So at this point Im pretty much in a holding pattern awaiting the arrival of my IR Receiver. I tried to be slick and pick one up and Radio Slack, but as always, they never seem to disappoint. I never expect to find what I want, and I was right. So for the time being, Im trying to see if I can do anything to make the firewire more reliable, yeah right;-)
While I here, I think I should rant about package tracking from the USPS. WHY EVEN HAVE A WEBSITE FOR TRACKING IF THE MAIL SHOWS UP BEFORE ANYTHING ON THE TRACKING WEBSITE. That is not only a useless waste of bandwidth, but its maddening as well. For crikes sakes folks, just dont give us tracking, tell us it will arrive sometime. Dont tease us....that sucks.
Anyhow, once the receiver is in, I look forward to working a bit more with the Harmony.
Wish me luck folks! I need it.
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Monday, April 23, 2007
A little harmony goes a long way.
I LOVE this remote!
That being said, I do have some issues. The IR Receiver I currently use is part of my keyboard setup(Microspeed KB200, which I love as well), but it has an interesting effect. When I learn a key from the remote to the Harmony it appears the the key simply repeats forever...which sux! I've found that if I immediately cover the IR transmitter after pushing a button, it doesnt happen, and it doesnt happen from the keyboard. So it appears that somehow, when the key is learned, it does not retain whatever end of signal code the keyboard also sends. I cannot really blame this on the Harmony, its just the difference for the proprietary keyboard thats getting me.
So, what now...
Well, I just ordered an IR receiver and Ill likely try to pick one up at Radio Slack later today as well(just do I dont have to wait, Ill grab a cheapie piece of chit). Once I have the receiver in place, I will have to setup LIRC to use the Harmony. It appears that this is not too hard.
I think this device is absolutely the key to the WAF. This will allow me to remove the complexities of working with mutliple devices and make it all one easy push button, with additional configurability beyond what I could have imagined.
Now, if I can just get the damn thing working ;-)
That being said, I do have some issues. The IR Receiver I currently use is part of my keyboard setup(Microspeed KB200, which I love as well), but it has an interesting effect. When I learn a key from the remote to the Harmony it appears the the key simply repeats forever...which sux! I've found that if I immediately cover the IR transmitter after pushing a button, it doesnt happen, and it doesnt happen from the keyboard. So it appears that somehow, when the key is learned, it does not retain whatever end of signal code the keyboard also sends. I cannot really blame this on the Harmony, its just the difference for the proprietary keyboard thats getting me.
So, what now...
Well, I just ordered an IR receiver and Ill likely try to pick one up at Radio Slack later today as well(just do I dont have to wait, Ill grab a cheapie piece of chit). Once I have the receiver in place, I will have to setup LIRC to use the Harmony. It appears that this is not too hard.
I think this device is absolutely the key to the WAF. This will allow me to remove the complexities of working with mutliple devices and make it all one easy push button, with additional configurability beyond what I could have imagined.
Now, if I can just get the damn thing working ;-)
Monday, April 16, 2007
Im impressed
So, playing around with encoding dvds and the best way to do it, quality, ease of use, and all that wrapped into one. What I wanted what this:
1) Easy interface(cli if possible)
2) Complete process from ripping the dvd on through transcoding
with no A/V sync issues
So my thoughts were to create a script. Well in the process of doing so, I figured out that I am not an AV guy and when the crap hits the fan, things get messy.
Then, it came to me like a dream: dvd::rip
This thing is amazing! Not only is it written in Perl(a fav of mine), but it is very easy to use and for my money, has done a wonderful job! Then as Im using it, I see this "Add to Cluster" button and another that reads "Cluster Control". Hmm, clustering. Well this sufficiently peaked my curiosity and with at least one other debian machine in the house that does nothing but act as a print server, I thought I would try to make good use of the clustering. I was pleasantly surprised with the ease of setup(given, I am a geek), basically, it entailed enabling passwordless ssh on the cluster machines, sharing a mount point, and starting the dvdrip-master daemon. Once I did this, I was able to use all the active debian machines on my network to help transcode the vob's from the DVD rip. The cluster doesn't help rip the DVD, of course, there is only one reader on the DVD;-)
Net results, not sure yet, but will update as soon as I do!
1) Easy interface(cli if possible)
2) Complete process from ripping the dvd on through transcoding
with no A/V sync issues
So my thoughts were to create a script. Well in the process of doing so, I figured out that I am not an AV guy and when the crap hits the fan, things get messy.
Then, it came to me like a dream: dvd::rip
This thing is amazing! Not only is it written in Perl(a fav of mine), but it is very easy to use and for my money, has done a wonderful job! Then as Im using it, I see this "Add to Cluster" button and another that reads "Cluster Control". Hmm, clustering. Well this sufficiently peaked my curiosity and with at least one other debian machine in the house that does nothing but act as a print server, I thought I would try to make good use of the clustering. I was pleasantly surprised with the ease of setup(given, I am a geek), basically, it entailed enabling passwordless ssh on the cluster machines, sharing a mount point, and starting the dvdrip-master daemon. Once I did this, I was able to use all the active debian machines on my network to help transcode the vob's from the DVD rip. The cluster doesn't help rip the DVD, of course, there is only one reader on the DVD;-)
Net results, not sure yet, but will update as soon as I do!
Friday, April 13, 2007
Moving to the more esoteric stuff now
For the time being the Firewire appears stable. Basically my understanding, is that it will work until it doesn't, then you must pray to the HD gods, sacrifice a small electronic appliance, do the river dance and pray again, to get it working. Then rinse and repeat as necessary. Im willing to live with that for now so I can tape from those channels. I already have it setup to mail me if any recordings fail from those channels;-)
Next, I was a little disappointed with the default ripper in Myth. The ripper itself is fine, but if I have something I have already ripped from DVD, but not transcoded, I cannot use the GUI to do this. So over the last few days I've been learning about VOBs, ripping and transcoding. I've created a script that does a vobcopy to copy over the english audio and video from the DVD, then does a dual-pass transcode(better compression and quality over a single pass transcode). Then automagically moves the final file into the correct directory. I have not figured out yet how to make MythVideo reread the directory from the command line. Right now I can only do that via the MythTV GUI, but that is OK for now.
The Streaming seems to be working great inside the house via wireless, though it does get jerky at times. So I will be working on that some as well. I also want to get MythGame up and running today so I can play some games on the console. It should be pretty close, but I havent had a chance to really sit down and hack at that yet. Hopefully sometime today I can get that going before my sister comes in this evening. I'll bet she'd love a good game of Ms PacMan! And it will be fun to help show off my 1ee7 h4ck3r skI11z.
Next, I was a little disappointed with the default ripper in Myth. The ripper itself is fine, but if I have something I have already ripped from DVD, but not transcoded, I cannot use the GUI to do this. So over the last few days I've been learning about VOBs, ripping and transcoding. I've created a script that does a vobcopy to copy over the english audio and video from the DVD, then does a dual-pass transcode(better compression and quality over a single pass transcode). Then automagically moves the final file into the correct directory. I have not figured out yet how to make MythVideo reread the directory from the command line. Right now I can only do that via the MythTV GUI, but that is OK for now.
The Streaming seems to be working great inside the house via wireless, though it does get jerky at times. So I will be working on that some as well. I also want to get MythGame up and running today so I can play some games on the console. It should be pretty close, but I havent had a chance to really sit down and hack at that yet. Hopefully sometime today I can get that going before my sister comes in this evening. I'll bet she'd love a good game of Ms PacMan! And it will be fun to help show off my 1ee7 h4ck3r skI11z.
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
So where are we now?
Well, the box has been moved downstairs, however, that doesnt mean much. Trying to get my wife to try new technology is like trying to get me to enjoy shopping, it just aint gonna happen,(with shopping, ever, with techology and my wife, its just REAL slow). She finally using gmail and loving it, so progress can be made, just not quickly. So, right now the WAF is about a 0, 5 at best;-) *on a 100 point scale* But I can work on this, the commercial skipping is already a hit, so we just have to keep finding the positive;-) However, a bet I made at the inception of this project, is likely to cost me a beer(or 6 or 8), as my enthusiasm was quickly squashed by one quick, "But where the hell is the stuff I already have taped"!
Enough about my wifely dramas and on to the good stuff. Whats working, whats not, what needs tweaking and what doesn't.
The Good:
1) Recording, watching, liveTV, Music, Games, all working flawlessly. I could do some more configuration to make things nicer, which will be happening over time, but all the basic functions are there and working.
2) Hardware, all the hardware has been rock solid. Once I got past the initial build problems, all has been free
from issues.
3) Noise. While it is a bit louder than I would like at this point, it is a very dull white noise(fans) and the HD is actually more quiet than the TW DVR.
4) Commecial skipping, I thought I was spoiled by my DVR and only having to FF through 3 minutes of commercials. I can assure you, that completely skipping commercials is an experience you will not want to give up. I cannot imagine sitting through all the commercial crap that I used to have to do. WHOO HOO.
The Bad and the Ugly:
1) The remote
While it looks cool, has a very nice feel, and seems to work well for the most part. It has a few annoying qualities I simply cannot live with. One being that the buttons sticks, so 1 "Ok" or "Exit" can turn into an almost endless loop. I have to stick the remote somewhere so it loses IR contact, then it will stop. This will not be good for the WAF so MUST be replaced(and quickly). I'd love to get a Harmony or something like that, but that will have to wait a bit. For the meantime I thin I will probably pick up this Sony.
2) Firewire
Firewire is still flaky as hell and thats putting it nicely. I have seen a few reports of flaky behavior of certain Asus onboard firewire setups, but I havent seen that reported on the P5B yet, so Im hopeful it either a BIOS setting or something I can configure via Linux to make it more robust and reliable. I guess we will see.
3) Streaming
I have streaming working from the server, but not necessarily incorporated into MythTV yet. It does already have the hooks for it, I just havent had a chance to get it all setup.
I was told at the beginning of this project that there was no end and that its a journey not a destination. That is truely coming into focus at this point. Even after I have the stuff done above, there are a million other things I can do for both usability and fucntionality. So many I can only dare to dream! However, I am also terribly excited at the possibilities of being able to control my own media. Watching things, how and when I want to watch them.
Enough about my wifely dramas and on to the good stuff. Whats working, whats not, what needs tweaking and what doesn't.
The Good:
1) Recording, watching, liveTV, Music, Games, all working flawlessly. I could do some more configuration to make things nicer, which will be happening over time, but all the basic functions are there and working.
2) Hardware, all the hardware has been rock solid. Once I got past the initial build problems, all has been free
from issues.
3) Noise. While it is a bit louder than I would like at this point, it is a very dull white noise(fans) and the HD is actually more quiet than the TW DVR.
4) Commecial skipping, I thought I was spoiled by my DVR and only having to FF through 3 minutes of commercials. I can assure you, that completely skipping commercials is an experience you will not want to give up. I cannot imagine sitting through all the commercial crap that I used to have to do. WHOO HOO.
The Bad and the Ugly:
1) The remote
While it looks cool, has a very nice feel, and seems to work well for the most part. It has a few annoying qualities I simply cannot live with. One being that the buttons sticks, so 1 "Ok" or "Exit" can turn into an almost endless loop. I have to stick the remote somewhere so it loses IR contact, then it will stop. This will not be good for the WAF so MUST be replaced(and quickly). I'd love to get a Harmony or something like that, but that will have to wait a bit. For the meantime I thin I will probably pick up this Sony.
2) Firewire
Firewire is still flaky as hell and thats putting it nicely. I have seen a few reports of flaky behavior of certain Asus onboard firewire setups, but I havent seen that reported on the P5B yet, so Im hopeful it either a BIOS setting or something I can configure via Linux to make it more robust and reliable. I guess we will see.
3) Streaming
I have streaming working from the server, but not necessarily incorporated into MythTV yet. It does already have the hooks for it, I just havent had a chance to get it all setup.
I was told at the beginning of this project that there was no end and that its a journey not a destination. That is truely coming into focus at this point. Even after I have the stuff done above, there are a million other things I can do for both usability and fucntionality. So many I can only dare to dream! However, I am also terribly excited at the possibilities of being able to control my own media. Watching things, how and when I want to watch them.
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
Encrypted QAM taping via SA3250HD
NICE!
So I got the new cable box today and I am able to tape from channel say 184, which is not HD, but is part of the digital cable lineup that TW sends encrypted. So after following TWs instructions, I got myself a SA3250HD v2.1 box with firewire enabled and it works like a champ(at least from the command line, I may have some work to do in Myth yet)..
Anyhow, just thought you'd like to know!
Paul
So I got the new cable box today and I am able to tape from channel say 184, which is not HD, but is part of the digital cable lineup that TW sends encrypted. So after following TWs instructions, I got myself a SA3250HD v2.1 box with firewire enabled and it works like a champ(at least from the command line, I may have some work to do in Myth yet)..
Anyhow, just thought you'd like to know!
Paul
So finally a minute to post
I need a break from my vacation!
Anyhow, things are going along swimmingly. Here is what I have:
1) Channels 2-76 on 3 tuners(2xHauppage 500, 1xpcHDTV Analog feed)
2) All local HD feeds via TW
3) I can tape two analog feeds from the 500, and watch either analog or HD
on the pcHDTV card
4) Automatic commercial flagging/skipping
5) MythGame(Now I have 5000+ games on my TV nice)
6) Automated switching/recording of tuners. (if I switch to a channel that is
HD, it automagically switches the to the correct tuner and feed(unless the
tuner is busy))
7) Full access via the Web
8) Ability to transcode shows w/out commercials
9) Download/Watch avi,mpg,mov,wmv files
10) MythWeather(hotkeyd)
11) LiveTV(Hotkeyd)
12) MythMusic(mp3,flac,aac,ogg player)
other stuff Im sure;-)
Stuff Im still working on:
1) Properly ripping/transcoding DVD/CDs(just started work here)
2) getting the remote right, this could take a while
3) tweaking TONS of settings
4) Cleaning up and adding function to the web interface(streaming/autorecord(no-menus))
5) Anything else that comes to mind
At this point I think its ready for consumption, so Im considering moving it downstairs right no while mommy is off to playgroup with the boy!
I've got some pics Ill put up later, but heres the guts:
Anyhow, things are going along swimmingly. Here is what I have:
1) Channels 2-76 on 3 tuners(2xHauppage 500, 1xpcHDTV Analog feed)
2) All local HD feeds via TW
3) I can tape two analog feeds from the 500, and watch either analog or HD
on the pcHDTV card
4) Automatic commercial flagging/skipping
5) MythGame(Now I have 5000+ games on my TV nice)
6) Automated switching/recording of tuners. (if I switch to a channel that is
HD, it automagically switches the to the correct tuner and feed(unless the
tuner is busy))
7) Full access via the Web
8) Ability to transcode shows w/out commercials
9) Download/Watch avi,mpg,mov,wmv files
10) MythWeather(hotkeyd)
11) LiveTV(Hotkeyd)
12) MythMusic(mp3,flac,aac,ogg player)
other stuff Im sure;-)
Stuff Im still working on:
1) Properly ripping/transcoding DVD/CDs(just started work here)
2) getting the remote right, this could take a while
3) tweaking TONS of settings
4) Cleaning up and adding function to the web interface(streaming/autorecord(no-menus))
5) Anything else that comes to mind
At this point I think its ready for consumption, so Im considering moving it downstairs right no while mommy is off to playgroup with the boy!
I've got some pics Ill put up later, but heres the guts:
Sunday, April 1, 2007
A name change in order?
So after mutzing with this for a couple of weeks and a generous offer from a friend, I have begun a re-evaluation. What I really want this machine for is care free entertainment. At this point Im not sure MythTV is going to be able provide it. I have concerns about software stability, driver stability and wondering whether or not Im being hampered by the drivers on Linux. After sinking this much money into, I hope I didnt make the wrong decision.
I have another friend who is building an MCE solution as we speak and I will be watching his progress very closely. He has generously offered an MCE license and after a bit of reading. I might just have to take him up on it. I have a deep seated hatred for MS and their products, so this is not a decision I would make lightly. I have decided that I will be working on this for today, but if I cannot get a few of the basics that I want running today, you may be reading a new blog tomorrow.
I have another friend who is building an MCE solution as we speak and I will be watching his progress very closely. He has generously offered an MCE license and after a bit of reading. I might just have to take him up on it. I have a deep seated hatred for MS and their products, so this is not a decision I would make lightly. I have decided that I will be working on this for today, but if I cannot get a few of the basics that I want running today, you may be reading a new blog tomorrow.
Friday, March 30, 2007
OK so maybe the latest and greatest isnt
always best.
It appears that MythTV v0.21 may be a little on the immature side still, or maybe it was just the idiot at the keyboard. Either way, it appeared to me to be too unstable to pass either my meager expectations, much less sidling up to the ol WAF.
Speaking of the Wife Acceptance Factor, I havent quite figured out how to define that yet. My thoughts would be to have her be able to use the device daily without fail. We all know thats pie in the sky, but where is the happy middle ground? Being that the device will likely end up in the game room(with the hdtv), I dont think it will be the one that gets used most(I think Ill either keep a TW DVR downstairs for now), but look at replacing it with a remote frontend in short order.
So my thoughts currently run along these lines, though I am sure they will change as she starts to use the device(ie, it will likely be downstairs at least until I get the HDTV):
1) Low learning curve(if it takes too long to explain something techincal, my wonderful wife quickly looses interest), the basics(manipulating live TV, recording, watching recordings,maintaing recordings) must be very easy. Advanced functions are, for now, exempt as for my WAF, I only need it to be as functional as the TW boxen
2) stable! It must be at least as, but preferably more, stable than the TW boxes(he thinks as he looks at the dead one)
So, I guess, in the end, thats my target for WAF, the ability to replace her TW DVR with the Myth box with no loss of functionality and little to no training(MAX: 15-30 mintues with the remote/keyboard). Any functionality provided on top of that is cake for now.
Now, on to todays news, I moved back to MythTV 0.20 after a frustrating time with 0.21. I have all the channels tuned, but I cannot seem to get any to lock right now. Thats the current issue Im working on, it looks like it may be a simple configuration issue, which make sense;-) PEBCAK. I hoping to have all that sewed up this evening and move on to more interesting stuff tomorrow, I guess we will see.
It appears that MythTV v0.21 may be a little on the immature side still, or maybe it was just the idiot at the keyboard. Either way, it appeared to me to be too unstable to pass either my meager expectations, much less sidling up to the ol WAF.
Speaking of the Wife Acceptance Factor, I havent quite figured out how to define that yet. My thoughts would be to have her be able to use the device daily without fail. We all know thats pie in the sky, but where is the happy middle ground? Being that the device will likely end up in the game room(with the hdtv), I dont think it will be the one that gets used most(I think Ill either keep a TW DVR downstairs for now), but look at replacing it with a remote frontend in short order.
So my thoughts currently run along these lines, though I am sure they will change as she starts to use the device(ie, it will likely be downstairs at least until I get the HDTV):
1) Low learning curve(if it takes too long to explain something techincal, my wonderful wife quickly looses interest), the basics(manipulating live TV, recording, watching recordings,maintaing recordings) must be very easy. Advanced functions are, for now, exempt as for my WAF, I only need it to be as functional as the TW boxen
2) stable! It must be at least as, but preferably more, stable than the TW boxes(he thinks as he looks at the dead one)
So, I guess, in the end, thats my target for WAF, the ability to replace her TW DVR with the Myth box with no loss of functionality and little to no training(MAX: 15-30 mintues with the remote/keyboard). Any functionality provided on top of that is cake for now.
Now, on to todays news, I moved back to MythTV 0.20 after a frustrating time with 0.21. I have all the channels tuned, but I cannot seem to get any to lock right now. Thats the current issue Im working on, it looks like it may be a simple configuration issue, which make sense;-) PEBCAK. I hoping to have all that sewed up this evening and move on to more interesting stuff tomorrow, I guess we will see.
Thursday, March 29, 2007
All went smoothly
with the kernel upgrade. Im now running a custom 2.6.20.9 kernel with ivtv, nvidia, and lirc custom modules. I was finally able to finish building MythTV 0.21(from subversion). So now I have absolutely everything at the latest revisions possible, the kernel, the software, the firmware, the bios, and even the OS packages. So I think that part may finally be done.
As for MythTV, the upgrade to 0.21 went well, it upgraded the backend DB automagically and kept everything in place. The only problem was it lost the tuners to begin with, but I was able to get them back in easily. I seem to still have the problem with the digital tuner though. I can pull in the QAM signals just fine, but anything else above 100 I only get a partial lock. I have done absolutely no tuning up until this point, just trying to get everything working together at the same time, but thats done now.
My attack plan is this, in this order:
1) get the tuning complete, NTSC, QAM, ATSC soI can pick up any channel fed by TW
2) Get the recording setup properly so that I dont have to do it manually(ie, I want it to use the digital tuner if the channel is above 100)
3) Check the firewire feed and see if I can:
a) pull the data directly
or
b) use it as additional tuners
4) Complete the channel lineup and feeds(Im not yet receiving the tv listing feeds for the QAM channels)
5) Fix the steaming(though this may be a MythTV problem, I need to research)
6) Play, I want to start being able to do something with remote ;-) Im tired of using the keyboard!!!
Anyhow, thats the grand plan at this point. Im sure changes will be many and often, but for now, thats the current plan.
Off I go...
As for MythTV, the upgrade to 0.21 went well, it upgraded the backend DB automagically and kept everything in place. The only problem was it lost the tuners to begin with, but I was able to get them back in easily. I seem to still have the problem with the digital tuner though. I can pull in the QAM signals just fine, but anything else above 100 I only get a partial lock. I have done absolutely no tuning up until this point, just trying to get everything working together at the same time, but thats done now.
My attack plan is this, in this order:
1) get the tuning complete, NTSC, QAM, ATSC soI can pick up any channel fed by TW
2) Get the recording setup properly so that I dont have to do it manually(ie, I want it to use the digital tuner if the channel is above 100)
3) Check the firewire feed and see if I can:
a) pull the data directly
or
b) use it as additional tuners
4) Complete the channel lineup and feeds(Im not yet receiving the tv listing feeds for the QAM channels)
5) Fix the steaming(though this may be a MythTV problem, I need to research)
6) Play, I want to start being able to do something with remote ;-) Im tired of using the keyboard!!!
Anyhow, thats the grand plan at this point. Im sure changes will be many and often, but for now, thats the current plan.
Off I go...
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Why exactly is CompUSA closing stores
<rant>
So, I needed a firewire cable. No big deal. I figured during lunch Id just pop over to CompUSA and pick one up. Our store is one of the ones that is closing, I thought hell, maybe Ill get a good deal. So we go in, shelves are already somewhat barren, and have someone point us to the cables. So they carry two of them, a 3' Ft Shielded one and a 17' ft Shielded 6-to-6 pin cable. The 3' ft cable cost: $25!!! The 17' ft a mere 10$ more. Now, look at the prices on those links, these are almost identical cables, and I'd even venture that the ones from newegg are better! I picked one up against my better judgement and decided to look around as I am somewhat in the market for a HDTV;-) Anyhow, they have a beautiful 32" LCD on sale for ONLY $1200, WTF ARE THESE PEOPLE THINKING? No wonder this company is closing stores! I hope each and every one of their stores closes and the management team is banished to hell to make 6" crossover cables for eternity. I never did like the store before and now I am happy to say that I would have to travel to Greensboro to visit a CompUSA, and I can assure you, thats NEVER going to happen. Long story longer, went down the street a bought a nice 6' ft cable for $7, thanks Intrex!
F CompUSA!
</rant>
So, on to last nights drama;-)
Anyhow, I didnt get to play around until almost 10 last night, I found I was able to switch between tuners on the HD card just fine(but not automagically(at least not yet)). I could tune in all the channels I tuned via QAM, but all the other digital channel appeared to only give me a partial lock. At this point I wanted to start looking at my signal strength and found that it shows 0%. This is a known issue. Anyhow, the fix is to upgrade to the 2.6.20 kernel, which as I talked about earlier causes USB lockups. FARK!
However, I ditched my usb network card in favor of hacking my WAP11 into a wireless DLink client. And flashing my brand new Buffalo WHR-HP-G54 Wireless Router with Tomato firmware. This takes the USB out of the picture for now, at least until I can figure out why it is locking up on 2.6.20 and I can upgrade to the lastest kernel version. I hope to be able to hide out and do that sometime this evening!
Anyhow, that my story and Im sticking to it....updates later!
So, I needed a firewire cable. No big deal. I figured during lunch Id just pop over to CompUSA and pick one up. Our store is one of the ones that is closing, I thought hell, maybe Ill get a good deal. So we go in, shelves are already somewhat barren, and have someone point us to the cables. So they carry two of them, a 3' Ft Shielded one and a 17' ft Shielded 6-to-6 pin cable. The 3' ft cable cost: $25!!! The 17' ft a mere 10$ more. Now, look at the prices on those links, these are almost identical cables, and I'd even venture that the ones from newegg are better! I picked one up against my better judgement and decided to look around as I am somewhat in the market for a HDTV;-) Anyhow, they have a beautiful 32" LCD on sale for ONLY $1200, WTF ARE THESE PEOPLE THINKING? No wonder this company is closing stores! I hope each and every one of their stores closes and the management team is banished to hell to make 6" crossover cables for eternity. I never did like the store before and now I am happy to say that I would have to travel to Greensboro to visit a CompUSA, and I can assure you, thats NEVER going to happen. Long story longer, went down the street a bought a nice 6' ft cable for $7, thanks Intrex!
F CompUSA!
</rant>
So, on to last nights drama;-)
Anyhow, I didnt get to play around until almost 10 last night, I found I was able to switch between tuners on the HD card just fine(but not automagically(at least not yet)). I could tune in all the channels I tuned via QAM, but all the other digital channel appeared to only give me a partial lock. At this point I wanted to start looking at my signal strength and found that it shows 0%. This is a known issue. Anyhow, the fix is to upgrade to the 2.6.20 kernel, which as I talked about earlier causes USB lockups. FARK!
However, I ditched my usb network card in favor of hacking my WAP11 into a wireless DLink client. And flashing my brand new Buffalo WHR-HP-G54 Wireless Router with Tomato firmware. This takes the USB out of the picture for now, at least until I can figure out why it is locking up on 2.6.20 and I can upgrade to the lastest kernel version. I hope to be able to hide out and do that sometime this evening!
Anyhow, that my story and Im sticking to it....updates later!
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
The weekend was a disaster!
But only as far as MythTV goes, I got alot of yardwork done though;-) and that was nice.
Anyhow, things are moving along a bit, but slowly. I found a feature in MythTV 0.21 that I decided I had to have. These are groups, specifically the recording groups. My problem was that when I was scheduling recordings I had to manually choose which tuner to use and I already missed a couple of recordings because, for instance, I chose to tape a game in HD this weekend, but MythTV chose to tape it on one of the analog tuners. So I have 1.4 Gigs of white noise;-) So anyhow I got to looking around and found that there is a new feature(groups) in 0.21 that gives you more ability to chose how and when to tape. So thats what I worked on this weekend, I got MythTV 0.21 built, the channels populated and recordings started. I still need to do some more reading on the groups to get them to work the way I want them to, but that is only a matter of time.
I am having trouble as far as the pchdtv card, but I think its HIGHLY likely its user error;-) I havent dug into it too deeply, but apparently the card offers both ATSC and NTSC signals, but I cannot see to get them both to work. ie Once the card hits HD I cannot seem to get it to switch back to the SD, and vice-versa. I guess I am actually going to have to read something, though I havent quite reached that point yet!
As far as the OS though, I think we are reaching the final status of the OS, ie all necessary packages installed.
I pulled in all my MAME and Sega ROMs into MythGame and played PacMan last night, it rocked;-) So right now, we are basically stablizing and tweaking the OS(~80-85% complete) and tackling the new version of MythTV(<0% ;-).
Im really looking forward to next week and I have the week off. This was taken at this time to give me time to work on my MythMachine. I have been working my buns off for brownie points over the last few weeks/weekends and I have been told, I can do whatever I want next week and the honey do list will be hidden!!! Yeah, so next week, expect some serious progress as well as a few more pictures and I ll start getting up some screen shots as well.
Anyhow, things are moving along a bit, but slowly. I found a feature in MythTV 0.21 that I decided I had to have. These are groups, specifically the recording groups. My problem was that when I was scheduling recordings I had to manually choose which tuner to use and I already missed a couple of recordings because, for instance, I chose to tape a game in HD this weekend, but MythTV chose to tape it on one of the analog tuners. So I have 1.4 Gigs of white noise;-) So anyhow I got to looking around and found that there is a new feature(groups) in 0.21 that gives you more ability to chose how and when to tape. So thats what I worked on this weekend, I got MythTV 0.21 built, the channels populated and recordings started. I still need to do some more reading on the groups to get them to work the way I want them to, but that is only a matter of time.
I am having trouble as far as the pchdtv card, but I think its HIGHLY likely its user error;-) I havent dug into it too deeply, but apparently the card offers both ATSC and NTSC signals, but I cannot see to get them both to work. ie Once the card hits HD I cannot seem to get it to switch back to the SD, and vice-versa. I guess I am actually going to have to read something, though I havent quite reached that point yet!
As far as the OS though, I think we are reaching the final status of the OS, ie all necessary packages installed.
I pulled in all my MAME and Sega ROMs into MythGame and played PacMan last night, it rocked;-) So right now, we are basically stablizing and tweaking the OS(~80-85% complete) and tackling the new version of MythTV(<0% ;-).
Im really looking forward to next week and I have the week off. This was taken at this time to give me time to work on my MythMachine. I have been working my buns off for brownie points over the last few weeks/weekends and I have been told, I can do whatever I want next week and the honey do list will be hidden!!! Yeah, so next week, expect some serious progress as well as a few more pictures and I ll start getting up some screen shots as well.
Thursday, March 22, 2007
We have QAM
So I was actually tuning the QAM stuff ok, I just wasnt changing over to the HD Tuner before attempting to tune the HD/Digital channels. I ran the channel scan utility that accompanies DVB Apps and it found 375 channels. I was able to watch some of the HD Ondemand stuff around the 500 channels so I think Im pulling in everything I can. I definitely found ~23 QAM signals(WRAL,WUNC,WRDC and others). So we are making progress. I have not yet figured out how to force the tuner to change as you are navigating into the higher channel set. Just another tourist spot on the journey;-)
I also have MythWeb working, which allows you to schedule your recordings, resolve recording conflicts and view the current lineup(whats playing). It also allows you to see some stats on the Myth machine and give you an interface to MythWeather and MythNews(both of which are also working).
I also sent over 6 gigs of mp3s, that I spent the last 3 months ripping, and 9 gigs of MAME stuff, so the hard drive is getting a workout. I also want to have Sega Genesis, SNES, and possibly other emulators as well. I need to look into some wireless gaming gear;-)
I also have MythWeb working, which allows you to schedule your recordings, resolve recording conflicts and view the current lineup(whats playing). It also allows you to see some stats on the Myth machine and give you an interface to MythWeather and MythNews(both of which are also working).
I also sent over 6 gigs of mp3s, that I spent the last 3 months ripping, and 9 gigs of MAME stuff, so the hard drive is getting a workout. I also want to have Sega Genesis, SNES, and possibly other emulators as well. I need to look into some wireless gaming gear;-)
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Where are we now? You ask...
Well, we had a slight setback. I screwed up something so bad, I decided a reinstall would be quicker than trying to figure out what I had done;-)
So, reinstalled, reupgraded, repatched, reprayed, rescanned channels, more beautiful channels, and now I have sound as well!
But, it does not appear that I am pulling the QAM signal. I have just started researching that as far as the card(pchdtv), mythtv, and what my current setup is at the house(already boosted downstairs). But who knows, the signal might be too strong(hey I can hope!). I am pulling the TV listings via Zap2IT and I can schedule and record from analog, watch, pause, rewind live-tv and other various aspects.
So we are getting there....slowly. I have alot of customization to do as well, the basic setup for MythTV leaves me a little unimpressed, however, that could well be my piss-poor "TV" setup at this point.
I have the day off work today, so Ill try to get some captures of the current setup on later this evening.
Ta-ta for now....work to do!
So, reinstalled, reupgraded, repatched, reprayed, rescanned channels, more beautiful channels, and now I have sound as well!
But, it does not appear that I am pulling the QAM signal. I have just started researching that as far as the card(pchdtv), mythtv, and what my current setup is at the house(already boosted downstairs). But who knows, the signal might be too strong(hey I can hope!). I am pulling the TV listings via Zap2IT and I can schedule and record from analog, watch, pause, rewind live-tv and other various aspects.
So we are getting there....slowly. I have alot of customization to do as well, the basic setup for MythTV leaves me a little unimpressed, however, that could well be my piss-poor "TV" setup at this point.
I have the day off work today, so Ill try to get some captures of the current setup on later this evening.
Ta-ta for now....work to do!
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
I saw TV!!!!
but it was late and I was tired.
The quick rundown:
1) install Ubuntu 6.10
This only had kernel 2.6.17, and I needed at least 2.6.18 for all the functionality I wanted. So I decided to try the beta version "Feisty Fawn" of Ubuntu.
2) Install Unbuntu 7.04(Herd 5 beta)
Immediate USB lockups. Not good. Remove all USB devices, install, check everything, plugin usb, dead.
Back to 6.10
3) Install 6.10
download, build install kernel version 2.6.20.3, reboot, looks good, everything working, oh forgot the usb network adapter, plug it in, dead.
Crap.
4) Download, build, install kernel version 2.6.19.7, reboot, looks good,
everything working, usb, good, check tuners, good, all good, scan channels, nothing...
Crap.
Search search and search some more, scan more, nothing, ever!!!
Then I found this page and decided it could not hurt to check. I found I did not have two of the modules:
Conexant CX2584x audio/video decoders (CONFIG_VIDEO_CX25840)
and
Wolfson Microelectronics WM8775 (CONFIG_VIDEO_WM8775)
So Im thinking this is not a good thing. I add these modules, rebuild the kernel, reboot, startup mythtv setup, set the tuners, go to the dreaded channel scan page and viola! CHANNELS, beautiful channels, I love channels. I tuned all three tuners, though I still think I need to do some additional tuning, started up the mythtv frontend and watched some TV!! WHOOT!
alas, without sound(no speakers hooked up yet), on a 20Inch monitor, just after midnight with the alarm set for 5:45am...and that was it. I did see TV, but thats about it.
Still lots of work to do, but obvious progress was being made, I even have my wife as a witness, I did it! At least marginally;-)
More late
The quick rundown:
1) install Ubuntu 6.10
This only had kernel 2.6.17, and I needed at least 2.6.18 for all the functionality I wanted. So I decided to try the beta version "Feisty Fawn" of Ubuntu.
2) Install Unbuntu 7.04(Herd 5 beta)
Immediate USB lockups. Not good. Remove all USB devices, install, check everything, plugin usb, dead.
Back to 6.10
3) Install 6.10
download, build install kernel version 2.6.20.3, reboot, looks good, everything working, oh forgot the usb network adapter, plug it in, dead.
Crap.
4) Download, build, install kernel version 2.6.19.7, reboot, looks good,
everything working, usb, good, check tuners, good, all good, scan channels, nothing...
Crap.
Search search and search some more, scan more, nothing, ever!!!
Then I found this page and decided it could not hurt to check. I found I did not have two of the modules:
Conexant CX2584x audio/video decoders (CONFIG_VIDEO_CX25840)
and
Wolfson Microelectronics WM8775 (CONFIG_VIDEO_WM8775)
So Im thinking this is not a good thing. I add these modules, rebuild the kernel, reboot, startup mythtv setup, set the tuners, go to the dreaded channel scan page and viola! CHANNELS, beautiful channels, I love channels. I tuned all three tuners, though I still think I need to do some additional tuning, started up the mythtv frontend and watched some TV!! WHOOT!
alas, without sound(no speakers hooked up yet), on a 20Inch monitor, just after midnight with the alarm set for 5:45am...and that was it. I did see TV, but thats about it.
Still lots of work to do, but obvious progress was being made, I even have my wife as a witness, I did it! At least marginally;-)
More late
Monday, March 19, 2007
Urrffff
So, the build went, uhhh, lets just says its done...
However, I am still working on the OS side of the house. I do have MythTV installed, but have not yet attempted to play with it because I need to upgrade my kernel(yeah, no fun).
The new hardware in conjunction with an older distribution is coming back to bite me. I have the system up and running and am currently working on the new kernel. I need one more small thing to happen(nothing major just recoginizing the SATA harddrive) then we will be golden I do believe. So I've done a little research and found what I think I need. Ill try it and post a little later.
Once I get it going, at least in a mimimal fashion, Ill take the time and do a more informational post.
Status now: Hopeful ;-)
However, I am still working on the OS side of the house. I do have MythTV installed, but have not yet attempted to play with it because I need to upgrade my kernel(yeah, no fun).
The new hardware in conjunction with an older distribution is coming back to bite me. I have the system up and running and am currently working on the new kernel. I need one more small thing to happen(nothing major just recoginizing the SATA harddrive) then we will be golden I do believe. So I've done a little research and found what I think I need. Ill try it and post a little later.
Once I get it going, at least in a mimimal fashion, Ill take the time and do a more informational post.
Status now: Hopeful ;-)
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Its here!!!! [updated]
Well pretty much everything arrived yesterday, but I haven't had a chance to get a post up. At this point I have everything but the CPU cooler, a second hard drive, and the case, BUT I have everything I need, except, of course, the case;-(
So without further ado, here are yesterdays arrivals:
My time is a bit limited today, so Im going to shoot for getting the core of the system up.
Lets get started!
Here is the Asus P5B Deluxe:
This motherboard is enormous and heavy. It came with everything! It has a directional mic, all the neccessary cables, and optional fan for the passively cooled north/south bridge chipset. It also came with a number of power supply splitters, SATA cables and drop-ins for the firewire and usb slots. It has a number of nice features including, basically, an on demand overclocking(AI-NOS) where the motherboard detects a heavy load and will intelligently overclock the CPU to achieve better results. Thats pretty slick in my book. Here are the specs and a few pictures from Newegg. I was impressed with the feel of this board, it seems very solid and well built, exactly what I expect from Asus.
Next we have the ever popular Intel Core2Duo E6300:
It has OBVIOUSLY been a while since I built a machine. The size of this chip absolutely floored me. Its tiny, just over an inch square. Its the tiny metal object above the enourmous fan in the picture. Its the E6300 which is the 1.83 Ghz model. More than enough to do everything we want and then more. Here is an article on this MB and chip combination(or very close to it).
Up next is the OCZ memory:
This is some beastie looking memory, its got identical heat sinks on both sides, so its both heavy and thick. It obviously quality construction and its PC6400 DDR2 800Mhz memory, so its potent as well. I cannot wait to see this stacked in there. Almost makes me want two more, you know, I hate an empty memory slot;-)
Well, its getting late and I need to get some sleep so we will close this out with the Corsair HX520W Power Supply(PSU). I have always thought of the PSU as kind of a utilitarian piece, almost a consumable. You wanted a good PSU, but it wasn't a crucial part of the picture. No more! With the heavy duty power appetites of the new generation of hardware, you really need something that is going to answer the call. And I do believe this PSU is ready to do just that
This is another well built piece. I liked the idea of a modular PSU before I saw this one, and now I am completely sold. Cable routing will be both easier and better looking. It came with a nice case to keep the extra cables in, mounting screws and a few other tidbits. Out of all the equipment I received, this was by far the biggest pleasant surprise.
Tomorrow we'll talk about the video stuff(Fatal1ty,Hauppauge) that arrived today as well as the storage devices, a few fans, and the remote control. And one of these days Ill get around to talking about MythTV
but it ain't gonna happen tonight. Good night all, the case should be here tomorrow:
5:10 PM RALEIGH, NC IN TRANSIT TO
5:09 PM GREENSBORO, NC DEPARTURE SCAN
Updated 6:35am:
4:47 AM RALEIGH, NC OUT FOR DELIVERY
3:02 AM RALEIGH, NC ARRIVAL SCAN
Whoot....
So without further ado, here are yesterdays arrivals:
My time is a bit limited today, so Im going to shoot for getting the core of the system up.
Lets get started!
Here is the Asus P5B Deluxe:
This motherboard is enormous and heavy. It came with everything! It has a directional mic, all the neccessary cables, and optional fan for the passively cooled north/south bridge chipset. It also came with a number of power supply splitters, SATA cables and drop-ins for the firewire and usb slots. It has a number of nice features including, basically, an on demand overclocking(AI-NOS) where the motherboard detects a heavy load and will intelligently overclock the CPU to achieve better results. Thats pretty slick in my book. Here are the specs and a few pictures from Newegg. I was impressed with the feel of this board, it seems very solid and well built, exactly what I expect from Asus.
Next we have the ever popular Intel Core2Duo E6300:
It has OBVIOUSLY been a while since I built a machine. The size of this chip absolutely floored me. Its tiny, just over an inch square. Its the tiny metal object above the enourmous fan in the picture. Its the E6300 which is the 1.83 Ghz model. More than enough to do everything we want and then more. Here is an article on this MB and chip combination(or very close to it).
Up next is the OCZ memory:
This is some beastie looking memory, its got identical heat sinks on both sides, so its both heavy and thick. It obviously quality construction and its PC6400 DDR2 800Mhz memory, so its potent as well. I cannot wait to see this stacked in there. Almost makes me want two more, you know, I hate an empty memory slot;-)
Well, its getting late and I need to get some sleep so we will close this out with the Corsair HX520W Power Supply(PSU). I have always thought of the PSU as kind of a utilitarian piece, almost a consumable. You wanted a good PSU, but it wasn't a crucial part of the picture. No more! With the heavy duty power appetites of the new generation of hardware, you really need something that is going to answer the call. And I do believe this PSU is ready to do just that
This is another well built piece. I liked the idea of a modular PSU before I saw this one, and now I am completely sold. Cable routing will be both easier and better looking. It came with a nice case to keep the extra cables in, mounting screws and a few other tidbits. Out of all the equipment I received, this was by far the biggest pleasant surprise.
Tomorrow we'll talk about the video stuff(Fatal1ty,Hauppauge) that arrived today as well as the storage devices, a few fans, and the remote control. And one of these days Ill get around to talking about MythTV
but it ain't gonna happen tonight. Good night all, the case should be here tomorrow:
5:10 PM RALEIGH, NC IN TRANSIT TO
5:09 PM GREENSBORO, NC DEPARTURE SCAN
Updated 6:35am:
4:47 AM RALEIGH, NC OUT FOR DELIVERY
3:02 AM RALEIGH, NC ARRIVAL SCAN
Whoot....
Monday, March 12, 2007
Todays arrivals
So the arrivals began with the Microspeed Keyboard:
It came nicely packaged and although the outer packaging was somewhat beat up, the inside packaging and product itself, were pristine. The keyboard came with a two prong IR adapter. One prong is for the keyboard and the other for the mouse, so it appears there is a dual input/output operation of some kind going on. It gave me a momentary scare as I thought about the proprietary nature of it, however, the remote I got is a learning remote and should be able to easily emulate the whatever signals are being passed. If its a problem, I'll let you know.
Next came the pchdtv card. This one came packaged with an adapter for the S-video and audio as well as a driver disk and installation instructions:
I love the fact that it has Tux on it! A buddy of mine found that there are reports of this card successfully being used under MythTV to pull QAM signals so Im hopeful that I will be able to pull it off. I fancy myself a bit of a Linux geek, I guess we will see.
In discussions with my buddy, we nailed down my setup. He has been playing with his MCE setup for some time and is apparently in a position to help me along. Thanks Ray! Anyhow, looks like I'll end up with basically 5 available tuners. Three on the HTPC box and two more on the STB. I'll run both the HTPC and the STB into the HDTV. If at all possible, I will also be pulling the firewire signal over to the HTPC. That all depends on the STB I end up with and whether or not I can find, hack, or beg a way to get that data off of it. That would be the best of all worlds, I would end up with essentially 5 tuners, 3 digital, 2 analog and actually one FM Tuner too boot!
I wanted to take a few minutes and talk about the core of the system and how and why I chose the hardware that I did. I'll start with the very core of the system, the CPU. I had originally planned on using an AMD chip, but after reading a number of reviews, I changed to the Intel chip mostly for the heat factor. I would have preferred to use AMD myself, but at this point, for this build, the Intel chip was a better choice. Lower clock speed, less heat, with equal performance, it seemed a no-brainer, but I guess we will see how hot my box gets!
Once I made the decision on the chip, the next was the motherboard and thus began a real quest. Let me explain. I had a number of requirements for the motherboard. If I was going Intel, I wanted a motherboard that would support the new quad-core chips as well as support > 4Gb memory. I also insisted on built-in firewire as I did not want to waste a PCI slot for it. I wanted a PCIe 16x bus for the video card and four additional PCI slots. Funny that this would not seem to be a show stopper, but you try to find a current 775 Intel board with PCIe and 4 PCI slots....I could not. This left me in a quandry as I originally thought I needed two Hauppauge 250 cards(I really only needed one 500 with dual tuners), the pchdtv card and a decent sound card. However, after poking around a bit, I found that for the most part, the onboard 7.1 Surround Sound is really good enough. Im not an audiophile at all, so we're going to give it a shot. So this left me only needing two PCI slots, and really wanting 3 so I have some room for expansion if wanted or needed. Once the PCI slots were narrowed to three instead of four, a number of other boards became available. At that point I started looking at manufacturers, pricing, and reviews. After it was all said and done, the Asus P5B Deluxe had risen to the top as the cream of the crop. Having have only good experiences with Asus, this worked well for me.
The only other thing at the core of the system is the memory. I have not use OCZ memory, but those in the know tell me that it is top notch memory and you cannot go wrong with it. That was good enough for me. I havent worked much with the newer motherboards and memory configurations, so I had to go with the advice of others on this choice.
Well the sums it up for today. I expect the core of the deliveries to come in tomorrow, however, according to UPS, it looks like the case will not be in until thursday, so likely no build will begin until friday night or so. Anyhow, tomorrow I'll talk a bit more about some of the hardware choices and touch on why I chose MythTV.....
It came nicely packaged and although the outer packaging was somewhat beat up, the inside packaging and product itself, were pristine. The keyboard came with a two prong IR adapter. One prong is for the keyboard and the other for the mouse, so it appears there is a dual input/output operation of some kind going on. It gave me a momentary scare as I thought about the proprietary nature of it, however, the remote I got is a learning remote and should be able to easily emulate the whatever signals are being passed. If its a problem, I'll let you know.
Next came the pchdtv card. This one came packaged with an adapter for the S-video and audio as well as a driver disk and installation instructions:
I love the fact that it has Tux on it! A buddy of mine found that there are reports of this card successfully being used under MythTV to pull QAM signals so Im hopeful that I will be able to pull it off. I fancy myself a bit of a Linux geek, I guess we will see.
In discussions with my buddy, we nailed down my setup. He has been playing with his MCE setup for some time and is apparently in a position to help me along. Thanks Ray! Anyhow, looks like I'll end up with basically 5 available tuners. Three on the HTPC box and two more on the STB. I'll run both the HTPC and the STB into the HDTV. If at all possible, I will also be pulling the firewire signal over to the HTPC. That all depends on the STB I end up with and whether or not I can find, hack, or beg a way to get that data off of it. That would be the best of all worlds, I would end up with essentially 5 tuners, 3 digital, 2 analog and actually one FM Tuner too boot!
I wanted to take a few minutes and talk about the core of the system and how and why I chose the hardware that I did. I'll start with the very core of the system, the CPU. I had originally planned on using an AMD chip, but after reading a number of reviews, I changed to the Intel chip mostly for the heat factor. I would have preferred to use AMD myself, but at this point, for this build, the Intel chip was a better choice. Lower clock speed, less heat, with equal performance, it seemed a no-brainer, but I guess we will see how hot my box gets!
Once I made the decision on the chip, the next was the motherboard and thus began a real quest. Let me explain. I had a number of requirements for the motherboard. If I was going Intel, I wanted a motherboard that would support the new quad-core chips as well as support > 4Gb memory. I also insisted on built-in firewire as I did not want to waste a PCI slot for it. I wanted a PCIe 16x bus for the video card and four additional PCI slots. Funny that this would not seem to be a show stopper, but you try to find a current 775 Intel board with PCIe and 4 PCI slots....I could not. This left me in a quandry as I originally thought I needed two Hauppauge 250 cards(I really only needed one 500 with dual tuners), the pchdtv card and a decent sound card. However, after poking around a bit, I found that for the most part, the onboard 7.1 Surround Sound is really good enough. Im not an audiophile at all, so we're going to give it a shot. So this left me only needing two PCI slots, and really wanting 3 so I have some room for expansion if wanted or needed. Once the PCI slots were narrowed to three instead of four, a number of other boards became available. At that point I started looking at manufacturers, pricing, and reviews. After it was all said and done, the Asus P5B Deluxe had risen to the top as the cream of the crop. Having have only good experiences with Asus, this worked well for me.
The only other thing at the core of the system is the memory. I have not use OCZ memory, but those in the know tell me that it is top notch memory and you cannot go wrong with it. That was good enough for me. I havent worked much with the newer motherboards and memory configurations, so I had to go with the advice of others on this choice.
Well the sums it up for today. I expect the core of the deliveries to come in tomorrow, however, according to UPS, it looks like the case will not be in until thursday, so likely no build will begin until friday night or so. Anyhow, tomorrow I'll talk a bit more about some of the hardware choices and touch on why I chose MythTV.....
Friday, March 9, 2007
And so it begins...
From the moment I first heard about the Digital Broadcast Flag, I knew that I wanted to build my own PVR(think Tivo), before this abomination of a law was passed. Well the time has finally arrived. Just today I ordered the bits-n-pieces to start my build. I spent a great deal of time researching every piece of the system from the memory right down to the case. I wanted to get quality components, yet keep some kind of budget in mind. I plan to do quite a bit more than just MythTV so Im building a bit of a powerhouse, as far as Home Theatre PCs(HTPC) go. Im going to pack as much entertainment into this machine as I can and you've got a front row seat.
For the core of the system, we are starting out with an Asus P5B Deluxe Motherboard with an Intel E6300 Core2Duo CPU and 2Gb of OCZ DDR2 PC-6400 800Mhz Memory. I chose the P5B for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the passive cooling of the CPU. Hopefully, that will be enough to keep the system cool along with some of the other modifications that we will talk about later. The P5B has builtin IEEE1394(Firewire) which will allow me to pull data direct from the Scientific Atlanta cable box. I do not currently have a box with the firewire output, however, the law(check subsection 4) says the cable company has to provide me one. It also has a built-in HD Audio and no built-in video as I will be using a PCIe video card. It allows for up to 8Gb of memory and will handle the new Quad-Core Intel chips. I have always had good experiences with Asus motherboards, so this seemed to be a safe bet. Complimented by an Intel CPU and OCZ memory, we have a good solid base from which build-out the rest of our system.
Next, lets move into our video subsystem(s). First up we have our XFX 7600 GT Fatal1ty 256MB passively cooled video card. This card is factory overclocked and actually shown in some results to be even cooler than similar cards with fans. Again, we are going for cooling, but we also want as much kick to this system as we can get. We followup that up with a Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-500 MCE Dual Tuner Capture card. I chose this card because it offers both an onboard splitter, so it only needs a single input, and dual onboard hardware mpeg decoders. You really can't beat it for the price. Next we have the PCHDTV-5500 Linux HD/Digital capture card. This card I bought because it is specifically designed to work with Linux, and I try to support that kind of dedication to the Linux community.
Every good PVR needs storage, and lots of it. A standard capture for an hour of TV can range from 2Gbs for analog capture, up to 7 Gb for HD. So needless to say, you need a good bit of storage. To that end, I got two Seagate Barracuda PATA 320Gb drives. These drives are very fast and have an amazing price. I also got a Lite-on 20x Dual-Layer DVD Burner with LightScribe. LightScribe is pretty neat, it allows you to burn the label directly into the coating of the CD/DVD. I'll also pick up some cheapie DVD player to throw into the other slot, but that is of really no consequence as it will really only be used as a player.
No good HTPC system can be built without a good case! I think the Silverstone LC17 fits the bill rather nicely for my build. The case itself is tall and non-flashly. It looks like a workhorse. I hope the height helps with cooling as well as allows the somewhat oversize XFX video card additional room to breathe. The case also allows for up to 4 80mm fans for cooling. While the stock fans that come with the case received good reviews, I will be replacing those fans with some 80mm Nexus fans as they are both quieter overall and run at a greatly reduced RPM. I chose a Corsair HX520W power supply as it is SLI rated(though we won't be using SLI), had more than enough power for everything we have specd out, but also because reviews have shown it has a wonderfully steadly voltage, runs cool, and is very quiet for a power supply this powerful.
Last but not least, this is a computer, so we need a couple of more things. I found a nice wireless keyboard with a built-in trackball that had been discontinued, but I was able to find one. You know, I hope it wasn't discontinued for quality reasons;-) And to go along with any media center, you are going to need a remote control. I chose the Kameleon 8in1 AllinOne URC-9960 remote because it looked cool, got a good MTFB rating, and I found it really cheap!
So that sums it up, I put these parts on order today and I'll be documenting everything, from the arrival of the parts, to what shape they are in when they arrive. I'll photo document the whole thing as well, so stick around, and strap in, it could get bumpy....
For the core of the system, we are starting out with an Asus P5B Deluxe Motherboard with an Intel E6300 Core2Duo CPU and 2Gb of OCZ DDR2 PC-6400 800Mhz Memory. I chose the P5B for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the passive cooling of the CPU. Hopefully, that will be enough to keep the system cool along with some of the other modifications that we will talk about later. The P5B has builtin IEEE1394(Firewire) which will allow me to pull data direct from the Scientific Atlanta cable box. I do not currently have a box with the firewire output, however, the law(check subsection 4) says the cable company has to provide me one. It also has a built-in HD Audio and no built-in video as I will be using a PCIe video card. It allows for up to 8Gb of memory and will handle the new Quad-Core Intel chips. I have always had good experiences with Asus motherboards, so this seemed to be a safe bet. Complimented by an Intel CPU and OCZ memory, we have a good solid base from which build-out the rest of our system.
Next, lets move into our video subsystem(s). First up we have our XFX 7600 GT Fatal1ty 256MB passively cooled video card. This card is factory overclocked and actually shown in some results to be even cooler than similar cards with fans. Again, we are going for cooling, but we also want as much kick to this system as we can get. We followup that up with a Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-500 MCE Dual Tuner Capture card. I chose this card because it offers both an onboard splitter, so it only needs a single input, and dual onboard hardware mpeg decoders. You really can't beat it for the price. Next we have the PCHDTV-5500 Linux HD/Digital capture card. This card I bought because it is specifically designed to work with Linux, and I try to support that kind of dedication to the Linux community.
Every good PVR needs storage, and lots of it. A standard capture for an hour of TV can range from 2Gbs for analog capture, up to 7 Gb for HD. So needless to say, you need a good bit of storage. To that end, I got two Seagate Barracuda PATA 320Gb drives. These drives are very fast and have an amazing price. I also got a Lite-on 20x Dual-Layer DVD Burner with LightScribe. LightScribe is pretty neat, it allows you to burn the label directly into the coating of the CD/DVD. I'll also pick up some cheapie DVD player to throw into the other slot, but that is of really no consequence as it will really only be used as a player.
No good HTPC system can be built without a good case! I think the Silverstone LC17 fits the bill rather nicely for my build. The case itself is tall and non-flashly. It looks like a workhorse. I hope the height helps with cooling as well as allows the somewhat oversize XFX video card additional room to breathe. The case also allows for up to 4 80mm fans for cooling. While the stock fans that come with the case received good reviews, I will be replacing those fans with some 80mm Nexus fans as they are both quieter overall and run at a greatly reduced RPM. I chose a Corsair HX520W power supply as it is SLI rated(though we won't be using SLI), had more than enough power for everything we have specd out, but also because reviews have shown it has a wonderfully steadly voltage, runs cool, and is very quiet for a power supply this powerful.
Last but not least, this is a computer, so we need a couple of more things. I found a nice wireless keyboard with a built-in trackball that had been discontinued, but I was able to find one. You know, I hope it wasn't discontinued for quality reasons;-) And to go along with any media center, you are going to need a remote control. I chose the Kameleon 8in1 AllinOne URC-9960 remote because it looked cool, got a good MTFB rating, and I found it really cheap!
So that sums it up, I put these parts on order today and I'll be documenting everything, from the arrival of the parts, to what shape they are in when they arrive. I'll photo document the whole thing as well, so stick around, and strap in, it could get bumpy....
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