#294990 - 06/04/2007 14:50
Re: Ripping and compressing DVD movies -- which format and software?
[Re: Phoenix42]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31601
Loc: Seattle, WA
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What are people using for a HTPC, both front end (sits under TV) and backend (just storage?)? Is it primarily MythTV and hacked X-Boxes?
Are people *actually* using xboxes (hacked or not) as home theater media players?
This strikes me as the worst possible device to use for that purpose. My xbox fan is louder than my furnace at full blast. I can hardly stand to have it on at all, even when I'm playing a very loud action game with the volume cranked.
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#294991 - 06/04/2007 15:50
Re: Ripping and compressing DVD movies -- which format and software?
[Re: tfabris]
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veteran
Registered: 21/03/2002
Posts: 1424
Loc: MA but Irish born
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I don't know Tony. Just with all the Xbox hacking that has occurred I'm assuming that the is some hack to use it as a DVD warehouse.
Personally I'd prefer to hack our Series 2 DirecTV Tivo to play ripped DVDs off of networked storage, but getting time to do this is another - if it is even possible. Plus it might not make sense either, isn't that sat stream going away?
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#294992 - 06/04/2007 16:14
Re: Ripping and compressing DVD movies -- which format and software?
[Re: Phoenix42]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31601
Loc: Seattle, WA
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Yes, you can hack series 2 direcTivos. It makes a lot of sense to do, because the current sat stream isn't going to go away, they're simply going to supplement it with the new Mpeg4 birds.
The only reason I haven't hacked mine is that I don't want to lose the current content in the process. There's no way to back up current content so that it's watchable post-hack. (As far as I know: Someone correct me if I'm wrong.)
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#294993 - 06/04/2007 16:33
Re: Ripping and compressing DVD movies -- which format and software?
[Re: tfabris]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 30/10/2000
Posts: 4931
Loc: New Jersey, USA
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The Tivo_Zipper script will preserve your recordings as far as I know. TivoServer will stream VOBs, but I never tested that function myself. The problem with using a DirecTiVo as a media streamer is the lack of support for anamorphic widescreen output. I am currently using a quiet SFF PC running Media Portal. I have only been using it for a week, but it seems to work very well for the price (free). On another note, I heard an estimate that MPEG2 SD streams would be available from DirecTV for at least 10 more years. That wasn't official word from DiecTV, however.
_________________________
-Rob Riccardelli
80GB 16MB MK2 090000736
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#294994 - 06/04/2007 17:14
Re: Ripping and compressing DVD movies -- which format and software?
[Re: robricc]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31601
Loc: Seattle, WA
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The problem with using a DirecTiVo as a media streamer is the lack of support for anamorphic widescreen output.
Even with one of the Hughes high-def DirecTivo units? That one gives me control of the 4:3 TV shows and allows me to stretch them with the press of a button. Wouldn't it do the same for other playback?
Quote:
The Tivo_Zipper script will preserve your recordings as far as I know.
Interesting. Last I heard, the situation was thus:
- Stuff already saved to the Tivo hard disk was encrypted.
- Hacking the Tivo removes encryption from the algorithm that saves and plays back the movies, thus allowing any FUTURE recordings to be fully shareable. However, existing recordings would stay encrypted and couldn't be played back.
Maybe I interpreted this wrong, and actually what was meand was that existing recordings couldn't be *shared* with PCs or with other people because of the encryption.
In any case, I'd like to learn more, as hacking my Tivo is getting more and more appealing to me each day.
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#294995 - 06/04/2007 17:26
Re: Ripping and compressing DVD movies -- which format and software?
[Re: tfabris]
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old hand
Registered: 07/01/2005
Posts: 893
Loc: Sector ZZ9pZa
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This strikes me as the worst possible device to use for that purpose. My xbox fan is louder than my furnace at full blast. I can hardly stand to have it on at all, even when I'm playing a very loud action game with the volume cranked.
Tony, you gotta play around with XBMC on a hacked Xbox. There are options to clock down the fan speed directly or link it to the system temperature. Mine is linked to the temp and constantly spins at 10% of its normal speed - and I never hear it until I load up a game. I have it also turn off the light on the front when playing a video file, its really that unobtrusive.
Mine is a little further modified so I can turn it on and off with the remote. It boots in literally < 5 seconds. Its totally rock solid stable, so flexible and really easy to use.
Only downsides I can think of at a stretch would be that its big and ugly in the age of the Apple TV, there is no HD and it struggles with really high res files, erm, oh and the remote is tacky.
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#294996 - 06/04/2007 17:27
Re: Ripping and compressing DVD movies -- which format and software?
[Re: tfabris]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 30/10/2000
Posts: 4931
Loc: New Jersey, USA
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Quote:
Quote:
The problem with using a DirecTiVo as a media streamer is the lack of support for anamorphic widescreen output.
Even with one of the Hughes high-def DirecTivo units? That one gives me control of the 4:3 TV shows and allows me to stretch them with the press of a button. Wouldn't it do the same for other playback?
I never even thought of that possibility. I don't know if show sharing works on the HR10-250. I know that you can extract from it though...
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The Tivo_Zipper script will preserve your recordings as far as I know.
Interesting. Last I heard, the situation was thus:
- Stuff already saved to the Tivo hard disk was encrypted.
- Hacking the Tivo removes encryption from the algorithm that saves and plays back the movies, thus allowing any FUTURE recordings to be fully shareable. However, existing recordings would stay encrypted and couldn't be played back.
Maybe I interpreted this wrong, and actually what was meand was that existing recordings couldn't be *shared* with PCs or with other people because of the encryption.
In any case, I'd like to learn more, as hacking my Tivo is getting more and more appealing to me each day.
Un-hacked Stand Alone Series2 Tivos can share shows between each other and their recordings are still encrypted. I don't know if it would work the same way with DirecTivos because I have always hacked mine in a way that destroys the pre-existing recordings.
I don't think anyone ever bothered cracking Tivo's encryption since it's easy to just disable it. But yes, the encryption would disallow you from extracting your existing shows to a PC.
I've never used the Zipper, I don't know exactly what it does, but I think it just patches an existing image... it can even be an image of your drive (which is how you get to keep your recordings). As long as you have an image of your tivo, I don't think it's too risky to try the Zipper and see what it enables for you. It just takes time. Since it's an automated script, it's probably not too time consuming though.
_________________________
-Rob Riccardelli
80GB 16MB MK2 090000736
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#294997 - 06/04/2007 17:31
Re: Ripping and compressing DVD movies -- which format and software?
[Re: tfabris]
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old hand
Registered: 07/01/2005
Posts: 893
Loc: Sector ZZ9pZa
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My xbox fan is louder than my furnace at full blast.
Oh wait, maybe you have a 360? Not a lot you can do about that, and yes its damn loud.
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#294998 - 06/04/2007 17:39
Re: Ripping and compressing DVD movies -- which format and software?
[Re: sein]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31601
Loc: Seattle, WA
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Quote:
Quote:
My xbox fan is louder than my furnace at full blast.
Oh wait, maybe you have a 360? Not a lot you can do about that, and yes its damn loud.
Yeah, forgot to mention that the 360 was specifically what I was talking about.
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#294999 - 06/04/2007 19:43
Re: Ripping and compressing DVD movies -- which format and software?
[Re: Phoenix42]
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addict
Registered: 11/01/2002
Posts: 612
Loc: Reading, UK
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Myth
Frontends (2) are motherboard+CPU+RAM (onboard everything) booting diskless.
Backend is a £99 Dell mini tower (special offer) with a PVR350 to record Sky over s-video and a DVB-S to get free satellite.
All have homemade IR rx.tx units (from the lirc site)
I have a 1.2Tb raid5 in there made up of 5 300Gb SATA drives.
_________________________
LittleBlueThing
Running twin 30's
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