Thoughts on a set-top box

[Chris Bier]

Jonathan Hutchins wrote:
> I have a DirecTV DVR which is a pretty slow, stupid box, but is linked to 
> their web site, and I can download what they have on offer.  I've messed with 
> mediatomb, and so far the ratio is about three hours futzing with the setup 
> for each three minutes of music/video I want to play, to be repeated next 
> time because the working setup inexplicably broke.
> 
> I'd like to have an option to pipe an audio stream from a cental PC to various 
> non-digital audio systems around the house.  My first guess would be an FM 
> transmitter plugged directly into the output jack of the sound card.  Every 
> FM transmitter I've tried, though, has been barely capable of transmitting to 
> a receiver 18" away, let alone through the steel siding to the detatched 
> garage.
>
> I could build a full-fledged MythTV box to go beside the DirecTV box - who 
> knows, it might even replace it - but that may be overkill, and doesn't cover 
> listening in the garage.
> 
> So what do you think I should do?  I could shop around for old laptops, and 
> put one at each listening point - I can handle setting up streaming from 
> there.  I could grab two or three $150 netbooks, and use them - they'd 
> probably burn less electricity.  I could go exotic, get some microatx or 
> PC104 hardware and build from there.  What's the best solution?


You could try one of the small transmitters from Ramsey Electronics or
build a larger one.
http://www.ramseyelectronics.com/hk/

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