[vdr] Re: What about an passive mode of VDR?

[Christian Berger <einStein@donau.de>]

Stefaan Coddé schrieb:
> 
> Now let's be serious.
> 
> Our brain can only focus on *ONE*  video image and that is even not correct.
> Our eyes don't see sharp into the edges so we have to focus  and focus alot
> if screensize
> get's bigger. If You think that you can see more: not possible ..at least,
> then you miss many details.
> 
> Are the other 3 cards used for recording? Isn't one extra card enough?
> now :

Well if you have several ones, you can of course turn of lots of them.

> > Well powering off is not really an option to all of us, like me. However
> > we might implement several additional levels of power savings.
> > How about lowering the voltages used for the LNB. Maybe we can save some
> > additonal energy back then, even when we watch TV.
> 
> A Universal LNB is a strange thing. The power requirments are not sooo
> generous
> and the first thing the voltage controller will do is rizing the current and
> if you turn the voltage
> too low, then it doesn't do anything. And for those who use a disec
> controller that get's it's power
> thry the same cable... ouch.
>  In fact: you might forget that there's still a coax cable used between LNB
> and receiver.
> Most receivers have an option to add a volt to the LNB power cause of losses
> in the cable..depending on their length.
> 
> Conclusion : lowering power is not a good idea. It will work for some, not
> for others.

Yes, but for those whom it works for, it might be a great way to save
power. That's why I'd like to have the voltages for horizontal and
vertical polarisation variable.
 
> > I've just gotten an inspiration. Has anybody ever tried if the DVB card
> > still gets warm when you disconnect the shield? (Mine's currently
> > defective). If it doesn't, we might actually build our own LNB power
> > supply. Maybe it could be a lot more efficient than the current one.
> 
> Less warm since the tuner doesn't has to pass the power thru the connector.
> but watch out... if you just strip the shield away then that doesn't mean
> that there's
> no signal at all.  If the LNB get's the shield from somewhere else eg..
> grounded
> dish then you still will have signal.
> The golden rule to disconnect is to disconnect the positive first :-)

Of course, the ground will always be connected. I'd simply send the
signal throught a capacitor. I've done that before to get a satellite
reciever without 14/18V switch to work with our normal satellite system.
 
> If people intend to use VDR as media terminal....let's give the computer
> air.
> Use a desktop case and sure no tower, drill many ventilation holes in the
> top cover.
> Drill them above the hot spots in the computer.. example, the DVBs tuner.
> Mount a heatsink on the tuner to help spreading the hot air more.
> Folks : this is nothing new: look at tuners, amplifiers, sat set top
> boxes...
> 
> oh well, that just what i wanted to say.

Well maybe one option might be like this:
Build a single computer with lots of DVB cards and wire all your TV-sets
(how about all the TV-sets in an appartment building) to it. That way
you can save lots on energy on the processor and the harddisks. I doubt
a 100Gb harddisks consumes considerably more power than a 10Gb one. It
should be possible to send hundreds of remote controll signals over the
conventional antenna cables with only simple hardware.
 
> Stefaan

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