Home made DreamBox PVR

[FordPrefect]

Dreambox Reality I PVR

Hardware:
LIAN LI PC-V880B Black Aluminum ATX Desktop Computer Case
PC Power & Cooling SILENCER® 360 ATX
TYAN S2507T, TIGER 230T, 694T, DUAL SOCKET 370, 5PCI, AGP4X, 4 DIMM
Intel Pentium P3 1.40 GHz 133 MHz 512 KB 370
19dB Nexus AXP-3200 Quiet CPU Fan for Socket 370
1GB of SDRAM
ASUS N6200/TD 256MB VIDEO CARD
Logitech® Cordless Desktop® EX 110

To save some money I decided to use ATA-100 vs. SCSI Ultra320…two 73GB SCSI drives $500, instead I decided to pick up two HITACHI SATA hard drives at a cost of $150, yes SCSI drives are twice as fast…but SATA drives are almost three times as big, more storage. There are no PVR receivers out on the market that come with 500GB 2 drives installed or setup as raid 1, yet. I will continue to modify this list of parts until I find an optimal performance level at a reasonable cost.

Promise FastTrak S150 TX2 Plus Serial ATA Raid Controller
HITACHI Deskstar T7K250 HDT722525DLA380 (0A31636) 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

SAMSUNG 18X DVD±R DVD Burner with 12X DVD-RAM Write Black E-IDE/ATAPI Model SH-S182D

TechniSat DVB PCI Card The SkyStar 2

Software:
Microsoft Windows XP Pro
VMware Workstation 5.5
Fedora Linux Core 6

Step 1: Putting all the Hardware together

Install PC Power Cooling Power supply in the LIAN LI PC-V880B case is straight forward. Next install Tyan motherboard into the case, once again straight forward (I have done it a few times so don’t wary, it really is that easy). Next install CPU’s and CPU cooling fans, and memory (SDRAM). At this point install hard drives and DVD R/RW connect all power connections. Now we can start to installation of graphics card, then DVB card, and decent sound card, that all folks…unless I decide to add some other piece of hardware feature for future use…I will provide pictures for each one of these steps.


Step 2: Installing all the software

I will first install Microsoft Windows XP Pro as host operating system, and then WMware Workstation 5.5 and finally Fedora Linux Core 6. WMware runs multiple operating systems simultaneously on a single PC. Users can run Windows, Linux, NetWare, or Solaris x86 in fully networked, portable virtual machines - no rebooting or hard drive partitioning required. Note that before I install Linux I have to decide which of the two options to use…I will come back to this latter when I am actually installing. Not much needs to be added here since the software and the idea speaks for itself, just let your imagination take you where you want to be.

There are some options that I would like to see my Dreambox Reality I PVR machine project. Instant backup of the whole disk that contains all the operating systems and various software packages (2 disk RAID 1 can be an option, Adaptec - Adaptec ATA RAID 1200A or Promise - FastTrak S150 TX2)…for the PVR option a second disk (storing/recording) and one or two DVD burners will be used for burning of the stored movies, programs, etc....

If you have picture in picture on your TV you should be able to record programs in one window using Linux and surf the internet in the other using XP…and the Dreambox Reality I PVR with cordless keyboard and mouse combo from Logitech…That is a start…more details to follow…Now I have to save some money for the expensive parts…

 

[VinceT3]

Let me know how that goes, I'm really considering this option myself.

 

[FordPrefect]

Let me know how that goes, I'm really considering this option myself.

I will VinceT3...

Here is what DM8000S looks like and the option available on it...very expensive.

Here is the cost for my project...

$139.00 - LIAN LI PC-V880B Black Aluminum ATX Desktop Computer Case
$45.00 - PC Power & Cooling SILENCER® 360 ATX
$134.00 - TYAN S2507T, TIGER 230T, 694T, DUAL SOCKET 370, 5PCI, AGP4X, 4 DIMM
$29.00 - Intel Pentium P3 1.40 GHz 133 MHz 512 KB 370
$24.95 (2x) - 19dB Nexus AXP-3200 Quiet CPU Fan for Socket 370
$92.99 (2x) - SDRAM, PC133CT64M64S4D7E
$66.86 - ASUS N6200/TD 256MB VIDEO CARD
$29.96 - Logitech® Cordless Desktop® EX 110
$69.95 - Promise FastTrak S150 TX2 Plus Serial ATA Raid Controller
$74.99 (2x) - HITACHI Deskstar T7K250 HDT722525DLA380 (0A31636) 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
$28.99 (2x) - SAMSUNG 18X DVD±R DVD Burner with 12X DVD-RAM Write Black E-IDE/ATAPI Model SH-S182D
$99.00 - TechniSat DVB PCI Card The SkyStar 2

$79.99 - Microsoft Windows XP Pro
$149 (with $50 rebate) - VMware Workstation 5.5
$FREE - Fedora Linux Core 6

 

[FordPrefect]

I need help/input with these options; I need someone that can explain in simple language which parts (LNB’s) are the best for receiving C and Ku bands. Dish (1m, 1.5m,2.5m,3m?) and motor (sg2100) for the Dreambox project.

 

[FordPrefect]

Common guys (PSB, Iceberg, and others) I need the input so that I can order the parts and start working on my project...please.

 

[PSB]

Really for C-band you need at least a 6' dish, you will get a lot of stronger channels with a 1.2m but you will always want a bigger dish!

The new (10750) BSC621-2 LNBF will do C-Band and Ku Band, thats what I am using.

The Moteck SG2100 will motor a dish upto 1.2m only, anything bigger you will need an actuator.

Have a look at www.skyvision.com for more ideas!

 

[FordPrefect]

Thank you PSB.

 

[dfergie]

Heck, just check out the C-band FAQ's here...

 

[FordPrefect]

Heck, just check out the C-band FAQ's here...

Thank you dfergie, I join a yahoo group and will see if anyone has a 6' dish they would like to get rid of, I think if I get into FTA I might as well go big and accurate...I would like to watch more then tinker with my equipment...

 

[FordPrefect]

Hardware and Software Cost:
$139.00 - LIAN LI PC-V880B Black Aluminum ATX Desktop Computer Case
$45.00 - PC Power & Cooling SILENCER® 360 ATX
$134.00 - TYAN S2507T, TIGER 230T, 694T, DUAL SOCKET 370, 5PCI, AGP4X, 4 DIMM
$29.00 - Intel Pentium P3 1.40 GHz 133 MHz 512 KB 370
$24.95 (2x) - 19dB Nexus AXP-3200 Quiet CPU Fan for Socket 370
$92.99 (2x) - SDRAM, PC133CT64M64S4D7E
$66.86 - ASUS N6200/TD 256MB VIDEO CARD
$29.96 - Logitech® Cordless Desktop® EX 110
$69.95 - Promise FastTrak S150 TX2 Plus Serial ATA Raid Controller
$74.99 (2x) - HITACHI Deskstar T7K250 HDT722525DLA380 (0A31636) 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
$28.99 (2x) - SAMSUNG 18X DVD±R DVD Burner with 12X DVD-RAM Write Black E-IDE/ATAPI Model SH-S182D
$99.00 - TechniSat DVB PCI Card The SkyStar 2

$79.99 - Microsoft Windows XP Pro
$149 (with $50 rebate) - VMware Workstation 5.5
$FREE - Fedora Linux Core 6

Resources/Suppliers web links:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811112096&ATT=11-112-096&CMP=OTC-pr1c3watch
http://www.pcpower.com/specials/
http://www.cmishop.com/store/ShowDe...MfgPartNo=&nCategorySubID=125&txtSiteTrack=FG
http://www.memorytek.com/product_info.php?cPath=41_43&products_id=55
http://www.crucial.com/store/listparts.aspx?model=S2507T+Tiger+230T
http://www.techexcess.net/promise-fasttrak-s150-tx2plus-ata-controller-with-2-serial-ata-ports.aspx
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827151133&ATT=27-151-133&CMP=OTC-d3alt1me
http://www.videocardgalaxy.com/showroom/972.cfm
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822145087
http://www.mwave.com/mwave/Skusearch.hmx?scriteria=3816562
http://www.dvbmaster.com/shop_international.html

http://www.softwareoutlet.com/cat/MICS-010
http://www.vmware.com/
http://forums.fedoraforum.org/showthread.php?t=3081

Other links related to DVB/TV/Satellite:
http://www.linuxtv.org/
http://www.mythtv.org/

http://www.linuxtv.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

On the page above you will find many facts about DVB and other interesting information regarding Linux and DVB, here is an example of what you can find there…

Tutorials, Howtos, Usage Info & Guides
Software and Usage
Hardware solutions
Technical Background
Supported Hardware
Periphery for linuxtv-computers
Developer Section
Card modding
DVB Links

http://www.linuxtv.org/wiki/index.php/Commented_software_list

From the link above very nice page with...lots of information...

Here, we aim to provide useful information about software related to DVB (and maybe TV with Linux in general).

In order to be most useful for the reader, this page is diveded into three sections:
software useful for DVB cards (full featured cards and budget cards as for most of the software this doesn't make a difference)
software useful for analog TV cards (hey, shouldn't that sort of stuff rather be in the video4linux wiki?).

Fedora Myth(TV)ology
http://wilsonet.com/mythtv/

 

[FordPrefect]

*Here is something some of you might already know if not here it is…If you want to know what is playing in zip code area this is how to do it…

http://tvlistings5.zap2it.com/tvlis...o;jsessionid=063B8F82A137FBA59E744DB50502E4E7

Well it apears that I will have "Blind Scan" on my DreamBox Reality I PVR...

This is off topic but important enough to mention since I found it while doing some reading/learning about MythTV. Sorry guys but I posted it so that I will not forget where I found it, since it appears from reading on this forum that blind scan is one of the most useful features of most good FTA receivers…This will get re-edited in the near future and revisited in detail…

The next version of MythTV (0.19) should have a "Blind" scan, and it should just find the channels for you.

2006-09-22, v0.20.03

http://mythtv.org/docs/mythtv-HOWTO.html#toc2

 

[timmy1376]

There are programs as you know for blind scan but almost all are for the card you are getting. Makes me wish I had one of those....

 

[FordPrefect]

There are programs as you know for blind scan but almost all are for the card you are getting. Makes me wish I had one of those....

From what I read “blind scan” is available via MythTV to all the cards that are compatible with Linux…the “blind scan” is not hardware specific from what I understand, I might be wrong.

I got the card, about a week ago but now I am looking for a used 6' dish...then I can start to put all this together...as main parts start to come from suppliers…

 

[timmy1376]

Will MythTV work with Ubuntu? I also wonder if the DVB World box works with linux?

 

[FordPrefect]

Will MythTV work with Ubuntu?

Yes I suspect that MythTV works with ubuntu Linux…need to go and read at their site…

http://www.ubuntu.com/

I also wonder if the DVB World box works with linux?

DVB World Box USB should work with MythTV...if I run into information on DVB World Box I will post it...

 

[FordPrefect]

If any one is interested here are the instruction on how to build your own DVB FTA receiver box utilizing old PC hardware and a decent graphics card with TV/OUT for connecting to HDTV or other…of course these instructions are for Linux, and applies to almost all flavors of Linux. I will modify these steps quite a bit for my project, since I have certain needs/requirements that I listed before.

Step-by-step guide to building a MythTV System on Fedora Core 6 w/ATrpms

Compiled by Jarod C. Wilson <jarod@wilsonet.com>
Made possible by information gathered from all over the Internet (Google is your friend)...
$Revision: 119 $
$Date: 2006-11-11 22:01:12 -0500 (Sat, 11 Nov 2006) $

http://wilsonet.com/mythtv/fcmyth.php

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HDTV

In the context of HDTV, the formats of the broadcasts are referred to using a notation describing:
The number of lines in the vertical display resolution.
Whether progressive frames (p) or interlaced fields (i) are used.
The number of frames or fields per second.

For example, the format 720p60 is 1280 × 720 pixels, progressive encoding with 60 frames per second (60 hertz known as Hz). The format 1080i50 is 1920 × 1080 pixels, interlaced encoding with 50 fields (25 frames) per second. Often the frame or field rate is left out, indicating only the resolution and type of the frames or fields. Sometimes the rate is then to be inferred from the context, in which case it can usually be assumed to be either 50 or 60, except for 1080p which is often used to denote either 1080p24, 1080p25 or 1080p30 at present but will also denote 1080p50 and 1080p60 in the future.

As we can see that for a HDTV format of 1080i a 1920x1080 pixels graphics card is required…so a graphics card that has resolution of 2048x1536, via S-Video cable should provide a great picture, someone that knows something more about these formats is welcome to comment…

I was looking for this card for the above 1080i format support via s-video cable…I rather have a 256MB card with exact same features…work in progress…

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814133010&ATT=14-133-010&CMP=OTC-d3alt1me

 

[FordPrefect]

I got an idea from someone on another web site he uses multi DVB cards in his MythTV setup, since Linux allows multi cards to work on the same PCI bus; one could just as easily add 2nd graphics card as well…for what ever reason you may have…I could add one more TechniSat DVB PCI Card The SkyStar 2 or Hauppauge WinTV Nexus-s Rev.2.2 and make by Dreambox Reality I PVR a multi-tuner box, so I could do multi-channel recordings or…

Also it appears that SkyStar 1 is a card with more features I wish I knew this before I ordered SkyStar 2…oh well live and learn, I did say that I will revise my setup often till I come to an optimal setup.

 

[FordPrefect]

Well found this yesterday, Linux has great sound support, so surround sound will work, and is supported…

http://www.alsa-project.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ALSA_(Linux)
http://alsa.opensrc.org/
http://alsa.opensrc.org/Alsa+Preferred+Soundcards

 

[FordPrefect]

Here is a great web site for all kinds of devices… Advanced CommunicationsMPEG-4 set-top box, or Envivio STiNO s-box 4000 STB

This device features a VIA C3 800 MHz CPU in combination with Sigma's MPEG-4 decoder chip solution. It integrates Envivio's MPEG-4 player and is driven by TUXIA's Linux-based iTV Middleware "TUXIA Appliance Synthesis Technology" (TASTE) 3.6. STiNO says the s-box 4000 contains optimized hardware for high-performance MPEG-4 streaming and web browsing. Because of its open hardware and software platform, it can now also support DVB-S and DVB-T applications.

Galaxis LinuxTV C -- [Sep. 25, 2003] -- An inexpensive STB for satellite reception powered by NEC's EMMA2 STB SoC and Convergence's LinuxTV 2.0 software stack, the LinuxTV C networks with PCs via USB, Ethernet, or Firewire, and supports recording of digital TV on external or internal hard drive (not included). The box will also serve as an DSL router and radio.

Hauppauge's MediaMVP -- [Oct. 6, 2003] -- This $99 "digital media receiver" is a low cost thin-client device that connects a home PC running Win XP Home, XP Pro, or W2K with home TV and A/V equipment. The MediaMVP can decode mp3s, MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 videos, JPEGs, GIFs and other content for display on TV sets, TV monitors, plasma monitors, or home theater A/V systems, according to Hauppauge. It can be combined with a personal video recorder (PVR) solution such as a Hauppauge WinTV-PVR card for a complete PVR solution.

Interact-TV Telly -- [Aug. 14, 2004] -- You can get a free SDK with the Telly "home entertainment server," but you won't need to use it to enjoy remote controlled broadband Internet, cable TV, satellite TV, digital audio and video entertainment, and digital home networking. Not to mention DVR, mp3 ripping/burning, jukebox, photo album slideshows, and more. Three configurations: $749 MC800 (details); $899 MC1000 (details); C1200 (details)

http://linuxdevices.com/articles/AT5690634012.html

 

[FordPrefect]

I am going to buy a cheap FTA receiver with “blind scan” (any suggestions guys) that will help me setup my dish…and to just have as a backup when I do updates to my Dreambox…Iceberg any chance that you can provide some schematics as to how to connect dish, motor, and two receivers…something like the examples that I found on the net.