Build an Inexpensive Mini-Media Box

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In this Recipe, I'll show you how to build a mini-media player box using common, compact PC components that can handle the latest and most powerful digital media formats, with zero software cost. Adding these media boxes to your product portfolio can help fill the gap between computing and entertainment. Any user interested in continuous media playback at home or in a place of business should jump at this modern set-top design.

Digital media and computers are as much a part of the 21st century entertainment landscape as celluloid and film projectors were in the 20th. While today's tower PCs can act as media-playback boxes, they leave a lot to be desired when it comes to portability and aesthetics. New developments in miniaturization have put the full power of a modern PC on a motherboard just 40 percent the size of a conventional ATX board. This means system builders can devise highly capable media-playback machines in small boxes, using quiet, low-power components. No longer do you need big, hulking machines and water-cooled CPUs to serve up the hottest entertainment.

Ingredients

Here's everything you'll need to build a low-cost mini-media box:

• Case: I recommend the Travla C158-120, a slimline case that provides enough room for a hard drive and a slimline optical drive, and that supports motherboards using the mini-ITX compact form factor. A DC-to-DC power supply means the case consumes minimal power and runs quietly. With included extension brackets, the case can be made rack-mountable, but for this application, the box is better off tucked into a stereo component stack or TV cabinet.

• Motherboard: I recommend VIA Technologies' EPIA SP-13000 motherboard. VIA's Mini-ITX motherboards—sometimes called "mainboards" in marketing-speak—measure about five inches on each side, just long enough to provide a full ATX I/O riser. They also include accelerated MPEG decoding hardware, making them perfect for this project. The integrated x86-compatible VIA C3 processor runs at 1.3 GHz, sufficient for even MPEG4 encoded video. The motherboard also sports integrated TV output, another key benefit.

• Hard drive: My recommendation is Seagate's Momentus 5400.3 160-GB, 2.5-inch IDE hard drive. Although the Travla case accepts a 3.5-inch IDE drive, the tight spaces and our need to consume low power and keep things quiet make this laptop drive an ideal choice. It uses perpendicular recording, meaning the drive stacks data more densely than notebook-sized drives could in the past, resulting in an impressive 160-GB capacity.

• Memory: Any 512-MB DDR module will do. The VIA C3 processor on our motherboard does not benefit greatly from high-speed memory, so even a DDR266 module is sufficient. Don't waste your customer's money on a 1-GB DDR400 module here; they simply won't see the benefit.

• Optical drive: I like Sony's Slim Combo Optical Drive Model CRX835E. The Travla case supports only a slimline, laptop-class optical drive, so this Sony combo model is a great way to get both DVD and CD writing in one drive.

• Remote controller: ATI's Remote Wonder gets my vote. There are a number of infrared and RF remote controls on the PC market these days, but ATI's products are among the most prevalent and well-supported. What's more, if your customers want to conceal the media player in a central location and pipe video to one or more televisions, the RF transmitter in the remote and the USB receiver don't need line-of-sight to communicate, the way most IR-based remote controls do. The Remote Wonder is also the best-supported remote for our video playback software.

• Media software: GeeXboX Media Player software is based on Linux and the MPlayer video software. It's a stand-alone bootable CD that provides a full embedded OS for media playback. It works with the EPIA motherboard with minimal configuration, and it is a perfect hassle-free solution for a media box.

• Any PC: You will need a Windows (or Linux) PC to prepare the GeeXboX software, burn it to CD, and pre-format the media hard drive.

• A keyboard: Any keyboard will do. You will need it to verify BIOS settings after the hardware build is complete. Of course, you'll need to unplug the keyboard from the prep PC and plug it into the media box at the appropriate time of the build.

• Notebook-to-desktop IDE converters: While both the optical and hard drives are intended for notebook use, our motherboard has standard desktop IDE interfaces. Inexpensive modules (about $8 each) will convert the connectors on the optical and hard drive to accept a standard 40-pin IDE connector and Molex power.

• Mounting brackets: Get some 2.5-inch to 3.5-inch IDE mounting brackets. These are metal rails that let you mount the 2.5-inch notebook drive in a bay intended for a 3.5-inch disk. I recommend this one from Census PC.

• CD-R drive: You'll use this to deliver the GeeXboX system software. You can even use a mini-CD-R, as the entire code takes up only 7 MB.

• Screwdriver: A typical Philips-head screwdriver is the only tool you will need for this Recipe.