[vdr] Re: STB VDR

[Emil Naepflein <Emil.Naepflein@philosys.de>]

On Fri, 19 Apr 2002 10:27:04 +0200, Marc Haisenko
<marc.haisenko@software-for-people.com> wrote:

> I don't know which version this is, I looked on the circuit board but there 
> are no informations about the rating. It is without fan though, and has 
> enough rating to power a 2,5" HDD ;-) You need a special 3,5" IDE -> 2,5" IDE 
> cable though, but you should be able to get it easily in computer stores.

Does that mean that only 2.5" HDDs are working in the box? 
I read that 2 3.5" bays are available.

[snip info from www.linux4.tv ]

> Look at www.linux4.tv, hopefully all questions get answered there. Please not 
> that the docs and Linux "distribution" is not in the quality one might 
> expect, I sometime was very disappointed. For example, to make use of the 
> GeodeFB and thus hardware MPEG2 playback and stuff, you have to use their 
> patched kernel 2.4.0 (!!!), which has severe problems with multicasting in 
> the network driver.

Should be no problem. I have experience with embedded Linux systems with
much less support. ;-)

> 
> I spoke to the people from NSC at the CeBIT and they said they will release a 
> new reference plattform for the Geode soon and will release new software with 
> it. We hope this really will be soon (they said sometime in May), and that 
> they have a newer kernel included... 2.4.0 is a pain sometimes, you can feel 
> the experimental spirit ;-)

Have you ever tried to make a diff to a vanilla 2.4.0 kernel and patch a
more current one?

> 
> > It seems to be a nice box for VDR, maybe still a bit expensive in this
> > stripped down version. Actually for a pure VDR system most of the video
> > features are pretty useless. Barebone systems like the MSI-6215 are
> > probably a better match for VDR software, except for the noise and
> > appearance.
> >
> > If it would have a VGA support for XGA it would be probably nice to
> > drive a projector, but with 800x600 it isn't possible to display full
> > PAL resolution.
> 
> Maximum PAL is 768x576, that's lower than XGA :-)

Not with true 16:9 output. Then you need 1024x576. :-)

[ I have an anamorphic lens for the projektor which requires output of
1024x768. ]

> What's a Nova card ?

It's a cheap DVB card without MPEG2 decoder. The decoding could be done
bei the EM8400.

But all this requires probably a lot of new software.

> And with the power requirements: I don't know, it has no problems with a PCI 
> networking card but these don't use much power ;-) 

I thought one Ethernet port is onboard?
Is it supported by a Linux driver?

Emil