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  1. you know, i would do that ... but the thing is that i have to make additions to it, or make it better. as of now, my idea of an addition is updating the firmware via USB.
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  2. ejp: There's no point in reinventing the wheel. The X-box will do what you're asking and probably cheaper then buying all the components to make a system. The X-box is basically a computer in a box so if your'e familiar with programming it shouldn't be to hard for you to program for the X-box. Here's some links that will help you modify the X-box to do what you're asking.

    http://www.xbox-scene.com/
    great source of information about the X-box. Including tutorials on how to make a homebrew MOD chip so you can run your own (or someone else's) software on the X-box.

    http://openxdk.sourceforge.net/
    You can get the Open source X-box developement Kit here so you can write your own program. This is not the Microsoft XDK so anything you write with it is strictly legal. So you can write your own DiVX player for instance.

    http://xbox-linux.sourceforge.net/
    If you're more comfortable with Linux, this site will tell you how to get Linux installed and running on an X-box. Then you can just write your DiVX software for the Linux platform instead.

    -LeeBear
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  3. You're talking about programming, updating firmware, PIC's, USB and all. Just for the sake of it, try just to program a PIC, write USB drivers, or just code some program to update an eeprom or something basic sto start, see if you're even able to do that. You don't quite seem to realize how much work that would be, it would take you like, years. This is just not a high school thing. I am starting to wonder if you're even serious with this. I don't think you only lack knowledge to accomplish this, but you don't have the required knowledge to fully realize how big this is. If you have to learn some programming languages and the like on top... You're years behind. (unless u just use a PC or xbox or something with basically pre-made software and the like). You don't even seem to really know exactly what you want, so, I think you really should be looking at doing something else. All sounds cool, but you gotta face reality some day...
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  4. In the end your Divx will look like poop on your TV. Unless you have a HDTV monitor type TV.

    A mini-PC with a program to boot a disc and play it at the right aspect ratio with TV-Out is the way to go. I seen mini-pcs going for pretty cheap with TV at www.tigerdirect.com.

    If you take a look at the Divx player for PS2, you can see how they do it and base your material off of their's.
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  5. Member vhelp's Avatar
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    As I have tried to explain above.. take for instance, my "software
    player" project. If you think it's easy to write a software app for
    your divX player machine, THINK AGAIN. It's not gonna be easy finding
    the code to EACH item. There's more to it than..

    PRINT "Hello World!"

    he, he... a lot has changed since the above code slippet.

    I've ben scowering the net LOOKING for code/help/advice/tips you name it..
    (just a few) to find code to get me started in:
    * opening up an AVI file
    * setting up a "device", talking to a device ie capture card etc.
    * then, sending it to my APP then,
    * doing other hosekeeping to get it STABLE enough to NOT CRASH!!
    * etc, etc.
    .
    .
    Other app design for:
    * opening an AVI file
    * then, doing some editing like IVTC, resizing, letterbox'ing etc.
    * ect.

    Lots of headacke, I tell ya. I"m still working on my two projects.
    Code name: "V" he, he...
    * software player (for AVI files, ie divX) for TV-OUT viewing etc.
    * capture app - to inlucde things like IVTC (like that'll ever happend)
    * editing app (ok, three apps) (more IVTC stuff here)

    I've ben working on the above for MONTHS. And, this is JUST THE SOFTWARE
    part. ..well, for you that is. (and me, in the above instance)

    I would like to say, I FINALLY developed some AVI communication skills.
    I can NOW setup a comminucation with an AVI device ie, capture card.
    I can NOW open up a Capture windows, and resize it, etc.
    I can NOW display a Capture window on my Delphi form ( yippee! )
    And, this took MONTHS to find/figure out (on my own, since no-one here
    know any Delphi programing - I'm a Lonstar on this, here FORUM)
    Actually, I still got no help from anyone, but in the end, I had to
    find bits and pieces of code here and there, and basically, just plaine
    STUDY, STUDY, STUDY, STUDY, STUDY, till I got something to move, bla, bla..
    The great thing about DELPHI, is that you can basically drag in an DLL
    and view ALL its functions and procedures, and go on from their'..zwhat
    I did.

    Boy, R U N for a great many sleepless nights
    I think you was better off taking my advice earlier

    Remember what I said ealier.. a plant has ALL the tools, templates,
    cardboard and sand, etc. that they need to build ANYTHING.
    You got NOTHING

    You remind me of ME, when I was a bit younger. I wanted to $$ teach people
    how to program in BASIC, and though I knew it all, and I had SOO much
    energy, my wheels kept turning.. till I woke up a few years later, and
    realized, "I needed some programing AND writing skills"
    But, I'll never forget that feeling

    Good luck again though.
    -vhelp
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  6. vhelp...

    hmm, i wasn't planning to write a program to play the AVI, if that's what you were thinking.

    the plan was to build a standalone divx player where you can update the firmware via USB.
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  7. Well, I do know delphi (well, I did program a lot with BP and TP back then, so it seemed like a logical step forward, but I am getting a lil' rusty at it) so I could eventually get in a project like vhelp's, which is realistic, even tho, it's a lot more work than it seems (oh boy, I bet you know you're not quite done yet LOL).

    As for the player you're getting into, you're like saying "I wanna build a car" without knowing more than they have wheels and an engine... Then you seem to think "it's no big deal"... You completely fail to see how much work this is. It is so hopeless, I am giving up on this thread...
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  8. Originally Posted by crahak
    like saying "I wanna build a car" without knowing more than they have wheels and an engine... Then you seem to think "it's no big deal"... You completely fail to see how much work this is....
    It sure seems that way. Chesterton wrote that a pessimist was an unhappy fool - and an optimist was a happy fool; the point being that both optimism and pessimism, if exaggerated beyond a rational level, can be so out of line with reality that they border on the delusional. Having a "can do" attitude can certainly help enable success in many things - but saying "can do" as you repeatedly swing a 2-pound hammer at a 4-foot-thick bank vault door, instead of finding a flimsier door to flatten, is something less than an asset.
    As Churchill famously predicted when Chamberlain returned from Munich proclaiming peace in his time: "You were given the choice between war and dishonor. You chose dishonor, and you will have war."
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  9. lol ... all you guys r idiots .. this is the simplest thing to do .. albeit exspensive..


    ok .. well to break it down for you:

    you need a:
    -stripped down pc (motherboard(cpu and memory, need about 300 mhz, 64 ram),cheap generic soundcard(u want sound right?) small hd, vid card(no way to get good vid output from motherboard sufficient for divx out), and whatever disk drive u prefer (cd,dvd,uncle bobs input monkey .. go wild)
    -software wise you need the vid card to have s-vid port or some hook up to a tv, and the card SHOULD come with the software to support this.. also video cards come with dvd player software that ouputs to screen and BINGO .. .. get a modd'd version to play divx .. and i DID do this.. my computer hooks up to a TV and runs divx at whatever res .. with blurriness
    lol .. but so WHAT? .. the computer hooks up to the tv through an rf modulator (this is the whole needing an hdtv thing .. you dont, the rf modulator can convert the signal for you).. goto radio shack pick one up .. about 50$ .. but for a digital signal .. which would be what your using, u need the more espensive ones .. 150$ and up ..

    that should be about all u need ... but its gonna be like a vcr with a keyboard and its gonna look like shit .. but your prof sounds like someone who doesnt care about esthetics ... i would think ..

    and the coding .. well
    the only thing that your PIC is useful for is the remote .. sure it has potential .. but not in this case , as it is not an industrial application, and the pic can not handle upper level programming, only low level basic, asm(assembly), hex, binary, hardware commands etc ...

    and the whole thing about building a car ..

    well .. about building a car .. its like building a car with a hot tub .. buy a stripped down pos old car .. use a hack saw .. break it down (hell of a pain but u can do it) .. and drop that sucka right in there .. and voila .. hot tub on wheels .. and the mechanics of it ARE simple

    THEY ARE BECAUSE THEY REQUIRE NO ACTUAL PROGRAMMING .. problem solving, algorythmns .. get it? .. no avi troubleshooting on your pos delphi .. and noone uses delphi nemore .. only companies who refuse to upgrade .. delphi only has a very limited application base ( .. and blah blah blah im sure in your field its very useful and thats why you like it so much .. ) but get with the times ..

    and u guys .. seriously .. all of u r trying to get him down .. why? ... this is a very doable project requiring only mediocre technical knowledge .. but i cant see how this is a project for university level? .. i mean a 13 yr old can pull it off ..


    but in the end .. youll end up paying (400 for old pc) .. (600 for the right vid card ) , (200 for the digital rf mod) .. and yeah .. thas about it .. i also read an article in penny-arcade .. www.pennt-arcade.com .. i knoe its a comic .. but its got great references from people within the industry .. hmm .. it was like 2-3 days ago , the post, referring to a representative from onster cables .. neway look it up ..

    good luck .. and if u have technical questions about my system .. email me at akical_@hotmail.com ..

    lates .. keep it real boys n gurls .. which im sure this forum is just teeming with .,.
    a great man once said ...
    (nothing)
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  10. www.penny-arcade.com (sorry, its late)
    a great man once said ...
    (nothing)
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  11. os wise .. stick with windows 98 .. not linux as most vid cards do not support tv out ..and you'll need special drivers .. n then you'll get into trouble somewhere along the lines .. so keep it simple with a compact install of windows 95/98 both work fine (makes sure u use 95 w/ usb upgrade )

    although the whole usb idea is overcomplicated ..

    you could just upgrade via your input drive .. using a trusty uncle bob's input monkey disk .. see where this is headed .. oyu can use nething at all ..
    a great man once said ...
    (nothing)
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  12. akical...

    THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i swear, i was starting to feel a little put down by everyone, no matter how lightly i was being put down. but you know what? .. i kept optimistic the whole time, and thanks to YOU, i have that much more motivation for this project. THANKS SO MUCH. thanks for the input too.
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  13. Member vhelp's Avatar
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    .
    .
    Also, you basically told the poster here, how to make another
    pc, "only use it strickly for divX viewing" pfew!!

    You're right, anyone CAN do it this way too...
    ..can take a old pc laying around the closet or something, and..
    * yank out their video card, and replace w/ one w/ a TV-out
    and call it a divX player
    -- -- -- Fig A. -- -- --

    The above is a PC setup "just soully for playing divX..
    Hmmm, I wonder how many fuses I COULD of blown on this one...

    ijp, I hope I came up w/ a better one yet! LOL

    But, again, this is NOT a TRUE standalone divX player!!! It's not!!
    Don't fall pray to misinterpreting yourslef on this.
    You goal/desire was to BUILD a divX standalone player, not find
    some old pc laying around, and through in a TV-out card and call
    it a "stand alone" divX player. Don't kid yourself on this.
    This is NOT a true "stand alone" divX player !!

    I hope you understand where I'm coming from. And, no-one here is
    trying to put you down in any way (at least not me) or feed you
    hype-talk nonsense as in Fig A.

    I have my 2nd PC setup and configure for (analog/DV) Capturing.
    Soully for capturing. But, I wouldn't go calling it a TRUE Canopus
    Video Desktop solution, but rather a more dedicated, optimised
    (analog/DV) capture setup.

    Welp, I'm out of here, ..again, good luck.
    -vhelp
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  14. akical...

    alright, i followed everything you said. but what's with the "uncle bob's input monkey"? lol. anyway, i'm not looking for super-duper picture. everyone would be watching from afar anyway, and won't notice anything .. hopefully. oh, and no, i don't think he'll care for asthetics. but if i get this done early, i can work on a good case, just in case he wants to be an ass and be picky about what the product looks like. lol. if it turns out that my written software (with the USB stuff) doesn't work out, i'll go for the PIC in a Remote Control. i basically know what hardware i have to get, and i'm not worrying about 2nd rate stuff. just as long as it works together, it's all good. the only thing that's bothering me is the *digital rf modulator*. please do tell me more about it. i'll look it up anyway though. i'll even email you about it if you don't read this post. lol. thanks again.

    vhelp...
    ok, so then could you tell me what EXACTLY a true standalone divx player is? because i'm not going to put a bunch of resistors together from scratch, nor am i going to write something to play the avi file. from what akical was suggesting ... that's all perfectly fine with me. and plus, my professor wouldn't know the difference. i know i must sound like an ass, but i really don't have the time to do EVERYTHING from scratch. this is just a little project, which can represent something on a larger scale. the "larger scale" would be a full-blown project; everything made from scratch, with a team of however many.
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  15. Member vhelp's Avatar
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    ejp,

    ok, i get it now. I must of misread your post. You are NOT serious
    about building a true divX player. I thought you were, at least
    that was how your post seemed to start out like. So, you're not
    actually serious after all. Oh well. Anyways...

    Yes, then, all you realy need is a desktop PC case size encloser,
    and basically just dump an old PC (motherboard, cdrom, ram, os and
    hd) and tightly enclose it (seal it so teacher wont be temped to
    open it up - just make an excuse that you GLUDED it by
    accident) This way, he wont be tempted to show the class students
    your approach. And, besides, if he's not computer leterate or
    savy, he wont truely know what to dig around for, right?

    Oh, and make sure you have a tv-out card instead, and:
    * divX codecs installed
    * cables to hook up to your teachers tv set, etc.
    * no blue-screen-of-death going on.. etc.

    most tv cards have RCA out (yello knob) that will hook up into
    the TV's RCA's Video In, but if not, then you'll need a converter
    going from your tv-out's RCA to gizmo to teacher's tv set's RF or
    coaxel bable.

    I think that's about it. debug as much as you can, test it out at
    home and what not, and you're ready ta go.
    I think that about raps it up. let us know how he graded you on this!!

    -vhelp
    PS: did I just do you home-work for ya ??
    I want credit for it...
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  16. ejp, perhaps it is time for you to define what you REALLY want to do.

    akical, has of course, completely missed the point. He's just described how to play DivX on a PC connected to a TV. This isn't a stand-alone DivX player. Just as a stand-alone DVD player isn't a mini-PC.

    Perhaps, a better project for you to work on is to create a functioning remote control to control a media player for playing DivX. This would be a much more realistic project.

    Regards.
    Michael Tam
    w: Morsels of Evidence
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  17. Member The village idiot's Avatar
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    OK, I just did a little searching.... And here is what I came up with for a, one hour research, theoretical stand alone mpeg2/4 player (real mpeg 4 not the divx we commonly see). Put the following parts together and program away...

    -motorola MPC8560 powerquicc MCU
    -http://e-www.motorola.com/brdata/PDFDB/docs/MPC8560FACT.pdf

    -SigmaDesigns EM847x mpeg 2/4 decoder chip
    -http://www.sigmadesigns.com/pdf_docs/em847Xpb.pdf

    -Audio DAC or just use SPDIF only for audio

    -System SDRAM

    -Flash EEPROM for boot code, could be run on IIC (I2C) slow but would work

    -suitable ide/atapi controller chip

    -serial display panel (four or five lines of text) IIC (I2C)

    -PIC to translate control buttons to serial communications, maybe even hook it to an interupt line

    -Motorola C compiler (CWEPPC) IDE
    -http://e-www.motorola.com/brdata/PDFDB/docs/SG1011.pdf

    There now you have more fuel for the fires. Have fun with the criticisms of why and how it won't work, and how hard it would be to program it, and...
    Hope is the trap the world sets for you every night when you go to sleep and the only reason you have to get up in the morning is the hope that this day, things will get better... But they never do, do they?
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  18. Argh... I hate being the spoiler here, but I guess I'll just say what everyone is thinking... WAKE UP!!! No matter how smart you THINK you are, you can't build an empire on your own.. Sorry to say this to you in such a way, but you're too darn cocky for your own sake.. You should know that no matter how capable you think you are to do a task of this magnitute, you wont grasp the difficulty in it until you start with very simple projects that involve, perhaps, a bit of what your ultimate goal is.. You say you have lots of free time in your hand.. right? well, very few humans live to be 100 and that's at least how old you'll have to be if you ever want to do everything by yourself... I suggest you take that free time of yours and find some friends or maybe even a GIRLFRIEND!. lol... And instead of thinking that you're that great genius you think you are, try going at a slower pace but doing everything correctly.. not trying to accomplish much and losing yourself in your own maze..

    Like I said, Sorry if I sound a bit cruel, but you've earned it..
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  19. The Old One SatStorm's Avatar
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    You are cruel, but some people need it. Expecially when they think that profit is so easy earned....

    Anyway, a very promising solution play easy DiVX/XviD is with Dreamcast. You can buy online a Dreamcast really cheap those days and you can make it play mpeg 4 and mpeg 1 (not mpeg 2....)
    I don't remember the link, do a google search. I make a test some months ago (when the story first started) and it played, with a VCD picture like.
    I think I will test again the following week (I have a full week of Hollidays, so I have plenty of mornings to test a bit. If I weak up in one piece (night clubs here I come!)
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  20. vhelp...
    sorry for the misunderstanding. maybe in the future, when i'm not under any "pressure", i'll think about building a TRUE Standalone DivX Player. thanks for the help, and i'll give you credit for it.

    vitualis...
    sorry for the misunderstanding. i know the way i wanted to do it must be the cheap way out. but after all, it's just me. i WOULD make just a remote control. but i was hoping that i could use this "standalone divx player" too.

    The village idiot...
    wow! thanks a lot. but would all that constitute as a TRUE standalone divx player? if i were to try that, i would've gotten lost along the line somewhere. honestly, i salute EVERYONE who would be able to do it this way.

    tacylm...
    thanks.

    SatStorm...
    a while ago, i was considering buying a gaming console, and modifying it to play divx. but i kinda knew that would be an even cheaper way to go about doing this, right? lol. that's when i decided i would some day try to make a "less" cheaper way of making a standalone divx player.
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  21. Member
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    Guys, why wouldn't a small PC in a smart custom housing, which includes a TV out and the right software setup to be used without a keyboard, be a "stand alone DivX player"????

    If it's a stand alone unit and it plays DivX, it's a stand alone DivX player. Maybe not a production model, maybe not economically feasible for a mass market, but a standalone player nonetheless. It's that simple.

    @ejp: A mini PC (around 800-1000 MHz, look for stuff that runs with little noise) is definitely the way to go. You'll have enough software writing to do for being able to use it without a PC keyboard. Shut off all unnecessary hardware in the BIOS (mouse port, printer port, non-infrared serial port....) and start with a clean Windows 98 or Windows 2000 install (or Linux if you are pretty familiar with it already) on a small hard disk. You might need a networking card during development which would be removed later. Throw out all unnecessary drivers. You will set up a software piece which will start the player program in such a way that the Windows background isn't visible any more (and restart it if it crashes), accept commands from the infrared serial port (remote!) and spoon-feed them to the player, and scan the CD ROM drive to check for disk insertion and then start up, e.g. the first AVI file in the player. Of course you could use a front panel instead of a remote (driving a key matrix with a PIC which is connected to the PCs serial port internally.) etc. etc. there are enough possibilities.

    For the start you'd want to use a second computer connected with a null modem cable as your "remote" and then later design the real remote or front panel. A hint, get a video card that can be run at exactly 720x480 pixels (if you live in an NTSC area, otherwise it's 720x576) and which will produce an not interpolated full screen picture through the TV out at this "native TV resolution". Then the software will interpolate only as far as it's needed.

    Forget about writing your own player software though. No chance to pull this off single-handedly within any sensible time frame.

    Merry Christmas and all the best,
    --
    Linards
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  22. tearex...

    thanks a LOT! i really do like the idea of the front panel. so if i were to have both a front panel AND remote, then it would be more believable that the PIC was being used for the heart of the system. also, thanks for the information about the video card resolution. i would've just forgotten about that while i was in the midst of building it. yea, i don't think i'll be writing any software any time soon to play the AVI. merry x-mas, likewise.
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  23. haha ... from what i read above, its like calling the xbox, not a true game console, but a really optimized pc ... all u need to do is modify some start up files on win95/98 os and make a little program .. mebbe this might be hard for you, but its very doable, and im sure you can find a ready made one out there somewhere, so when it boots up it doesnt launch the whole windows thing, only the environment and then launches your app

    this would make it into the xbox of divx players
    a great man once said ...
    (nothing)
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  24. tearex:...

    from the tv out software i've seen lately, its a complete waste of time to try and run it at tv native res because the card and software takes care of adjusting the picture for you.

    - n while i was taking a piss i realized - lol

    u dont need a network card? .. i have no idea why u need it for dev?

    AND .. to make windows do what u want ..

    -Firstly modify the start up pic so insted of windows it says "MY STANDALONE DIVX PLAYER!! ALL MINE DAMNIT!! .. " lol .. but this is a must otherwise it DOEs looks like a pc booting up (to ways to go about it, get a program that does it for you "search for windows start up logo" .. or do it yourself remove the file, replace it with yours (must be same res) )
    if you're still unsure ----> http://downloads-zdnet.com.com/3000-2105-4448592.html?tag=lst-0-9 click here

    -Second all you hafta do is get a FULL SCREEN divx player app, and the vid out card software, drag a lil shortcut into the startup directory and BHAM .. it starts up with the stuff u wanted, i hope .. (then you can say for troubleshooting i have this other *cough* windows interface heh but it's all good)

    and voila .. startup manager program ---> http://downloads-zdnet.com.com/3000-2086-9640687.html?tag=lst-0-20


    - thirdly if you're gonna build the pc, which i suggest , and isnt really hard at all, make sure all the cards mount as compact as possible .. now i'm not sure what this stuff is called .. i seem to have some, but its doesnt say anything on it ... its this great little adapters that plug into every slot pci, agp, n the really old grr forgot the name right now, but neways, the point is these adaptors carry a huge chunk of wires, like the one from the ide cable, and you can plug them into the slot and then the card ... this is useful because after you can move around the card because it is attached to the motherboard via wires so you can make it more compact and even use a vcr casing ..
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  25. Member
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    I have done projects of this magnitude for Cable TV convertors ( I was the RF engineer on numerous projects ). The 'real' way to do this is with an ultra thin PC. You can run Linux, and embed the working OS on a EPROM. That way you have no HD or Floppy, just the DVD/CDROM drive. Everyhting is available right now, all you have to do is put it together. The only 'tricky' part is the boot eprom. You can alpha/beta test with a HD, but once your done, it's EPROM city. Yo ned a user interface for the buttons, you can do this by scanning the buttons through the printer port(play, stop, pause, eject) and you won't even need an I/O card

    Up side is, witha dedicate Linux kernal, and a 1/2-way decent video card, you could get by with a PII/400 Mhz or so, and these puppies are cheap. Maybe even some old AMD's?
    To Be, Or, Not To Be, That, Is The Gazorgan Plan
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  26. Here's a few more (hopefully) helpful suggestions:

    You might check out using MPlayer (http://www.mplayerhq.hu/) for your player software. You can boot directly into it with a very minimal Linux system and as it supports direct framebuffer manipulation you wouldn't need any windowing system at all. This would certainly make the system boot fast. The most recent version supports nearly every codec out there, including Windows Media 9, Quicktime w/Sorenson 3, Real everything, and of course MPEG2/MPEG4 + variants (including DivX or XviD, my favorite, which is still very alive, thank you). I've heard of people making bootable CDs with enough to start their player, BTW, so consider this as an option, though a hard drive would work just as well.

    Also, read this article (http://www.hardcoreware.net/reviews/other/silent_pc/1.php) to learn how to build a silent PC, since you don't want the thing making much noise while you're listening to your movies or music. Take some of it with a grain of salt, though; you obviously don't need to overclock your components the way that the article describes, and by doing so, you could surely fit the setup into a smaller space. Just make sure to include lots of vents.

    Finally, you might want to use a MicroATX mobo and case, as this would make your system more DVD player sized. My brother-in-law is constructing a case out of PlexiGlas, which is about the the size of what it sounds like you want to make (although pre-built cases certainly do exist). Combine this with a remote and some front end software put onto MPlayer (it's open source) and you will do great! There's probably some good remote software out there for MPlayer already, really. Good luck! Let me know how it goes. I've always wanted to do something like this myself.
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  27. Originally Posted by pHi_Roe
    Hello

    maybe like that: http://us.shuttle.com/product_mini.asp

    good luck

    pHi
    The very first reply to your question was probably the best...get a Shuttle Mini PC. Geez.

    wway
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  28. but then it loses the clunkiness of a homemade divx player and gains the kind of store bought sexiness only a mini pc can offer
    a great man once said ...
    (nothing)
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  29. Just thought I'd chuck in my two cents...

    I'd build the systemn around a VIA ITX Motherboard - www.mini-itx.com
    The new revisions of these (933Mhz) have fans, albeit very quiet, and should perform similarly to a Pentium 3 600-700. The boards have the processor integrated along with graphics (with TV output and SP/DIF output to a AV Reciever). They also include a PCI riser card to allow you to add in a better graphics card if necessary.

    I'd also suggest some low profile DDR Ram (128MB should do). Maxtor and Seagate currently produce quiet, cool hard drives which are also slimmer than a standard hard disk. You could even use a laptop hard drive.

    Case wise... check out www.linitx.org. I've got the Cubid 2688R (http://linitx.com/shop/product_info.php?products_id=113) and have had no problems with it. You will need a slim-line CD/DVD Rom. The power supply is 150W and is external.

    I realise these links are UK based, but you should easily be able to find equivilants in the US.

    One further point; I would certainly NOT use USB to update firmware for a number of reasons.
    1) You will need to write some form of device driver if you plan to link it to another computer via USB
    2) If, like above, you intend to link it to another computer... it may be a pain to get a computer near the unit
    3) If you are not using another computer... a USB flash disk would do... but they too require drivers in pre-Windows 2000 OS's and can be costly.

    If it were me, i'd load firmware upgrades onto CDR's - they're cheap, disposable and do not require drivers to be used. Alternatively, you could use the built in network interface on the ITX boards.

    When I say firmware upgrade, I guess I really mean codec and program updates. I would suggest you use Windows 2000 rather than 95/98. Its alot more stable and far more suited to embedded systems I think. Perhaps the best way to do it would be to have a simple Visual Basic program with an embedded Windows Media 6.4 control. The Windows Media control handles all the playback etc and can be set to run in full screen and can be handled via keyboard commands. Building a program which would run on windows startup in full screen with a setup menu and Windows Media would not be too challenging.

    Perhaps a slightly more difficult aspect would be LCD display and remote control interface. I understand you want to use a PIC, so you *could* program a PIC to handle this, but I see little point in doing so.

    Matrix Orbital LCD's are widespread and commonly used. They connect via the parallel port and a variety of plugins are available along with source (so you could easily build your own plugin for your program, where the filename, action, position and soundtrack could be parsed to a seperate program or script outputting to the LCD).

    The remote control would be similarly difficult. Providing you can setup keyboard shortcuts for all the actions of your program, you could either buy a pre-built remote control which connects via the keyboards PS/2 port or built your own from a wireless keyboard. Building your own would not be that difficult, but does require time. The keypress and radio/infrared controllers in the keyboard are small and easily ported into a remote control. However, the PCB and sense layer in the keyboard are very large, so you would need to create your own. Radioshack/Tandy do all the bits you need for that.

    Hope this helps

    Sam
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  30. Member vhelp's Avatar
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    sorry, wrong post
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