Hi all!
I'm thinking to buy a EPIA SP (when it's be available) to work with VDR. My question is if VDR can use EPIA SP mpeg2 and mpeg4 accelerator that provides the CN400 chipset that comes with EPIA SP or I have to wait someone to develope a VDR plugins and linux drivers for CN400 chipset (I think it's inlcuded in 2.6 kernels). I want to use a budget card and save some money but I don't want use softdevice because EPIA SP provide the CN400 with this functionality. I hope you understand my explanations. Sorry about my english.
Leo.
Le mercredi 02 mars 2005 à 13:18 +0100, Leo Márquez a écrit :
I'm thinking to buy a EPIA SP (when it's be available) to work with VDR. My question is if VDR can use EPIA SP mpeg2 and mpeg4 accelerator that provides the CN400 chipset that comes with EPIA SP or I have to wait someone to develope a VDR plugins and linux drivers for CN400 chipset (I think it's inlcuded in 2.6 kernels).
You will need to wait until the unichrome project (sourceforge is your friend =:-D) has the mpeg4 stuff working. I don't think they have the docs from VIA yet.
I want to use a budget card and save some money but I don't want use softdevice because EPIA SP provide the CN400 with this functionality. I hope you understand my explanations. Sorry about my english.
I am using Epia M 10000 with VDR 1.3.21n vdr-xine 0.7.1 and a Skystar2. The mpeg2 acceleration uses between 10-15% CPU with either DVD or DVB-S mpeg2 streams. I don't have access to mpeg4 streams.
Cheers
Tony
Le mercredi 02 mars 2005 à 14:17 +0100, Leo Márquez a écrit :
mpeg2 streams. I don't have access to mpeg4 streams.
Ok but you don't play divx movies?
Where do I buy a Divx movie?
What about noise? I want to have VDR in my saloon.
I have a hush. My home office is in the living room and it is on all the time. No fan = no noise. I am thinking of making a second Epia machine without hard drive for just watching TV. It would also be a network stream client for DVDs and recordings on the main VDR machine. It will be in the bedroom.
Cheers
Tony
En/na tony ha escrit:
Le mercredi 02 mars 2005 à 14:17 +0100, Leo Márquez a écrit :
mpeg2 streams. I don't have access to mpeg4 streams.
Ok but you don't play divx movies?
Where do I buy a Divx movie?
Perhaps you have ripped a tv recording ...
What about noise? I want to have VDR in my saloon.
I have a hush. My home office is in the living room and it is on all the time. No fan = no noise. I am thinking of making a second Epia machine without hard drive for just watching TV. It would also be a network stream client for DVDs and recordings on the main VDR machine. It will be in the bedroom.
What kind of cpu are you using that not needs fan? It's possible have the nehemia processor without fan? You don't have any fans in the case?
Thanks
Le mercredi 02 mars 2005 à 14:43 +0100, Leo Márquez a écrit :
Perhaps you have ripped a tv recording ...
I write them to DVD if they are worth it with vdrsync.
What kind of cpu are you using that not needs fan? It's possible have the nehemia processor without fan? You don't have any fans in the case?
hush has a heat pipe from the CPU and two very big radiators. It stops working when room temperature goes over 36°C (so do I...).
The other solution that I will build is an aluminium case with very large Zalman heat sink on CPU and a thermo controlled case fan.
Cheers
Tony
Leo Márquez a écrit :
En/na tony ha escrit:
I have a hush. My home office is in the living room and it is on all the time. No fan = no noise. I am thinking of making a second Epia machine without hard drive for just watching TV. It would also be a network stream client for DVDs and recordings on the main VDR machine. It will be in the bedroom.
What kind of cpu are you using that not needs fan? It's possible have the nehemia processor without fan? You don't have any fans in the case?
I personnaly have an EPIA M10000 in a CD-audio case, with no processor fan, but a 8cm low-speed extractor fan above a big heatsink on the processor. That's not silent, but really acceptable, particularly when stored inside the hifi piece of furniture. See http://nicolas.huillard.net/vdr/photos/ for photos.
Le mercredi 02 mars 2005 à 17:54 +0100, Nicolas Huillard a écrit :
I personnaly have an EPIA M10000 in a CD-audio case, with no processor fan, but a 8cm low-speed extractor fan above a big heatsink on the processor. That's not silent, but really acceptable, particularly when stored inside the hifi piece of furniture. See http://nicolas.huillard.net/vdr/photos/ for photos.
Nice!!! Your soldering is better than mine too =:-D
The problem with the hush is there is no window so that one can put the IR receiver inside the case.
Cheers
Tony
En/na Nicolas Huillard ha escrit:
Leo Márquez a écrit :
En/na tony ha escrit:
I have a hush. My home office is in the living room and it is on all the time. No fan = no noise. I am thinking of making a second Epia machine without hard drive for just watching TV. It would also be a network stream client for DVDs and recordings on the main VDR machine. It will be in the bedroom.
What kind of cpu are you using that not needs fan? It's possible have the nehemia processor without fan? You don't have any fans in the case?
I personnaly have an EPIA M10000 in a CD-audio case, with no processor fan, but a 8cm low-speed extractor fan above a big heatsink on the processor.
Good job! I have seen the photos. Can you tell us the models of the extractor and heatskin? In photos the extractor does not appears. I supose it's under the heatskin.
That's not silent, but really acceptable, particularly when stored inside the hifi piece of furniture. See http://nicolas.huillard.net/vdr/photos/ for photos.
Thanks!!
Le mercredi 02 mars 2005 à 17:54 +0100, Nicolas Huillard a écrit :
I personnaly have an EPIA M10000 in a CD-audio case, with no processor fan, but a 8cm low-speed extractor fan above a big heatsink on the processor.
Is the heat sink bending "artistic" or was it too high to fit in the box?
Tony
Leo Márquez a écrit :
En/na Nicolas Huillard ha escrit:
I personnaly have an EPIA M10000 in a CD-audio case, with no processor fan, but a 8cm low-speed extractor fan above a big heatsink on the processor.
Good job! I have seen the photos. Can you tell us the models of the extractor and heatskin?
The extractor is a noname old fan, which appears to be more silent than a costly new one I don't remember the brand of (the new one is silent when old by hand, but makes a lot of vibrations when screwed on the case, and even silent-blocks like the ones on the HDD/DVD didn't lower the noise).
In photos the extractor does not appears. I supose it's under the heatskin.
It is screwed on the cover of the case, so it does not appear when the case is open. The air flows by a hole on the top of the case, which is actually a bad idea, since noise also goes up, right to the hear. It was too difficult to open the case on the side, and there was no room on the back...
The heat sink bending is not artistic : it was too high to fit inside the case with the fan over it and I didn't when to lose matter/heat-sinking capabilities. I also thought that allowing more air to flow between the pins would allow more cooling.
Leo Márquez a écrit :
En/na Nicolas Huillard ha escrit:
I personnaly have an EPIA M10000 in a CD-audio case, with no processor fan, but a 8cm low-speed extractor fan above a big heatsink on the processor.
Good job! I have seen the photos. Can you tell us the models of the extractor and heatskin?
Forgot to describe the heatsink : it is a Zalman NB70 (I don't remember the exact reference), meant for North Bridge cooling, and is 70mm high. I found the idea on http://www.silentpcreview.com/ IIRC
On Thu, 2005-03-03 at 17:19 +0100, Nicolas Huillard wrote:
Leo Márquez a écrit :
En/na Nicolas Huillard ha escrit:
I personnaly have an EPIA M10000 in a CD-audio case, with no processor fan, but a 8cm low-speed extractor fan above a big heatsink on the processor.
Good job! I have seen the photos. Can you tell us the models of the extractor and heatskin?
Forgot to describe the heatsink : it is a Zalman NB70 (I don't remember the exact reference), meant for North Bridge cooling, and is 70mm high. I found the idea on http://www.silentpcreview.com/ IIRC
I've just been looking at your piccies as well and it has got me toying with the idea of doing something similar because something in my current vdr box is packing up. Probably power supply or motherboard but it makes too much noise anyway. ;)
How easy was it to get your Epia M1000 going with hardware MPEG decoding? Is it as simple as: boot, start vdr with xine plugins, start X sending out the S-video connector, start xine fullscreen?
How well does it cope with the OSD? I've tried the xine plugin on an athlon 1000 and it seriously crawls when the OSD is displayed.
Any idea if any of the newer Epia boards would fare better? Although, having had a quick look, the newer ones don't have parallel ports so where would I attach my status LEDs?
;)
Has anyone tried running two DVB cards on one of these things with a two-way PCI riser card?
All I need to do is think up a cunning idea for what to house the thing in!!
Cheers,
Laz
Le vendredi 04 mars 2005 à 11:03 +0000, Laurence Abbott a écrit :
How easy was it to get your Epia M1000 going with hardware MPEG decoding? Is it as simple as: boot, start vdr with xine plugins, start X sending out the S-video connector, start xine fullscreen?
Not yet but we are almost there. You need latest x.org and xine.
How well does it cope with the OSD? I've tried the xine plugin on an athlon 1000 and it seriously crawls when the OSD is displayed.
The problem goes away with HW mpeg2 acceleration. The stream uses 10-15% CPU so there is plenty left for OSD
Any idea if any of the newer Epia boards would fare better? Although, having had a quick look, the newer ones don't have parallel ports so where would I attach my status LEDs?
To on board header? Some have it some don't. The M 12000 is faster than the M 10000 doh =;-D
Has anyone tried running two DVB cards on one of these things with a two-way PCI riser card?
There are issues with double riser cards. From memory it is a BIOS problem and, well, VIA isn't well you see =:-D You will need a decent power supply. You will not be able to use a tiny case without ventilation = noise.
Cheers
Tony
On Fri, 2005-03-04 at 12:35 +0100, tony wrote:
Le vendredi 04 mars 2005 à 11:03 +0000, Laurence Abbott a écrit :
How easy was it to get your Epia M1000 going with hardware MPEG decoding? Is it as simple as: boot, start vdr with xine plugins, start X sending out the S-video connector, start xine fullscreen?
Not yet but we are almost there. You need latest x.org and xine.
Got both of them already: vanilla or do they need lots of patching to get it to work with acceleration? I looked into this a while back but I think that was before Via open-sourced their driver.
How well does it cope with the OSD? I've tried the xine plugin on an athlon 1000 and it seriously crawls when the OSD is displayed.
The problem goes away with HW mpeg2 acceleration. The stream uses 10-15% CPU so there is plenty left for OSD
Excellent...
Any idea if any of the newer Epia boards would fare better? Although, having had a quick look, the newer ones don't have parallel ports so where would I attach my status LEDs?
To on board header? Some have it some don't. The M 12000 is faster than the M 10000 doh =;-D
:-P
I was meaning more the other series such as the ME, MII, PD, etc. Is mini-itx.com a good place to buy these things from?
Has anyone tried running two DVB cards on one of these things with a two-way PCI riser card?
There are issues with double riser cards. From memory it is a BIOS problem and, well, VIA isn't well you see =:-D You will need a decent power supply. You will not be able to use a tiny case without ventilation = noise.
I didn't think it would be as easy as I was hoping. I'll look into it...
What do people normally do for a powersupply with these things? Use a chunky 12 V supply with a DC-DC convertor?
Whatever I use, it has to be quieter than my current setup!
Cheers,
Laz
Laurence Abbott a écrit :
How easy was it to get your Epia M1000 going with hardware MPEG decoding? Is it as simple as: boot, start vdr with xine plugins, start X sending out the S-video connector, start xine fullscreen?
I start X using the startx command as a special-purpose user, then it uses it's .xinitrc that run xine with all needed options (that's a standalone STB, so no regular X on this). Softdevice is a better alternative : no need to run a display client + the vdr server : just launch vdr and you're done. No HW MPEG2 decoding, though.
How well does it cope with the OSD? I've tried the xine plugin on an athlon 1000 and it seriously crawls when the OSD is displayed.
I configured the OSD as opaque. Even with HW decoding, the UI is not smooth when the OSD is blended.
Any idea if any of the newer Epia boards would fare better? Although, having had a quick look, the newer ones don't have parallel ports so where would I attach my status LEDs?
To the keyboard headers on the mobo. I plan to do that but didn't yet. That means there is no real keyboard attached to the box, though.
All I need to do is think up a cunning idea for what to house the thing in!!
It took me a whole week-end to cram everything inside the CD case (after a whole bunch of design before that).
Hi!
Has anyone tried running two DVB cards on one of these things with a two-way PCI riser card?
There are issues with double riser cards. From memory it is a BIOS problem and, well, VIA isn't well you see =:-D You will need a decent power supply. You will not be able to use a tiny case without ventilation = noise.
My planning is buy a Silverstone LC-11 case (came with a AGP2PCI riser card), EPIA motherboard, DVB-s card and DVB-t card. Can I have problems with the 2 cards and the riser? Would you buy EPIA-M10k or wait for the EPIA-SP ?
Thanks
Laurence Abbott a écrit :
On Fri, 2005-03-04 at 12:35 +0100, tony wrote:
Le vendredi 04 mars 2005 à 11:03 +0000, Laurence Abbott a écrit :
How easy was it to get your Epia M1000 going with hardware MPEG decoding? Is it as simple as: boot, start vdr with xine plugins, start X sending out the S-video connector, start xine fullscreen?
Not yet but we are almost there. You need latest x.org and xine.
Got both of them already: vanilla or do they need lots of patching to get it to work with acceleration? I looked into this a while back but I think that was before Via open-sourced their driver.
I think it's vanilla. I got X from a non-official Debian repository, and Xine (libxine) from Darren Salt's Debian repository.
I was meaning more the other series such as the ME, MII, PD, etc. Is mini-itx.com a good place to buy these things from?
For you in the UK, mini-itx.com is a good place. I recently found an online distributor in Paris (good for me). There is also linitx.com in the US... Prices are quite the same everywhere (taking change into account).
What do people normally do for a powersupply with these things? Use a chunky 12 V supply with a DC-DC convertor?
I changed the 55W DC-DC convertor / power block with a new 110W. The DC-DC fits directly in the ATX connector on the mobo (PW-200-M on http://www.mini-box.com/) and the power block is now outside the CD case (heat + size), whereas the previous 55W one shown on the pics was inside the case. The new block has a tiny fan which is temperature controled. I didn't ear it start yet. I hope it won't ever start... This setup is quite powerful and totally silent (that is : except for the extrator).
Le vendredi 04 mars 2005 à 13:01 +0100, Leo Márquez a écrit :
My planning is buy a Silverstone LC-11 case (came with a AGP2PCI riser card), EPIA motherboard, DVB-s card and DVB-t card. Can I have problems with the 2 cards and the riser?
Checking it looks like most complaints were from Windows users... For heat and other reasons I am thinking of external USB DVB-t.
Would you buy EPIA-M10k or wait for the EPIA-SP ?
M II 12000 maybe a SP in September
Tony
-----Original Message----- From: vdr-bounces@linuxtv.org [mailto:vdr-bounces@linuxtv.org] On Behalf Of Nicolas Huillard
It took me a whole week-end to cram everything inside the CD case (after a whole bunch of design before that).
I'm doing something similar - at the moment I have my VDR maching setup on a wooden shelf - no case whatsoever. I've gutted a broken Pioneer DV-717 DVD Player with a plan to put my EPIA M9000 board in that but found that the Siemens FF card is 1 cm too high and the power plug of the DVD writer rests on the memory.
I've ordered some low profile ram and a PCI-riser cable (from linitx.com - a UK company) which should let me fit it all in next week! I've also ordered an active pci-riser which should let me squeeze in 2 PCI cards at the end of the cable... Fingers crossed...
Apart from that things fit perfectly - a regular ATX power-supply is just the right height and to the left and right of the DVD burner there is exactly the right amount of space for a stack of 2 hard-drives.
I'm using the iMON VFD for IR and front-display but don't like the 2-line output of the lcdproc plugin, so am writing my own.
I've also noticed some solder tags on the iMON board which I have a feeling are for front-panel buttons (but are not used) I may investigate soldering the buttons from the DVD player onto these (and also wiring the LEDs and DVD eject button up.)
I'll get some photos up once I'm satisfied this will actually work! :)
Chris
Le vendredi 04 mars 2005 à 11:43 +0000, Laurence Abbott a écrit :
hat do people normally do for a powersupply with these things? Use a chunky 12 V supply with a DC-DC convertor?
Whatever I use, it has to be quieter than my current setup!
I'm looking at this
http://www.silverstonetek.com/products-lc02.htm
or
http://www.silverstonetek.com/products-lc06.htm which uses a standard DVD drive about 50€ cheaper than the slim ones.
My hush still has the 50W power brick. It only went flakey once at the end of last August when room temperature went over 30°C
The extra power in these two cases will have me using more USB devices (I have a powered hub now) and maybe a FF DVB-S card.
Tony
En/na tony ha escrit:
Le vendredi 04 mars 2005 à 13:01 +0100, Leo Márquez a écrit :
My planning is buy a Silverstone LC-11 case (came with a AGP2PCI riser card), EPIA motherboard, DVB-s card and DVB-t card. Can I have problems with the 2 cards and the riser?
Checking it looks like most complaints were from Windows users... For heat and other reasons I am thinking of external USB DVB-t.
Would you buy EPIA-M10k or wait for the EPIA-SP ?
M II 12000 maybe a SP in September
Why you say MII 12000. The only difference between this ans M 10000 is the *CardBus / CompactFlash ? *Are there more diferences?
Thanks.
En/na Leo Márquez ha escrit:
En/na tony ha escrit:
Le vendredi 04 mars 2005 à 13:01 +0100, Leo Márquez a écrit :
My planning is buy a Silverstone LC-11 case (came with a AGP2PCI riser card), EPIA motherboard, DVB-s card and DVB-t card. Can I have problems with the 2 cards and the riser?
Checking it looks like most complaints were from Windows users... For heat and other reasons I am thinking of external USB DVB-t.
Would you buy EPIA-M10k or wait for the EPIA-SP ?
M II 12000 maybe a SP in September
Why you say MII 12000. The only difference between this ans M 10000 is the *CardBus / CompactFlash ? *Are there more diferences?
Sorry I have seen that MII is more silent and supports faster cpu Thanks
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Chris Warren -
Laurence Abbott -
Leo Márquez -
Nicolas Huillard -
tony