Project: "Remora" -=[Toddlers, No!]=- 2/25/07

Small update. I finished the polycarbonate 120mm fan and cold cathode mount. So now all the internals are secured in the final configuration.

And it illuminates the side panel emblem really well.


Yay!

 

:cry: :cry: :cry:
I'm having one hellishly annoying time with the infrared input/output work. The transmitter isn't outputting anything (I can only tell by using my digital camera), and the receiver isn't sending any code information through the serial.

Today has just sucked completely. I'm probably going to have to return these (if I can) and get an older DirecTV receiver from eBay that includes the home control port. That way I can buy a serial control cable.

The downside of this is that Media Portal doesn't have serial control output so I wasted 4 days configuring it. I'm researching BeyondTV, SageTV, and GB-PVR at the moment because they all include built-in DirecTV serial control.
BeyondTV is bein fussy so far but I REALLY want it to work because the showsqueeze feature would be so useful.

I'm tired, ill, frustrated, and my patience is completely frayed. Software is my kryptonite and I HATE having to fiddle with it so much.

 

Ah! FINALLY something to report.
My new DirecTV receiver showed up yesterday and I've spent alot of time in the past 24 hours on a handful of annoying things.

1. After two attempts I managed to make the Serail DB9 to Low Speed Data interface cable. This directly connects my PC with the DirecTV receiver allowing me to change the channels with Hex Input codes via the program from http://www.dtvcontrol.com
Which I can interface with the PVR software I finally decided to use.
2. I tested BeyondTV, SageTV, and Media Portal and none of them offered 100% of the functionality I needed. SageTV was just lame, I couldn't get it working properly with direcTV interfacing or my capture card. BeyondTV was too dumbed-down and didn't offer enough configuration options that would allow me to get playback and recording to work smoothly. Media Portal was a real handful to setup, and while I love it to pieces, it does not yet have any serial control. Considering I could never get infrared to work I had to give up on it.
3. There are no tutorials on how to setup Serial DirecTV receiver control using GB-PVR so it took some time to get it working. This was probably the only hurdle I've had in setting up this program which is remarkable.

All I have left to do is get the remote buttons reprogrammed for GB-PVR and find some more AAA batteries for it. So far I can honestly say that the free PVR software that's available blows the payware out of the water. Media Portal is gorgeous and ideal for almost any setup. GB-PVR on the other hand is dead-simple, easy to install, and very versatile. It has alot less eye candy, but runs smoothly, opens quickly, and can run in the background while recording (something media portal isn't as good at).
Here's how the machine is setup at the moment.



All of the tweaks I have to do now are very minor software and networking adjustments. I should be able to watch whatever I record by streaming them over the wireless network to the computer in the basement.

 

Mesa like...Do you have that hooked up to a tv? If so hows the quality and what video card are you using....

 

It is hooked up to the TV and is displaying the GB-PVR menu. The quality is superb, especially the MPEG2 video. And the video output is the motherboard's Intel 845GE onboard video @ 800x600.

 

I've got a question...does the PVR guide just show cable/over the air listings or does it also show the directv listing? I've got a Sony SAT-B3 receiver with a serial port.

 

Yep

You download the program guide information through zap2it servers after setting up a free account and checking off which channels you actually have on your service plan. The PVR software then displays all the guide information you downloaded, including names, times, ratings, descriptions, channel icons, and sometimes pictures (all depends on the software you use).
GB-PVR does this more seemlessly than all of the other titles I've tried. BeyondTV has it's own .net importation service, but I was having performance issues with that program so I quit using it.

All of the ones I've seen can import guide data in atleast one way that is compatible with DirecTV.

And if you want to test your DirecTV receiver for serial interface functionality check here: http://www.dtvcontrol.com/
Your receiver uses a standard easily obtainable DE9F-to-DE9M cable.

 

Cool...now I've just got to find a 5.1 capable sat receiver with a data port. Nice project, btw.

 

Ah. Here's a compatability list to work from. Out of these I do know that the Sony Sat-A65 and RCA DRD-485RG have 5.1 but maybe you can find others.
http://www.dtvcontrol.com/page.aspx?content=compat

 

Wooohoooo!!!
GB-PVR is one tasty piece of software. Using the Web server feature I can schedule recordings from any other computer on the network. Once I get port-forwarding on my router working properly I will even be able to schedule recordings from any computer outside of my home network.
Also, at present the default recording codec is an MPEG-2 format that I can only playback in PowerDVD. This offers insanely good picture quality and allows me to stream video over the network to any other computer. I'm trying to figure out how to configure the compression plugin that should automatically recompress the video files with Xvid and that should make the file sizes smaller and the recompression for playback on PDAs a much faster process.

For now things are working smoothly. The channel changing is lightning fast and the menu system in GB-PVR is really fast.
Happy Happy, Joy Joy

 

nice

 

Well, this isn't really an update. More like an epilogue.
This machine got attacked by toddlers twice last year. The hardware inside survived thanks to the layout of the case and my ducting setup, but the case itself did not. The "eye" went missing, and no less than 9 toys were found stuffed into the front of the case. This machine was also prone to overheating, not because of anything I did, but because everyone else kept closing the TV cabinet and leaving it that way for days.
Last month I found a really good deal on an old favorite slim case of mine and moved the hardware over into it. This month I got a really good deal on an external water-cooling unit and set that up earlier this week. The machine is now setup far away from prying little hands.

And the external unit allows the cabinet to be closed without suffocating this machine.

Lessons learned.
+ Toddlers like shiny things with lights. They also enjoy "feeding" them toys.
+ If you don't want it messed with, keep it out of reach.
+ If you don't want it to suffocate, don't put it in anything that has doors that people can close.

 

i saw the first post at 2005 and kinda laughed at the bump. lol how hot did the cabinet get?

Is that a kingwin? (the cooler)

 

I must say its not nearly as attractive, but still equally cool. Well done on finding a good solution to your pint-sized problem.

 

The processor would get up to 62C. Temperatures I had not seen since the hardware was in an extremely small enclosure. The cabinet would start to smell like warm varnish after being closed for 4 days.

It's a Cooler Master Aquagate. It's pretty pathetic but it does the job better than the 2U heatsink it replaced and it was only $35 after rebate.

Just wanted to bump this to show that things don't always work out as intended. This machine has served me exceptionally well for over two years. But the original case, even though it was very sexy, was not easy to service. This new case is a huge improvement in that respect.

 

only 35? whered you get it from?

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835103006
Rebate expires after the 28th so you only have two days to decide. It might pop up elsewhere next though (it was available through www.svc.com for a week prior to being available through newegg).
It's definitely worth $35, but not any more than that since the radiator is 80mm and made out of aluminum. Not to mention it uses 1/4" ID tubing.

 

wow, captain, i just found something else you are doing. i have been following a thread on a nerf site for quite a while about a guy making a nerf mini-gun. (linky) i just went back today to check on the progress and just happened to look at the name; Captain Slug! i checked the aim address to make sure it was the same one, then i felt amazed i found something out i wasnt looking for on teh interweb. that looks like a VERY cool project.

anyway, back on topic, my mom owns a pre-school and i have found several toys in the vcr's we have, they just seem drawn to doors to small, dark, electronic spaces.

 

Yep, that's me. Will be tackling that project once I have other projects completed.

 

http://www.pocketdivxencoder.net/

I love that one... (almost) One click does it all...