I am interested in setting up a Linux box for the sole purpose of ripping and playing all of my 3 year old's DVDs.

I was thinking of using a mini-itx based PC with S-video on the motherboard. I am not looking for super performance or quality. I just want a cheap way to organize and paly all of his DVDs.

I was thinking about something like this: (won't let me post the link - 800 mhz Via C3 motherboard from logic supply)

Will this motherboard be adequate to play DVDs?

Any suggestions for a software and a frontend?

What should I use for a remote? LIRC?


Thanks

Check out Pixelmediasystems Media Box.

I am interested in setting up a Linux box for the sole purpose of ripping and playing all of my 3 year old's DVDs.

I was thinking about something like this: (won't let me post the link - 800 mhz Via C3 motherboard from logic supply)

Will this motherboard be adequate to play DVDs?

Any suggestions for a software and a frontend?

What should I use for a remote? LIRC?
MB/cpu should be fine.
There's many apps for playing dvd's. I like Totem. Take your pick.
If you have a serial port, then LIRC and the $5 PB remote with IR receiver work fine for me.

http://tekgems.com/Products/tg-pbr.htm

yeah, you should be fine.

I'm using xine. I suggest you check out ubuntu as it's very easy to set up, get running and install additional features.

Lirc is kind of a PITA get working but once you slog your way through, it's pretty good. still, it's "old school" linux where men were men and all that... What is pretty cool is you can add custom features. For example, I added "30 second skip" which I like a lot better than chapter search.

You can also get USB IR adaptors as some of the VIA boards don't have serial I/O brought out.

Are you planning on ripping, er, backing up, ISO images or parts of the movies?

I planned on ripping them and removing everything I can to make them smaller. Since they are all kids videos, I'm not super concerned with quality or having all the content.

If you stay in Mpeg2, you should be ok but know that if you transcode to Mpeg4 or H.264 to save space, the VIA board will probably not work for you.

By the way, you might consider storing the images on a NAS or other share and playing back via a networked media player. They run around $300 which is probably less than what your via box will cost. The good news is that these boxes will playback mpeg4/h.264 so you can save a lot of space.

By the way, you might consider storing the images on a NAS or other share and playing back via a networked media player. They run around $300 which is probably less than what your via box will cost. The good news is that these boxes will playback mpeg4/h.264 so you can save a lot of space.

Very few of those media players support H.264. In fact, the only one claiming to support it is the Netgear EVA-8000. Some of them can't even handle MPEG-4.2 with GMC or QPel (Sigma Designs 85xx based players).

Many of the players support internal IDE drives, so if you can fit everything on 750GB, you have a box that's a standalone player plus storage. Examples would be the Mediagate MG-35 for standard definition, and TViX M4000P for high definition.

mpeg4 and h.264 are so close that the distinction is tenuous at best. that said, you are correct that many don't claim H.264 explicitly. though europeans use it for HD TV so I suspect that all devices going forward will (or sink beneath the waves).

I still stand by my recommendation - for kids, a device like this is better than a PC. And since he is not married to a specific encoding standard, the box specifics aren't critical.

mpeg4 and h.264 are so close that the distinction is tenuous at best.

NO.

MPEG-4 Part 10 and H.264 are the same. But the current crop of Sigma Designs 86xx-based media players only support MPEG-4 Part 2 (i.e. DviX), which is A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT CODEC FROM MPEG-4 PART 10, which is not supported by those players.

The current crop of networked media players support MPEG-4 Part 2 but not MPEG-4 part 10, THEREFORE THEY DON'T SUPPORT H.264/AVC. UNDERSTAND???

the PS3 looks like it may be a good frontend as it continues to get developed. It can already playback 1080p content just fine with mplayer (h.264 and others) Just going to take some time to have programs get developed to take advantage of it's unique architecture.

Geexbox

I just tried GeexBox. It's very cool. I love the fact that the whole thing boots from a CD and runs from memory. It's amazing how quiet my machine is when the hard drive isn't running.

The huge problem with GeexBox is that it doesn't support widescreen resolution because they are using a vesa driver. From my understanding vesa only is spec'd for 4:3 screens. I'd love to use GeexBox but this ruins it for me.

I just tried GeexBox. It's very cool. I love the fact that the whole thing boots from a CD and runs from memory. It's amazing how quiet my machine is when the hard drive isn't running.

The huge problem with GeexBox is that it doesn't support widescreen resolution because they are using a vesa driver. From my understanding vesa only is spec'd for 4:3 screens. I'd love to use GeexBox but this ruins it for me.


u can use a native frame buffer driver fome linux kernel just like radeonfb or nvidiafb. then set resolution useing fbset.

Is that something that can be accomplished using their ISO generator tool?

no, u must select fb driver for your gfx card in the menuconfig of kernel.

Sorry for the ignorant question but...
How do I get to a prompt to run menuconfig?

Download the kernel source, run "make menuconfig" and select your gfx card fb driver, build kernel useing uClibc.
Then copy the kernel image into geexbox installed on your harddisk.