i've been thinking about this over the last year to two. decided to put it out there to see if anyone a) had any comments b) knows of existing hardware or c) interested in collaborating
the idea is for a device which can act as a set top box, either as a pure player of content stored or streamed from elsewhere or as a receiver of content using one or more DVB-S2/T2 tuners.
design criteria:
- linux - open source including all drivers and codecs - fast enough to render 1080p - hdmi out - bluetooth/wifi on board - all connectors on one edge of board so casework can be professional quality - tuners on board or pluggable. i had an idea to re-use the dimensions of a standard motherboard and instead of spci slots - have usb plugs instead. a tuner could then plug in like a pci card. - space on the pc for a 2.5" disk (see http://www.sinovoip.com.cn/ecp_view.asp?id=554)