Ibn's blog

Last time I wrote about the HTPC project (though I wrote HMC), nothing was working, today it's quite the opposite. Sometimes, in order to solve a problem, you have to just grind - and if you do that long enough you will solve the problem. At other times, the solution will be quicker/better if you take a step back. The HTPC project is a case of the latter.

A month or two ago, our cheap DVB-T to PAL converter died a tragic death. The most tragic thing about it was that we were pretty indifferent about it. It wasn't very good, and we don't watch TV very much. After a while though, we started looking for a replacement. Pretty quickly we decided that timeshift and recording are essential features, so we started looking around for a replacement with those features.

The replacements were not very cheap (by our standards), ca 2500SEK (ca $300US) - and that was when the geek was awakened from its oh so short slumber. I spent a day or two (or five) browsing for parts - and came up with a supperior solution for the same money. After a (suspiciously short) period of convincing, Linda agreed that we ought to buy the parts and build our own HMC (home media center).

Screendump showing xorg output in an ssh session.

The TV and HMC with the DVB-T reciever plugged in.