Q. What do you get in a DM7000?
A. For full info you can go to the official site but to summarise:
* DVB Satellite tuner. (In future, you may be able to buy Cable and DTT versions too, but the mainboard does not seem to have front-end module slots, so my guess is Cable and DTT will need their own motherboards. So you would need two Dreamboxes to get DVB and DTT, for example.)
* Loop-through connectors for LNB and SCART. This makes it easy to start using the DREAMBOX before you're ready to disconnect your old receiver. The SCART loopthrough may also help if your TV does not have enough SCARTs for all the devices you have. (WARNING: I have not yet succeeded in getting the LNB loop-through to work!! It seems that the loop-through is just a "T" connection; that is, only one receiver may be switched on a time. For some setups it might be better to use an external satellite signal switchbox e.g. from Global Communications.)
* PowerPC CPU with 64 MByte RAM. The RAM does not look expandable, so 64 is the max.
* Hardware MPEG decoder.
* 10/100 Ethernet port.
* Cables/brackets for IDE hard disk. NB there is NO HARD DISK as standard - you need to add one if you want to use the PVR timeshift functions (timed recordings from radio and TV), unless you use a remote hard disk shared via the Ethernet network with NFS. If you buy an internal hard disk, choose one which is quiet, and doesn't take too much power. For Dreambox, 5400 RPM is better than 7200 RPM, and < 500 mA of power from 5V and 12V is best. Interface is IDE ATA 66, max capacity supported is 120 GBytes.
* USB port
* SPDIF audio output as well as analog (phono sockets). AC3 support is included.
* RS232 9-pin serial port.
* Intelligent Remote Control. This can control your TV as well as the Dreambox.
i have an old 300mhz pc which runs with 64k ram but has huge expansion slots which would hinder the process of adding the usb etc etc, but il check the board tomorrow and see if its possible to conect a memory card read or that may have to be external as well. even better if the motherboard will fit into a cube?
Mind i can get 1 of these for £45 with board for a amd 1200 processor hich i have got already and it takes sdram which i happen to have a 64k slot available at my disposal. I am then thinking i would be able add a slower hdd and maybe convert an old tv card. I would also need to add ascart socket conversion some how which is where i hope some of you suckoteer engineers might be able to point me in the right direction. Maybe im thinking i wont need this if the tv has a vga or svideo etc.
Any one think this is viable, i would be happy to save £10 and have built it myself.
If this will work i will log the work and post
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