Building a CDR/CD-RW Appliance? 21
Fafhrd asks: "My father has developed a new hobby: He records music shows from his satellite dish TV, digitizes the music, and burns a CD to listen in his car. We tried digitizing to the computer as the show runs, but it's cumbersome, as we have to drag the computer across rooms to plug the dish box's Audio-Out into the sound board's Audio-In. So, I'm planning to build a device to do it for him. Just a ATX baby board with sound, a CD-RW and a big HD.
Any ideas on what hardware is the best for this? Where can I find a case compact enough to house it, and not look out of place beside the VCR and the dish set-top box?"
How about a different angle (Score:1)
This was done more often in the pre-CD-R days for people that wanted quality home recordings in the car. The VCR could be put under a seat and the line outputs hooked to CD inputs or an FM antenna converter, the video output is ignored. The VCR could be controlled by the front panel if placed close to the driver or passengers, or the remote assuming line of sight or RF remote.
Hi-fi VCRs and tapes are easy to find and inexpensive. Tapes can be reused and hold hours of quality audio. Tapes are much more resistant to bumps, but probably less resistant to dust than a CD. If your like most sat-TV owners you already have a VCR in the home, and it's capable of recording unattended, that way you can get the music recorded easily.
This may be beyond some people's skills or desires, since it involves hacking your car but it's another angle to tackle your problem.
Re:Addendum (Re:How about a different angle) (Score:1)
That is exactly the difference between "stereo" VCRs and "Hi-Fi Stereo" ones. The former existed several years before the latter.
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Other Solutions (Score:1)
Or you could run some more cable to your wiring closet and feed the audio across the house to the computer, along with an IR/RF remote (or repeater) for remote control of the computer and a speaker so the computer can reply to commands...or a network terminal of some sort (WebTV? Webplayer? iOpener?) for chatting with the computer.
There also are wireless audio devices which could send the audio across the house to the computer. X10.Com [x10.com] has some, and I see that CompUSA [compusa.com] has one on sale this week.
Re:A few thoughts... (Score:3)
use a embedded processor. (Score:1)
Re:Well.. (Score:2)
Putting another computer on the car is a very different project
By slim-line case, you're saying something like those "pizza box" computers? Haven't seen them being sold around here lately... Any websites?
Re:overkill (Score:2)
I haven't heard much about MiniDiscs lately, how much would you expect these (a recorder and a portable player) to cost? I'll look into that...
Actually, DirecTV receivers in Brazil don't have SPDIF. I'm actually using a plain-vanilla RCA-to-line-in cable directly to the computer. That's an improvement, as my father wanted to use cassette tapes as a transfer device... Until he heard how the first one sounded like
Re:A few thoughts... (Score:2)
That said, I could always try buying one on the 'net... Do you recommend any sites?
If I could find a Celeron-level (I'd prefer Duron, but I'm afraid it would generate too much heat) board with an Creative onboard audio, I'd be set...
Re:Sounds like a job for... (Score:2)
This package is really nifty. I'll download it and take a look.
However, it seems to be more of a media player app. And closed source, at that.
Re:Other Solutions (Score:2)
I'll show it to my family, and if they are so inclined, that will be the way.
Too bad it has little hack value... I'd still prefer building one myself
Re:A few thoughts... (Score:2)
Thanks, I'll look into this further.
Re:use a embedded processor. (Score:2)
Re:MiniDisc (Score:1)
BookPC (Score:3)
-Adam
Honk if you've never seen a bazooka fired out a car window.
This sig 80% recycled bits, 20% post user.
Sounds like a job for... (Score:1)
At any rate, a Book PC [google.com] would be the sort of form factor that you're looking for if non-obtrusive is the order of the day.
Well. (Score:1)
I thought it was going to be opened up after development was stable? Whatever.
Re:BookPC (Score:1)
The final outcome is I gave it to my Dad for web-surfing. Next time, I'll choose a quiet ATX box with modular (vs. all-in-one) components.
Maybe a little OT, but hey it's informative...
Real time? (Score:1)
A few thoughts... (Score:1)
Why limit yourself to uATX? Since you don't expect much from the hardware, you might find a smaller FlexATX or even 'book PC' type device suits your needs better. If you want to get really creative, I'm sure you could rig up a custom number with some single-board system, and stick it into most any enclosure you can find...
overkill (Score:2)
Seriously, what I'd do is place my MiniDisc recorder with the TV top and use a portable MiniDisc player (or another set top recorder) to hook it up to my PC.
Advantages:
1- It has a remote control, so you can start recording at will at anything you see.
2- It automatically breaks tracks up when there's a slight pause (and on music-only channels like MTV, this is the case)
3- Given a high quality digital sattelite receiver, you can use SPDIF to capture the music digitally from the start. If not, the AD converter of the MDS-JB920 (that I have) is far superior than most soundcards on the market today (remember: your PC is a noisebox)
4- Given a SoundBlaster Live or any other soundcard with SPDIF, I can digitally transfer music from my recorder to my PC and turn it into MP3s, or burn it on a CD.
Remember: garbage in means garbage out.
Well.. (Score:1)
Then, you could put another computer in the trunk of his car to play the music for him over his car stereo. you wouldn't even have to deal with the cd's.
But, for you case question, a slim-line case spray painted black should look fine.