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Myth TV + Multiple Video Arcade = Anime for All 94

Posted by Hemos from the how-to-do-it dept.
x-blackout-x writes "Ian C. Blenke writes "The primary goal of the video keg was to build a reliable video box that was easy to transport with enough space to store 3 days worth of Anime fan-subs. The secondary goal of the video keg was to make a home PVR system for video playback and time-shifting, along with a video arcade and perhaps a web browser. The tertiary goal of the video keg was to find an affordable hardware platform so that we could buy 4 of them immmediately to service the primary goal's need for 4 separate video rooms. For a PVR, the machine neeed to be small, quiet, low-heat, and still fast enough to run the software video player and arcade games." You can read the full scoop on this project on his blog Ians Blog "
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Myth TV + Multiple Video Arcade = Anime for All More

Myth TV + Multiple Video Arcade = Anime for All

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  • Just in case his server falls... (Score:5, Informative)

    by plover ( 150551 ) on Monday November 28, 2005 @12:34PM (#14130323) Homepage Journal
    [ Here's the text of his website, just in case his server falls to the slashdotting. ] Mon, 24 Oct 2005

    VideoKeg Whitepaper [blenke.com]

    I wrote this little whitepaper a while back for Amy Zunk to document the function of the VideoKeg/VideoJukebox boxes. Documented here for posterity.

    The primary goal of the video keg was to build a reliable video box that was easy to transport with enough space to store 3 days worth of Anime fan-subs.

    The secondary goal of the video keg was to make a home PVR system for video playback and time-shifting, along with a video arcade and perhaps a web browser.

    The tertiary goal of the video keg was to find an affordable hardware platform so that we could buy 4 of them immmediately to service the primary goal's need for 4 separate video rooms.

    For a PVR, the machine neeed to be small, quiet, low-heat, and still fast enough to run the software video player and arcade games.

    For portability, we decided to go with a smaller mini-ITX style cube box.

    The primary goal suggests redundant drives, but due to the smaller form factor chassis and heat requirements, it was decided that recreating a harddrive should one encounter problems would be a minor task.

    Looking at the primary goal, mplayer seemed to suit the need of playing media with a variety of codecs with a minimum of fuss. Easy to script, easy to extend, low overhead, with the ability to normalize audio and clean up dirty videos - mplayer was simply ideal. This lead to the requirement of a ~1Ghz or greater box. The secondary goals would be served as well, though MAME would like a bit more horsepower for some of the more complex emulators.

    In the end, we settled on a Chyang Fun Cellbox CF-7989EPIA (1Ghz EPIA-MII 10000) turnkey system with 128M of RAM, a Samsung 160G harddrive, and a DVD-ROM drive.

    • The cellbox is a small attractive easy to transport case.
    • The EPIA-M comes with builtin audio, video, mpeg playback hardware, and a variety of other goodies for a VERY attractive price.
    • The 128M stick was enough to run mplayer with an Xserver with plenty left over for PVR software.
    • A 160G harddrive was the sweet spot cost wise at the time of purchase.

    Once the boxes arrived, the decision at the time was which distribution to pick. If I'm managing more than one server for a given purpose, I like to use debian for package management. If this were a lone PVR box, I would have probably used Gentoo simply for the EPIA community support toward that end.

    Starting off with Debian 3.1 Sarge, it was apparent a number of things needed fixing to get it to work with the embedded hardware.

    Step 1, find patches and build a kernel.

    Kernel patches

    After roaming the net for hours, there really seems to be one good source for the latest in EPIA patches: the EPIA wiki:

    http://www.epiawiki.org [epiawiki.org]

    The site has more of a Gentoo bent, but the patches work on a vanilla kernel just the same under debian.

    CPU Optimizations

    While building all packages, it seemed important to pay attention to optimizations to squeeze every last cycle out the 1Ghz processor. To that end, the generally recommended C3 Nehemiah CFLAGS are:

    CFLAGS="-march=i686 -msse -mmmx -mfpmath=sse -Os -pipe -fomit-frame-pointer"

    If you use gcc 3.3, there is a new arch designation for C3 Nehemiah CPUs:

    -march=c3-2

    Some in the commmunity think that the small 64k L1 cache on the C3 processors is causing starvation, and using -Os and not -funroll-loops actually helps performance:

    CFLAGS="-march=i686 -msse -mmmx -mfpmath=sse -Os -pipe -fomit-frame-pointer"

    Many others claim the following works best for them:

    • Looks like he's done with Video Keg what I've been planning to do with a MythTV box to manage watching my DVD collection, even the insertion of commericals (trailers) between playbacks.

      A few more iterations of development to bring in a few more features and this system could be used to run a 24-7 TV station.
      • Except,

        You really need HD capabilities with your system. (At least, most everyone is slowly transition to HD... which is why SD gear is cheap) You need to ensure you are transmitting closed caption data as well. (Depending on the rig, you might get by with sending standard CC and upconverting to the DTV standard at the transmitter encoder)

        Next, you will need to index your available commercial time for insertion. After that, you will need to interface with the traffic/billing system for spots to run and fill
    • Considering that the project here is run by computer geeks who had to search the net for hours in order to get everything working, what are the odds that this will actually become a consumer device? Frankly, the description in the article sounds like more work than I want to do, espeically considering that Tivo's here are running about $40 here. If I work on it for 8 hours to get it working, that's $5 an hour. You can make better money at Wal-Mart and that doesn't even factor in the hardware he purchased

      • Re:Tivo vs VideoKeg (Score:3, Informative)

        by Golias ( 176380 )
        Considering that the project here is run by computer geeks who had to search the net for hours in order to get everything working, what are the odds that this will actually become a consumer device?

        As a matter of fact. [apple.com]
        Pretty good. [elgato.com]

      • Re:Tivo vs VideoKeg (Score:4, Informative)

        by echocharlie ( 715022 ) on Monday November 28, 2005 @02:42PM (#14131569) Homepage
        The Tivo can duplicate the Video Kiosk functionality they used in the Video Keg project, but no the scheduling functionality. When you run video rooms at anime conventions, you operate like a TV broadcaster, and need to schedule programs and have filler material for the unused airtime. This project is an intersting way to do this, and I'll have to take a look at it. If it does what it says, it could be a boon to video room organizers.
        • from the "can't let this pass unchallenged" dept

          so lesse, tivo's don't come with anime kiosk sw by default? I am SHOCKED!!!
          .
          .
          .
          seriously, google is your friend here

          it's as easy to add scheduled playback (+filler) to a tivo as a standard linux distro - MUCH less effort than that guy invested

          but to know that you might have to actually know something about TiVos, much easier to just spout halfbaked opinions as fact...

          • I'm kind of confused by your comment, since I argued that a Tivo would work as a Kiosk out of the box. It's the video scheduling that it doesn't do... I've done a bit of searching for playback scheduling on Tivo, but have come up empty. Pointers would be welcome.
      • Tivo's here are running about $40 here. If I work on it for 8 hours to get it working, that's $5 an hour.

        Well, that $5 per hour is tax and deduction free, so it really ends up being like $10 per hour (more than Wal-Mart). And if you find this kind of thing at all fun, then you just got 8 hours of entertainment *and* a working DVR.

        Do you have a job that pays overtime? I don't; I'm salaried. So my company is not willing to pay me anything extra if I give them those 8 hours. And Wal-Mart doesn't want

  • That's a switch... (Score:5, Funny)

    by CptNerd ( 455084 ) <adiseker@lexonia.net> on Monday November 28, 2005 @12:35PM (#14130338) Homepage

    I always thought porn drove entertainment technology improvements...

    Oh, wait: hentai.

    Nevermind...

  • Xbox + XBMC = Fansub heaven (Score:3, Informative)

    by Oz0ne ( 13272 ) on Monday November 28, 2005 @12:39PM (#14130368) Homepage
    I've been using a modded xbox plus the fantastic xbox media center to play my fansubs for well over a year. It's the only reason I own an xbox. The simplicity of setup (relative,) size, and power is really unmatched. Depending on the encoding, XBMC will even play some HD content.

    Yes it's not a PVR, but it gets most of your goals done in about $100-130 and an hour or two.
    • I just posted a link about this on the MCE + xbox 360 story discussion. This really does work out very well. Set this up plus grab a $10 mobile HD rack from newegg (I know the bytecc ones work well with the xbox, haven't seen any others in action) and it becomes a really easy and portable solution. Quickly copy all your fansubs to the HD, swap it into the xbox and run out the door to the con. Plus the bytecc racks have fans built in to help with the overheating although I don't know if they actually mak
    • I'm afraid the fansubbing community is slowly moving on to H264 codecs, so I doubt your Xbox will be a valid fansub player much longer. My Athlon 64 3000+ barely handles x264 video as it is.
      • That's a good point. There are some of the higher res/frame HD encodings it chokes on now, however your athlon 64 really should have no issue. My iMac 1.8ghz does just fine with x264.
      • I've only played one DVD-res x.264 video, but it came across fine on my Athlon XP 2500+ with Radeon 9700. I think you have other problems.
        • Problem would be that I have other processes running that take (some) CPU. I'm not saying x264 doesn't play, I'm saying I don't feel it's playing back as smoothly as xvid does. On parts where the bitrate is particularly high, I get the same feeling as when playing Quake-style games with vsync off -- half-loaded frames. This problem goes away if I close down all other programs, but that's not really the way I want to use my computer.
    • Having my Xbox's primary use (~98%) being watching fansubs I'd also have to agree. You could easily purchase 4 Xboxs and use a softmod to flash the TSOP so you wouldn't even need to spent extra on modchips. Then install the Xbox Media Center along with an Xbox port of MAME and maybe a few console emulators. You have a device which can playback almost any video or audio format and will play the Arcade games that were desired.

      You could then build a MythTV server with multiple tuners to handle the Recordi

      • you don't have to flash the tsop anymore... a year ago softmods became stable enough to boot from (in fact an xbox v1.6+ doesn't allow a tsop flash anymore)

        nowadays they even support more features than an ordinary modchip (virtual c drive, virtual eeprom, mounting of dvd images, etc...)

        your idea of using a mythv server and xbox clients is excellent though!

        too bad i don't really have the expertise to set up a mythv server in a reasonable amount of time... maybe i'll take a look at Mediaportal [sourceforge.net].
        • Guess I'll need to go diving into the Xbox scene again. Of course having an modchip and only watching anime with an occasional Media Center update will do that to you. ;-)

          Mediaportal does look interesting, is that the program that was spawned from the Xbox Media Center? I haven't looked at the one in a while but Mediaportal does look pretty mature.

    • I use a set of python scripts developed to integrate XBMC with my myth backend

      http://sourceforge.net/projects/xbmcmythtv/ [sourceforge.net]

      These are pretty much like having a xbox optimized mythtv frontend. I was booting into linux to run mythtv for a while, but couldn't stand the 5min boot. I've been using this alternative for over a year and it has had a very high WAF. :)

      I can't tell you the last time I used the xbox to play a game. I use it as PVR frontend on a daily basis.
    • File Size limitations?
      have any luck with DivX rips ~2 GB?
      The XBox installs I used, don't support a partition greater than 112GB (makes a second one with my 250GB, but thats very difficult to use with XBMC.) So the next option was a SMB share, well that didn't work from the XBOX for file sizes over 1.5G (apperently run into the samba size limits on linux.)

      The xbox controllers controlls for video playback are truely awesome (on the files it will play of mine) much much better than the tivo remote.

      (this weeks
      • if i understand it correctly you're going to try to hook up an usb disk to your xbox

        little advice:
        don't... the only way i can think it's doable is using an xbox linux distro, you won't get it working in xbmc

        besides... the xbox's usb ports are 1.1 so their troughput is way to slow to stream video
      • I'm using an actual windows share to stream the videos off of. I haven't run into any trouble except when my 802.11g signal strength is too low. I've never seen a divx that is 2gig, if that was the case I'd just burn it to a dvd and put it in the drive :)

  • FYI to all (Score:5, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 28, 2005 @12:40PM (#14130385)
    This was originally a story on Newsforge.com (http://software.newsforge.com/software/05/10/28/1 625258.shtml?tid=132&tid=68&tid=5 [newsforge.com]). It gives the reason why Ian created the video jukebox.
  • wouldn't this have been better served by modding a xbox? The Do It Yourself aspect is interesting but with the arrival of the Xbox 360 there soon should be plenty of cast offs that would require little modifaction to achieve the same result, granted a bigger hdd would be nice in an Xbox but.. that's why I have network cable :)

    • Re:Not that it matters much but... (Score:4, Interesting)

      by Billy the Mountain ( 225541 ) on Monday November 28, 2005 @01:08PM (#14130621) Journal
      The problem, I see, with the XBox 360 is it's pre-planned low supply--you can't go out today and buy one at retail price.

      The problem with the original XBox is it's processor speed. From my research, an XBox, having a 733 MHz chip has just enough performance to record video but probably not enough to time-shift, i.e., record and playback simultaneously.

      I'd love to be proven wrong on this :)

      BTM
      • Why not have a central media server with an old xbox in every room? That's what I do. I don't use it to record TV because I have the awesome ( I mean it ) dish network PVR, but it should doable, right?
      • From my research, Xbox (the original) only has USB 1.1 and no PCI, thus making it suboptimal for video recording. And the 733MHz CPU can't even handle HDTV resolutions for MPEG4/DivX type movies. Its performance with H.264 (AVC) would be even more limited.

        And the GP didn't suggest 360, he suggested 360 would create cast-offs of original Xboxes. 360 is pretty unavailable right now, but I don't agree it is on purpose, and I don't think it will last long.
  • Did you notice the mod_rewrite crazyness ?
    Weren't URL meant to be somewhat hierarchical ?
    Not trolling but I think that sometimes Google SEO goes a little too far when the URL is meant to be only usefull to Google and not to the normal human user...
  • I'm more amused that he had an idea for playing commercials while waiting for a scheduled file to play. Now, if only Real Otaku Heroes [realotakuheroes.com] had video to go along with them; that would've been very appropriate to play in between fansubs. Or at least play some Japanese commercials, since some of those are a riot, too.
  • mpeg2 hardware in/out (5% processor utilization on a amd 1700)
    mplayer to transcode
    and setup a cron job to recode your mpeg2 files to xvid

    There is no quest... it's all pretty basic...

  • Myth? (Score:1, Offtopic)

    by Naomi_the_butterfly ( 707218 )
    /me goes to watch Mythbusters.

  • *sigh* (Score:4, Funny)

    by Chr0nik ( 928538 ) on Monday November 28, 2005 @01:03PM (#14130570)
    I thought someone finally combined a tv with a beer dispenser, and I was like, "EUREKA!", but no.... I guess I'll just have to wait till Adam corolla starts a line of products.

    Damn.
    • The heat from the tube actually incubates the yeast in your own home TV microbrew.

      The Keg part was a clever name chosen while putting it together, nothing more.

      Besides, have you seen the teenage anime otaku? Would _you_ give them beer?

  • MythTV? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by LightningTH ( 151451 ) on Monday November 28, 2005 @01:03PM (#14130573)
    So how do you get MythTV in the subject when the article is talking about a custom bash script and perl script to play Anime?
    • You beat me to it. Did the editors even RTFA? I did. It was interesting and had some value, but it had nothing to do with MythTV...

      • Re:MythTV? (Score:2, Informative)

        by MrGuru ( 8276 )
        While the con happens once a year (the boxes are used for other events), MythTV is used to make them useful _the rest of the year_ hooked up to TVs.

        That's how MythTV worked its way into this. Not that anyone really cares.

        • MythTV is used to make them useful _the rest of the year_ hooked up to TVs.

          Which I assume was the quadternary goal.

          TWW

    • it's a mythtery known only to Slashdot editors (With apologies to Robert Asprin)

  • I bet... (Score:3, Funny)

    by Kagura ( 843695 ) on Monday November 28, 2005 @02:08PM (#14131219)
    ...that the primary reason he had three goals was to show he knew what word actually follows secondary :)

    The tertiary goal of the video keg was to find an affordable hardware platform so that we could buy 4 of them immmediately to service the primary goal's need for 4 separate video rooms.
  • Why aren't there any pics of this unit? I'm interested in not only the hardware, but the touchscreen, and just some general pics of it in action.

  • Why Fansubs? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Microlith ( 54737 ) on Monday November 28, 2005 @03:17PM (#14131921)
    Considering the entirety of the anime industry is suffering from reduced sales, why is it that a method that is effectively illegal being promoted while the companies that produced this stuff, and legally license it, get the shaft?

    Can anyone come up with a valid, sensical reason?
    • Probably because they're so ass-slow about getting their releases out. A popular show screens in Japan, and there are two or three fansubs out within the week.

      These days, the video quality is generally high, not quite DVD standard, but fairly close.The translation by most groups is generally on par with the official releases (I don't speak Japanese, but I do know English pretty well, and often the official releases come with poor grammar, spelling mistakes, and poor sentance construction) and the subbing

      • wrong answer (Score:1, Flamebait)

        by Ogemaniac ( 841129 )
        They have always been "slow-ass". Yet sales are decreasing while popularity is increasing. It is obviously because of piracy.

        Quit complaining and pay for your goodies. By the time you have watched all the legally-available anime released in the US, your Japanese will be good enough that you don't need the subtitles anymore and you can just buy new stuff direct from Japan.

        Btw, I do speak fair Japanese, and have rarely encountered problems with the official translations. Those that do appear are rel

        • Re:wrong answer (Score:2, Interesting)

          by lakeesis ( 325621 )
          The largest part of the slump in anime sales can be attributed to one very legal use: Netflix rentals. My own anime consumption (ie: buying) has dropped precipitously, while I'm watching more shows than ever. $19 a month for 7 discs of anime is a far better deal than $25/3 episodes. Though Netflix does buy a large number of discs, it is still fewer than the same group of fans who all rent them.

          However, this is all a bit off-topic; the machine itself sounds like it is well-suited to a unique set of needs, us
          • sales decline, too. Also, you are the first person I have ever heard claim that they used netflix substantially for anime. More than half of the hardcore anime fans that I know are substantial pirates, however. They buy almost none but download tons. Fan-subbing has eliminated nearly half of the market by my estimation.

            Btw, don't complain about prices - anime is actually cheaper in the states than it is here in Japan. I am not kidding. DVDs are $35/disk for normal movies and can be even higher for
            • More than half of the hardcore anime fans that I know are substantial pirates, however. They buy almost none but download tons. Fan-subbing has eliminated nearly half of the market by my estimation.

              I wouldn't say fansubbing has eliminated nearly half the market. Rather, it has prevented the market from growing. That's the price of being slow on the uptake, same as the music industry is finding with online music. People wanted anime long before legitimate suppliers bothered supplying it. A black market de

        • Re:wrong answer (Score:1, Flamebait)

          by LordLucless ( 582312 )
          Quit complaining and pay for your goodies. By the time you have watched all the legally-available anime released in the US, your Japanese will be good enough that you don't need the subtitles anymore and you can just buy new stuff direct from Japan.

          Did you read my post? I do pay for my anime. I have purchased every anime series, that I am interested in, that has been released in my country (Australia, not the US). Why would I want to buy all legally-available anime? I'm not interested in all anime. I am
          • The quality is not particularly different (a random error every twenty videos means squat). And I am willing to wager that a significant fraction, probably the majority, of downloading is of videos already released overseas.

            I presume that, on your honor, you immediately buy every video that you downloaded in advance when it is eventually released?

            If not, it isn't speed or quality, but theft that is your motivation.
            If you watch it or listen to it, pay what the authors ask. All else is theft. Simp
            • I presume that, on your honor, you immediately buy every video that you downloaded in advance when it is eventually released?

              Apart from those that I downloaded, viewed, and didn't like (in which case they're no longer on my harddrive), then yes. It probably helps that I'm fairly picky about what I watch and only like a few series.

              The quality is not particularly different (a random error every twenty videos means squat). And I am willing to wager that a significant fraction, probably the majority, of do
    • Because there are a lot of titles that will most likley never see US licenses. Maria-sama ga Miteru, ParaKiss, Honey&Clover... etc. and alot of titles would never even get licensed if it weren't for the "buzz" generated by fansubs.
      • Plenty of bad anime made it to the states long before fan-subs, and virtually all of the good stuff. This argument is both impossible to confirm and rather silly.
    • Can anyone come up with a valid, sensical reason?

      As soon as you come with a valid, sensible question.

      Considering the entirety of the anime industry is suffering from reduced sales, why is it that a method that is effectively illegal being promoted while the companies that produced this stuff, and legally license it, get the shaft?

      There lies the problem : your assumptions and hatred.
      I'll believe your word that anime industry is suffering from reduced sales, even though I know two thing :
      - This has nothing to

  • Too-lazy-to-check-wikipedia-for-keg (Score:1, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Video "keg"? Please help an AC out and tell me either what a keg is in this context, or speculate on whether he built something that really belongs on mini-itx.com .

    I like the look of kegs. That would make a cool project to put a mini-itx PC or cluster in.

    Also, somebody humorously speculate on what the pump is for. I don't got much. Actual drinks? Circulating the coolant? Charging the battery? Reset button? Ctrl+Alt+Del button? Charging the fizzler? Fizzling the charger?
    • Perhaps they were showing some of the "adult" anime, making the pump useful for... uh... I suppose it would depend on whether the viewer was male or female....

  • Anime.. keg.. (Score:3, Funny)

    by Tourney3p0 ( 772619 ) on Monday November 28, 2005 @03:31PM (#14132039)
    Ah yes.. those two little words that guarantee a lifetime of involuntary abstinence.

    "Hey baby.. wanna come back to my (parents') place? I've got a(n anime) keg!"

  • I'm actually working on a very similar project, right now.

    I'm trying to finish up the software end of things before I go out and purchase hardware, but I've got a sourceforge project up (AFX [sf.net]), although currently, I'm working on local versions of the source and not checking into CVS due to a major rewrite and complete lack of planning.

  • AEGIS does this too, and probably better (Score:4, Informative)

    by Danj2k ( 123765 ) on Monday November 28, 2005 @03:37PM (#14132099)

    From a post on Anime News Network forums [animenewsnetwork.com]:

    UK anime cons have had a similar system to this for the past several years. It's called AEGIS and plays back digital video according to a predetermined running schedule, including automatically fitting AMV's, adverts etc into the gaps between programmes. At AyaCon 2005, the whole system was controlled remotely from a single location in the operations room, streaming video across the building's CAT5 network to remote modified VLC clients running on Mac Minis. No runs of coax cable required.

    Having attended several UK conventions over the years, I've seen AEGIS in action and it's pretty polished and reliable. The Mac port is, I'm told, a fairly recent development, and consequently has a few issues... audio starts slightly before video, so there is about a one second delay before you actually start seeing a picture on the screen - it's not out of sync, but it does mean the first second of video gets kind of cut off.

    I don't appear to be able to find a website for it though; Googling it only brings up websites related to Gatekeepers or Gundam and even after eliminating those the only related site I could find is the ANN forum post I quoted above.

  • About a year ago I created a system which accomplishes the same thing. We use it to run the television station for BayCon. It's called Video::PlaybackMachine, and it's available on CPAN:

    http://search.cpan.org/~stephen/Video-PlaybackMach ine-0.03/PlaybackMachine.pm [cpan.org]

    I haven't examined the code, so I'm basing this post on a quick read of the white paper.

    The (known) differences are:

    1. PlaybackMachine is based on Xine, while VideoKeg is based on MPlayer.

    2. PlaybackMachine uses a postgres backend database, so it's

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