Condidering building a Standalone Divx Player. Any thoughts?

[MadManMund]

I am an Electrical Engineering major and the time has come to start on my senior design project. My group was considering building a standalone Divx player for the project. Is this a good idea to attempt as a design project?

There is a requirement that the project involve a good amount of design on our part for a grade. This means that if the components have already been designed and we just integrate the components it is likely to recieve a poor grade.

What are your thoughts on this idea. Would it be a good Design Project? If so, what approach should be taken in the design? (What requirements and goals should we seek for the player?)

Thanks
MadManMund

Edit: I would also accept other design project reccomendations or ideas.

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[MaDmiZe]

I dont see anyway around using a standard cdrom drive as a component of that....I mean you guys cant build a CDrom reader from scratch can you???
So I have to vote against that as the project....I want yous guys to get a good grade and all..

[MadManMund]

There is no intent to build the drive from scratch. Some of the components would be purchased (ie. CDROM, Motherboard, CPU). Others will be designed and build (ie. LCD display, Software coding). Some integration is ok, however an excessive lack of design is still an issue.

[tigerwolf]

well one thing to consider is the fact that the teacher could consider that most of your design could easily come from any cd/dvd player. Software coding is a minor detail given that there again you would be utilizing things that are already out there.

It depends on how long you have, what requirements are placed upon you and how original the idea has to be.

hmm, what about something that would capture and burn to dixv or vcd complaint.

meshing concepts, have a capture card, hard drive, cd burner, and etc. it could read the divx discs, but also burn them from a source such as cable etc.

a standalone divx recorder.

[RevyJay]

I'm no Engineer by any means, just a little CIS major, but your idea sounds pretty good. When you think about creating a DivX player, ya you're using standard components (such as you mentioned), but there would still be a lot to consider. Wouldn't you basically be designing a little computer? I guess when I look at it that way, it's probably a little more difficult than I would think. You would have to program the Firmware, maybe even think about how a person would be able to update the Firmware as part of your project. If you wanted to, create your own software program to play DivX movies with Codecs. Implementing different types of Codecs (make those updateable as well).
Hell, the way I look at it, if they can make a Gaming PC out of a glorified computer, you should be able to do this. Create features that you wouldn't normally find on DivX players. I think it could be a good idea.