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jonathan posted:Can a decent laptop, i5 or i7 do 1080p over HDMI ? I don't mean will it play it back well, I mean can a video card that does 1440xwhatever on the 15" display do 1080p when connected via HDMI ? It depends on the video card that is in your laptop. Probably, though. You'll need to look up the specific model.
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Apr 21, 2012 18:56
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jonathan posted:Can a decent laptop, i5 or i7 do 1080p over HDMI ? I don't mean will it play it back well, I mean can a video card that does 1440xwhatever on the 15" display do 1080p when connected via HDMI ? My current but not that new netbook (not the one I bought just for this purpose as mentioned, my other one I use for work) with a "Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-430UM processor (1.20GHz,3MB) w/Turbo Boost up to 1.73 GHz+Intel(R) HD Graphics" and "4GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)" runs 1080p over HDMI with no problem, even to really big screens - I've used it for a 40+" screen before. That's near the edges of its limits, and if the media is over the network you can sometimes barely notice something's not quite perfect (it's not as silky smooth as you might like), but it's usually flawless and always well into 'good enough.' Upgrade that a bit and you'd definitely have no problems. I should note, though, that it streams very well locally, but struggles some when outputting a sports game over HDMI in 720p+ to a big screen. So you might go bigger than this (somewhat older) model if you want everything. berzerker fucked around with this message at 19:05 on Apr 21, 2012 |
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Apr 21, 2012 19:02
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Sup goons. Really looking for a quick recommendation here. I'm across the country from my parents now and can't walk them through things anymore and have to do it over texts. Regardless, I got my parents on an unlimited internet plan (was cheaper then the limited plan go figure) and they want to have all the netflix and poo poo. I have them on an unblock-us account (Yes, we're in Canada) and sites they want, but they have no machine. Namely they have a desktop incapable of much, and my father's laptop which he refuses to use as he works on it pretty much even while watching things on mine when I was home. Mind, it's a business machine so understandable. They're currently on a short weekend trip and wanted to look for something to remedy this and out of the blue asked me about a Roku 2 XS. Now, I'm afraid I'm clueless in this area, never having dealt with it much. So what should I recommend? Get an HTPC (expensive option) and put XMBC on it? Boxee Box? Jailbroken Apple TV doesn't seem like an option, they would have great difficulties jailbreaking an Iphone even with straight instructions from me, and no tablets or anything to use as a remote. Or just go with said Roku 2XS? Give me a bone to go with here, goons.
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Apr 21, 2012 19:25
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StealthArcher posted:Sup goons. If they just want Netflix go with the the Roku. Really does a great job for netflix, Amazon Video, HBO Go if you can use it.
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Apr 22, 2012 02:15
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A few days ago I start thinking about getting a DVR. After a bit of research it appears DVR's are now an ancient technology and everyone has ditched cable to stream TV over the internet. Searching for premade HTPC's didn't turn up much either. Is it safe to say that if I want to record TV without paying tivo I need to build my own? Is Windows necessary to do this? Is MythTV a piece of poo poo? I only have standard cable so I don't think encryption problems will be an issue.
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Apr 22, 2012 16:29
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Welcome to the can of worms. From what I know, MythTV is fine, but it doesn't support CableCard tuning; only Windows Media Center does. CableCard tuning is necessary for any encrypted or no-copy cable content. Some cable companies only apply such encryption/flagging to pay content, some companies apply it to EVERYTHING, and some companies are inconsistent, with some basic/broadcast no-copy restricted and others not. Generally, cable companies don't release any information about this, and they'll just tell you a cable box is required to see all TV channels. This may be marketing (i.e. straight lying), or it may be true (i.e. they encrypted and copy-protected channels delivered to them without copy restrictions in order to force you into renting their equipment). If you can't find info about which channels are clearQAM and which are encrypted via forums or Google searches or etc. for your local market, fat chance figuring it out beforehand. You'll just have to test all the channels yourself and see what you get. Like, for example, I get Discovery channel on Comcast Boston. SD is clearQAM, but HD requires my CableCard to be activated even though it's not copy-protected. Luckily, Comcast in MA is pretty easygoing on CableCards - after the $35 setup fee, I not only get it free for the duration of my service, but since I don't rent any equipment from them I get a small discount on my service above and beyond saving the rental fee. Other cable companies will charge you whatever they feel they can get away with, though. And if that weren't enough, Windows Media Center is looking like Microsoft won't be updating it significantly in the future. Whoo. Anyway, the actual act of recording TV is not terribly intensive, since it comes down over cable as an MPEG2 stream and all you're doing is writing it to disk. If that's all the box will do, and you'll only be doing a single tuner, you can get by with an AMD E350/E450-based nettop. You can either build your own with an internal tuner, or use an external USB tuner on a prebuilt box like a Zotac AD10. Personally, I use a last-gen Core i3 system because I use the box as a fuller-featured HTPC, including transcoding recorded shows and simultaneous recording on two channels while watching a recording or BluRay. But, long story short, it's not a terribly intensive thing for a computer to do by today's standards.
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Apr 23, 2012 02:06
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Here's an old thread on CableCard that got recently resurrected: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3445633 For PC boxes if you want more power than the usual AMD ones there's also some Zotac boxes with Sandy Bridge Celerons and i3s. Another tuner option is the HDHomeRun which connects over the network. And I just realized you don't necessarily need CableCard if you don't mind just having SD video. If you get a tuner that does analog you should be able to get regular channels that way, if your cable co still delivers analog as well. In my case with Cox in southern California the basic and expanded packages were still available over analog but HD cable and the other packages required CableCard.
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Apr 23, 2012 02:46
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Thanks for the responses. My cable is analog, so it sounds like things will be pretty simple for me. I'll probably start looking at hardware in the next week or two.
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Apr 23, 2012 03:51
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http://www.fcc.gov/guides/cablecard-know-your-rights You have the right to a self-install. No setup fee. Modest rental fee. You should be compensated for not using their box, as it's rental fee is a hidden cost buried in their advertised pricing.
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Apr 23, 2012 04:20
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goku chewbacca posted:http://www.fcc.gov/guides/cablecard-know-your-rights Ohh this is all well and good, but the fact remains is that bullshit DRM that locks you into one software provider (MS, who's abandoning the concept) combined with intentional incompetence, the cable companies got what they wanted, which is a completely closed platform. I tried to activate a cable card on Time Warner, and after 2 weeks with 3 different tech visits, having to take off work each day, they basically told me they were giving up and I could get a DVR with lovely software for the ohh so low price of 15 dollars a month. Maybe things are different now, but I had such a bad experience, I cancelled cable completely.
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Apr 23, 2012 04:57
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My father in law had to get a cable card to work with his TiVo, and the thing seems awful. He had to pay extra, they required a tech to come out and "install" it, and he doesn't get all of the channels that are available. In fact, apparently they switched some stuff around and now he can't get some channels that he used to have. The best part is when it automatically switches to the weather channel when there's an emergency, and doesn't switch back to what you were recording. Hell of a way to miss a football game. This is all Cox in Louisiana.
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Apr 23, 2012 13:30
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EC posted:My father in law had to get a cable card to work with his TiVo, and the thing seems awful. He had to pay extra, they required a tech to come out and "install" it, and he doesn't get all of the channels that are available. In fact, apparently they switched some stuff around and now he can't get some channels that he used to have. See if it's cheaper to rent their dvr and just pull the cable card out of that. I thought about doing it with my Time Warner dvr but never got around to it.
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Apr 23, 2012 13:55
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Giblet posted:See if it's cheaper to rent their dvr and just pull the cable card out of that. I thought about doing it with my Time Warner dvr but never got around to it. He had theirs, I think, but didn't like it for one reason or the other. He's just gonna say gently caress it once his contract is up and switch to Direct TV.
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Apr 23, 2012 14:11
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jonathan posted:Can a decent laptop, i5 or i7 do 1080p over HDMI ? I don't mean will it play it back well, I mean can a video card that does 1440xwhatever on the 15" display do 1080p when connected via HDMI ? It can, but just stop it. Listen to what everybody is saying. I have a $250 Zotac box with an E-350 in it. It plays 720p and 1080p h.264 stuff perfectly. Xvid doesn't need GPU acceleration so that works just fine as well. I can watch youtube (which I do from within XBMC) browse the internet, play stuff from Amazon MP3, etc. I actually haven't done much with music yet, so I honestly can't say what that takes, but I'm guessing no where near what you trying to convince us you need. The interface is perfectly snappy on my machine as well. It's also tiny and whisper quiet. I had a laptop with the same CPU, and I used it as my primary computer for a few months, it doesn't take much CPU to do things these days. So if you want to spend over $1000 on something I guess go nuts, or spend a quarter of that and get everything you need.
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Apr 23, 2012 15:22
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FISHMANPET posted:It can, but just stop it. Thanks. I think what I will do is buy that Zotac box and get a desktop computer for my office room. My laptop fan took a poo poo. I appreciate the input. Is Amazon.CA the best place to get one in Canada or is there a better option for us north of the line ?
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Apr 23, 2012 15:47
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FISHMANPET posted:It can, but just stop it. Not quite sure where this is coming from, he's not trying to convince us he needs anything, he's asking what he needs. Also, laptops don't cost anything like $1000 for what he's describing these days. The HP dm1 recommended over in the netbook thread is $400 or less and a cursory googling suggests could handle 1080 hdmi output no problem. So, $150 more than a Zotac box, in exchange for portability and additional functions when traveling that a dedicated HTPC can't. It's not that ridiculous of a proposition if that's what he wants.
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Apr 23, 2012 15:49
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berzerker posted:Not quite sure where this is coming from, he's not trying to convince us he needs anything, he's asking what he needs. That would be true, but he keeps asking about i5 and i7, which means he's probably looking at ~$1000 laptops. A Zotac box would quite a bit cheaper than even the E-350 laptop. You do gain some flexibility, but most people doing this have a separate NAS and there's not a whole lot of reasons to have an HTPC without also having a TV, and the Zotac boxes are just as easy to move as a laptop.
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Apr 23, 2012 17:27
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FISHMANPET posted:It can, but just stop it. I'm looking to upgrade my e350 HTPC because it can't play back HD Netflix smoothly at all.
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Apr 23, 2012 18:28
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WhyteRyce posted:I'm looking to upgrade my e350 HTPC because it can't play back HD Netflix smoothly at all.
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Apr 23, 2012 18:33
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goku chewbacca posted:That's a software issue with Netflix and the old version of Silverlight they're using. The newest Silverlight has GPU acceleration that would allow the e350 to play HD Netflix without breaking a sweat. It's still not offloaded to the CPU so it still won't playback smoothly http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2212511&page=3 I guess it's an issue with the Netflix client but good luck getting Netflix to support the WMC plugin WhyteRyce fucked around with this message at 18:45 on Apr 23, 2012 |
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Apr 23, 2012 18:43
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UndyingShadow posted:intentional incompetence I dropped the $200 or whatever it cost to get a cablecard tuner. Spent a good amount of time tweaking it to get it to do what I wanted it to do. It forced me to use a different operating system and a proprietary software with limited integration into anything else. Despite all of my best efforts it honestly seemed like the cable company was intentionally trying to gently caress over DVR owners. I canceled cable and I couldn't be happier with SickBeard.
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Apr 23, 2012 21:09
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HD Netflix is the one case where an E350 isn't enough, and that's not likely to change for quite a while. I'm not sure how much CPU that requires, but even an i5 would be overkill. I'm guessing any of the AMD A8 APUs would do just fine at that.
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Apr 25, 2012 02:06
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I have a Zbox AD-10 (this thread should be on their payroll) on the way in the mail and I'm trying to decide whether or not to install Windows 7 w/XBMC or just go straight OpenElec. Anybody have opinions? Going to be streaming off NAS and will do the occasional web browsing if that helps at all. Has anyone ever done a dual boot scenario? Dont know much about OpenElec other than its a light weight OS just for XBMC that sounds cool.
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Apr 25, 2012 03:52
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If you're just going to use XBMC, there's no need to pay for a Windows license. OpenElec should be just fine - it's a Linux distribution purpose-built for running XBMC, basically. It's like installing XBMC on Windows, and then stripping out every part of Windows that XBMC doesn't need, except Linux is an operating system where that's possible to do. You could also install a more full-featured Linux distribution, like Ubuntu, and install XBMC as a program on that.
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Apr 25, 2012 04:48
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Is there a substantial difference between OpenElec and XBMCbuntu?
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Apr 25, 2012 06:46
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A good amount of hard drive space, for one, which is important if you plan to boot off flash memory or something (like an SD card or a memory stick). For another, OpenElec is an appliance distro (basically XBMC and only XBMC), where XBMCbuntu is a full desktop distribution that just happens to be pre-configured for HTPC use. If you only want/need XBMC, and you want as little in the way of that as possible (i.e. for simplicity or for performance), pick OpenElec. If you want to do ANYTHING besides run XBMC, pick XBMCBuntu. Factory Factory fucked around with this message at 07:56 on Apr 25, 2012 |
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Apr 25, 2012 07:52
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Factory Factory posted:A good amount of hard drive space, for one, which is important if you plan to boot off flash memory or something (like an SD card or a memory stick). For another, OpenElec is an appliance distro (basically XBMC and only XBMC), where XBMCbuntu is a full desktop distribution that just happens to be pre-configured for HTPC use. So is OpenElec basically the old XBMC-Live distro? I just had to reinstall XBMC and went with XBMCbuntu because the Live distro appeared to be gone, but if OpenElec is basically the same thing I might switch to that instead. I don't need anything other than XBMC. Thanks for the info.
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Apr 25, 2012 15:44
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cornface posted:So is OpenElec basically the old XBMC-Live distro? I just had to reinstall XBMC and went with XBMCbuntu because the Live distro appeared to be gone, but if OpenElec is basically the same thing I might switch to that instead. I don't need anything other than XBMC. I may be a little off base, but as far as I recall, XBMCbuntu replaced XBMC-live because XBMCbuntu was basically the same thing, and maintained by someone else, so the developers didn't see the need to make the same thing twice. While it does run Ubuntu underneath, I have not seen a fully functioning window manager like a normal Ubuntu desktop install has, and even XBMC-live used Ubuntu underneath. One thing you may want to consider also is if you want to run XBMC 10 or 11. Openelec's XBMC 11 is in beta, whereas XBMCbuntu is a feature release. That may/may not make the decision for you.
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Apr 25, 2012 16:04
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cornface posted:So is OpenElec basically the old XBMC-Live distro? OpenELEC isn't really based on anything. It's XBMC running on top a truly minimal system that for the most part isn't configurable at all. For example, you can set up sharing via Samba, but you can't use the console to get new packages, hell, you can't even set your own SSH password. OpenELEC's file system is read-only and there's no changing it to my knowledge. XBMCbuntu is much more configurable since it runs on an Ubuntu backend. I use the OpenELEC daily builds, and in my experience it's blazing fast and as stable as a rock. I run a lovely first-gen ION system (with the Atom-330), and I've never noticed any stuttering on decoding 1080p videos while the XBMCbuntu betas did lag a bit, especially while rewinding and fast-forwarding. If you don't need any bells and whistles, I'd recommend you try OpenELEC. If you want to use your box for anything other than running XBMC, stick with XBMCbuntu.
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Apr 25, 2012 17:30
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FISHMANPET posted:HD Netflix is the one case where an E350 isn't enough, and that's not likely to change for quite a while. I'm not sure how much CPU that requires, but even an i5 would be overkill. I'm guessing any of the AMD A8 APUs would do just fine at that. You can kind of work around it by limiting your download speeds to not hit the HD range for Netflix. Or you can use something like PlayOn, which is almost a necessity if you want to use Hulu or Amazon Prime via a remote
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Apr 25, 2012 21:35
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Backyarr posted:OpenELEC isn't really based on anything. It's XBMC running on top a truly minimal system that for the most part isn't configurable at all. For example, you can set up sharing via Samba, but you can't use the console to get new packages, hell, you can't even set your own SSH password. OpenELEC's file system is read-only and there's no changing it to my knowledge. Speaking of OpenELEC and Samba. I'm setting my brother up with a HTPC and was thinking about going the OpenElEC route but I had a couple of questions. The media storage would be on the HTPC as they don't want a server hanging around and they only have laptops. Is it possible to install the drives into the HTPC and share the drives so they can put media on the HTPC from the laptops? Or is teh samba install on OpenELEC too restricted?
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Apr 26, 2012 02:28
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It will work fine, samba sharing comes enabled by default.
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Apr 26, 2012 02:57
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WhyteRyce posted:You can kind of work around it by limiting your download speeds to not hit the HD range for Netflix. Or you can use something like PlayOn, which is almost a necessity if you want to use Hulu or Amazon Prime via a remote Yeah, I don't use Netflix or Amazon Prime or anything like that, but I figure if I ever wanted to I'd be better off paying $150 for a Roku or something like that, rather than trying to get an XBMC box to do it all.
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Apr 26, 2012 03:27
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FISHMANPET posted:Yeah, I don't use Netflix or Amazon Prime or anything like that, but I figure if I ever wanted to I'd be better off paying $150 for a Roku or something like that, rather than trying to get an XBMC box to do it all. Roku is like $50. A much better option then trying netflix through xbmc or even netflix in windows.
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Apr 26, 2012 03:56
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kri kri posted:Roku is like $50. A much better option then trying netflix through xbmc or even netflix in windows. If you buy PlayOn right now you can get a free Roku. I think the cost of that bundle is $79.99. But they don't actually send you a Roku, they just send you an Amazon gift card for $65. You should be able to use PlayOn no problem in XBMC from what I heard. For WMC, the free plugin doesn't work very well so you'll have to pay $10 more for tubecore. Outside of their being an annoying amount of menus to go through to get to the videos, it's a pretty decent experience. If you still hate Netflix or Amazon Prime on your HTPC, you can then just use the Amazon gift card to buy a Roku. If you like it, keep the gift certificate for something else
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Apr 26, 2012 05:50
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I have a Revo AD1600 hooked up to tv in the bedroom via HDMI running XBMC Live. I also have and HD DVR hooked up to HDMI. I am looking for a cheap solution to stream Netflix via another appliance most likely that can hook up to Component since both HDMI ports are used for the Revo and the DVR. I was thinking originally Apple TV or Roku, but neither of those have component connections. Does anyone have any other suggestions that would work?
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Apr 26, 2012 06:24
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strikrr posted:I have a Revo AD1600 hooked up to tv in the bedroom via HDMI running XBMC Live. I also have and HD DVR hooked up to HDMI. I am looking for a cheap solution to stream Netflix via another appliance most likely that can hook up to Component since both HDMI ports are used for the Revo and the DVR. I was thinking originally Apple TV or Roku, but neither of those have component connections. Does anyone have any other suggestions that would work? Find an older Roku on eBay with component outputs. My parents have one on their dumbass Firedog HT install.
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Apr 26, 2012 06:59
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FISHMANPET posted:HD Netflix is the one case where an E350 isn't enough, and that's not likely to change for quite a while. I'm not sure how much CPU that requires, but even an i5 would be overkill. I'm guessing any of the AMD A8 APUs would do just fine at that. Well what the gently caress now a zotac box isn't enough ? This is the entire reason I wanted to go with something more powerful. So that I wouldn't run into performance issues.
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Apr 26, 2012 19:28
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Zotac makes boxes with Sandy Bridge Celerons and i3s too. I'd take a wild guess and say the Celeron can do it (but again just a guess), while the i3 should be fine with anything barring Netflix just loving up their own code.
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Apr 26, 2012 21:59
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jonathan posted:Well what the gently caress now a zotac box isn't enough ? This is the entire reason I wanted to go with something more powerful. So that I wouldn't run into performance issues. If you want one box so you can say you have one box, get something more powerful (but don't start looking at an i5 or i7 or anything by AMD that isn't an APU and not a laptop). If you want it to be easy to use and user friendly, get a Zotac E350 box and a Roku for netflix, unless you want to have to grab a mouse and keyboard on your TV like a goon when you want to use Netflix or any other streaming service that doesn't have a nice plugin for XBMC (aka all of them).
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Apr 26, 2012 23:09
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