[rjcTivo04]

Just as a thought. Would it be possible to convert a Phillips DSR7040 DirecTivo box into a Windows XP Media Center?

The reason I ask is I have been doing some extensive reading on additional media playing options such as playing MP3s, displaying photos and such and from what I understand only the actual TiVo brand series 2 boxes support the Home Media Option, which by the way I think is rediculous you have to pay for. Why would I have to pay to share files within my network? And hacking the Linux OS just seems like a real pain in the ass.

 

[Francesco]

Huh?

 

[Lost Dog]

Originally posted by rjcTivo04
Just as a thought. Would it be possible to convert a Phillips DSR7040 DirecTivo box into a Windows XP Media Center?

While you are at it, could you convert my fridge to also be a stove? I think it would save a lot of time if I could just cook things in there.

 

[yotta]

No, the CPUs are not compatible.

 

[Zirak]

Originally posted by Lost Dog
While you are at it, could you convert my fridge to also be a stove? I think it would save a lot of time if I could just cook things in there.

Although you said stove, you seem to be implying oven. Ok, no problem, here you go!

Of course if you really meant stove, you would have to check here. I'll even throw in the kitchen sink.

 

[rjcTivo04]

I didn't think my question was unreasonable. After all, it's just a box with a motherboard, cpu and hard drive. Why not?

Thanks yotta. Do you mean the CPU is not compatible with Windows?

And thank you as well Zirak.

 

[Piggers]

Before you ask a question like that you might want to see what the hardware requirements are for running windows media center edition. They limit there encoders to specific cards. You just cannot stick any card and expect the media center to work properly even on a pc scale. That is why microsoft only use HP for there media center boxes. You cannot buy the media center hardware or OS serperately.

Just my .02.

 

[rjcTivo04]

Is everyone in this community moody or something?

Dell and a number of other vendors already are selling media center PCs. Eventually, M$ will sell the OS seperately. It's only a matter of time. And buying the Media Center hardware seperately is coming at the end of 04.

I don't see why any box couldn't run Win XP MC. It's just XP with a few more features and a special video card. If i had the OS and bought a few small pieces of hardware I could turn my P3 into a Media Center.

 

[Cletus]

I'll tell you how, but only if you help me convert my Accord into a lawnmower.

 

[Piggers]

Originally posted by Cletus
I'll tell you how, but only if you help me convert my Accord into a lawnmower.

I bet monster garage could do it. LOL!

 

[Lost Dog]

Originally posted by Zirak
Although you said stove, you seem to be implying oven. Ok, no problem, here you go!

I feel like I'm living in Cosmopolis! City of the Future!

 

[Lost Dog]

Originally posted by rjcTivo04
Is everyone in this community moody or something?

Yes.
The sad truth is with the advent of TiVo many of us have long since lost the need to leave the house thereby losing all sense of social skills.

Originally posted by rjcTivo04
I don't see why any box couldn't run Win XP MC. It's just XP with a few more features and a special video card. If i had the OS and bought a few small pieces of hardware I could turn my P3 into a Media Center.

A chip is not a chip is not a chip.

Software interacts with specific hardware (let's not get in to semantics about emulators here). That is why you can't go out and buy Mac OSX and run it on your Wintel box.

Very true, you can buy a few pieces of hardware and turn your P3 into a media center. The key part is the few pieces of hardware you purchase are designed to interact with the software (chicken before the egg... the software may be designed to interact with the hardware).

If you try to load XP on your TiVo, it will just say "huh?" and be even more antisocial than everyone here.

 

[rjcTivo04]

Thank you for the civilized, social response this time around Lost Dog.

So it is possible then to make a Media Center box without having to buy a prebuilt machine right? Looking at the specs of one of those prebuilt machines, take one of the Dells for instance it looks just like your run of the mill, high-end machine with a sweet video card, a remote and a Infrared device. Maybe I'm wrong.

Software interacts with specific hardware (let's not get in to semantics about emulators here). That is why you can't go out and buy Mac OSX and run it on your Wintel box.

I can buy that answer. So a Tivo box is specifically designed for Linux then right? That kind of sucks, oh well. Just for argument sake, couldn't I turn a Windows 2000 machine into a Linux box or for that matter create a seperate partition for booting into a Linux system without any hardware changes?

 

[Piggers]

Originally posted by rjcTivo04


Just for argument sake, couldn't I turn a Windows 2000 machine into a Linux box or for that matter create a seperate partition for booting into a Linux system without any hardware changes?

Yes you can but why would you want to. Not really any benefit to doing that. Just build a another machine and put linux on it. It does not have to be a high end machine to run linux.

I think you need to try another forum at this point or go to general topic to find your answers.

 

[Robert S]

You can certainly build a TiVo-like device using commodity PC parts and Linux. The two most popular programs for the front-end for this are MythTV and FreeVo. You would need to check whether that supports exactly the same hardware as your WinNT Media PC or not (PC hardware manufacturers have a habit of only releasing Windows drivers for their components, so you need to check that the capture card etc have good Linux drivers). Dual booting Windows and Linux isn't a problem. There are plenty of people who find TiVo a bit too limiting who have built their own like this.

However a TiVo is not a suitable base for such a project. Although it runs Linux, it's not a PC. You'll notice it doesn't have a keyboard. Or a mouse. Or a VGA card. Or the same type of CPU as a PC. Or very much RAM. And you can't add any of those things to it. TiVoes are 'embedded' devices - they build on commodity hardware and software to create a custom solution to a very tightly defined problem and end up looking and working nothing like a PC, even if that's what they derive from.

 

[TDiGuy]

Originally posted by Lost Dog
While you are at it, could you convert my fridge to also be a stove? I think it would save a lot of time if I could just cook things in there.

As I recall there is a stove that will cool the food during the day and automatically turn on to cook the food to have it ready for you when you get home.

 

[rjcTivo04]

Thanks everyone.

 

[Piggers]

Our pleasure I am sure!

 

[stevel]

A comment - at present, you cannot obtain Windows XP Media Center Edition without buying a box configured with it - Microsoft doesn't sell it separately.

The TiVo hardware is very different from what any PC-type operating system would expect, even ignoring the use of an unsupported CPU.

 

[bobnick]

Hmmm, what's the minimum processor speed that's needed for Windows MCE? And what's the speed of the processor in S1 Tivo's?