Ibn's blog

Last time I wrote about the HTPC project (though I wrote HMC), nothing was working, today it's quite the opposite. Sometimes, in order to solve a problem, you have to just grind - and if you do that long enough you will solve the problem. At other times, the solution will be quicker/better if you take a step back. The HTPC project is a case of the latter.

With the help of an s-video to composite converter I got colour working, and I must say that V blowing up the Old Bailey is a bit more impressive that way.

With the help of a forum post, I got a nice and steady picture. But black and white TV is soooo '50s.

A month or two ago, our cheap DVB-T to PAL converter died a tragic death. The most tragic thing about it was that we were pretty indifferent about it. It wasn't very good, and we don't watch TV very much. After a while though, we started looking for a replacement. Pretty quickly we decided that timeshift and recording are essential features, so we started looking around for a replacement with those features.

The replacements were not very cheap (by our standards), ca 2500SEK (ca $300US) - and that was when the geek was awakened from its oh so short slumber. I spent a day or two (or five) browsing for parts - and came up with a supperior solution for the same money. After a (suspiciously short) period of convincing, Linda agreed that we ought to buy the parts and build our own HMC (home media center).