The Saga Of Buiding A Home Theater PC
If you've never been to this site before, try starting at the bottom
Twinhan VisionPlus Remote Is OK |
19th July 2004 - 11:42am |
|
I've found out how to get the remote fully working!
You need to install 'MythWeb'. Once you get it working, you can set up which keypresses do what. You also get the ability to schedule recordings over the web, but that's just a minor side-effect (ahem). The button mappings can be seen here. The only thing that's not obvious is the Volume+ and Volume- buttons: you need to use 'Shift+Up' for 'Volume+' and 'Shift+Down' for 'Volume-'. Set it up however you feel. Note: The 'power' button sends 'Alt-F4'. If you press it, X windows will jump to a text console window. Get it back by typing 'Alt-F7'. |
The Twinhan VisionPlus Remote |
17th July 2004 - 04:37am |
|
I've discovered a problem with the remote that comes with the TwinHan VisionPlus DVB-T. The USB receiver pretends to be a mouse and keyboard interface. Pressing buttons on the remote emulates pressing buttons on a keyboard.
That's great until you find that it's hard to map some of the keypresses to something that Myth can use. i.e. The up arrow key sends '[shift][cursor up]'. I've bought a $20 PC-remote on eBay with a serial interface which I can hopefully use with LIRC. |
Tried The On-board Sound Again |
17th July 2004 - 04:31am |
|
I tried to get the integrated sound working with Myth last night.
My conclusion is that the 'snd-atiixp' module doesn't work well with MythTV, causing skips in the video playback. This may be fixed in Myth 0.16 - I've seen quite a few ALSA-related discussions and patches on the developers' mailing list. I'll post a note about it when it is released. |
Things To Come |
13th July 2004 - 01:00pm |
|
I've not quite finished...
Once I've got the system completely settled, I'll post configuration files and suchlike. I have had some problems with the video playback which was solved by getting a separate PCI sound card. I may be able to get the 9100 IGP's sound working properly, but I've got more to do (such as getting the remote control working), so it's a low priority for now. One interesting note is that if you break apart the remote control receiver that comes with the Twinhan, the IR receiver happens to fit snugly inside the Simple 101 case that I bought where the blue LED would have been (some minor plastic mangling required here). It works very well - closeup photos to come after the tweaks. |
Another Useful Resource |
13th July 2004 - 12:55pm |
|
I just stumbled across this page:
http://pvrhw.goldfish.org/bttv/bttv-gallery.html It has photos of just about every capture card imaginable. It's a *huge* page to download, but it's stuffed full of Linux video capture hardware info. |
Success |
24th June 2004 - 11:57am |
|
At last!
After 2 failed attempts at getting a cheap AGP video card, I plumped down some cash for a new nVidia GeForce4MX card and got TV out working. About 15 minutes after that, I was recording shows. I've got some tweaking to do, but before I can do that, I've got to pry the controls away from the missus. |
No On-Board TV-Out |
9th June 2004 - 12:36am |
|
I hacked away for a while, got GATOS to recognise my chip (not hard to do), but it failed when trying to find screens.
I want to get past the TV-out problem and get the unit operational ASAP, so as a temporary measure, I've bought a $20 video card with TV-out from eBay (no hardware MPEG-2 acceleration). I'll keep looking at the ATI linux drivers page waiting for an update to v3.9.0 and I'll keep up my ineffectual tweaking of the GATOS code. Oh, and the 9100 is actually an 8500 in disguise, not a 9200! |
Progress Report |
6th June 2004 - 09:05am |
|
TV out for the 9100IGP doesn't seem to be supported by ATI, XFree, GATOS or the 'atitvout' command.
I've got 2 things to try before I admit failure of one of my key requirements (keep it cheap) and then nip out and buy a standalone video card.
|
Progress Report |
3rd June 2004 - 11:31am |
|
I've had a marathon Gentoo session this week, compiling my way from stage 1 to stage 3 and beyond.
I cracked the two Gentoo installation problems that you will get with a 2.6 kernel: I've also got all the hardware working: sound, video, network, USB, IR, DVB. You will then find that Gentoo doesn't have a package for the whole MythTV suite. No problem - it's being built from source anyway, so grab each package from the MythTV download page and compile. I got lucky, grabbing 0.15.1 a few hours after it was relased. For each package, I modified the myth(xxx).pro and the settings.pro files to my requirements. If you're going to do this, make sure you read the 'README' file in each package. They tell you what extra packages you need ot get the most out of them. I didn't have any trouble finding Gentoo packages for any of them. I'm now at the stage where I have two things to do:
|
And 0.15.1 Shortly Thereafter |
3rd June 2004 - 11:16am |
|
A few bug fixes... |
MythTV 0.15 Released |
27th May 2004 - 10:09am |
|
I've just seen that MythTV 0.15 has been released. If I hadn't had to go through all the stuff below, I'd have had to upgrade.
Pretty lame silver lining, huh? Well, I was seriously considering building a beta of 0.15 from CVS to get better DVB support. I won't have to do that now. Thanks Isaac! |
Linux Support For AverMedia A771 |
27th May 2004 - 10:04am |
|
It's not currently supported, but I've seen some discussions at linuxtv.org that show some progess being made.
I can't identify the tuner 100% accuately, but it looks to be this one. |
AverMedia Photo Confirmation |
25th May 2004 - 11:14am |
There are two very different AverMedia DVB-T designs.
|
More On The AverMediaDVB-T |
23rd May 2004 - 12:09pm |
|
I've got a friend at work who bought one of these and says it's working beautifully for him. His brother bought one and wasn't so lucky.
There seems to be an old hardware revision of the board and a new one. I'll try to get some photos of the new revision to compare with the one the I had (I took photos of it) to see if that's true. |
Notes To Myself |
23rd May 2004 - 12:06pm |
I use this page as a reference too, you know...
|
Getting Out Of Hell |
23rd May 2004 - 11:19am |
|
I've managed to solve the dependancy problems that I was having with Mandrake and Fedora Core 1.
Firstly, with Fedora Core 1, the databases were apparently messed up for a while. They are supposedly fixed now. With Mandrake 10, I had to visit Easy Urpmi which gives you the commands you need to add more software packages to the list that it knows about. |
Links For DVB In Sydney (And Other Parts Of Australia) |
23rd May 2004 - 11:12am |
Here's a bunch of links about digital broadcasting in Australia.
|
Problems With The Chosen Motherboard And Linux |
23rd May 2004 - 10:52am |
|
I've had the following successes/problems with getting the on-board features of the Sapphire 9100 IGP Motherboard:
All distributions - USB, TV out and networking have never been a problem. The main problem areas are sound and video. Gentoo - Video was OK once I found out that XFree doesn't always like having a graphical bootsplash. 'glxgears' was about 230fps, but it would alternate between running amoothly and stuttering. Gentoo - I didn't try the sound. RedHat (Fedora Core 1) - Video has occasional glitches when the CPU is busy (most likely due to the video RAM being shared with the system RAM and not coping at full bandwidth. RedHat (Fedora Core 1) - Sound worked after getting the 'alsa-drivers' package, but it was choppy. Mandrake 10 - Video is the most stable of any distribution I've tried. 'glxgears' gets a smooth display at about 230fps. Not stellar, but it's not supposed to be a 3D system. Mandrake 10 - Sound - had problems with ALSA. The drivers load, but it won't find the soundcard. I'm working on this... Please bear in mind that I didn't spend hours trying to dig up solutions to these probems - I'm a tech-head, but I'm not a masochist. If I could find something that got all the hardware working out of the box, I'd be amazed (and very, very happy). |
Dependancy Hell |
19th May 2004 - 06:39am |
|
This is a simple concept - you want package A. Package A wants package B. Package B wants package C. etc.
I've found that package 'Z' could not be found ('Z' being 'directfb'). Now I've got nowhere to go. I got this problem with Gentoo (with a broken package that failed to compile). I got this problem with Mandrake. I got this problem with Fedora. I've had enough... I'm taking a break. |
Unlucky Again |
19th May 2004 - 06:33am |
|
Previously, I downloaded Gentoo 2004.0. A few days later 2004.1 appeared.
Bugger. I downloaded Fedora Core 1. Now Fedora Core 2 has appeared. I'm close to my bandwidth limit, so I won't be downloading any more CDs this month. Am I just unlucky or what? |
Audio With The Sapphire 9100 Motherboard |
19th May 2004 - 03:04am |
|
No distributions have found the AC'97 chip yet.
Here's a link to the driver download page. It was updated very recently, so it should be OK. More on this when I get it going. |
Gentoo Fails Me |
17th May 2004 - 05:02am |
|
I'm on my 3rd install attempt. I've got XFree working and sound compiled with the drivers from Realtek.
I hit a snag with the 'libdvd' library, got around it with an answer from the Gentoo forums. i have hit another snag now and I can't find anything in the Gentoo forums to help. Looks like I'm going to download Fedora tonight... |
Bought A Capture Card |
14th May 2004 - 12:16pm |
|
Woohoo!
The last piece has been bought. I chose the VisionPlus VisionDTV HDTV card. I installed Windows 2000 to test the system's hardware out (as DVB is still new under Linux). It does not run hot and it works a treat, giving fantastic picture quality. It's not got much in the way of software (grab the updates from TwinHan's site). There appears to be an SDK there too, so if Linux doesn't support it, I can write something of my own. It's time to see how good the Linux support is... |
What Do You Mean Quiet??? |
14th May 2004 - 03:52am |
|
It's funny - you walk into a shop and ask for a quiet P4 fan and get a blank look.
I've had one guy try to convince me that loud is OK. There is a culture of noise acceptance which has to change. There is a market for silence and with HTPCs coming of age, that market is going to be the next boom area for PC components that meet three basic requirements. Must be small. Must be low power. Must be quiet. Thankyouverymuch. |
Progressing Through Distributions... |
10th May 2004 - 01:36pm |
|
I have tried Stage 1 Gentoo twice and failed to get X working. It's a bugger because I understand Gentoo's approach and I really like it.
I've got the Atomic 'AtomicTV' Live CD which starts MythTV, but doesn't include the scripts required to install itself onto a hard drive and doesn't come with a text editor to edit your config files if you try (grrr). I've downloaded KnoppMyth, but the install fails when is has copied about 75% of the files across. The Caps Lock and Scroll Lock LEDs flash and that's about it. Someone on the KnoppMyth forum mentioned that it could have been a dud CD burn. I'll burn another disc and try again. I've downloaded Mandrake 10 - an old favourite, but I tried getting the RPMs from Thac's site and I just hit the 'dependancy hell' that you hear people talking about. Couldn't install a damn thing! Mandrake's best features are that it shows you that your hardware does actually work under Linux. I got XFree and Samba working. I've never had Samba working before, so I was quite pleased with that. The Hardware report shows me that I have found that my Gentoo XFree problem happens under Mandrake too and I now know what it is. If I use the framebuffer to show a pretty bootsplash screen, it won't start X. If I have a plain text boot screen, X works. I may try Gentoo a 3rd time with just a plain intro - I don't plan to switch the box off anyway. It's a shame - the perfect box would have a text-free startup. I've got Xandros from a magazine cover disc. I'll give it a go before downloading any more distributions to try.. I've not tried Fedora yet - I was leaving that one until I had exhausted my current batch of distributions. |
Installing Gentoo |
5th May 2004 - 05:05am |
The blog's been quiet because of this - I've been at it for a few days now (working through a Stage 1 system). I had X working once, but I fiddled with the kernel and never got it back.
rm -fR / (in a fit of frustration)
I'm in the 2nd install attempt and about to get X going again. I'm sort of following this this guide, but the onboard video is through the PCI interface... I'm trying to get the GATOS project installed, too. |
Nearly Got Everything |
5th May 2004 - 04:50am |
I've bought everything except for the capture card. Here's the list:
P.S. This may look like an ad for CWorld, but I have got no connections with them - they are just cheap and conveniently located for me. |
Checking Noise From The Fans |
19th April 2004 - 05:25am |
|
Noting the noise from the case, power supply and processor fans.
I plugged each one in individually and noted the noise from each one. The case fans (x2) made no noise that I could hear in a quiet room. Same for the PSU (AU$35! from CWorld). The stock Intel fan made enough noise to be clearly heard even when the case was closed up. I'll have to replace it. |
A Note On The MPG600 |
19th April 2004 - 05:21am |
|
I found a page that says that the Yuan EZ DVD / MPG600/GR has similar hardware to a Hauppauge PVR-250 - details here.
This card is an option if I want to go analog. |
Bought A Motherboard |
19th April 2004 - 05:17am |
|
I found the Sapphire Axion 9100 motherboard (mentioned below) for AU$75! I know I'm not going to get a VIA for anything like this price, so I nipped out and got it (from CWorld).
It seems to have Linux support through GATOS. I managed to pick up a 1.8GHz P4 processor for AU$125, at the same time, so I've got my VIA equivalent with what should be good Linux support (TBD) and it's over AU$100 cheaper than the VIA processor and motherboard solution. |
Found A Case |
15th April 2004 - 11:36am |
|
Woohoo!
This has been one of the hardest things to find - a case that suits my taste and requirements (nearly). It's the CWorld Simple 101 (Black) Slimline Micro ATX No PSU, made by Simple in Korea. There's two Simple cases (the 101 and 103) available at CWorld and each is available in black, silver or white. There aren't many photos at the CWorld site, so I've taken a few of my own: In the tradition of bad news before good, I'll begin: The bad:
The good:
There may be more on this once I've tried installing a motherboard. |
Tested An Avermedia DVB-T |
15th April 2004 - 10:24am |
|
It sucked: sucked power, sucked drivers, sucked software.
When I could get it working (for no more than 2 minutes at a time), the display would glitch. After 15sec-2 minutes, the PC (Win2K) would blue-screen and that would be the end of it. It is a huge power drain on the system with a big, fat power resistor (see picture here - R25, bottom left). The resistor got quite hot and the air coming out of the PSU was noticeably hotter, too. I am guessing that the glitching and blue-screens were a result of my system not having enough power, but I've got a big PSU and not much in the box I tested it in. Time to find another card... |
Via Nehemiah Is Back In |
9th April 2004 - 12:28pm |
|
I've found an article here (mirror) which says that the CLE266 MPEG decoder is supported under Gentoo and gives great detail about how to get it working.
The EPIA M10000 is back in consideration. |
Article On Hard Drive Noise |
30th March 2004 - 01:31pm |
|
I stumbled across a good article about hard drive noise here, written by Seagate.
It's interesting to see that Seagate have lower noise levels than other manufacurers too. |
A Note About Import Duty |
22nd March 2004 - 11:50pm |
|
This is a link to the Australian customs service page which describes the import duties.
At the time of writing, a customs import entry must be lodged for goods above the following values:
|
Found A Nice Motherboard |
22nd March 2004 - 12:01pm |
|
I've been hunting for motherboard with integrated TV-out. There's not many of them out there apart from the EPIAs from VIA.
I found that ATI 9100 IGP chipset-based boards have TV-out and hardware MPEG-2 decoding, however I've only found one board that includes the necessary bracket to use it (note to ASUS and Gigabyte - if you're going to say 'Supports TV-out by using an add-on card', make sure that we can find the card in the shops!). The board I'll concentrate on is the Sapphire Axion 9100. It comes with a TV-out bracket and (quite handy for a small PC) is a micro-ATX format board. Also, it uses a socket 478 processor, so I can use the quiet CPU of choice (see below). It's also quite inexpensive - spotted for $89 US. |
Which CPU Then |
22nd March 2004 - 11:35am |
|
Good question. I'll be using this article at SilentPCReview to choose one CPU, based on processing power and coolability.
The Intel P4(A) Northwood (1.6-2.0 GHz) (socket 478) is easily the best in the list. Keeping an eye on eBay for this. |
Shall I Go Via? |
22nd March 2004 - 11:10am |
|
This is a tough one.
These tiny motherboards are perfect for a HTPC. Depending on the model, you can find these built-in:
So what's the hitch? Well, it appears that linux support for these fantastic features is very limited. I'll be targeting Gentoo and there are threads here and here that discuss the issues. The drivers seem to be most of the way there, but I'd like something that I can fix if it is buggy. Looks like I'll have to skip the optimum solution and go for somthing else. |
Other Options |
22nd March 2004 - 10:43am |
|
Before I get stuck too deeply into MythTV, I'd better show off some of the competition. This is a list of software that I've come across, so it's not a complete list by any means.
Windows:
|
Capture Options (part 1) |
17th March 2004 - 11:04am |
|
Can't record TV without a capture card.
For analog recordings, an onboard MPEG-2 encoder is a must. The CPU won't have enough grunt to do the job without dropping frames. Choices are:
Recently, low-cost digital TV cards have emerged. These will allow the program to be saved in the original broadcast MPEG-2 format.
Digital seems to be the way to go unless you want to convert analog camcorder tapes. |
A Selection Of Links |
17th March 2004 - 10:40am |
Nothing like linking your most common sources, now, is there?
|
Holy Pancakes, Batman |
17th March 2004 - 10:04am |
|
Would you believe that the day after I start this little log, I buy the latest copy of Atomic and find it packed with articles about Multimedia PCs!
Not just that - the front cover CD is a customised version of Knoppix with MythTV built in. I've just spent the past hour playing with it and I'm redoubling my efforts to make this project happen. It's a stunning bit of software that is everything I expected and more. I'll wade through the articles over the next day or so. There's some products and pointers that I've got to check out. |
The Requirements |
16th March 2004 - 11:26am |
|
I've distilled my requirements down to something pretty clear. This is what I'm chasing.
Features:
The Box:
Cost:
|
Introduction |
16th March 2004 - 11:15am |
|
This little project of mine was sparked off when I stumbled across MythTV.
I live in Australia and (like many other Aussies) I occasionally watch TV. I like to watch what is broadcast, but it never seems to be on at a time that suits me, so I either tape it or I miss it. Taping shows usually works, but the three main commercial channels have this habit of running shows over time, pushing the shows I want to watch off their slots and causing me to miss the end of the shows that I've taped. Sometimes, they just yank a show without warning because they realise that it would rate better at a later time. I won't go into detail about the saturation advertising that makes watching movies unbearable. They also like to 'hide' shows that I like at odd times of the day or night so that I miss them altogether. This is where MythTV comes in. It's an open-sourced front-end for a time-shifting home theater PC. It does a huge amount of stuff - take a look at the features. Who wouldn't want something like that? I'm no stranger to PC building or to Linux, so I've started looking into building a system that would do the job. I've decided to turn this into a journal of my investigations because I'm sure I'm not the only person looking for this solution. If I keep my notes online, then others out there may benefit from the time I've taken in my hunt. |
Site design ©Iain Waugh, 2001-2009.
This page was last modified on the 23rd 2004f May, 2004
It has been visited 16128 times
Mail enquiries to: iain_pub at swiftdsl.com.au
