Small Monitor

[Paddy]

I've been thinking for a while about building a small shuttle PC to place in the lounge and Razgo's recent post about Spoons DAC gave me some ideas.

Does anyone know if it's possible to get a small monitor or LCD panel (if cheap enough), so that this can be placed on top of the shuttle. This can then show DAP allowing easy playing of your MP3 collecton without having it hooked up to a huge TV or monitor. That way it can complement your Hi-Fi setup just like Spoons' house of the future.

Paddy

[Spoons]

whats a shuttle? since dap can use a infared remote control, a small monitor would be ideal for sure.

[Paddy]

A shuttle is a small form factor PC, check out http://www.shuttle.com/index6.html for more info.

They are basicly a small motherboard in a small well designed case. Plus onboard the motherboard of the one I'm after (SN41G2) there is:

• Graphics Card + TV Out
• Sound Card
• Network Card

So add a processor, Hard Disk, memory and DVD drive and you've got a virtually silent home entertainment system, playing DVD's mp3's etc on your home TV.

Paddy

[Spoons]

thanks Paddy, i will investigate the shuttle.

my dac system was going to be:

sound card: Terratec Aureon 7.1

Tall Tower

P4 2GigHz win98se

4 x 120 GIG hardrives

1x cd burner

1 x remote control

and network it to my primary system, so i can operate it all from there.

dac would sit under the table of my hi fi system sits on so i can hook it up straight to the hi fi permanatly.

[Paddy]

Sounds good, I've already got a spare processor and memory so just need the other bits and pieces. Just found this on eBay the company's selling quite a few of them. Haven't used eBay before so not sure about getting it but there are some around.

With the remote control I use a program called Girder that allows you to control your enitre PC from the remote (I'm using the one that comes with the Pinnacle PC TV Card).

These days, PC's especially with software like DAP should become part of your Hi-Fi as they are getting a lot more attractive (no more grey boxes) and are relatively innexpansive.

Paddy

[Spoons]

I have a pinnacle capture card as well!! is this what you have?



I have never used the remote control before. but now i will take a look at that link.

[Paddy]

Yep thats the one, you need to go to the Girder forum to get the driver for it (link should be on one of the feature pages), but once setup it's great.

Paddy

[Spoons]

thanks Paddy, do you know if those drivers represent the pctv version i have?
i see pctvs05.zip down to pctvs01tst.zip , and where did you put the dll file?

[Paddy]

I'm using the latest one version 5 I think, just place it in the plugins driectory. Sorry I've got to go out (All day drinking session :D ), but if you need more help setting it up then post a mesage and I'll reply ASAP.

Paddy

[Spoons]

thanks Paddy. past my bet time here now anyway. and it looks like my pinnacle remote control has a dead battery. oh well i will look at things tomorrow.

[Paddy]

Hi Razgo, I thought I'd just post a bit about Girder in case you were having any problems. It is quite a simple program to use with good help on the web site, but can be quite dificult initially.

The file I use to control DAP can be found here (Select Save As ). By asssigning a Ctrl-Alt command using the DAP Keyboard Control facility (i.e. I've setup Ctrl-ALt-P for play) you can assign that key combination to a button on the remote.

I'm also using the Pop Up OSD for displaying a text in the top right hand corner for what is happening, can be quite useful. Get this from here .

Girder can actually be used to control virtually the entire of windows from your remote, such as turning on the screen saver. Controlling Media Player, Real Player WinDVD etc. even controlling the mouse cursor!!

I hope this helps

Paddy

P.S. For DAC computer to go under the HI-FI it's a good setup, but I personally wouldn't go for the 4 120gb Hard Disks. Mainly because High Performance Hard Disks can be extremely loud. Best thing to do is take a similar setup and get a small case (maybe a shuttle) and then network it to your main computer (Hidiing out of hearing) with your hundreds of gigs of music :D

[Spoons]

thanks for the tips Paddy I will suss it all out in the next couple of days.

as for dac, I considered the noise problem also. I thought P4's might be a lot quiter and run cooler than my current AMD system.

I considered sound proofing a section under the table for the dac system but then heat is an issue as well in confined spaces. there is one other option, and that is the wall behind it is the lock up garage wall. so i could stick it out in the garage and poke through the necessary cables through the wall.

[donny]

Re: Small Monitor

just in case you are intereseted I have written a small app that can let girder know what song is playing, and I have written some scripts in girder to show the track playing etc... if there are interested parties I could upload these, so you can adapt them...