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Second Generation Homebrew PVR Devices
An anonymous reader writes "It looks like the second generation of homebrew PVRs is on its way. Asus recently released their Digimatrix barebones PC which combines a lot of features in a very slim and stylish box. DVD/CD-R, WiFi, HDTV tuner, FM Tuner, memory card reader etc. All for ~$400. The reviews look good, except that the software that comes with it doesn't look all that great... of course this may not be a problem because there has already been significant effort in getting linux to run on it and most features are working. Combine MythTV with this device and you have an almost perfect PVR? I wonder what other hardware companies have in store for the homebrew PVR market?"
I would really love a box like this if it were Centrino instead of Pentium 4. Low power, cool running, and possibly one of the best wireless solutions available, IMO.
Which brings the question back of when Intel will bring the Pentium M back to the desktop. It is a little more AMD-ish look at processessing (Best parts of P3, with merged P4 technology), probably an overclockers dream, but it'd be a great embedded use chip.
Not to mention a centrino board has pretty much everything this would have, minus the tuner, which could be done via PCI.
"Victory means exit strategy, and it's important for the President to explain to us what the exit strategy is." G.W.Bush
Not hard to do the math, but it'll probably average out at about 100-200 watts, as this is what typical PC's will run, and well... for all purposes, it's a fullsized PC, shrank into a smaller box.
This Could Be A Job For.. Pentium M! Using today's latest and greatest SpeedStep Technology, Pentium M offers extreme flexibility and speed, at the low power of an Embedded/Laptop processor. This would be the perfect application for Low Voltage models too.
"Victory means exit strategy, and it's important for the President to explain to us what the exit strategy is." G.W.Bush
I predict a much darker, less interesting future.
Advertisers will want to find ways to get their messages in the programs. Right now, the method is to insert the messages in breaks of ever-increasing time which occur at greater and greater frequency. People use PVR's to fight this trend.
The next logical step, then, is to insert the advertising directly into the contents of the programming. This is already happening now to a small extent, but I believe in the future it will get worse.
Here is an example of what I envision: One character, Bob, pulls out his cell phone. A second character, George, sees it.
George: Hey, that's a cool cellphone you got there.
Bob: Yeah. It's a Noksung. I got it with my T-Cingle PCS. It was free! Look, I can take full-motion video with it and uselessly hog screeds of bandwidth with aimless nonsense.
George: Wow! Can I have a look?
Bob: Sure. T-Cingle PCS is running a special right now. 3,000,000 anytime minutes for nine cents a month.
George: Great. I'm going to sign up for that right after we solve this murder. Wait! is that a Taco's Jr. over there. Pull in, they've got a new sushi-cajun burrito on their value menu for 34 cents!.....
etc, etc, etc.
Surprisingly enough, people will probably actually watch this crap.
Agreed on the Via chip, but I haven't gotten my hands on one yet to play with ;). Deconstructed a Laptop to play with centrino in a more, traditional, environment. Pentium M's still very expensive (cheapest i've seen is 250$ for a 1.4...), but considering the speed (Outperforms a 2.0 P4, 1.6 athlon), it's worth the investment, except you have to find a board to use with it :(
"Victory means exit strategy, and it's important for the President to explain to us what the exit strategy is." G.W.Bush
Unfortunately it will be a long while before the software becomes as easy to use and intuitive like Tivo. Although Tivo's slowness is showing it's age these days.
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How do you video capture with the XBOX? It's not a PVR unless it can record.
"I told you a million times not to exaggerate!"
Sorry this is just an AC rant.
But USB for high bandwidth devices like DVD drives is a travesty of tech. Such devices should use Firewire! For the love of SHIT put more firewire on PCs for FUCK SAKE.
It's already years beyond TiVo. It doesn't tie you into a subscription model where when the company dies the hardware becomes an overpriced doorstop.
For that reason alone, I'd pay more for this box than the TiVo+lifetime subscription.
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You're forgetting the monitor.
;) Then it goes up.
My computer - Athlon XP 2600+, GeForce Ti 4200, 1 7200RPM drive, 1 CD burner, and an LCD monitor NEC 1760BK use a total of 186W of power, idle but display on, according to my UPS. A 17" CRT (Sony) takes about 78W alone (just tested it).
So more likely, your computer will idle close to ~160W, and then you can add ~20W (LCD) or ~75W (CRT). 180W and 235W respectively.
We pay 8 cents per kWh here (4 cents if you're under a certain rediculously low maximum). 180W, $10.40/mo, 230W $13.53. Assuming you just leave it on and don't do anything with it, like surf slashdot or play a game...
The iMac should cost about $7.48/month to run. It's not quite $10, but it's still a significant drop (almost half if you start with a CRT). Even more of a drop if you use a high wattage chip such as a late model P4.
First, the ASUS box has HDTV output, you cannot get a HDTV tuner with whatever box under 400 USD. Check it by yourself.
Second, Using MythTV with USB TV Card is a pain in the ass.
Third, Do you really want to stack many USB boxes on top of your box? Is it a CLEAN solution? Besides, these USB DVD/TV may require their own external power supply.
Don't always assume DIY is the best. I think ASUS is quite impressive, building the whole thing around 400 USD>
I don't know about you, but $12.95 a month is worth it for me not to be annoyed by a piss-poor design every time I pick up the remote. Did you see this article? TiVo paid a lot of attention to the UI of their product, and it shows.
That's just me, of course; YMMV. TiVo probably won't appeal as much to people who lack good taste.
By the way, TiVo's data feed was reverse engineered a long time ago, but the hackers who figured it out aren't releasing the format as a courtesy to TiVo (the company). If TiVo ever goes under, you can bet your box won't become an "overpriced doorstop."
yours
You can have a noisy ugly backend server with lots of TV tuners and storage space stuffed away in your closet, and then have small, noiseless/quiet frontends in every room of the house.
The advantage is obvious - people can watch live TV (different channels, only limited by the number of TV tuners) or recordings in every room of the house, and the overall noise level and power consumption is lower since you only need to power up the front ends when you actually want to watch something.
The only thing running 24/7 is the backend server, and if you're using hardware MPEG cards, the load is very low, meaning MythTV can co-exist with any other services you might be running on your server...
Be an elitist - read Slashdot at +4.
Except _you_ forgot this is a thread on PVR boxes. The monitor is your television, and it is only on when you are using it.
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