Project History:
March 2003 - Project begins with the purchase of a ME6000 ITX board and the ‘modification’ of my old Technics CD player.
April - Avermedia digital video card tested
May - Hauppauge Nova-T card and linITX flexible riser
15th June - Pick up a Samsung active PCI riser card from Ipswich radio rally for one pound.
October - Try out a Nebula DigiTV USB
January 2004 - After more time playing with the frustrating Nova-T software and another trial of the DigiTV USB a M10000N board becomes essential, as does a new power supply.
February - The Nova-T board is replaced with a Nebula DigiTV PCI. I now have a working PVR for the first time.
28 Feb. - Cooler master heat sink fitted.
1st June - After the success of the Silent-PC project I decide to make a passively cooled case for the PVR.
18th June - Passive cooled PVR case all but finished
June - First version PVR assistant written.
25th July - Picked up Insight P4-ITX board and 2GHz Celeron at Colchester radio rally.
August - Various heat shunts and experimental heat-pipe tested.
14th Sept - 1.8/1.2GHz Pentium 4-M processor fitted to reduce heat
18th Sept - Ituner PW-200-V power supply tested.
9th Nov - I discover that the capacitors have failed on the main board
5th March - Cosmetic tidy up ready for Epiacentre.com competition. Heat sinks re-sprayed, Copper block polished, PSU rewired. Three more blown capacitors replaced
1st August - Second Nebula PCI card purchased to make use of the release of DigiTV v3.5 and its intelligent tuner switching. Three more caps on the motherboard blown!
6th August - Ituner PW-200-V power supply fitted to make room for twin DigiTV tuners
22nd August - Following problems with the Samsung riser a new active riser from Tranquil-PC gets both Nebula cards running.
March 2006 - Purchased an iBase MB890 with 1.6Ghz Pentium mobile, to replace the Insight board. Although the iBase has only a CBVS output (the Insight has S-video) it makes a better job of the TV output, plus it has a DVI out which should be useful for HDTV.
27 April - After testing the iBase board on the bench, the board is finally fitted into the case. The web site is updated.
31 October - Mounted a 20v 60w Dell power supply inside the box and mounted the HDD in a heat-sink enclosure to reduce its noise.
13 March - Replaced the WD HDD and enclosure with a much quieter Samsung Spinpoint drive. I’ll use the WD drive in the SilentPC (its 40GB is getting full and was always very slow)
April - A few subtle modifications to my PVRassistant application has solved the problems with the serial ports, allowing the display and SCART switching to work properly.