Thoughts on a set-top box

[Ty Unes]

Philip Dorr wrote:
> To do stereo couldn't you use to transmitters and two cheap 
> receivers.  (One set for the right channel and the for other for the left)
LOL! - Why yes! I suppose you could.
>
> On Tue, Sep 8, 2009 at 8:50 PM, Ty Unes <riverty at kc.rr.com 
> <mailto:riverty at kc.rr.com>> wrote:
>
>     Jonathan Hutchins wrote:
>
>         I have a DirecTV DVR which is a pretty slow, stupid box, but
>         is linked to their web site, and I can download what they have
>         on offer.  I've messed with mediatomb, and so far the ratio is
>         about three hours futzing with the setup for each three
>         minutes of music/video I want to play, to be repeated next
>         time because the working setup inexplicably broke.
>
>         I'd like to have an option to pipe an audio stream from a
>         cental PC to various non-digital audio systems around the
>         house.  My first guess would be an FM transmitter plugged
>         directly into the output jack of the sound card.  Every FM
>         transmitter I've tried, though, has been barely capable of
>         transmitting to a receiver 18" away, let alone through the
>         steel siding to the detatched garage.
>
>         I could build a full-fledged MythTV box to go beside the
>         DirecTV box - who knows, it might even replace it - but that
>         may be overkill, and doesn't cover listening in the garage.
>
>         So what do you think I should do?  I could shop around for old
>         laptops, and put one at each listening point - I can handle
>         setting up streaming from there.  I could grab two or three
>         $150 netbooks, and use them - they'd probably burn less
>         electricity.  I could go exotic, get some microatx or PC104
>         hardware and build from there.  What's the best solution?
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>          
>
>     I was faced with the same situation here. Wanted a way to pipe
>     Sirius radio through the house without breaking the bank buying
>     Sirius radios! FCC requirements for low power, unlicensed FM keep
>     effective transmitter range too small to cover a house. You get
>     much better distance with AM however, if your OK with AM (mono)
>     sound quality!
>
>     I purchased and built an AMT-3000 low power AM transmitter about a
>     year ago. This is a legal (FCC authorized 100mW) high-quality AM
>     transmitter. It works great and sounds as good (even better) than
>     our local AM stations! True, I'm not getting stereo / CD sound
>     quality, but it does / can sound pretty darn good. If you own an
>     "expanded bandwidth AM" radio, the sound IS just as good.
>
>     I listen to a lot of talk radio (read Howard Stern!) so I'm not
>     effected by the sound quality loss as much as music. If you plan
>     on transmitting mostly vocal tracks (like movies) I would think
>     this would work great for you and it's kinda fun to build!
>
>     rt...
>
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