[ILUG] Build your own MP3 player?

[Paul Kelly]

John P. Looney wrote:

> Not really. Why not go the whole hog;
>     A box with decent 3D that you could play TuxRacer on

>     A box with decent audio so you could play CDs of MP3/OGGs

>     A box with reasonably CPU so you could watch a DIVX encoded movie on a
>         DVD RAM/CDROM


Doesn't take much CPU if you've got some support in the video chipset 
that's used by the decoder.

You also want a video chipset that can directly do TV resolution at TV 
rates. Not 800x600/640x480 VGA non-interlaced that must go through some 
tortuous route to get into something a TV won't barf on. ATI are the 
only respectable chips I know of at the moment that can do it.

>     A box that's got an RJ45 socket & modem, so it's your dial up router


802.11g surely!

>     A box that's solid state so you don't notice if it's left on all the
>         time


If the hard disk is well chosen (possibly 2.5", definitely 5400rpm or 
less) and properly secured to a decent case, it should be quiet enough 
you won't mind it spinning 24x7.

>     A box with a TV tuner so it's a digital video recorder (spin up the
>         hard disk when recording/playing, then turn it off again)


Quality encoding hurts. You really want an MPEG2 encoder chipset and a 
high quality digital video encoder. I'd also suggest that the device 
offer the ability to record directly to a CDR/CDRW/(re)writeable DVD. 
Further, I would suggest that any company offering such a device device 
should seek to retain the legal services of OJ Simpson's team.

Paul.