ZapWizard's Media PC -Project on hold

Did you see the prices on that "OneBox"? $999 and $1149(I think, not sure about that second price). Plus they use a 1GHz VIA C3(eeew!!) and Seagate hard-drives(more eeew!!). Also, the OneBox has no where near the inputs and outputs as the Media PC.

ZapWizard wins!

L J

 

HAHAHAH fat chance dude, zap spent WAY more than that if im not mistaken

 

Zap, whats the prog you use to create your PCB traces? i've used Cadsofts, Eagle but wondering what you use!

I want to make a UFO mod (very simple really) but involves 15 10000 red leds.

Think of a rectangle and imagine 5 leds on three sides, the side without leds is the side the case window is located....

thinking of a pcb as big maybe... may do a hand-job (no pun intended)

hehe, your the mod gawd really!

 

sence Zap is not in the lab today i will just give you a link
http://www.expresspcb.com/

 

thanks!

 

Does Express PCB allow you to print board layouts?

The few times I tried it out, it prints with the snap grid and a grey background.

Probably to prevent you printing your own board templates. Engineering Express, who own Express PCB, distribute the software for free because they can then make money by producing boards based on the proprietary file format.

 

You would have to ask zap how he prints out the layouts since you do have to reverse the image and I do remember seeing him spend time to clean up the print of those dots.
And yes they do make a LOT of money from making the boards for you.

 

True, Zap spent more, *but* it cost them next to nothing to make those - there are places where you can pick-up 12 21" monitors for $100, granted they are not all guaranteed working, but the average price for a single 21" is a lot higher than $100.

L J

 

erm zap is gonna kill us all for getting off topic

but

how did you get monitors in to this
we were talking about t3h "OneBox"

 

lol, ph34r his l337 wr4th

 

Well I don't see him posting anything on-topic to this thread for weeks <ducks>

 

Your right zap will be mad about us going off topic, but is in discussion of a "OneBox" VS. "The Media PC"

I brought up the monitors because $100 for 12 21" monitors is like, amazingly cheap, even if only one of them works, $100 is still cheap for a 21" monitor. You can buy parts at amazingly low prices if your a reseller - which is basically what the people making the OneBox are doing.

L J

 

Hey Zap, You mentioned vinal-dying the ide cable for hideability.. You might wanna try round IDE Cables for that

-Pliskin

P.S. YOU ARE A GOD

EDIT: omfg, i know what a dremel is
<<<<

 

I am using flat cables as I want to make them hidden as much as possible. So folding and flat is good. Dying them makes them even less visible.
Where as a rounded cable would look like a 1/2" tube in the case.

But right now this project is on hold until I can get some better tools and money.
There are also some parts I am re-thinking so that I can use the box to control a digital cable box or satilite box.

The biggest reason I am not working on this project right now is that I have a digital cable box with TIVO and love it right now.
If I finish the media PC as-is I can't use it on all my digital channels, as it has analog TV tuners in it.
So some of the guts are getting re-worked, and the entire project my be converted into a home theatre PC, that doesn't handle TV as much as originaly planned, but instead handles more of the music, and server capabilities.

 

boooo!!

Get digital tuners!

Don't drop the TV... It's one of the main reasons I'm following!

 

Keep the tunners in

Sorry about the one box post. I didn’t mean to stir things up, just wanted to show a comparison from your project to one that’s on the market today. Besides all of us here on Bit-Tech are here for modding, so coast is not always an issue for having a custom rig.

Anyway you said you like your digital cable and I know of a web site that sells bullet proof boxes, un-addressable also. (topsecretcable.com) Could you strip a digital box and mount it some wear and move the IR receiver to the front and use a program form PLAM on a palm pilot to use it as universal remote. Also I don’t know if you know this but the Sound blaster audigy with the live drive with remote, is programmable in the OS for other programs.
Keep up the great work!

 

The worst part of modding, running out of money Is it even possible with the space constraints to work it out to control digital cable? Probably a dumb question Making it all-in-one is a definate requirement, no?

 

Do you want the box to control tha satelite/cable box or are you looking to have the box take the in a digital video stream from the box? Control shouldn't be an issue with a homebrew IR transmitter, but the digital data stream might be. I understand that they all use some form of MPEG data streams after the encryption has been stgripped, but as far as I know, there is know way to get at it inside the box.

 

Yes, I will just have the PC change the channel on the box when it needs to.
That is easy to do.

I know a few people have been able to get digital signals onto their PC's by using digital converter cards.
But they are expensive
(Often the same type of cards Cable and Satilite Companies use)

 

you can get very small satalite and cable reciever boxes, given this you could gut one and intergrate the circuit into your media pc, the output could then be fed through into a tv card. to change the channel i'm sure you could rig up a ir repeater to pass on certain signals to the decoder box. you'd only really need channel up and down. for setup whopping out the 'real' remote wouldn't be a problem...