OGG jukebox.