ejk's PVR Blog

[ejk]

I thought I'd copy over some of my info from the Blog section to take advantage of the new forums.

I hope it's not too long. 

Setup: Apparently my inital entry isn't there any more. My plan was to use my old PC, an ATX tower with a 1 Ghz Celeron, Geforce 4 MX, and Vortex 2 sound card, add a couple of pieces and make it into a PVR.

Well, because of various circumstances I ended up getting a new motherboard, case, and video card along the way as well.

Read on... if you dare! 

[ejk]

The Great Hardware Install :: Friday, October 01, 2004 @ 1:40 AM
The hardware has started to pour in, and I've gotten some of it installed and running.

I removed my old HP CD-RW Drive and replaced it with the Mad Dog DVD-R/RW drive. The only problem is the drive sounds like it's preparing for takeoff when it speeds up. I'm assuming that it won't be a problem when I put the case back together and put it behind glass in the entertainment center.

I installed the 200 GB Seagate drive, but found out that the size is limited to 137 GB in Windows 98. So there's another reason to go to XP in addition to being able to truely compare SageTV and BeyondTV.

What I finally got installed last night was my latest addition: a Netgear WG311 Wireless G PCI card. I already had the WGR614 Wireless G router for my laptop, and this will make it easy to set the PVR up in my family room where there is no cat5 cable. I was going to wait and maybe get a Wireless B card, but I found this for $5 after rebate at outpost.com. The fact that it is the same brand as my router sealed the deal for me.

So now, all that's left to do is... install the darn PVR-250 card. Then the PVR will really take shape.

I'm also planning to just use my mid-tower case on its side initially, but I need to get a ATX sized HTPC case at some point. That Ahanix D3 would be a verrrrry nice touch to this project.

[ejk]

XP and PVR-250 Woes :: Thursday, October 07, 2004 @ 2:46 AM
I decided to upgrade my PC to XP Pro to get the full capacity of my 200GB Hard drive as well as more flexibility with PVR software.

Then I tried to install the PVR-250... and the driver installation failed. I downloaded new drivers from Hauppage and tried again... and it failed. The error was "The data is invalid" at the end of the driver installation. Ugh.

But the good news is that this morning I looked at the Hauppage site and found this document with a fix for this exact problem:
http://www.hauppauge.com/html/Winxp_driver_data_invalid.doc

So I'll give it another go tonight. I also will have to work on getting my Aureal Vortex 2 card working in XP. That's another full page of configuration.

I'm gonna be so happy when I finally get this thing running.

[ejk]

It's Alive!!! :: Wednesday, October 13, 2004 @ 5:28 AM
Ha!

The PVR-250 driver fix I found in my last blog entry worked like a charm... I was getting a video signal in the WinTV200 application! But it was choppy, and I had no sound. It was time to get that old Aureal Vortex 2 card working in XP.

Luckily I found the info and files I needed here:
http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/chris.day/download/au30dalfix.htm

After setting a PCI configuration register on the sound card itself (!) and installing the sound control panel, I was good to go. I set my first scheduled recording for the Michigan/Minnesota game on Saturday (Go Blue!). Worked like a charm. I've been playing with GB-PVR in the last few days to evaluate whether I need to go the commercial route for PVR software.

The cable modem had been dropping its connection and the cable channels had been getting fuzzy whenever it rained, so I figured it was a bad line outside the house. Well, yesterday was foggy and very humid and sure enough, the cable modem was down and the TV channels were horrible. My wife (bless her heart), took the responsibility to call up Comcast and wait while they came out. They fixed a spot in the box outside that was part of the problem... but they also gave me a new thick coax cable to connect my cable modem instead of the cheapo one I had been using. They also rerouted the two connections we were actually using (for the TV in the Family Room and for the Internet upstairs) out of the EIGHT(!!!) way splitter that was installed by the builder and into a two way splitter. I was planning to do that much anyway, but they fact they hooked it up and provided all the hardware was extraordinary.

So now the regular TV looks very nice, and the cable modem should be a lot more reliable (*crosses fingers*), but the image I'm getting in GB-PVR and WinTV2000 is pretty blurry. I'm pretty sure I set the recording level to High (DVD quality), but it's to the point that it's distracting compared to watching regular TV. I know that with MPEG compression you're going to see some artifacts-- especially with fast moving images like sports, but unless I can figure this out I'm gonna have a hard time watching live TV though my PVR.

Up next is getting the TV out on my Video Card going and getting the interface to rely on just the remote for basic operation.

[ejk]

TV-out frustrations :: Tuesday, October 26, 2004 @ 2:21 AM
I had been using GB-PVR initially to test whether all the pieces of my machine were working correctly, but my curiousity about some of the commercial PVR solutions made me install the trial version of SageTV.

It worked great, including DVD playing, so I hooked up a the TV out on my video card to the 13" TV in our office to test the TV interface before I make the big move to the Family Room. And that's when I started having trouble.

I've got a GeForce4 MX, so I've been using the nview utility to adjust the settings. It's set to "clone" the display on both the TV and my 17" CRT monitor. On my first try the menus and displays showed on both, but the video only showed up on the CRT. That's when I saw the video only plays on the Primary screen. So I switched the TV to the primary device. This seems to work just fine except... the image is zoomed in too much on the screen. I mean more than just the regular overscan on a TV, like I can barely see the edge of the SageTV menu display and any "ticker" on the bottom of the screen dissappears.

So I found an option where I can adjust the size of the image on the TV screen, which works great on the desktop and when SageTV is in windowed mode. But when I switch to full screen mode, it's zoomed way in again. A little bit of overscan I can take, but I can't even see the menus.

So, I've been banging my head against the wall trying to figure out why the desktop zoom is different than the fullscreen SageTV zoom, and I'm not seeing anything in the nview settings anywhere about "overscan" settings specifically. I even updated to the latest version of the drivers last night but I still can't find the overscan settings.

I might even have to install a third-party configuration app to get it right, but it's very annoying so far.

[ejk]

I have chosen... poorly :: Monday, November 01, 2004 @ 2:16 AM
Big snag in the project...

I attempted the move to the family room over the weekend. I have not purchased a HTPC case yet, but the dimensions of my Mid Tower case just about matched the Ahanix D3 case, so I was just going to use it on its side for the time being. It just barely fit into the TV stand for my Sony 27" TV and I slid it back... and it stopped with about 5 inches sticking out the front.

The problem is the TV stand is a corner model, meaning it's much narrower in the back than in the front. I underestimated the severity of the side angles and it's not going to fit behind the glass. That's unacceptable as we have a 1 year old prowling the family room and those buttons and lights are way too tempting. I did hook it up just to make sure it worked... wrestled with the TV-out settings for a bit (the zoom controls are still not great), and watched a little bit of TV using Sage TV. Then I packed it up and hauled it back to the office... where it still sits.

So, on to plan-B... whatever that is:
- I've thought to set it up in the office and try to use a Media MVP in the Family Room... but then I'd have to run Cat5 across the house.
- I can get a new tower case that has a full, lockable front cover and set it next to the TV stand.
- Find a HTPC case that supports ATX but is very shallow. I dont know if that exists.
- Go the Mini-ATX Route and build a whole new machine with some of the parts. I'd rather not as this project is getting more and more expensive and time consuming as it is.

So... if anybody can point me to case options, that'd be great. That's the next step.

[ejk]

The new Factor... Small Form! :: Monday, November 08, 2004 @ 2:46 AM
Well, I'm back on track. After discussing the options with The Wife (TM), I decided to go for a MicroATX motherboard and an Antec Aria case, which will fit nicely in the TV-Stand.



I wanted to be able to use the CPU (1 Ghz Socket 370 Celeron), Memory (3 sticks of PC100), and Video Card (AGP) from my current machine to minimize the expense. Ebay became the clear choice because nobody makes Socket 370 Motherboards anymore. After looking at some boards that might not support my CPU, didn't have an AGP slot or only two slots for memory, I found an auction for this:


http://www.bcmcom.com/bcm_product_rx815elt.htm

It supports my CPU, Video Card, and has three slots for memory! Brilliant! This way I didn't have to worry about buying a new PCI-based video card and swapping out memory. It's also got a built-in sound card and ethernet networking.

Is there anything better than swooping in at the last minute to win an Ebay auction? I won it last night, and now I just have to get the Aria. So my setup will now be:

BCM RX815ELT
-> 1 GHz Celeron FCPGA
-> 512 MB PC100 (128+128+256)
-> Geforce4 MX 440 with S-Video out
-> PVR-250 Capture Card
-> Netgear Wireless G PCI

The best thing is that even with the SFF case I still have a free PCI slot!

Oh, If anybody wants to make an offer on a Tyan 1854 Trinity 400 Slot1 / Socket 370 Motherboard, let me know. I even have a Celeron 633 that I could bundle with it.

[ejk]

Another Snag in the project :: Monday, November 29, 2004 @ 2:48 AM
Well, I got my new microATX Motherboard and my new Antec Aria case and started to put it all together: My DVD-R/RW drive works just fine, and there's just enough room for my two Hard Drives. I decided to wait to install my AGP card, tuner card and Wireless card until after I got the system up and running.

The Aria is really a great looking case. It matches our Sony TV and TV stand perfectly, with a black front and silver-grey sides. It was a bit of a pain trying to find the best way to route all of the cables, but the top and both sides open up completely so you can get your hands in there if you need to.

XP installed just fine, and so did the wireless card, so then I got out my Winfast Geforce 4 MX AGP card and installed it. It booted up just fine and asked for the driver, which I loaded from the disk from the manufacturer. XP rebooted, and promptly locked up on a black screen after the XP progress window. I started in safe mode (just fine), then installed the latest NVidia drivers. Same result... lockup on a black screen after the XP Progress window. I tried the latest drivers from the manufacturer's website. Same result.

So I thought maybe XP was confused switching from the on board video to the AGP card... so I re-installed XP with the AGP card already installed. It went through the install process just fine, and I was even able to change the desktop resolution without a problem. But when I looked at the device manager, XP didn't recognize the card. It was an "unknown device". When I tried to install the manufacturer's drivers it said "This may not be a Winfast product". I installed anyway and got the black lockup screen again.

For some reason, XP is not able to identify the card through the AGP slot and it's locking up starting XP. I threw in my Knoppix CD just for grins and it identified the card and worked just fine. *sigh*

So now I need to write up a trouble ticket with the Motherboard manufacturer to see if they have any ideas. I have never had a problem with this card before and it works just fine in safe mode. There's got to be something wrong with the AGP interface, but I don't know what.

Hopefully I can get this card to work 'cause I'm ready to be done with this project!

[ejk]

(New Video Card) When All Else Fails... :: Wednesday, December 15, 2004 @ 3:57 AM
... throw more hardware at it. Normal

Even after multiple exchanges with my new motherboard's manufacturer, I could not resolve the video card problem I was having with my old Geforce 4 MX 440. I needed to know whether it was the board or the video card, so a coworker graciously allowed me to borrow his Geforce FX 5200 to try it out. I installed the card, rebooted XP and wonder of wonders... it worked! XP recognized the card and installed the correct drivers.

So... I needed a new AGP card. I figured that the fact PCAlchemy's only offering was a FX 5200 was a good place to start. In terms of raw graphics power, the 5200 is actually weaker than a GeForce4 Ti, but it supports DirectX 9 features and the price point is great. It should be ideal for a HTPC setting for any interface or playback features that require a DX9 card (like transparent overlays), but are probably not CPU intensive. I also wanted to make sure that the card had S-video out (for my Standard TV now) and DVI (for a HDTV in the future).

I decided on a MSI 5200 from Buy.com ($47 shipped with a 10% coupon [NO REBATES!]).

http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=10353949&hdwt=22114&loc=15963&sp=2



It has RGB, DVI, and S-video out, and should be fanless (the picture on the Buy.com page is an old version).

Here's the manufacturer's page:
http://www.msicomputer.com/product/vga/vga_detail.asp?model=FX5200_TD128

It's on the way as I write, so hopefully we can get the PVR installed and running by Christmas!

[ejk]

Finished! + Summary :: Tuesday, January 04, 2005 @ 7:29 AM
My PVR project has been up and running for the last couple of weeks (with a couple of final pieces coming in as well-timed Christmas Gifts). It's already loaded up with Simpsons, Dora the Explorer and Zobomafoo. 

The MSI Geforce 5200 is running great with the S-Video out. I've got it outputting at 720x480 with the ability to tweak screen positioning, zoom, and color settings. The final piece of Hardware was the Lite-On wireless keyboard with built-in mouse from NewEgg:
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=23-107-114&depa=0

Works great and now I never have to open the glass doors on the entertainment center, even if I have to do some tweaking outside of the PVR app.

I have settled on GB-PVR for the moment, as some of the latest skins and plugins really make it a robust application. I may try out SageTV or Beyond TV in the future, but GB-PVR's working just fine for now.

So here's my final cost list:

From old PC (Free):
- 1 Ghz Celeron
- 512 MB PC100 RAM
- 13 GB HD

New Purchases:
- Hauppage PVR-250 w/ remote ($90 AR @ Circuit City)
- 200 GB Seagate 7200 RPM Hard Drive ($60 AR @ Outpost.com)
- Netgear WG311 Wireless-G PCI Adapter ($5 AR @ Outpost.com)
- Mad Dog 4x DVD-R/RW Drive ($10 AR @ OfficeMax)
- MSI 5200 AGP Card ($47 Shipped @ Buy.com :: included WinDVD)
- Antec Aria mATX case ($94 Shipped @ Securemart.com)
- BCM rx815elt Motherboard ($55 Shipped @ Ebay.com)

Total Out of Pocket Cost: $361

I figure you could get a decent mATX motherboard + CPU + memory combo for another $150 and make a decent PVR from scratch for ~$500. You do need to keep an eye out for the special deals, though (Hard Drive and DVD drive for me).

[ejk]

My PVR is a Dancin' Machine! :: Wednesday, March 09, 2005 @ 9:13 AM
Status Update:

GB-PVR continues to work well. I've been keeping up with a couple of the new releases and I just switched to the BlueMCE skin which looks great.

The biggest update is a totally new program installation...

I recently was introduced to the video game Dance Dance Revolution and suggested it to The Wife(tm). She isn't really a gamer, but the idea of getting some exercise made her interested. I thought this might be the opening to get a console into the house... but the total cost of a system, pads, plus the game itself just to play one game didn't really interest her.

So she asked, "Can't you find a program for the PC?" So I looked and found StepMania:

http://www.stepmania.com/stepmania/

It's an open-source DDR clone that runs on windows. The program itself is free but you have to find your own songpacks. I bought a couple of PS2 Dance Pads from Computer Geeks for $8 each, plus a PlayStation2 to USB converter from Ebay. The connection is easy to set up with the front USB ports on my Aria.

I loaded up Stepmania, 8 song packs with over 300 songs and connected the pads, and I was playing DDR on my TV for around $35 total. I was even able to easily add a custom button to GB-PVR to launch StepMania, so I don't need to touch the keyboard to switch from one to the other.

Yet another reason to Build Your Own PVR.

[valiamarkais]

That's a great idea.  I'm thinking of adding a DDR for my setup as well.  I've suggested it to The Wife (tm), but she didn't have any real interest, but your project has inspired me.

-VA

[smokeyalien]

You should share your resouces on the DDR bit with us.  I'd love to know where to get the songpacks, see a picture of it laid out (too see if it'll fit in my living room) and the info for putting this into GBPVR would also be great.

I'm always looking for new ways to frankenstein my setup.

Smokeyalien

[valiamarkais]

Hear hear...   

Maybe even a link to the bittorrent...   

-VA

[valiamarkais]

You've inspired me, I just bought the compgeeks DDR pads and a dual PS2 to USB converter from Ebay.  Hopefully it all comes together easily.

Thanks ejk!

-VA