Tuesday, 21 September 2004, 14:16:45 EDT
Sony needs to quit making shiny toys. They make it hard for me to actually save money for something like a new car. Just today they unveiled their new PSTwo. It is a revision of the (gaming) world dominating Playstation 2. This new version is so sleek and small I can't help but to desire one. Why? I don't know. I already have a PS2 that functions just fine. I guess I just like to have the shiny new stuff. Of course, I will not be buying this gadget; as I said, I want a new car and will not be buying frivolous toys like this. The only toy I can forsee myself buying any time soon is the parts I need for a MythTV box.
MythTV is really nifty and I have been wanting to build a box for a couple of years now. Recently I decided to see what the current feature set is and was surprised to learn that it can now act as an emulator frontend. That did it for me; I must now build the machine.
The true goal of MythTV is to function as a PVR like a TiVO without having to pay a subscription fee. The cool thing about it is it is a community developed package and, as such, has many more features. I don't have cable and my television doesn't get an air signal so the TiVO capability is not useful to me at this time. What I could do, however, is use it to watch the television shows I download without having to sit in front of my computer monitor.
In fact, I just realized that I only need three or four parts to actually build the machine. I already have a motherboard, ram, and processor. I just need a case, hard drive, decent video card, and an optical drive. Maybe I will be able to cobble this stuff together before the winter break so that I can spend it messing with this stuff. I certainly won't be able to do anything else since that is a little over a week that I won't be able to work. Yeah, that sounds like a fun winter holiday project. Now if only my student loans would hurry up and come in.
Categories:
- technology
Might I inject a very simple idea instead of MythTV? Just run the video out from your laptop to the TV screen. That is how I watch all of the stuff I download.
Posted by Mr Frosti on Saturday, 25 September 2004, 1:46:58 EDT.
Short answer:
Nope, won't work.
Long answer:
Yes, that would be a temporary solution but a poor one. I don't like laptops; in 98% of the cases the hardware is subpar and wears out too quickly. If I take my laptop home it almost never leaves my backpack. The only reasons I even take it home are because either I need it in class to take notes, I might need to read my class notes at home, and I think I might use it over the weekend. Otherwise, the machine stays sitting on my "desk" at work.
Aside from the fact that I don't like laptops, it is not a user friendly solution. I am talking about a machine that stays on 24/7 and has an remote controlled interface designed to look good, and operate well, on a television.
On top of that, one of my hobbies just happens to be computers. This will be a good project dealing with that and one that I think I will have fun with and get enjoyment out of after it is completed.
So, no laptop. Sorry :)
Posted by James Sumners on Monday, 27 September 2004, 14:44:50 EDT.