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I'm currently using my 37 inch HDTV as my monitor, and use it for playing my movies and such, but now I believe I'm gonna move back to a regular monitor. But I'd still like to view movies on my HDTV, so I'm wonder what would be the best way to get my HDTV to act as my second monitor just for video? I'm using a 7600GT, 2 gigs of ram and a E6600 Core 2 Duo. I'm guessing I can run the video via DVI/HDMI, but for audio that brings up another question. I'm also looking at using this old home theater system of my father's, and I'm wonder how I can connect that to my computer and the videos coming from it, and also my TV for TV viewing and gaming.
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Jul 25, 2007 20:25
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Gr1mm posted:I'm currently using my 37 inch HDTV as my monitor, and use it for playing my movies and such, but now I believe I'm gonna move back to a regular monitor. But I'd still like to view movies on my HDTV, so I'm wonder what would be the best way to get my HDTV to act as my second monitor just for video? I'm using a 7600GT, 2 gigs of ram and a E6600 Core 2 Duo. I'm guessing I can run the video via DVI/HDMI, but for audio that brings up another question. I'm also looking at using this old home theater system of my father's, and I'm wonder how I can connect that to my computer and the videos coming from it, and also my TV for TV viewing and gaming. With HDTVs, that can be a little tricky, especially if your monitor and HDTV aren't the same resolution. How many ports does your graphics card have? If you're not concerned with quality, then you should easily be possible to clone the other port to your desktop. As for hooking up your dad's old receiver to your computer, how old is it? If it's several years old, then it won't have any HDMI or DVI ports, so you would have to bypass it to hook up your video. Does your computer have any digital audio ports (optical or coaxial) as well as the receiver? If so, then cabling will be easier. If not, then you'll need to hook up some splitters to the lines for your desktop speakers and hook up some of these: http://fyad.org/okjr
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Jul 25, 2007 21:39
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kid sinister posted:With HDTVs, that can be a little tricky, especially if your monitor and HDTV aren't the same resolution. I have two DVI ports. Also yes, it is an older home theater in a box type system with a 5 disc DVD changer.
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Jul 25, 2007 23:20
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I've got an old system laying around gathering dust. It's an Amd XP 2000 with 512 megs of ram and a crappy Nvidia card. Could I use it to make a basic HTPC or is it too outdated?
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Aug 1, 2007 03:29
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Milosh posted:I've got an old system laying around gathering dust. It's an Amd XP 2000 with 512 megs of ram and a crappy Nvidia card. Could I use it to make a basic HTPC or is it too outdated? Yes. It can almost certainly use S-video at the very worst. If your TV has VGA or DVI then you can use those, maybe requiring an adaptor. Just don't expect that rig to do well with HD content.
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Aug 1, 2007 04:02
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I am considering making one of these and was just wondering if I have digital cable (cox if it helps) will it be able to see all the channels?
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Aug 1, 2007 14:30
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Milosh posted:I've got an old system laying around gathering dust. It's an Amd XP 2000 with 512 megs of ram and a crappy Nvidia card. Could I use it to make a basic HTPC or is it too outdated? I used almost this exact spec for a good long time as an HTPC. As long as you don't expect to decode HD content, you'll be fine for 99% of the things you want to do.
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Aug 1, 2007 18:31
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L:ordSilent posted:I am considering making one of these and was just wondering if I have digital cable (cox if it helps) will it be able to see all the channels? Depends on how you are gonna set things up. You can use an ir blaster of some sort to control the cable box and then capture it's output with your pc to get all your channels (even premiums) but you will probably only be able to get svideo output from the cable box for capturing which means no HD content. Although some set top boxes may have firewire output which can be used for capturing HD content although I have no personal experience with these devices I hear it can be made to work pretty well. Personally I'd probably use something like a new hauppage hvr1600 capture card which will allow you to easily capture the unencrypted QAM digital cable as well as having an integrated ir blaster and svideo capture for getting the encrypted stuff off your STB.
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Aug 1, 2007 18:41
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EC posted:I used almost this exact spec for a good long time as an HTPC. As long as you don't expect to decode HD content, you'll be fine for 99% of the things you want to do. Did you use MythTV? What program did you use with that machine?
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Aug 2, 2007 04:27
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Anyone using Vista MCE to watch their videos? Pretty much my only goal is to watch downloaded videos on my HDTV and play music occasionally. Are you happy with Vista MCE for doing this? Should I bother with other stuff that isn't Vista MCE? Keep in mind I've already installed Vista Ultimate on my HTPC and it will remain that way, since I will be managing my downloads and such on this HTPC as well as occasionally doing normal PC tasks. Oh and yes I have the Vista codec pack from the Vista thread in SHSC.
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Aug 2, 2007 08:44
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Milosh posted:Did you use MythTV? What program did you use with that machine? I didn't do any recording on that box, just playback of video/music. Everything was (and still is!) run through Meedio.
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Aug 2, 2007 15:06
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dfn_doe posted:Depends on how you are gonna set things up. You can use an ir blaster of some sort to control the cable box and then capture it's output with your pc to get all your channels (even premiums) but you will probably only be able to get svideo output from the cable box for capturing which means no HD content. Although some set top boxes may have firewire output which can be used for capturing HD content although I have no personal experience with these devices I hear it can be made to work pretty well. Thanks for enlightening me.
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Aug 3, 2007 15:37
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When I build my new gaming PC I will be taking my current PC and turning it into a HTPC. The specs are ECS nForce4-A939 Athlon 64 3700+ San Diego Geforce 8600 Series I have 3 questions please. 1) Will any HTPC case do as long as it takes ATX? Can someone recommend a case in the $100 range? 2) For 1080p video is there a reason to buy the more expensive 8600GTS? Will the cheaper 8600GT work fine for 1080p x264? 3) How much should I spend on a sound card? I need optical out for my receiver. Thanks! Lobbyist fucked around with this message at 21:19 on Aug 3, 2007 |
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Aug 3, 2007 21:10
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VulgarandStupid posted:Anyone using Vista MCE to watch their videos? Pretty much my only goal is to watch downloaded videos on my HDTV and play music occasionally. Are you happy with Vista MCE for doing this? Should I bother with other stuff that isn't Vista MCE? Keep in mind I've already installed Vista Ultimate on my HTPC and it will remain that way, since I will be managing my downloads and such on this HTPC as well as occasionally doing normal PC tasks. Does Vista MCE automatically recognize obscure filename extensions like *.mkv and *.ogm? I know in XP MCE you have to install a registry hack to get them all to show up in the MCE interface.
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Aug 6, 2007 03:44
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I'm in the process of rebuilding my spare computer to turn it into a media center machine. It's main use will be playing HD content (not HD-DVD or Bluray, though) on my 38" HDTV. Currently, the spec is as follows... P4 3.2ghz (socket 775) 1gb DDR2 Ram Gigabyte GA945GZM-S2 motherboard I've not yet got a graphics card for this machine, and would like to spend as little money as possible on one, however I DO want one that can play 1080p without jerking all over the place and otherwise ruining the viewing experience. I was looking at prices and couldn't help but notice that nvidia 8400 cards are stupidly cheap. According to the blurb on the nVidia site, this chipset features Purevideo and can play HD easily. However, I'm slightly dubious of this, and would really value a second opinion before splashing out money for this card. So, my question is.... given that the other specs of my HTPC aren't especially high, would a 8400 based card do the job, or would I be sensible to splash out a bit of extra cash on a 8500?
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Aug 6, 2007 13:08
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moron posted:I'm in the process of rebuilding my spare computer to turn it into a media center machine. It's main use will be playing HD content (not HD-DVD or Bluray, though) on my 38" HDTV. Currently, the spec is as follows... Get an 8600GT http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127293R The 8500 was not recommended by the anandtech review http://anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3047&p=3
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Aug 6, 2007 15:47
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Lobbyist posted:Get an 8600GT http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127293R Uhm, did you read the review you linked? the 8500 was not tested and wasn't "not recommended" although they speculate about it not being a high performer. The 8500gt that I have in my htpc seems to be fine for all the hidef stuff I've thrown at it and it plays back hd-dvd @ 1080p with no problems at all. Same for hi bit rate hi-def matroska and mpeg.
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Aug 6, 2007 17:40
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From the page I linked:quote:On the low end, both AMD and NVIDIA hardware begin to stumble in terms of quality. The HD 2400 XT posts quite a lack luster performance, failing in noise reduction and HD deinterlacing (jaggies). But at least it poorly deinterlaces video at full resolution. We excluded tests of NVIDIA's 8500 series, as their video drivers have not yet been optimized for their low end hardware. Even so, we have been given indications not to expect the level of performance we see from the 8600 series. We would guess that the 8500 series will perform on par with the AMD HD 2400 series, though we will really have to wait and see when NVIDIA releases a driver for this. quote:We have to stress here that, in spite of the fact that NVIDIA and AMD expect the inclusion of video decode hardware on their low end hardware to provide significant value to end users, we absolutely cannot recommend current low end graphics card for use in systems where video decode is important. In our eyes, with the inability to provide a high quality HD experience in all cases, the HD 2400, GeForce 8500, and lower end hardware are all only suitable for use in business class or casual computing systems where neither games nor HD video play a part in the system's purpose. The 8500 doesn't have noise reduction, jaggie reduction or other quality enhancers. Plus the 8600GT can be had for around $100 bux. Why skimp on video if the HTPC is about video, video, video.
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Aug 6, 2007 19:59
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My 32" is 1366x768, and supports 720p and 1080i. When I set my HTPC to output 1366x768, it only takes up a small amount of the screen (unless I stretch it to full). When I set it to 1920x1080, it takes up the full thing. Which one should I be running in? Or does it matter/depend on everything. Mostly watching 720p.
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Aug 6, 2007 22:56
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Lobbyist posted:From the page I linked: I'm gonna stick to my guns on this one say that the article you've cited is incomplete at best and inaccurate at worst. nVidia's own product comparison shows that both the 8500gt and the 8600gt support an identical set of hardware video decoding features. AND I'll reiterate that I have an 8500 card and it works great on 1080p and looks awesome.
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Aug 6, 2007 22:59
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I just bought a Hauppague HVR-1600, and I'm planning on using a HD antenna (maybe the Terk one or something) to receive over the air HD signals at my dorm room. I installed the tuner card and the latest drivers, but I also installed the crappy WinTV2000 software by accident. I went ahead and uninstalled it, but I hear that it sometimes still messes up the tuner. Is uninstalling it the only thing I need to do? I went ahead and installed GB-PVR instead- is this the best Live TV viewing software? My brother recommended MediaPortal, but I haven't really heard much about it. What else do I need to do to get HD working good on my 22" monitor? UncleGuito fucked around with this message at 03:50 on Aug 7, 2007 |
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Aug 7, 2007 01:46
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moron posted:So, my question is.... given that the other specs of my HTPC aren't especially high, would a 8400 based card do the job, or would I be sensible to splash out a bit of extra cash on a 8500? Keep in mind if you get a card that's designed for high-def playback, the actual system specs are almost irrelevant. One site had the highest bit-rate Bluray running on a Semperon 2800 without maxing the processor. Lobbyist posted:From the page I linked: Anandtech doesn't know what the hell they're talking about here. The 8500 and 8600 are virtually identical, and they are identical when it comes to video playback capability. The main difference is that most 8600s have HDCP support, but you can still find 8500's that do as well. I've had an 8500 since May and it works great. The only bitch is a lack of proper overscan correction (but that's inherent in the drivers for ALL their cards). Crackbone fucked around with this message at 20:45 on Aug 7, 2007 |
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Aug 7, 2007 20:22
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Typh posted:My 32" is 1366x768, and supports 720p and 1080i. When I set my HTPC to output 1366x768, it only takes up a small amount of the screen (unless I stretch it to full). When I set it to 1920x1080, it takes up the full thing. You should set it to match your screen resolution as closely as possible. Chances are your set will accept 1280x720, since that's standard. A lot of LCDs for some odd reason are that goofy 768p resolution, despite the fact that 720p is the actual high-def standard. You'll probably be better off setting the PC to output 720 rather than 1080, since the less scaling the set has to do, the better will be as a result.
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Aug 7, 2007 20:43
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Thanks to everyone who replied to my question....I ended up buying a Geforce 8500 512mb. Fingers crossed it does the job and my lovely CPU doesn't let me down!  Another quick question....what's the best media player to use for HD content? I've been told that VLC, Mplayer and all the other players I'd usually use aren't the ones to use for HD content...? Any specific codecs I should get?
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Aug 7, 2007 20:58
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moron posted:Another quick question....what's the best media player to use for HD content? I've been told that VLC, Mplayer and all the other players I'd usually use aren't the ones to use for HD content...? Any specific codecs I should get? dfn_doe posted:Stupid nVidia and their naming conventions are really at fault here. "PureVideo" is the name of their commercial (read: costs money) mpeg decoder software codec; "PureVideo HD" is the name of their hardware decoding engine. To add to the confusion, on some older nvidia hardware using the purevideo software codec would also enable some limited mpeg2 hardware acceleration features (xvmc) AND new purevideo hd capable cards are not all created equally, the 8600 and 8500 series cards support more codecs in their hardware decoding engine than the more expensive and "higher end" 8800 series cards. Furthermore, the nVidia drivers that allow purevideo hd hardware acceleration only work on vista AND need to be coupled with a capable software directshow filter AND VMR9 OR Enhanced rendering engine. The most popular purevideo hd capable directshow filters AFAICT are the ones made by cyberlink which come bundled with the *NEWEST* powerdvd 7.3 Ultra build. Only additions here is that XP should now have Purevideo HD support, and Media Player Classic/WMP11 both work for 8500 compatible decoding. Crackbone fucked around with this message at 21:11 on Aug 7, 2007 |
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Aug 7, 2007 21:09
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Crackbone posted:You should set it to match your screen resolution as closely as possible. Chances are your set will accept 1280x720, since that's standard. A lot of LCDs for some odd reason are that goofy 768p resolution, despite the fact that 720p is the actual high-def standard. So, one way Catalyst control is scaling it, and I guess the other way my TV is scaling it? I guess I am misunderstanding something as I though a 1366x768 TV would display 1366x768 1:1, filling the screen, but this is not the case.
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Aug 8, 2007 03:08
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Typh posted:I think you missed something from my post. When I set it to its native resolution, it acts as if it is a 1080 set. As in, the 1366x768 only takes up only the center of the screen. In Catalyst control center, I need to tell it to stretch to fill to actually fill the screen. If I set it to 1920x1080, it takes up the full screen. I understand what you said. I mean try to set the PC to output 1280x720 exactly, not 1366x768. I say this because it's possible that the set can't accept a 768p signal. It might only be able to read 1280x720p exactly, and do some minor internal upscaling. Some TVs are very picky about what display timings they'll accept. This can be especially true the older the set is. What kind of set is it? Also, how old is the video card?
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Aug 8, 2007 03:19
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Crackbone posted:I understand what you said. I mean try to set the PC to output 1280x720 exactly, not 1366x768. I really wish I could get my Phillips TV and ATI9600 to display at the native res. Right now I have to use 1280x720, which is fine except there's a bit of overscan to the whole thing. In Meedio I can adjust for this, but I still miss out on the outer edges of videos. I just can't get the ATI card to output in that res. I even screwed around with Powerstrip for a day or so and never managed to get it working.
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Aug 8, 2007 16:19
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What is the best way to turn my current PC into a box just to play my HD movies? I currently have a DVI out for my monitor, and my TV takes VGA and HDMI. Should I just invest in a 100ft VGA cable and a new soundcard that can do optical out at the same time as digital out (so that I can still keep my computer speakers hooked up, and just turn them off but get sound to the other receiver)?
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Aug 8, 2007 18:02
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Crackbone posted:I understand what you said. I mean try to set the PC to output 1280x720 exactly, not 1366x768. It's a Panasonic 32LE70, and I'm using the onboard HDMI out on my M2A-VM.
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Aug 8, 2007 22:47
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Typh posted:The TV displays 1366x768 just fine. In fact, it appears to be able to display any resolution perfectly via 1:1 pixel mapping (up to 1920x1080). I need to crank the resolution up to 1920x1080 to get a 1:1 picture that fills the screen. This would make sense if it were a 1080p screen, but it is not. Did you at least try setting the PC output to 1280x720 instead of 1366x768?
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Aug 9, 2007 13:49
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Typh posted:The TV displays 1366x768 just fine. In fact, it appears to be able to display any resolution perfectly via 1:1 pixel mapping (up to 1920x1080). I need to crank the resolution up to 1920x1080 to get a 1:1 picture that fills the screen. This would make sense if it were a 1080p screen, but it is not. the HDMI input on your TV probably doesn't allow 1:1 pixel mapping, you'll have to use an ATSC resolution like 1280x720 or 1920x1080 try VGA
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Aug 11, 2007 19:11
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I'm trying to turn my old PC into a HTPC, and while poo poo was crisp and clear on my Dell LCD monitor as soon as I hook it up to my Samsung LCD 720p through a DVI->HDMI setup it looks like rear end. I'm getting tearing on, like, the entire desktop I guess? Words look pixelated and sortof off of one another and sometimes changing the resolution I get wavery screen poo poo all over the place with my words like it's vibrating. My set is native 1360x768 (that's what my xbox is connceted to via VGA and looks great), so I'm not sure why it's hating my PC connection so much. I've tried to gently caress around a little bit with Powerstrip but there are 5 million resolutions and it makes my head hurt. Anyone have any suggestions? It's a Samsung LN-S4051D and I am running an old ATI RadeonX800, maybe that's the problem right there? halp 
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Aug 11, 2007 22:37
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X800 isn't the problem, just about any HDMI or DVI input is going to be scaled, throw your xbox on component and leave VGA to your PC.
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Aug 11, 2007 23:13
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butterypancakes posted:X800 isn't the problem, just about any HDMI or DVI input is going to be scaled, throw your xbox on component and leave VGA to your PC. Will the PC look better over VGA? I hate the way my xbox looks over Compontent but I guess I can switch back and forth. There's no way to get my DVI/HDMI to not look like rear end? EDIT: or get some sort of VGA splitter, hmm. EDIT2: Yeah VGA worked like a charm and looks great. Thanks! Time to go get a splitter and figure out my audio situation. Quidthulhu fucked around with this message at 00:39 on Aug 12, 2007 |
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Aug 11, 2007 23:28
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Quidnose posted:Will the PC look better over VGA? VGA is the only way you'll get 1:1 pixel mapping on your PC. what's wrong with component? when you hook your xbox up with a VGA cable, it's not even real VGA, it's just component over a VGA cable. EDIT: when you are on component make sure that you are at a normal resolution like 1280x720 butterypancakes fucked around with this message at 07:09 on Aug 12, 2007 |
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Aug 12, 2007 07:07
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butterypancakes posted:VGA is the only way you'll get 1:1 pixel mapping on your PC. i'll try it out but i just haven't been impressed, colors are much crisper and cleaner with VGA to my eye. also my TV only has one set of component inputs and my Wii is connected there. EDIT: also xbox over component only lets you select "480p, 720p, 1080i, 1080p," so there's not a lot of room for loving with resolutions unfortunately, that would probably help. Quidthulhu fucked around with this message at 07:56 on Aug 12, 2007 |
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Aug 12, 2007 07:22
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Quidnose posted:EDIT: also xbox over component only lets you select "480p, 720p, 1080i, 1080p," 720p is going to be 1280x720, that should look the best
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Aug 12, 2007 18:49
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Crackbone posted:Did you at least try setting the PC output to 1280x720 instead of 1366x768?
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Aug 13, 2007 00:56
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Got a used PC off of Craigslist that'll make a good HTPC, but that same day my media keyboard broke while I was installing things on the new computer. I managed to convince the guys at Fry's to exchange it with another new-in-box one, but the new one's receiver won't get recognized properly on the new computer even though the last one's did. And the new receiver will be recognized just fine in my other computers. I've posted a thread on it in SH/SC->HoTS for help, so if you guys have any advice or guidance for me, it'd be appreciated if you followed up in that thread
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Aug 14, 2007 05:49
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