Build Your Own Set Top Box
Posted by
CmdrTaco
on Wed Jan 31, 2001 03:45 PM
from the i-want-my-hdtv dept.
from the i-want-my-hdtv dept.
Kon writes "There is a lot of talk lately about how Divx and other type codecs will spawn a new industry upsurge in the manufacturing of player hardware. But what is the purpose of buying hardware when you can build your own? The only limitation is the software, but projects like Media-BOX and the Divx Project will hopefully change this ;-). And why stop with Divx, when you could potentially use this cheap home-made box to handle everything from games to HDTV (via HD tuner board) to Mp3s? Food for thought." Media-Box is Windows only, but its a long ways along. And that divx site, well, I can't read it. But this stuff is looking really excellent. I'm still itching for the Linux equivelant. I wrote a decent MP3 wrapper, but still want the online browser/tivo/mp3/dvd box. Its inevitable, but it won't happen soon enough.
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How to build your own set top box. (Score:5)
Next get some bauxite ore and some copper ore. We're going to use aluminum interconnects, so the copper will only be used for the motherboard.
First off, take the sand and use it to form a silicon wafer 12 inches in diameter. (Note, previous versions of this howto specified 8 inch wafers - these will work, but your cost/chip will be much higher.
Next, purify the bauxite ore to create an ingot of pure alluminum.
Ok, now we're ready to create the general purpose microprocessor at the heart of our set top box. Using the alluminum, the wafer, a magnifying glass and a laser pointer, create a 6 issue wide superscalar 64 bit microprocessor with at least 256 KB of l2 cache. For best results, try to keep the feature size at
Be sure to have a very clean environment for this as microprocessor cores are very succeptible to dust. Your garage is not suitable unless you give it a thorough cleaning first.
Now that you have the microprocessor, the next step is to package it. It is important to use a pin grid array rather than a ball grid array as you may wish to upgrade the processor later.
*rest of guide clipped for space reasons, but you can get the latest version from the linux documentation project [linuxdoc.org].*
--Shoeboy
A tale from someone who tried... (Score:4)
I've been hunting high and low for a decent, small box-sized PC-compatible computer for about a year now. Trouble is, here in Germany it is close to impossible to get one unless you are willing to pay about 3 to 4 times the price of a normal computer with similar components.
- I first tried to build the box with a normal desktop case, but not only was it ugly, it was also quite loud. My dream machine is a PC-compatible system that looks like a stereo component and that is silent.
- vanilla, plain set top box hardware is hard to get in Germany if all you want is a quantity of "one".
- those few set top boxes being sold are proprietary and come with long-term contracts, so hacking them is not an option. We did not have an "iOpener" happening here, yet.
- there are very few "small" computers on sale over here. Those you can get usually are "thin clients" like the Dell Onmiplex or the Compaq Desktop iPaq that are not equipped with a TV out.
- Looking at its specs, the Multitainer [fujitsu-siemens.com] is my dream machine, but it appears to have been a massive failure. I tested it at my local electronics store and it had a lot of stability problems. Also, it is curious that I cannot get a *new* machine anywhere in Hamburg (one of the major German cities). The few stores that want to sell the Multitainer all have "returned" devices from unsatisfied customers - still for a price tag of 1000 to 1250 dollars.
- I once had a hold on a bki810 [amptron.com] computer. It was really nice, except that a) it was not upgradable with more recent CPUs and b) its TV out was sub-par. But my main problem: It was LOUD! It had the noise level of a vacuum cleaner! I tried to replace the fans, but no chance: Local electronics stores did not offer silent fans for that size...
- I've phoned down the local listing of office suppliers for small computers, but none could help me.
- I've also checked the very popular electronics classifieds, the local German eBay-style sites etc. Noone seems to sell used hardware.
After all these attempts, my summary of the problems with "build your own set-top box" is:
* Normal PC hardware is too loud. And surprisingly, some thin clients are, too.
* Few thin clients have a TV out or can be equipped with one.
* Those few thin clients that have a TV out offer a lousy picture quality, usually off-centered or not full-screen on a PAL TV. Yes, I've tried several TV out cards and none of them could come near my very cheap DVD player's TV out. Is it really that difficult?
All in all, I just wish the Multitainer would have been better. It's everything you'd need: Standard PC hardware components and a clever combination of stereo and video connectors. But apparently, it had engineering problems.
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Re:So where *is* the hardware? (Score:3)
NLS motherboards are about 20 by 25-30 cm (8 by 10 or 11 inches). They have no slots and an edge connector on one side that plugs into the slot of an acocmpanying riser card. PCI cards plug in horizontally--parallel to the motherboard.
Many NLX cases (and industrial racks) allow the motherboard to be removed by loosening 2 thumbscrews. To add DIMMs, you can pull out the motherboard out COMPLETELY without removing ANY cards or cables--sometimes without even opening the case! Yeong-Yang makes a pretty little VCR-sized NLX case [yeongyang.com]. NLX desktop cases are compact, quiet and easy to maintain (No, I don't sell them. I just think they are neat.)
As for the NLX motherboards, they usually come with matching riser cards. Asus, Gigabyte or Intel should have them, although they are not as common as ATX and may cost a bit more. The rest is just normal commodity hardware (TV tuner/capture, DVD player, huge hard drive etc.).
I have been thinking of building such a system for a year or two now. Maybe someone else will try now...
Done with X (Score:3)
It'll be pure menus, pointing and clicking for everything using a remote control. If you want a box with keyboard and monitor you'll have to go to Cray or something and pay through the nose.
It looks like when he says "TV out card" he's referrering to the RCA output on most VGA cards. There are lots of "TV out cards" but they use JPEG compression.
The problem with watching movies this way is you have to go from 24fps progressive to genlocked 29.97fps interlaced. Simply using a Microsoft media player on a TV would cause studdering because it wouldn't match the 29.97 interlacing exactly.
Its not as hard as you might think. (Score:4)
Right now, we have a marginally stable...
And we hope to get... Try these links for...
Linux support for the Creative Dxr DVD Decoder and drive. http://opensource.creative.com [creative.com]
Linux and infrared remote control http://www.lirc.org/ [lirc.org]
Linux and the ATI all in Wonder cards http://www.linuxvideo.org/gatos/ [linuxvideo.org]
Re:It's gottan be big (Score:3)
Aaaargh! The image of Arnold Schwarzenegger holding up your DVD shelf is permanently etched into my mind! I think I need professional help!
Re:What about Make your own ReplayTV - PTV links (Score:4)
From the Tivo Hacking FAQ [tivofaq.com]:
PureDiva: Software only bundled with complete PC's. http://www.purediva.com
Ligos: Windows based PTV. http://www.ligos.com/news/pr_timeshift.html
PowerVCR: Windows based VCR. http://www.cyberlink.com.tw/english/products/power vcr2/powervcr2.asp
WinVCR: Windows based VCR. http://www.cinax.com/Products/winvcr.html
SnapStream: Windows based PTV (freeware and commercial version). http://www.snapstream.com
ShowShifter: Windows based PTV (freeware). http://www.showshifter.com
Also, the Matrox G450 eTV has some PTV software that comes with it for Tivo like functionality. Not sure how it gets its program guide though.
Oh damn... (Score:3)
Building custom set-top boxes might be important (Score:3)
You might wind up with a central server somewhere in the Deep South, operated by Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson or another such people. When people want to use their Tivo to record certain television programs, that server is sent the name of the program, and can send back a rejection message if the program contains things such as nudity, feminism, or Islam. You might think this is a ridiculous example, but look at the way things are going. We've got some crippling potential restrictions on how HDTV signals can be used. We've got the MPAA saying that we don't have the right to use the data our own DVDs in our own home unless we use it the way they want us to. Don't expect things to get any better.
Our last refuge might lie in our ability to develop our own solutions. We can build the codecs. We can can throw in big honkin' hard drives. We own soldering irons. There is nothing (conceptually) that is stopping us from developing our own devices. And if the government and the corporate community insist on continually levying these ridiculous restrictions on us, it might be the only option we have left. In fact, you might see a large "black market" for unregulated set-top devices spring up. The threat of this possibility should give the corporate control-freaks some pause, because if geeks have demonstrated anything over the past few years, it is that they will not be regulated. And that is a Good Thing (TM).
Why limit to the Set-Top? (Score:3)
What I've got buzzing around, in the back of my head, is something like this:
(That shouldn't be too expensive, right?)
Then, this box would be connected to various rooms via Coax (for video) and line-level shielded audio (for audio). Or send the audio through a multi-zone amplifier to wall-mounted speakers. Or something like that. You'd control it via infrared control, repeated from the viewing room back to the box through wireless or wired IR repeaters.
What would I do with this box? Everything.
Could be way cool. Way, way cool. Of course, a lot of things that I'm thinking about here have significant infrastructure problems -- like, say, how do you distribute HD (TV, not disk) signals through a house?
In the end, I think the plan I'm settling on involves a big UberTiVo box with multiple inputs, but feeding some massively cool RAID server (that way, I can just use a bunch of really cheap separate computers with one tuner each, if it becomes too difficult to handle more than one input per box). Then use very simple set-top boxes (the little "bookshelf" form factor) with Composite out (or just run VGA straight to an HDTV monitor), sound (to cheap speakers or an in-room stereo), and wireless keyboard and/or game controllers. If I'm really lucky, I can get this sucker to run w/out a fan, too.
Then, everything just talks back to the main server over 100-meg ethernet. ( that part's easy!)
Anyone else tackling something like this? From this approach? Or from an approach I should be aware of? I'd love to share ideas....
david.
Re:Playstation 2 (Score:3)
The Sony docs from phase 1 were complete - including the systems information you'd need for Linux e.g. cache control details, system-level instructions, page-mapping registers, etc. etc. But these docs were only ever printed in dead-tree format, so it's incredibly difficult for them to accidentally escape.
The Phase 2 docs are PDFs (I have a set at home which might escape if someone asks me nicely) but they miss out this important information.
Finally, you'd need some form of Trojan to boot the machine, at least until it's chipped - and if you take a PS2 apart, the first thing you notice is that chipping this mofo is not going to be easy! It's some of the densest electronics I've ever seen. The best bet right now seems to be "accidentally" putting a Trojan download program onto a game disk, probably hidden as a buffer-overflow bug which you trigger deliberately, possibly by sending a packet on the serial port input; possibly by inserting an unauthorized CD.
All this is assuming Sony will not be supportive ... and I think that's a fair bet.
Build your own (Score:3)
One of the large hardware manufacturers is working on exactly this. Linux-based it's a framework for other companies to license and customize. Their goal is to supply a reference implementation of the base system which of course takes advantage of their hardware.
Presumably consumer-products companies coming late in the game to "digital-VCR's" will be happy to license this, do some customizing (either in-house or contracted with the developer) and then ship their own branded solutions.
What's interesting about this for the /. community is just how much of this turns out to be really specialized. From kernel modifications to optimized codecs to specially designed file-systems much of this can't be off-the-shelf for price/performance reasons. Apparently they're not terribly concerned about the home-brew market feeling that it'll just be cheaper to buy a dedicated box then retrofitting other hardware, attempting to get appropriate listings, maintaining the hw/sw, etc.
Of course I'm sure they're willing to sell their own industry-generic raw hardware to anyone, it's just the package that they're holding out for big fees.
Frankly even though this topic comes up again & again I think they're probably right. Sure my PC CD-player plays music fine but I prefer to have one in my livingroom dedicated to the audio system. Same with the DVD player, while it plays fine on the box & 21" monitor I've got one in the lvingroom 'cause it's better suited / more convenient there.
I expect for many of us a TiVo-type consumer box will be far more popular then a homebuilt. It's not like building your own computer 'cause the economics aren't likely to be as sweet and it'll be difficult to get source-material (the listings.)
Different but related topic:
What I *do* think would be hot would be custom-program-selection services where one could subscribe and get a selection of program-record-instructions emailed to my TV-box. Rather then it randomly recording stuff it thinks I *might* like or my explicitly setting the recording choices a third option of subscribing to a service (sushi-cooking@asianfood.com or st-nextgen-sans-wesley@stgeek.com) would be interesting.
Of course for this to work we'd need some sort of TV-listings-XML...
Re:What about Make your own ReplayTV (Score:4)
there isn't one going per se (at least I haven't seen one yet), but all of the tools are there...on the hardware side, you'll need a tv tuner, and Big-Assed Harddrive (TM).
On the software side, grab vcr [stack.nl]. VCR is a command line tool to record divx files..it eats processors though, so make sure you got a good one..if you would like something that is a little leaner on the processor, grab mp1e (sorry no web page), the files you write will be bigger, but the quality is good, and only take about 15% of my celery 400.
To see what is on TV, either grab xmltv [ic.ac.uk], tvguide [cherrynebula.net], or the cream of the crop Mister House [sourceforge.net]
Mister House looks pretty sweet, since it already embeds links to record shows right in the listings for recording(you'll have to hack it a bit to get it to use vcr/mp1e, but it'll work), and there is already code there for remembering your favourite shows, sorting for movies, etc, etc etc...
Now if you want to get fancy, you'll grab a DVD anywhere from x10 (to lazy to throw in the link), a second sound card in your Linux box, and a second video card in your Linux box, and it will all get run from your machine sitting in your room so that you don't have a noisy machine sitting your Living Room.
And of course this also gets you access to your MP3s, and web browser while sitting on the couch...
So why haven't you built this yet Jose, you ask? I'm working on it OK, GET OFF MY BACK!! =P
It should be noted... (Score:4)
Requirements for the Linux Version
Intel CPU of 600Mhz or greater (current libs have more overhead)
2.2.16 kernel of higher, JAVA 1.3 w/JMF
20Gb+ storage space (1Gb per imported DVD) recommended @ UDMA66
Wireless mouse (not required but suggested)
Settopbox form factor PC chassis (not required but recommended)
TV-out card (strongly recommended)
Internet Connection
Just do it on the X-Box (Score:3)
One question (Score:5)
You want corn? I give you corn.