Adding a Hard Drive... To Your DVD Player?

El Puerco Loco writes "Area 450 has several guides to adding hardware to the Sampo DVE631CF DVD player. Even if you don't own this model, the firmware for it has been ported to many, many other models (with annoyances like macrovision and region locking removed). This player had built in support for an IDE device (a flash card reader) so a standard IDE drive can be slaved to the dvd drive and the player can read from a FAT32 formatted disk. The player decodes mp3s and VCD files, so it's possible to turn it into a cheap mp3 jukebox, or store movies in vcd format. I hope that when DiVX support becomes more common in DVD players one of them will be able to support a hack like this. It would be really cool to have 100+ movies built in to my dvd player."

Comments

Aesthetics?

[rednaxel]

That should be nice dangling from my home-theather rack... my wife would love to see that.

Annoyances?

[OpenSourced]

(with annoyances like macrovision and region locking removed)

Annoyances? I thought they were bugs.

Re:Annoyances?

[Dizzo]

Annoyances? I thought they were bugs.

Bugs? I thought they were features.

Re:Annoyances?

[Anonymous Coward]

let's call it anti-features

Re:Annoyances?

[TitusC3v5]

Annoyances? I thought they were bugs.

What's wrong with you people? Everybody knows that these aren't bugs - they're features. :-)

Re:Annoyances?

[PunchMonkey]

Bugs? I thought they were features.

Features? I thought they were annoyances.

Re:Annoyances?

[Zakabog]

Is there a difference?

Re:Annoyances?

[ImaLamer]

I want to know how you will be able to play DVD's with the macrovision removed.

IIRC, there needs to be a decoder in the DVD drive - the disks are already encoded.

Re:Annoyances?

[An Ominous Cow Erred]

Actually, it's quite the opposite. DVDs just have image data encoded, not the vertical blank area (which is where Macrovision type 1 is encoded).

Instead there is just a "Macrovision bit" which tells whether or not the content creator has paid Macrovision their royalties for type 1 Macrovision, or type 1 and type 2 Macrovision. Your DVD player's firmware actually generates the macrovision signal ITSELF, on command. Removing Macrovision simply means adjusting your firmware so it never turns it on.

(For the curious, type 1 Macrovision works by creating flashing bars in the vertical blank area. Your VCR's auto-gain circuit looks there to try to figure out how black black is (so it can record with the greatest dynamic range -- important for a crappy format like VHS) and sees the bars and gets convinced that white is black... If you've ever seen Macrovision at work, where the image fluctuates in brightness, it's flashing in time with the bars in the vertical blank. Those "image stabilizers" you see that remove Macrovision type 1 just strip out the vertical blank and replace it with its own. Macrovision type 2 isn't used as often. It works by mucking up the chroma signal in a composite signal. Avoiding it is as easy as not using the composite output. :-)

Re:Annoyances?

[poot_rootbeer]

Features? I thought they were annoyances.

Re:Annoyances?

[clarkcox3]

I want to know how you will be able to play DVD's with the macrovision removed.

IIRC, there needs to be a decoder in the DVD drive - the disks are already encoded.

Actually, no. Stored on the disc is simply a flag that tells the player to add the macrovision on playback. A player can simply ignore that flag, and not add the macrovision

Also, even if the player is generating a macrovision signal, the device that that video signal is sent to can *still* choose to ignore the macrovision. It's for this reason that when I need to play a DVD to a TV that only has coax inputs, I run the video from the DVD player into an old Betamax VCR (i.e. from before macrovision was in use) which unlike my modern VHS VCR happily ignores the macrovision signal when encoding the video into an RF signal to be sent to the TV

Re:Annoyances?

[Reece400]

Personally, i prefer to call them Micro$oft Features,,,

Reece,

How about XviD support?

[Anonymous Coward]

Xvid is taking over from divx in the release scene. Hopefully a dvd player will come out that will support xvid, vobsub, ac3, etc.

BTW your XBoX can be modified to play divx already, and you can hack it to upgrade the hard drive or it can play off your computer's hard drive too.

Re:How about XviD support?

[Cyno01]

dreamcasts can play divx to, without modding to the unit itself http://www.dcemulation.com/soft-dcdivx.htm

Re:How about XviD support?

[Anonymous Coward]

an acutal USE for the xbox???
no way

I can see it now...

[swordboy]

Columbia House will be selling these things with a hundred movies pre-installed for a penny. All that one needs to do is buy another six over the course of three years (*).

(*) Movie-of-the-month will automatically be downloaded unless you send back this reader service card indicating that you do not want to receive it. Tax, shipping and handling extra.

Re:I can see it now...

[brycenut]

Columbia House will be selling these things with a hundred movies pre-installed for a penny. All that one needs to do is buy another six over the course of three years (*).

Moderated to funny? This could be a great moneymaker if/when the hardware is cheaper, and high-speed access is more common

Re:I can see it now...

[swordboy]

Moderated to funny? This could be a great moneymaker if/when the hardware is cheaper, and high-speed access is more common

It could be a *real* money maker for the CableCo if "DRM" was not such a bad word these days. Seriously...

Imagine, for a second, that the CableCo was able to build a capable set-top-box with secure digital rights management. They build in a DVD player, cable modem, VoIP and ethernet/wireless routing capabilities. They put a set-top-box in every subscriber's house for free.

At the command of the the subscriber, the box then downloads music, TV shows, PPV movies, video games, etc. To save the CableCo's bandwidth, all non-provate media is shared with others on the subnet. Because of the wireless ethernet capabilities, the local area is blanketted with wireless internet service and VoIP. 802.11x phones become cheap and widely used. People use thier phones for accessing their media collection.

Et cetera...

But, since the computer is not secure, this will never happen.

Re:I can see it now...

[McFly69]

Columbia House will have the following business plan.

1. To ensure people will have a reason to purchase new units, every few months, they will use those shitty OEM Maxtor drive and install it in the unit with no fans or any ventalation.

2. For five months, the customer enjoyed watching a new movie every night until the unit over-heated and died.

3. Customer wants their conveience and is forced to pay for a new unit. (*)

4. Go to step 2


(*) - The price will be determined at the purchase time of the replacement unit. do nto expect the unit to be less than $800 or some unreasonable price.

Re:I can see it now...

[Anonymous Coward]

It's funny cos the sort of fuckwits who run these companies don't do anything until everyone else is doing it. You`re still suprised that 1000+ companies go bust every week, i take it?

Re:I can see it now...

[British]

People use thier phones for accessing their media collection. Sure that's a good idea? "Welcome to movie-on-demand phone! Make your selection at any time!" "Press 1 for...Saving Private Ryan" "Press 2 for..JDG'z DIVX rip of The Ring" "Press 3 for..Triple X" .... "Press 4932 for The Santa Clause 2" "To hear these options again, press #" Eh, I'd prefer an on-screen menu.

Re:I can see it now...

[liquidice5]

well if the phone doesnt have a screen, how are u gonna watch it anyway?????

not that watching a movie on a cell phone would be much fun

what you describe...

[nuckin futs]

sounds a lot like a laptop.

Makes you wonder ...

[JSkills]

If this is so easy to do, why haven't the various consumer electronics manufacturers shipped DVD players with a hard drive on board?

It would certainly be an advantage to be one of the first to market with something like this, not to mention the hordes of geeks (like myself) who would be compelled to go out and get one immediately.

Re:Makes you wonder ...

[Anonymous Coward]

You can (in Europe at least)

http://www.panasonic-europe.com/dvdrecorder/

Check out the BMR-HS2. Records to DVD-RAM or internal HDD.

Retails for £450 Sterling.

Re:Makes you wonder ...

[dabadab]

"If this is so easy to do, why haven't the various consumer electronics manufacturers shipped DVD players with a hard drive on board?"
It might be easy to connect a hard drive as a piece of hardware but it may be troublesome to get it integrated into the system - and embedded systems are more costly to develop than applications because of the higher expectations of quality (releasing patches is not an option) and the limitations of the hardware.
The HDD itself is also expensive - I see DVD players that cost just as much as a 80GB HDD so adding a HDD would dramatically increase the player's price.
And in the end it is hard to justify these costs - average consumers just could not make any use of the HDD and the geeky kind (e.g. myself :) rather builds his own HTPC.

Re:Makes you wonder ...

[Anonymous Coward]

Probably because you "hordes of geeks" are vastly outnumbered by the average joe, making mass production of such a product somewhat financially unsound at the current time.

Re:Makes you wonder ...

[monkeydo]

If this is so easy to do, why haven't the various consumer electronics manufacturers shipped DVD players with a hard drive on board?

Um, they have. Panasonic and others have made DVD players that can record to either DVD-R or internal hard drives. They also use the hard drives for PVR like functions.

It would certainly be an advantage to be one of the first to market with something like this, not to mention the hordes of geeks (like myself) who would be compelled to go out and get one immediately.

Go get it then.

Re:Great

[Anonymous Coward]

i don't know about you....but i have mpeg files of movies that don't exist on DVD.

i would not mind keeping them "preloaded" on the dvd drive.

at my parties i can load up all the stupid/funny mpegs floating around the net.

so why don't you fuck off.

DivX Player

[Gaggme]

The real question is though, by the time Divx player become common, as in afforable enough for a majority of /.'rs, will blue ray dvd be the next big rave?

With "potential" *couph vaporware couph* to contain some 15+hours of video, why not just have 10 movie ondemand on one disk. The entire series of Star Trek Movies that you can switch with a single press of a button.

It is my beleif that we will see less and less of these players that have the capabilites of manipulation as DRM locks down in a deathgrip to hold onto its business model. Sad but true.

Re:DivX Player

[Patersmith]

It is my beleif that we will see less and less of these players that have the capabilites of manipulation as DRM locks down in a deathgrip to hold onto its business model. Sad but true.

saying it doesn't make it so. Look at the great products out there right now, today. Just a couple of years ago you couldn't get a DVD player that would play discs from outside your region. Today you can get players that will do burned CDs, MP3s, burned VCDs, OGG...hell, there was a review on slashdot a few days ago of a device that has a hard drive and a DVD burner.

Consumers are telling big tech what they want, and big tech is going to build it no matter what Hollywood says unless the US enacts some strong legislation to the contrary. Want to make a difference? Write your politicians. And, above all, visit your local Sony Store (or other retailer) and tell them what features you want and tell them *why* you will never buy their regional-encoding-encumbered, macrovision-havin, no-burned-cd-playin, no-fast-forwarding-thru-the-intro player.

Re:DivX Player

[Lumpy]

why not just have 10 movie ondemand on one disk. The entire series of Star Trek Movies that you can switch with a single press of a button.

because the movie studios will NEVER do that. right now you should be able to get 6-8 episodes of a tv series on a DVD instead we get 2... what the HELL is that? simple.... you get to pay more by buying more.. and that will never EVER change....

they have greater profit from selling 12 single movie discs at $12.95 each instead of selling 1 discs with 12 episodes for >$120.00

because they will never give you a deal just because it's on one disc and saved them $1.95 each movie... they want all that cash per episide/movie..

unless you are making them yourself.. (Hell DVD burning is unreliable and flaky right now,, this "blu-ray" will be as horrible for the first 3 years also.) you will never ever see your desired all movies on one disc from any legitimate company.

rpofits and how much money they can bilk out of you is important... why do you think SA-CD came about? another reason to make you spend all you money replacing all your audio CD's again for a small quality increase.

Re:DivX Player

[MyHair]

The entire series of Star Trek Movies that you can switch with a single press of a button.

Good thing, too, because only the even-numbered ST movies are any good.

Re:DivX Player

[handorf]

IMHO, the true potential of Blu-Ray isn't 15+ hours of video... as others have said, there are economic reasons that won't happen.

But 2-4 hours of full 1080p HDTV resolution at 30 fps? THAT'S a decision I can live with!

Re:DivX Player

[sulli]

In region 1 you're correct. Check out amazon.co.uk for region 2 television dvd's (e.g. Simpsons, South Park) - you can buy the whole series on a small number of discs there. Reason enough to hack your R1 player to make it region-agile.

Re:DivX Player

[Anonymous Coward]

But you could do this without blue-ray if you used DivX.

XviD is whack, but making set-top boxes is not their bag. Just hope that DivX makes headway and that their decoder will support Xvid also.

This Hard Drive thing is very cool though. Does anyone know what decoder chip they are using? I know DivX has announced partnerships with som CE chipmakers and it this device falls into one of those chipmaker's camps, they could just roll out an update and you would be in the mpeg-4 business. Then, if you could get the source and the chip supports it you could have immediately the first Hi-Def storage and playback device.

Re:DivX Player

[merlin_jim]

I don't think we'll ever see a 10-album-on-one-disc release.

Why? Cause I currently see companies that try to make as many discs as possible for a series, because customers equate discs to value.

Example 1: Blue Sub No. 6. 4 22-minute episodes. It could've easily fit on 1 disc. But it was released as 4 discs, each only 22 minutes long. At $30/disc (I know you can get it cheaper; I was satisfying my impulse-shopping drive at the time) it was not cheap. As a matter of fact, I can't remember the last time I spent more than $1 / minute for any for of entertainment. Possible exception being on the phone last night. (j/k)

You see this kind of thing all the time in anime; a series that could be compressed and sold on less discs is instead spaced out as much as possible in order to increase revenue. While, for instance, all the star treks or all the Aliens on one disc (or even an entire season of B5) would be awesome, I don't think we'll see it...

Re:DivX Player

[GMontag451]

right now you should be able to get 6-8 episodes of a tv series on a DVD instead we get 2

Bull-fucking-shit. If you are talking about half-hour (broadcast time) episodes, you almost always get at least 3 episodes on a disc, if not 4 or 5. If you are talking about hour long (again, broadcast time) there is no way in hell you are going to get 6 episodes on a single disc, let alone 8. Hell, you'd barely be able to get 8 half-hour episodes onto a disc, and if you tried, the quality would surely suffer.

Re:DivX Player

[GMontag451]

Example 1: Blue Sub No. 6. 4 22-minute episodes. It could've easily fit on 1 disc. But it was released as 4 discs, each only 22 minutes long.

What? I have Blue Sub No 6. all on one disc. I've never seen it sold any other way.

Re:DivX Player

[elandal]

30$ per disc? It's SRP is 19.98, and I paid perhaps some 14$ per disc (plus 14$ for the movie).
It was cheap for a disc, expensive per minute of content. I'm used to paying about 24$ per disc, nowadays often with 3 episodes (of ~23 minutes each). Used to be four episodes, even six, per disc, and the price per disc certainly hasn't come down..

Re:DivX Player

[Anonymous Coward]

hey bull-fucking retart... there are TWO sides to a DVD... or did your fucking brain forget that?
you can EASILY get 6 episodes on a DVD

only a complete -fucking-moron would say otherwise..

stupid-asshole. From what I fucking found was that fucking star-trek is two fucking episodes per fucking DVD and then Bab-5 is also 2 fucking episodes per fucking DVD.... the fucking producers want to fucking milk it...

so lumpy is right... you are wrong... and by looking at your past 25 posts to slashdot... I see that that is a trend!

Re:DivX Player

[merlin_jim]

What? I have Blue Sub No 6. all on one disc. I've never seen it sold any other way.

Are you talking about the movie or the series? How much did you pay for that disc? Can you look up the publisher? Was this before or after Toonami paid to have the translation redone

A quick search on Amazon shows the four discs, each one episode, currently on sale for $17.95, and "Blue Submarine No. 6: The Movie (Edited Version)" on sale for the same amount.

Re:DivX Player

[GMontag451]

It was the "movie" but thats the same thing as the series. The movie was just the Toonami translation of the series. All four episodes are there.

i guess

[Anonymous Coward]

because once you add a hard drive, you realise that you can add a NIC, so you have a computer......

or once you add a harddrive you might as well make some money from it by having a subscription based tv guide..... then you have a Tivo

or once you add a hardrive those pesky kids will put an os onit and it will be a tux racer console

etc etc etc.

Question

[PhysicsScholar]

Why not just buy a cheap PC to do all of this?

For $199.99 at any old Wal-mart store, you can get the following:

VIA C3 800 MHz processor offers comparable performance to the 800 MHz Celeron processor
133 MHz frontside bus
128 MB SDRAM, expandable to 1 GB
133 MHz memory speed
10 GB Ultra-ATA 100 hard drive, 5400 rpm (total accessible capacity varies depending on operating environment)
52x CD-ROM drive
Up to 8 MB shared video memory
Integrated AC '97 CODEC audio
Integrated 10/100 Ethernet connection
Micro ATX tower case (14"D x 7"W x 14"H)
Available drive bays: 5.25-inch external, 3.5-inch external
Available PCI slot
High-speed serial port
Parallel port
2 front and 2 rear USB ports
Game port
104-key keyboard
2-button mouse with wheel
Audio port (line-in, line-out, mic-in)
Stereo speakers
1-year warranty, return to manufacturer

Software includes:
GIMP digital image editor
Word processor, spreadsheet, presentation maker, addressbook, calendar
Contact manager and time management
Digikam digital camera software supporting over 162 digital cameras
Mozilla Web browser and email client
XMMS MP3, Ogg Vorbis, WAV digital music player
Audio CD player
Xine DVD/DiVX player
10 games, including Solitaire, Tetris, Asteroids and Galaga
Desktop/LX update wizard
Adobe Acrobat Reader
RealPlayer
Shockwave Flash
Java Runtime Environment
Kooka digital scanner program
Desktop/LX network browser
Desktop/LX install wizard
Desktop/LX remote access control
Koncd CD burning software
KDict Dictionary Client
Supports over 162 digital cameras and scanners
Full photo-editing suite with over 25 filters and layers
Capable of opening and saving select Photoshop files
Send and view digital faxes
Built-in Web browser
Record digital audio clips and save as WAV files
Burn and rip your own music CDs and back up your data onto CD-R or CD-RW
Maximize your home network by viewing shared files with the network browser
Simple right-click file sharing
Built-in firewall for air-tight Internet security
Data snapshot, backup, and recovery program for configuration changes
Use Desktop Sharing to export your desktop for remote control or demonstrations on the network
Powerful remote assistance included for fixing problems via the Internet
10 games including Tetris, Solitaire, Galaga, and Asteroids
Get full access to the Iris Software Gallery where you can download additional programs at no charge! Iris includes software for multi-track music editing, Web-page authoring, games, a personal money management and more

Re:Question

[oolon]

Lets see...

quiet operation, (NO FANS)
Hi-Fi form factor case...
cheap price My 450 cost me 150 quid (UKP).
No need for patching.
Instant "on".

Why do I need a full feature computer in my living room, I am there to watch TV or listen to music), I have a computer (and another TV up stairs if I want to do that).

James

PS did I say quiet operation... my living room is a fan free zone. I don;t want the sound of an aircraft taking off comming from a Hi-Fi stack.

Re:Question

[pro-mpd]

Because having a DVD-player-cum-VCD-jukebox-on-a-HDD is 1337!

For me at least, the attraction is in the "neat-o gadget" factor. Kinda like having a Snapstream server at home off of which I can stream Satellite in my dorm room...

Re:Great

[91degrees]

i don't know about you....but i have mpeg files of movies that don't exist on DVD. ...

at my parties i can load up all the stupid/funny mpegs floating around the net

Do you have permission from the copyright owner to copy these "Funny" Mpegs?

Do you really believe that most people will want to use it for this purpose?

so why don't you fuck off.

Sorry for having an opinion.

Oh my god...

[MagicFab]

...another way to get 4096 free AOL hours!

What kind of business could come of this?

[Anonymous Custard]

Ok, so the RIAA/MPAA doesn't like when new technology takes away from their business, but over the decades most recording technologies actually turn out to be profitable for the music/movie industry.

What kind of business models might be derived from DVD+LargeHardDisk players? And not just for the geeks --- this has to be useful to your average joe-can't-set-his-vcr-clock. How can we utilize this technology, so customers get cooler services, the industry still makes money, and we all get a better movie experience?

Re:What kind of business could come of this?

[Apreche]

The business model that comes is this. First you connect the dvd player to the internet. Then you sell movies for a resonable price. Cable TV's Pay-Per-View seems to be reasonable enough that people use it. The only difference is that when someone pays to view they save the movie and can watch it as many times as they want. DivX format would probably be optimal for this kind of service. It uses the least bandwith to transfer the file and more of them can be stored on the drive. And since it is lower quality than an actual DVD people will still go out and buy their favorite movies on optical media.

This would be especially awesome if they have a large database of old movies that are relatively cheaper to download and if they also provide newer movies that were just in theatres, even at a slightly higher price, so you don't have to wait for DVDs to come out (even though the waiting time has greatly decreased).

I see many people spending a dollar a day watching all the movies they always wanted to see and never did.

Proud owner

[greatsasuke]

I own this DVD player (the 631CF) and it was the smartest electronics purchase I've ever made. I think it cost something like $130 total from Amazon and it looks like they're running a rebate special now. The player plays everything I've thrown at it, SVCD/VCD/MP3/DVD/CD, with no problems. The hard drive mod is as easy as described on area450, and it's totally worth it once you download a movie, play it, and delete it quickly and painlessly. The other major hacks, region-free and de-macrovision, are easily applied via a simple firmware patch and are also very worthwhile. I'd highly recommend this DVD player to just about anyone. Also, I'm completely unaffiliated, just a happy user.

Re:Proud owner

[Rader]

what about DVD-R's?

For instance MP3's on a DVD-R or SVCD movie(s) on DVD-R?

Re:Proud owner

[El Puerco Loco]

there is a hack for this firmware to support playing all the formats from dvd-r.

Re:Proud owner

[yelligsc]

I read in a couple of the articles on the add-a-HDD page that when you apply the patch necessary to add the hard drive, you lose the ability to play DVDs in 5.1 surround sound.

Have you seen this problem with the play you own?
This is about the only issue keeping me from buying one right now! The price is right!

Scott.

Re:Proud owner

[Anonymous Coward]

check out www.area450.com, read the review of the player, browse through the forums. Thats what I did one day and ended up buying the 631CF, my suitemates hate me because they get no work done since all they do is watch DVDs.

Re:Proud owner

[alexo]

I read in a couple of the articles on the add-a-HDD page that when you apply the patch necessary to add the hard drive, you lose the ability to play DVDs in 5.1 surround sound.

I think that you got a little confused.
The idea is that you can flash the 631CF firmware on other Sampo players. Some of them (not the 631CF) have a built-in Dolby digital. You will lose the decoder functionality if you do the flash since the631CF does not have it.

macrovision

[dizco]

Or is this just for the pirated movies? The fact that it blocks macrovision suggests this may be the case.

I'm glad you have all modern components. My TV has only a coax input. my dvd player has only composite and svideo out. If it weren't for the fact that i can disable macrovision in my dvd player, i would need to buy a new tv. instead, i disable macrovision and use my vcr to convert from composite to coax. why should i have to buy a new tv because the industry doesn't trust me?

Re:macrovision

[91degrees]

Who forced you to buy a DVD player in the first place?

I mean, after converting to composite, then converting to RF after being messed about by the video recorder, then playing it on an old TV, you're losing all the picture quality.

Re:macrovision

[El Puerco Loco]

on some sets, the picture looks better using the rf inputs than the composite or s-video inputs. a lot of sets are too sharp and unless they have a control to soften the picture, using the rf input can soften it enough to reduce the annoying effects of edge enhancement and compression artifacts. the picture on my tv definitely looks better if i use the rf input. if you have a top of the line digital monitor, that's different, but with most tvs rf input is at least adequate.

Re:macrovision

[Digitech]

Sigh, you are forgetting that most people don't care that much about quality. There are a lot of audio- and video-philes around Slashdot, but the common person just wants to watch a movie. He/she cares more about the story than about the quality of the video. I just recently bought a DVD player, and I was in the same boat with no Composite inputs on my TV. Since my VCR has composite, I tried to do the same thing as the person above, but failed when trying to play DVD's because of macrovision. It made me furious when I found out that the messed up picture was intentional. I don't care that much for quality, but the movie (StarWars Episode 1) was basically unwatchable. It kept going from light to dark and the sound was messed up too. I bought an RF modulator to solve the problem, but I should not have had to. I have warned all my friends and family about this and none had heard of such a thing and were as upset about it as I was.

My suggestion is to tell your friends and family about it, and have them tell THEIR friends. Once enough people understand these "features," maybe things will change.

Re:macrovision

[Anonymous Coward]

I have a similar setup. The thing is that I didn't buy a DVD player because I was concerned about video or audio quality.. my ears and eyes aren't good enough for that to even make a difference.

I bought a DVD player because they started shipping DVDs with all sorts of cool features and added scenes for some of my favorite movie.

I couldn't care less that my VCR is fudging the video up a wee-bit.. I won't notice it at all. But if Macrovision was enabled, you bet I'd notice it.

Re:macrovision

[Rader]

I'm in the same situation with a TV with only RF input. (it was a gift, what are you gonna do)

My $20 radio shack RF-modulator solved that, and I never ran into the macrovision problem (I haven't had to turn it off)

Re:macrovision

[dizco]

Who forced you to buy a DVD player in the first place?

No one forced me to buy a DVD player. I chose to.

I mean, after converting to composite, then converting to RF after being messed about by the video recorder, then playing it on an old TV, you're losing all the picture quality.

I am? When I rent a DVD, it sure looks better than when I rent a VHS to me. And it sounds a HELL of a lot better. -- Besides, this is the same problem. Who the fuck are you (or the industry) to tell me what to buy, or how to use it? (BTW i'm not converting to composite, unless you mean internally in the DVD player. I'm using the VCR to convert from composite to RF.. and the tv isn't that old, its from the 90s i beleive.)

Re:macrovision

[gozar]

Or you run down to Radio Shack and purchase an RF modulator....

Re:macrovision

[grub]

after converting to composite, then converting to RF after being messed about by the video recorder, then playing it on an old TV, you're losing all the picture quality.

Perhaps, but he can still enjoy the AC3 audio output from the player through a Dolby Digital-ready receiver which are dirt cheap.

DVD isn't all about the picture, the sound is a big plus.

Re:macrovision

[legojenn]

I have a similar situation. I have an old TV, the DVD has composite out. I got this thing called a modulator (I can't help think of Marvin the Martian when I say that word). I have composite go in, coax out and macrovision is dealt with at the same time.

It cost me $40.00 CDN at Future Shop.

Re:macrovision

[mirko]

I know this is not quite what you were arguing against but let's speak about region-lock :
I bought my DVD unit *before* y2k : it was then RPC-1 and set to region 0 (unlocked).
Now, if this unit dies, most of my legitimate non-locally-zoned dvd won't be "legally" playable on my next unit.
So, I guess there is something obviously wrong going there, OK ?
I mean : once it is okay because they want to promote their shit, next it is all-of-a-sudden forbidden.
In some way, as the probablity that my drive dies is increasing every minute, I could indeed say there are going to force me to buy a new DVD player (especially if they continue sellign these crappy region-0-forbiding dvds).

Re:macrovision

[ffrank]

I don't care that much for quality, but the movie (StarWars Episode 1) was basically unwatchable....and the sound was messed up too.

You blame your DVD player for this?

I thought it was Jar Jar Binks!

Oh wait, I get it.

Re:macrovision

[El Puerco Loco]

why spend $20 on an RF-modulator when you can patch the firmware for free?

Re:macrovision

[Cpt_Kirks]

You know of a patch that can convert baseband video and audio to RF? Cool, I want to see that code...

Re:macrovision

[MyHair]

My 3-year-old TV also is RF only. It's a cheapie 27" that my Mom won as a bingo door prize and sold to me for $200, which was about $100-$200 cheaper than new at the time.

I have an APEX DVD and run it through the VCR to view it on the TV, but I never noticed Macrovision problems even before I modified my firmware. Macrovision shouldn't affect the VCR/RF converter any more than a straight video out/in connection, should it? I thought it was just supposed to screw up frame timing for recording.

I dislike Macrovision, anyway, even if I haven't noticed a problem so far.

Re:macrovision

[El Puerco Loco]

no, the patch turns off the macrovison feature of the dvd player so you can plug the composite video into your vcr and use the rf out on the vcr to connect to a tv that only has an rf input and not composite video inputs. that way you don't need to buy an extra rf converter.

Re:macrovision

[_ph1ux_]

Ya mom. Thats funny that she won it as a door prize - and then *sold* it to you. haha.

Sounds like something anyone would do - except she wasnt selling it to just anyone, she sold it to her kid! Way to go with your entreprenurial mom!

nice, but where's my media server?

[splateagle]

much like the various TiVo mods and hacks out there this seems like another step toward tape/disc-less video archiving - hurrah say I!

Music's already gone this way, and since digital media came to video (DVD) later than to music (Audio CD) it makes sense that video is lagging somewhat in this next evoloutionary step.

Of course the really neat thing will be when these puppies start being able to be plugged into a home network enabling centralised mhome media archives...

incidentally I think those posters asserting that these devices can only be intended for pirates are forgetting the phenomenal amount of physical space that a decent movie collection currently occupies, not to mention the headache of keeping track of them! - my housemate's a movie buff and her room is piled to the rafters with (legit) cassettes and discs - the selection is great but it takes almost as long to find the film you want to see as it does to watch! digitising the collection when it's possible will solve both the storage and retreval headaches in one!

personally I can't wait.

Re:nice, but where's my media server?

[Rader]

Of course, the MPAA believes that your housemate's solution would be to just buy all DVD's to replace her cassettes. $$$$$

Re:nice, but where's my media server?

[mikeboone]

A media server would be sweet. I'm starting to plan my server and network to do some of that sort of thing, probably just with music at first.

But you probably won't see a commercial product soon, and when it does, it'll probably be "Designed for Microsoft Palladium(R)(TM)(c)."

Re:nice, but where's my media server?

[splateagle]

true, though we're in the UK so the MPAA don't have too much say over it ;)

Re:nice, but where's my media server?

[splateagle]

interesting: I'm thinking along the same lines (once I get a free weekend to fiddle about with the various odds and ends) what kind of setup are you thinking about?

Re:nice, but where's my media server?

[Rader]

They have a little power in every country they sell their stuff in. They didn't seem to have any trouble having `local` authorities bust down Johansen's door in Norway.

Re:nice, but where's my media server?

[mccalli]

I'm also thinking along the same lines, and my current choice is between Shuttle lines or a mini-ITX with a hardware MPEG2 decoder.

An example of the mini-ITX can be found here, and the same site also contains the Shuttle box I'm thinking about.

Not at all sure which, if any, I'll go for. Quite like the Shuttles as a more general purpose PC, but the mini-ITX is cheap, comes with its own adequate CPU and would fit in a component rack better. Other cases can be had to make it look even more like a hi-fi component.

Cheers,
Ian

Re:nice, but where's my media server?

[splateagle]

hmm, fine looking gizmos Ian, personally I'm still looking for a way to integrate the hardware I already have - namely an OSX/Linux home network (currently all PPC machines) and a TiVo...

probably impossible but I can't shake the idea that it should be workable.

*shrugs*

Patrick

Re:nice, but where's my media server?

[mccalli]

I have a Tivo too, and in two day's time it goes out of warranty.

At that point, I'll likely put in a bigger hard drive and an wireless ethernet adaptor. You can then download software to control it via a web-based interface - useful, as I could then access it from work (with suitable security of course).

Not sure if you can turn it into a music player though, and I know you can't extract the video streams.

Cheers,
Ian

Re:nice, but where's my media server?

[splateagle]

The warranty on ours is up in the Spring and similarly I plan on extending the hard-drive cap. Hadn't picked up that you can't get the video to export over a local network though - rats... need to rethink the video side.

Audio's easier - for the time being it's likely to be a shared centralised .mp3 bank on the fileserver that we just point each copy of iTunes (or whatever) at and play from...

how far offtopic are we? ;)

Patrick

Re:nice, but where's my media server?

[mccalli]

how far offtopic are we? ;)

Err...I think the word is 'tangential'. Barely.

Cheers,
Ian

Re:nice, but where's my media server?

[Anonymous Coward]

Of course the really neat thing will be when these puppies start being able to be plugged into a home network enabling centralised mhome media archives...
Look at this:
www.broadq.com

They were misreported on /. earlier as a Tivo like player for the PS2, but that's total BS. What they've actually done is make the PS2 a client on your home network, which will play DivXs and MP3s and all sorts of stuff off of your server box (Linux, OS X, Windows). CTO insists that they will not cut deals with major company's that restrict fair use.

And all done without Sony's help.

Re:nice, but where's my media server?

[mikeboone]

Right now I'm just concerning myself with the server itself, data storage, some kind of RAID maybe, and wiring the house.

What I need at the entertainment center end is A) a way to control the server by remote, B) sound output and C) video. I'm not sure if I need a small PC at the entertainment center site, on the network, or if I could simply run the audio and video lines ~20 ft. to my server. The problem is the remote control, I think. I've seen a few gadgets that would sit at the entertainment center and communicate with the server, but only one or two of them; I haven't done a survey or anything. And they seem a bit pricey.

Re:nice, but where's my media server?

[splateagle]

running AV cables over those kinds of distances is liklely to leave you with signal degredation issues I think...

as for wiring the house, you've probably already considered and dismissed this but I'd heartily recommend 802.11 - a lot less messy! :)

Re:nice, but where's my media server?

[mikeboone]

802.11 is still a consideration...I'm still planning things. I'm a little paranoid about the security though.

This is all a project to be completed when my real work slows down. :)

DivX support?

[Anonymous Coward]

This basically goes for all players, but for DivX support i surely hope they will have an easy way to upgrade the codecs. Seeing how many different ones there are now.. divx 3.x, 4 5, divx with AC3 sound codec, now the XviD stuff. DivX isnt exactly "one standard" anymore.

Re:Great

[dabadab]

"Do you have permission from the copyright owner to copy these "Funny" Mpegs?"
In MY jurisdiction I CAN use and copy any video/music file for my personal usage, and I believe this is the case in most of Europe.
"Do you really believe that most people will want to use it for this purpose?"
I don't know, but if they were building huge libraries of Hollywood shit for themselves, that would be also legal here, so, dear gentelman, you are either ignorant or you are really trolling. (My bet goes on the first)

Because........

[HBPiper]

Then you wouldn't be hacking somebody elses hardware to make it do something it wasn't supposed to do originally.

Think hot rod or science project.

Re:uh!? ;-)

[McFly69]

Your question is off topic, but I will be willing to answer your question. You have several options. but before I get into them, I am going to ask you this. Why are all your PCI slots full? Post me what you have installed on the unit.

First lets assume you have an older system (P-166 and below) and your PCI slots are full (as mention and does not have USB ports. You can install yourself a nice ISA IDE or SCSI controller. Depending on which IDE/SCSI controller you get, will depend on how many items you can use. If your sound car is a ISA card, you may consider replacing it with a Sound Blaster Pro or 16 ASP. Those cards came with a standard IDE port which you can connect two additional IDE devices (from the sound card). You can also purchase an external 1 or 2 gig Jaz Drive by Iomega. These units are SCSI but they also came with SCSI to Parrell printer port converter. so this woudl allow you to conenct the device and have it working VIA printer port. Of course you will take a slight performace hit but it will work just fine.

Lets say you have a newer system (P-200 and higher). Cahnces are that you have USB. So you can get an external USB drive. Basically it is an IDE drive installed in a USB case. If you do nto need a large size drive jsut something small/portable get a USB memory stick reader and a big memory stick. It will work faster than a regular hard drive. Some units (NEC, DELL, AST, and Toshiba) have infer-red ports that can be used for this. If you haev one, do soem more research on your own.

Re:Great

[91degrees]

In MY jurisdiction I CAN use and copy any video/music file for my personal usage

This exception does not apply to video and music downloaded from the internet without the owners permission. Did the person who you got them from have permission to distribute?

IDE.

[13Echo]

A lot of these inexpensive DVD players have standard IDE drives inside. I could pull the drive from my Apex AD-660 for instance, and pop it right into my PC if I desired to.

These are some of the most flexible and hackable DVD players on the market, and their price point is pretty low. I love my region-free AD-660.

Buy an RF modulator to convert composite to coax!

[Anonymous Coward]

You can buy an RF modulator to convert composite
to an RF signal modulated on coax channel 3 or 4
just like a VCR. They are about $15 at Best Buy.
Heck, I have one from my old 8-bit Nintendo which
I never use.

Re:uh!? ;-)

[mirko]

This was actually a desperate attempt to be marked funny ;-)

Now, well, on my P4, the 6PCI slots are used this way :

1. yamaha SW1000XG sound card
   
2. STAudio DSP2000mkII sound card
   
3. DSP2kII port extension
   
4. SCSI card
   
5. Network card
   
6. USB ports extension
   

So, I guess I'm actually lacking some slots and I don't especially want to free some because my sound cards are actually getting better and better with the age (the yamaha got its 4th yearly best sound card medail).

DIY

[rekulator]

Why wait for DVD-player's to get features you need? We're building a DVD player with my friend which can do DVD, VCD, DIVX, OGG, MP3.. actually everything xine can. And it has 132X64 graphical lcd, custom joystick for buttons, remote control, hard drive, possibly net access for cddb and streaming video and audio. Most of you probably say "nay, this bloke's just another troll or something", well go check out pics

Re:DIY

[uucee]

Where's the support for a DVB-C card for HTV? ;-)

Re:DIY

[rekulator]

You can do if you want to. It's Linux after all.. ;)

Re:Great

[dabadab]

In MY jurisdiction it DOES (I am in Middle Europe)
Also, it does not have to be downloaded from the internet - you can just copy it from a friend - and this is also a totally legal action here.

Cheap Media Player

[NetJunkie]

Another good device for this is an XBox. Just chip it and put in a 120GB hard drive. You can play almost any media with the XBox Media Player software off the HD or streaming from a networked PC. It works really well and is easy to do.

Re:Cheap Media Player

[Rader]

Hey, that looks like the one my grandma was making the other day... ;)

That's a large motherboard. Any particular reason why you're making it so big? Why not a small motherboard? Are there certain features that warrant it? Even if you did have to use better graphics (ala video card) there are baby ATX boards out there, or smaller boards with one PCI slot.

Can't say much more without you listing the components you're using. I'm interested in the software you'll be using (probably writing). Pop up a web page about the parts, with the pictures, and the source, and I'd bet you'd have a popular site. There might be webrings out there of other people doing the same thing, I know that the homemade car-mp3 players had a large community....

I myself want to make a cheap laptop alternative with a small motherboard like the one I linked above. Something small that would fit in a backpack, with firewire hard drive and firewire CDR. And a large LCD built into the backpack. --all for ripping/encoding CD's while at the library.

Re:Cheap Media Player

[ianjk]

Another good device for this is an XBox. Just chip it and put in a 120GB hard drive. You can play almost any media with the XBox Media Player software off the HD or streaming from a networked PC. It works really well and is easy to do

Hardly cheap. (xbox @ $199 + mod chip + 120 gig drive @ $150). For this price you could easily build a media box for the living room.

Re:Cheap Media Player

[NetJunkie]

Not easily in that form factor and be silent. Not to mention it has excellent TV-out support. TV-out on video cards look terrible. Plus, Dolby Digital 5.1 support.

DVD player, Hard Drive and Network capabilities

[McFly69]

I have no seen anyoen yet talk about this kind of hack in the responses. Has anyone heard of such a hack? Why you may ask I wish to have Network capabilties? So the DVD player could rip the movies directly on my network server (or HD to transfer later) and play them back from that server. Would be a sweet utility program.

Yes I am aware that some computer PVR's already do this, but the problem is with the fact it is a computer. I take time for bootup, and the OS has the abiltiy to crash. The bootup sequence so not only be immediate but also on a more perm state; a eprom.

Any hacks or maybe devices like this, I would be interested to hear about.

Re:DVD player, Hard Drive and Network capabilities

[leeet]

I just bought one. It's awesome... I heard it's called a "PC"

Xbox

[Jagen]

A chipped XBOX is the coolest thing for this. With the chip you can multi region dvd player for dvd goodness (with RGB out and 5.1 digital sound with appropriate connectors) then stick xboxmediaplayer on it and play all your divxs, vcds, mp3s and loads more, either streaming it from another machine using the built in networking, or dump them on the harddrive (built in ftp server in the evoX bios). Not forgetting that you can put bigger hard drives in it too.

Re:Great

[Anonymous Coward]

I keep my level at -1 because that's where the creative people are.

If you don't want to see anything below +1, don't.

Or is that asking too much of the braindead?

Now what I'd like to know ...

[arminh1974]

... is if there is something like an IDE adapter for 10/100 ethernet. I've been looking for a space-saving solution to play the videos stored on my fileserver w/o the need of a dedicated PC. Has anyone hacked something like this yet?

Re:Now what I'd like to know ...

[pro-mpd]

Found this link:
http://mail-index.netbsd.org/port-mac68k/1999/04/0 8/0013.html

It's an old mailing list message, in which the author (Grant Stockly) says:

I've already created an IDE to Ethernet AISC for a mini www server, and thought it would be fun to see if I could use the base of it as a cheap way of throwing drives onto a system.

However, Google returns no hits for "ethernet ide asic" which is about as general as I could think to make the search term...

Anyhow, does anyone have information about this ASIC? If so, it sounds *exactly* like what we want here.

Re:Now what I'd like to know ...

[MyHair]

is if there is something like an IDE adapter for 10/100 ethernet

Hrm, I believe PCMCIA has a very similar--if not identical--pinout and function to ATA/IDE. But I don't know enough about it to know if you could rig a PC Card network atapter to an IDE cable or how to go about making it work if you did. A curious developer might peruse the pcmcia-core source code in the Linux kernel.

Re:Now what I'd like to know ...

[Anonymous Coward]

this does exist. quantum "snap" server. basicly, an epromed OS, in a box with a couple of hard disks and a network port. all configuration you can do via a web browser pointing at its ip address, I.e. hard disk partitioning, raid stripping and mirroring, IP config. plug it into your network, and it monkeys about and autoconfig(tm)'s itself.

i think seagate do one too, but given hard disk prices, the capacities they are advertising for the price of the box, are a bit silly for the average user. 40Gb for $1000? heh. no.
i'm sure you can mod them easy enuff to take big drives....

personally, i'd just use an old P2 with a gut load of ram / shared drives and a funky NIC card buried in the loft/basement.

mooo 3:-()

Re:Now what I'd like to know ...

[Anonymous Coward]

PCMCIA (the original) interface was based on the standard ISA card slot... and as it happens, the original IDE hard disk interface was pretty much the same, with a bit of added buffering, which is why IDE drives, running the programmed I/O mode 0 can only manage 2.5Meg per second (the limit of ISA without over clocking!) and have a 16 bit bus interface. hmmm. sounds like ISA? it IS!

Re:Now what I'd like to know ...

[greenmark59]

Check out this site http://www.dpie.com/pc104/webasdisk.html

Looks and acts like an IDE drive but is networked to a PC's server drive.

Modifying hardware

[sheWhoWalksWithToesL]

I've always suspected that contrary to the disclaimers on the instructions ("Modifying this product invalidates the user's authority to operate this product") anyone who modifies their stuff to do something extra actually GAINS authority to operate that device. It's just that companies don't want you to have that authority.

Re:uh!? ;-)

[McFly69]

I see that your into music production. Since you already have a SCSI device (assuming it is properly configured), I hight suggest getting an exteranl SCSI unit and forget about USB (slower than a monkey trying to take a dump). Find out what its max bandwidth is. For example, if it is an adaptec 2940UW it handles 68 pin at 80 m per second. Using this option would work faster than your internal HD, but this really depends how good the card is.

On ebay, you can get an external 40 gig unit under $100 and the SCSI cable for another $15. Not a bad cost investment considering you spend Close to $1000 just for the audio cards :)

This was actually a desperate attempt to be marked funny ;-) Sorry to tell you buddy, but you were not funny. You might be funny looking but not funny. :P

Google Cache

[pro-mpd]

Google cache links for various pages:
Article link:
http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:xTNcBn kYSi0C: www.area450.com/thesampozone/articles/connectindex .htm+&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

Add-a-HDD page:
http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:EwQdBO Dch-8C: www.area450.com/thesampozone/articles/harddrive.ht m+&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

Hard Drive Preparation:
http://www.google.com/search?q=cache :eIK7PXDIR3wC: www.area450.com/thesampozone/articles/harddrivepre p.htm+&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

Hard Drive Power:
http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:yVisV CJbkysC: www.area450.com/thesampozone/articles/harddrivepow er.htm+&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

Lots more articles on the page linked in the article, but those are the ones of interest... hmmm... I think maybe the Google cache just got Slashdotted (!!??!!) cause its loading reeeaaal slow here...

dvd player that plays divx encoded cd's

[ozzy_cow]

what about my collection of divx CD-Rs?

check this out: http://biz.yahoo.com/iw/021022/047810.html

i think ill be getting one of those :-)

Re:dvd player that plays divx encoded cd's

[flollywebfrog]

too bad it doesn't support divx 3.x or Xvid

Re:200,000?

[jonv]

So Mozilla is so buggy it even posts to the wrong slashdot threads?

APEX Player

[SomeoneGotMyNick]

Some of the Apex DVD players use DVD-ROM drives by design. I wonder if this technique of adding/replacing the DVD-ROM drive with a hard drive will work on those also?

If the DVD-ROM drive goes bad, just replace it with a large capacity HD with your favorite music/videos and use it as a jukebox.

Cool project! Anyone with a source?

[erroneus]

Anyone have a source for these devices? It looks like something I'd enjoy hacking around a bit on.

What's the big deal?

[suman28]

My computer is my MP3/all-in-one player. I don't see why I care to have any additional player with hacks for such things. It can be an interesting pasttime, but I would still keep my MP3 CDs and DVDs around

Maybe this should be kept in mind...

[djupedal]

Right now, these systems, such as Samsung's combo DVD/VCR with Memory stick (and IDE-like configuration) can only read from such devices. They lab tells me that early next year you will be able to write as well. Think about that....

Re:Great

[91degrees]

Unfortunately its also where the stupid people are. It's tricky to get the smart but unpopular opinions withoput keeping the stupid crapflooding.

Re:uh!? ;-)

[mirko]

Thanks for your advice : I already have 2 harddiscs : a 60GB (system+data) and a 120GB (data, backups + dedicated Cubase D2d partition).
The other IDE slots are taken by the DVD player and the CD burner.
Now, I don't need anything more than what I currently have, it took me long enough to get all this in the same box :-)

Re:Cool project! Anyone with a source?

[El Puerco Loco]

i think they've withdrawn this particular model but the firmware runs on a ton of other players, and the support for an extra ide device is built into the firmware. it runs on the ubiquitous apex ad-660, which can be had for under $100. just make sure you get one with a flash rom that's flashable with a cdr.

Re:the shiznit

[Tha_Big_Guy23]

We get it, you're excited...

DVD + PVR?

[Anonymous Coward]

Has anyone taken a shot at slaving a drive to this that's shared with their PVR?

Re:Great

[Anonymous Coward]

Did you just call yourself stupid?

What he really means...

[supabeast!]

"It would be really cool to have 100+ movies built in to my dvd player."

Translates to:

"I am cheap, and I would really like to borrow my friends movies and rip permanent copies without actually compensating the people who made the movie."

Just a note to the /. editors: As long as you keep posting lines from assholes like this one, the MPAA will never have a hard time convincing anyone that they need legal protection from media piracy.

Re:What he really means...

[MyHair]

"It would be really cool to have 100+ movies built in to my dvd player."

Translates to:

"I am cheap, and I would really like to borrow my friends movies and rip permanent copies without actually compensating the people who made the movie."

Do you use your remote control, or do you always go to the TV to adjust the channel and volume?

Do you own a CD changer? Isn't it nice to have your favorite CDs at the ready?

Have you used a DirectTV-style schedule/menu to watch TV?

Well, now with hard drives we can have even better convenience and menu selection with our movies and music. Plus it's cool to do it this way. Why do you assume this is about piracy?

Re:What he really means...

[cmj]

Not necessarily... it could translate to "I have 100 movies on DVD and want to make the media room neater". Or how about "I have 100 movies I've taped off HBO that I'd rather not have on VHS tapes". Or maybe "I have all my home movies I'd like to put in one convenient place so I can watch them whenever I want without shuffling phyical media". In short there are any number of completely legit reasons to want this sort of device... and yes, some not so legit uses.

The belief that everyone that wants their media in some form OTHER than what the media companies want to provide is an evil hacker is really annoying.

I have over 100 movies on DVD, a TiVo, a huge projection TV and all the other goodies you want in a home theater. I have spent a considerable amount of money on devices and content in order to make that room what it is. When friends come over there's always a movie someone wants to see and we don't have to go to BlockBuster and deal with lines and picking through their limited selection. If I find this cool (and I do) and useful (ditto) then there are almost certainly others that would want this for legitimate uses.

I for one will be adding one of these DVD players to my xmas list this year.

Chris

Re:What he really means...

[supabeast!]

"Well, now with hard drives we can have even better convenience and menu selection with our movies and music. Plus it's cool to do it this way. Why do you assume this is about piracy?"

Because I have heard the same story from people about using the Xbox modchip to store games on large hard disks; but everyone I know with a modified XBox uses it to copy rented games to the hard disk without buying the games.

Re:Great

[91degrees]

I just implied that it was a possibility.

Flaimbait Sig

[SailorBob]

1/3rd of US foreign aid goes to 0.1% of the population

Why are you posting an inflamitory offtopic sig linking to an anti-Semitic website which openly supports terrorism?

And just to point out the bias here, Israel get's $2.5 billion (1.5 military, 1 civilian) a year in aid from the USA (the site you link to doesn't even get the basic numbers correct), while Egypt gets $2 billion a year in military aid. People are starving in the streets in Egypt, but the country refuses to convert even $1.00 of that military aid to civilian aid. And of course there's Jordan which averaged $284 million per year over the past 5 years and will go up to $300 million next year, which put together with what Egypt get's is almost identical to what Israel gets.

And of course there is indirect aid to the Saudis. Ten's of thousands of American soldiers protect the biggest supporter of terrorism and bin-laden in the world. If you want to bitch about something bitch about the fact that the state department coddles and protects a government which directly (if "secretly") supported and still supports the people responsible for the Twin Towers bombing.

Disclaimer: I'm an American Israel Jew. I also happen to oppose US aid to Israel, but for real reasons, not bullshit anti-Semitic ones.

Totally useless

[Anonymous Coward]

It's sooooo useless, simply buy a tv output card and a cable to link your computer and your TV...

RCA Makes Something Link this.

[borkus]

The RCA Scenium DRS7000N is a combination DVR/DVD-R. The DVR uses the old Gemstar GUIDE Plus+ GOLD so you don't have to pay a subscription or have a phone line attched to the unit. The HD can store both video and MP3's. Lastly, you can burn off video to DVD rather than have to hook up a VCR. Last I checked, Circuit City had them.

Of course, it's not as fun as rolling your own.

Re:uh!? ;-)

[dasunt]

Its rather easy to fill up all the slots in a machine. In my current system, here's what I have.

• [AGP] ATI Rage Fury Pro
• [PCI] Trident Video Card
• [PCI] Video Capture Card
• [PCI] Sound Card
• [PCI] Network Card
• [PCI] Modem

That leaves me with just one PCI slot open. My IDE chains are filled with 2 hard drives (one linux, one windows), a DVD drive, and a CD burner. My USB has a gamepad, UPS monitoring cable, usually a scanner, and a camera. I'll probably fill up the spare PCI slot with another video card when I get the money. That leaves me with hunting down a USB hub when I want to expand.

Yes Virginia, it is possible to cram so much junk into a machine that it pukes.

Qcast Qcast Qcast..don't bother with DVD HD

[droopus]

At the risk of sounding like a broken record (I've posted on this software a few times and even tried to post it to /. as a story but ...oh well.)

Qcast is the media server people are wishing they had in a few dozen posts here. You don't need to add a hard drive to a DVD player...all you need is a PS2.

Qcast is a two-disk installation. Install Disk 1 on your PC, loaded up with movies and tunes (mpeg1,2,4, xvid, divx, svcd, vcd, mp3.) Then load Disk 2 on networked PS2 (cheaper than Sampo DVE631CF and hard drive) and bingo! You have a spiffy Flash interface on the PS2 for all your PC-based content, which then streams over your network on demand.

No taking apart DVD players..if you need more space, add an IDE or Firewire drive to your PC in about five minutes.

And even better...you can use multiple PS2s to stream different content from the same PC all over the house. Not only that but you can point the PS2 to multiple drives. This blows away a HD-equipped DVD player, since the PS2 plays DVDs natively anyway.

Disclaimer: I neither work for, nor have any financial interest in Qcast. I just think it's cool as shit and no one knows about it. Well you do now.

Qcast Qcast Qcast..FIXED LINK

[droopus]

Uh, sorry...the link changed last night. Doh.

This is the right one.

Sorry.

Re:IN SOVIET RUSSIA,

[Trespass]

Go back to GBS!

There would be a market...

[siskbc]

...but the powers that be would lynch them. Remember, hardware manufacturers license the DVD technology (basically DeCSS), and that license can be revoked. I bet putting a HDD in a DVD player would do it. ;) Even with the combo DVD/VHS players, they make it so you can't simply do a direct record (I'm sure at the insistence of the entertainment industry). Naturally, anyone with intelligence can re-route the audio and video from output back to input, but still...

Re:What he really means is...don't be ignorant?

[Anonymous Coward]

I have a very nice home theater setup (HDTV, DVD, DTS surround sound, the works) and about 200 various DVD movies. However, being the lazy, slothful consumer I am, I hate having to get up off the couch to switch discs.

That being the case, I would LOVE a feature like this. I go to Best Buy (or open my box from buy/amazon.com), drop the DVD in my player, go do something else, little while later take it out...and then when I'm in the middle of the latest pathetically predictable episode of Friends, I can just push a couple of buttons on my remote, and I'm watching Spiderman. I don't have to get up, I don't have to find the disc, hell, I don't even have to alphabetize my DVD's anymore! Hallelujah!!

There are plenty of people out there that do (and will) BUY DVD's. Not everyone wants to spend a day and a half downloading a 3 disc SVCD rip of Episode II from their favorite FTP. Not everyone wants to wait a couple of weeks for their friend to bring the DVD they asked to borrow to work, either.

Re:uh!? ;-)

[Trespass]

Take your Pavillion back to Mall-Wart and get something with more than 3 slots?

Huhhrrr...

Re:I can see it now... More on Flaimbait Sigs

[SailorBob]

This comment is offtopic, but should be discussed due to it's importance to the quality of discussion here on Slashdot.

I've seen many times here on Slashdot comments which are funny or insightful, but which have Flaimbait sigs. The sig is part of the comment, and if the sig is Flaimbait, the entire comment should be modded down as Flaimbait.

For example, let's say someone posts a hillarious comment about Bill Gates, but has a sig which says, "Catholics Fuck Their Mothers," with a link to a forged picture of the Pope screwing Mother Teresa in the ass. The sig has no intellectual merit, and would seriously offend any Catholic reader of slashdot and will overall detract from the quality of discussion on the story where it's posted.

Re:uh!? ;-)

[mirko]

What's a Wall-Mart ?
Is this a place where you can buy meat and a Pavillion ?

Re: Is that a valid answer?

[NorthDude]

5 seconds from start-up to movie
And some pics over here... Not bad hey?!?

HD? 802.11b is what I want.

[Anonymous Coward]

Ethernet would also be cool.

Just plug it into the switch and get access to the hundred upon hundreds of gigs of divx on me and my flatmates copmuters.

Until we get terrabyte drives in 3.5" format, that would be way cooler.

RGB output please!

[ecloud]

What I really really want to see is a hack to make the component video outputs VGA compatible. When this is possible I can upgrade my old Samsung which has this feature, but otherwise is very buggy and slow. I use it with an Electrohome projector and a wonderful electronic switcher that handles SVGA, NTSC, RGB (including VGA from a PC so I can play back movie files or watch XawTV) but not that wacko YCbCr stuff. Why can't they just use RGB for TVs anyway, it's much more natural, one channel for each electron gun in a conventional CRT...

Re:RGB output please!

[ryanwright]

http://www.audioauthority.com/consumer.html

There. Various boxes that convert component, VGA, RGB, etc, to and from one another.

Re:RGB output please!

[ecloud]

Sure but that's a kludge and costs more. It would be so trivial to output RGB via an option in the DSP firmware, using the same output jacks. That's probably what my old Samsung does.

does it rip DVD's

[fldvm]

I looks like a great way to store MP3 files but can you rip DVDs to the HD and then play em right off the HD? How many DVDs will fit on a 30 GB HD?

Re:does it rip DVD's

[Yablo]

I looks like a great way to store MP3 files but can you rip DVDs to the HD and then play em right off the HD?
you probably can't rip them on the player itself.

in theory, if you could rip them on the player, then you have to go through the painful task of transcoding them from mpeg2 to mpeg4. on my p3-800, it takes about 7 or 8 hours to transcode a dvd to divx. (i'm a backup-concious consumer, mind you.)

so it'd take a helluvalong time to rip them.

How many DVDs will fit on a 30 GB HD?
dvds, or divxes? each side of a single-layered dvd can hold about 4.7 gigs of info, iirc, so probably aruond 6 dvds will fit on that 30 gig drive. however, if you rip/transcode the mpeg2 data to mpeg4 (divx), (and target the resulting file at around 700mb), you can stuff approx. 42 movies on said drive. your mileage may vary, depending at what quality the divxes are encoded at.

Another proud owner

[Anonymous Coward]

I got the 631CF from amazon.com for $130 - $20 mail in rebate and it also qualified for free shipping. Havent done the HD mod to it yet but will do it in the near future. The only problem i can see with it is that you might have to use an external power supply as the one in this DVD player doesnt have enough juice to spin up the drive.
I have flashed the player with region-free and macrovision-free firmware for all my Region2 DVDs. This same firmware lets you play .VOB and .AC3 files. If you have the time to rip your DVDs and taking out the useless audio tracks off the movies you might be able to fit quite a bit of DVD quality movies on a large HDD.

Re:uh!? ;-)

[Trespass]

Mall-Wart is a chain of dyslexic discount stores, started by Speverend Rooner.

Re:IN SOVIET RUSSIA,

[Trespass]

Hi there moderators! Happy to contribute to your pretensions of petty authority!

but what happens when....

[FunkyELF]

A new divx format comes out, your dvd player is obsolete

Re:I can see it now... More on Flaimbait Sigs

[laymil]

if you don't like sigs there is an option to turn them off in user preferences. therefore, i disagree with you.

Why ???

[Anonymous Coward]

I did it a month ago.

Why?

Already had the Apex AD-600 from that CC thing back on Jan. 2000.

Had an extra 20gb.

$25 and a little solder to upgrade my EPROM to a Flash ROM.

Now I have all my CD's (ripped @ 160) and all jpegs from my digital camera (about 5000), at my fingertips.

Same remote control I use for the TV, VCR and cable + instant boot.

I highly recommend this to everyone with minimal electronics skills; this is by far the best toy I've got on my living room (don't have a PVR).

Many of you might have a HD lying around and you might be able to find a firmware compatible DVD player for cheap (Under $80).

Re: The problem with Qcast

[metamatic]

The problem with Qcast is that the PS2 sounds like a vacuum cleaner. I want something QUIET to play my MP3s on. That's why I have a separate DVD player as well as a PS2.

ISO MPEG-4 should be the "one standard"

[Shinzaburo]

I agree that it would be great if players were easily upgradable to support future codecs, but as long as they support Divx 3.x, 4.x, and ISO MPEG-4 (both Simple and Advanced profiles), there may not be a need to upgrade for a long, long time. Both Divx 5.x and Xvid provide support for encoding ISO MPEG-4 compliant video, and any future codecs from these camps should be ISO MPEG-4 compliant as well. (And if they aren't, you should use another codec that is!)

Re:ISO MPEG-4 should be the "one standard"

[Anonymous Coward]

Also, you can play back divx4/5 with the xvid codec & vice versa, and divx5 & xvid are iso-mpeg4 compliant anyway. So the only commonly used codecs are divx3 and mpeg4. The real issue will be all the audio formats : wma, divxaudio, mp3, ogg, ac3,... and the fileformat itself : avi,mcf,ogm,mp4...

Built in Divx Support and Hard Drive Support?

[Hott of the World]

Dont they already make these? They are called "COMPUTERS" and they can watch dvd's and save divx to HD and play games also. If you want to watch on a big screen tv, I would recommend a Radeon 8500 All in wonder Pro with TV In/Out along with something from Creative Labs to hook into your stereo system. Works wonders for parties.

Now just to hit previwe..

xbox + modchip + huge hd

[Anonymous Coward]

= a hackers dream. linux. emus. divx/svcd/vcd/mp3/etc. and actual xbox games.

It depends on your point of view

[rickthewizkid]

If you're the {MP|RI}AA, it's a feature
(although, it's a feature that doesn't always work right...)
If you're the average SlashDot reader, it's a bug
If you're the average customer buying one of these things, you don't care!

Just my $0.02, and you get what you pay for!
RickTheWizKid

Re:I can see it now... More on Flaimbait Sigs

[SailorBob]

if you don't like sigs there is an option to turn them off in user preferences. therefore, i disagree with you.

I like sigs, many of them are cute. But there are some people who put sigs that have no other purpose than to be Flaimbait. As a user I shouldn't have to miss out on all of the good sigs because I want to aviod Flaimbait. That's what moderation is for.

Re:I can see it now... More on Flaimbait Sigs

[richie2000]

-1 Misspelt

Take a Look

[Anonymous Coward]

Take a Look!

Last Post!

[alpg]

Let me assure you that to us here at First National, you're not just a
number. Youre two numbers, a dash, three more numbers, another dash and
another number.
-- James Estes

- this post brought to you by the Automated Last Post Generator...