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I'm pretty confused with videocards at the moment. I'm getting a LN-T4665F (or maybe the 40" model) and I wanted a videocard that did HDMI. I've got a Nvidia 6600 now, and I could use the DVI out on it, but is it really needed? I know a few cards out now support HDMI, but are they good enough to run anything special? The most I'd do is run 720p stuff (based on what I've read I could do that fairly easily if I turn everything else off in the background). I might even be able to swing 1080p if I partition and do a super stripped down version of XP with the bare minimum needed to get it going. E: Is the M2A-VM worth it to get it for the HDMI support? What kind of juice would I need to get that running 1080p? KKKLIP ART fucked around with this message at 04:58 on May 17, 2007 |
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May 17, 2007 04:55
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Juriko posted:All you really get by going with HDMI is the ability to pass through audio and HDCP support. Until you need HDCP to playback HD video there is no need to upgrade to an HDMI card. Ok, so just stick with DVI for now. Most of the stuff that is on my computer are DVD's i've ripped to it for ease of use and some extra space (my room is like 10x10 and having a shelf for the DVDs takes up a ton of space). Thanks for the help!
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May 18, 2007 17:06
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I'm looking for a HTPC case with only 1 5.25" bay and like 3 3.5" bays. Is there such a thing? I've had no luck on FrozenCPU, Newegg or Tigerdirect.
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Jan 17, 2008 00:45
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Whats with all this front touch screen nonsense? Is it a basic front-end to getting to your movies and poo poo?
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Jan 17, 2008 02:04
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I think I want one with the IR remote, but I'm just wondering what the remote looks like and the functions of it, is it a remote that has some windows functions (so I can get through folders) or is it just stop start play pause that kind of thing.
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Jan 17, 2008 02:16
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How is a quad quore (something like a Q6600/2.4GHz) when it comes to decoding 1080P? Tigerdirect has a bundle pack that I'm thinking about with a Q6600 and an Asus P5K3 Delux.
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Jan 18, 2008 04:27
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Is there a Core2Duo/Quad motherboard that has built in HDMI that will output 1080p and do the audio as well? The less junk filling up my case the better.
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Feb 1, 2008 16:34
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Crackbone posted:What are you counting as "HD"? Because 1080p x264 files used to require at least a Core 2/A64 processor clocked at 3Ghz. Some new codecs have apparently dropped the processor speed requirement, but there's no way you were playing 1080p HD video on an athlon xp chip. Maybe some bastardized xvid or QT trailers (which are encoded at lower quality specifically for PC playback). Are you talking about 3GHZ between the 2 cores or each core at 3Ghz? I have a T7300 @ 2.0Ghz and it playes 1080p x264 just fine, I just want a quad-core for future proofing and maybe a bit of light gaming and heavy photoshop use.
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Feb 1, 2008 17:35
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No, its a 1080p file in x264, non VC-1 and I bought the CoreAVC professional edition and 99% of the time it runs like a champ. Only a few scenes that I've gone through where there is a ton happening on the screen where it might stutter. I'm still going quad core though 
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Feb 1, 2008 18:36
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Crackbone posted:If you're getting stutter of any HD file you're probably running higher CPU usage than I'd want. Pretty cool that CoreAVC's so much better than it used to be, though. I have the feeling that if I overclocked it to 2.1 or 2.2Ghz, it would run like butter. E: Does the Gigabyte GA-73PVM-S2H really looks like the way to go for my computer. This little bugger seems too good to be true. KKKLIP ART fucked around with this message at 23:04 on Feb 1, 2008 |
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Feb 1, 2008 22:47
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This is what I'm thinking about as of right now, Ive already got a 250GB sata drive at the house so that isnt really a worry in the short term:My Wishlist posted:1. hec Black 0.7mm Thickness SECC 7K09 Micro ATX Media Center / HTPC Case - Retail Sound like a plan from you guys? The only thing I am iffy on is the USB card reader, I dont really need it, especially if I have to decide to either use that or the ports on the case, and I really don't see me needing a firewire case, but it is an attractive case and cheap.
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Feb 1, 2008 23:37
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The E8400 as in this one? Is this 100% going to play any 1080P video I throw at it (using CoreAVC of course)?
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Feb 1, 2008 23:52
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Goldmund posted:Yep thats the one, and it will absolutely kill any 1080p content. I currently (while I wait for my new setup) play 1080p h.264 files with my old rear end Opteron 165, and the E8400 is several orders of magnitude better than that. Cool, thanks for the tip. It all ends up costing about the same but I'll keep it in mind 
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Feb 2, 2008 00:03
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Does anyone have a good recommendation towards a nice frontend for a HTPC that will run on Vista (and maybe Xp if I have to).
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Feb 2, 2008 21:35
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Is there a plugin for Windows Media Center that I can use to give some of my movies preview icons? Some of them don't have anything in the icon but the name and it is just kinda ugly. E: Also are there themes that I could get/customize too? KKKLIP ART fucked around with this message at 22:52 on Feb 3, 2008 |
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Feb 3, 2008 22:49
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From what I have come to understand, any under/overscan is usually the TV's fault, though I have heard of the PS3 overscaning a whole fuckton where other things do not. In short, I would bet it is the TV.
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Feb 7, 2008 19:45
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shaitan posted:I am not sure if this really should go here, but I don't think this needs an entire thread. What about this? I need a power supply that has the 24 pin power connector, 4 pin CPU connector, a few molex and a ton of SATA connectors. Any suggestions? Modular would be a huge bonus!
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Feb 14, 2008 03:19
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coreAVC and a good codec pack will do wonders without dedicated HD hardware decoding.
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Feb 14, 2008 15:30
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code:
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Feb 16, 2008 19:08
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Wood for Sheep posted:Looks good. I take it you have a HDD already? Yeah I have a SATA 250GB for movies/music/pictures and an ATA 60 which I will be installing Vista on. HDDs are getting stupid cheap and I dont need any more then 250 for the next 6 months so no need to go crazy now. I'd rather have a few smaller drives and a huge backup drive for redundancy sake in the future.
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Feb 16, 2008 22:04
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ashgromnies posted:That motherboard comes with a few SATA and PATA cables. So I noticed. Consider that about 10$ plus shipping saved
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Feb 17, 2008 23:16
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If it were 130 for a BluRay player + DVD burner, I would be all up on that poo poo.
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Feb 21, 2008 16:10
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EC posted:I just wanted to show everyone the coolest HTPC case ever: That is hot as poo poo but room for 1 HDD is a bit rough.
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Feb 28, 2008 05:15
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Well this is pretty good as I have to wait for 8500s to get back in stock and settle down in price. If I can find a nicely priced 8200 based mobo that does on board decoding, that'll straight tits. Do you have any links to articles or anything that I can read up on?
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Feb 28, 2008 19:08
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I need a really quite hard drive. Or a regularish sounding hard drive with something to make it quite. I was looking at some 1TB drives, but reviews are mixed. I want a big back-up drive and a medium (500+GB) sized media drive or two. Any recommendations?
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Mar 6, 2008 22:18
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Uziel posted:I was considering building a HTPC to take the place of my aging DVD player. My TV is a 40" Sony Bravia with a native resolution of 768p. How does that work? I'd be connecting it via HDMI. Do I need to set some type of custom resolution of 768p or? The big question is are you ever planing on gaming on it? There are plenty of cases that you can get from HTPC vendors that come with IR remotes. If you aren't planing on gaming with it, you could get away with a $5-600 HTPC that will play back DVDs and HD content, much less if you will never need to play back HD stuff. As for connecting via HDMI, if you get a motherboard like the Asus P5E-VM HDMI series motherboard will output audio and video up to 1080p (which is perfect in your case) and can take any Core2Duo chip. I would even suggest it if you want to game because it can use the new 45nm processors (like the E8400), has a capacity for 8GB of RAM, and up to 6 SATA devices.
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Mar 31, 2008 18:24
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Uziel posted:I would definitely be gaming on it. I have a Logitech remote though that I'd like to use. Thanks for the info regarding the HDMI motherboards, I will take a look at it, but I guess I'd want a video card with HDMI instead of having it onboard? There are a few 8800GT and 9600s that have a header that will connect to a S/PDIF jumper on the motherboard so you can connect via HDMI and get the benefit of an all in one cable. Just make sure whatever motherboard you pick out has the jumper for S/PDIF on it and you get the little cable (some motherboards/video cards that support that come with them). Other then that this is the basic build for a multi-use machine: E8400/Xeon 3110 (quad core is really unneeded) 2+ GB of DDR2 800 RAM (4GB is nice if you use Vista64, it is cheap too) A motherboard that will suit your needs in the way of connectors and card slots 8800GT/8800GTS G92/9600GT (with the SPDIF header if you want to use HDMI with sound) HDD/optical drives of your choice (A dvd burner can be had for 30$ on newegg) A nice power supply that will power plenty on the +12v rails (the more the better) Case Most of this can be gotten from the first post of the SH/SC Parts Guide. You don't need a lot to run a HTPC, mostly space and more then 2.5GHz on a dual core processor for 1080p content, so for gaming, thats about the best you can do for the money.
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Mar 31, 2008 20:13
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Uziel posted:Very awesome, thank you. Well you can use Powerstrip to force custom resolutions if the whatever x 768 resolution doesnt show up. 1280x720 should scale perfectly and isn't that much of a stretch from 768p. All your TV is doing is using its internal scaling hardware to take a 1280x720 picture and stretching it to the native resolution of your set.
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Mar 31, 2008 20:20
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Kepp posted:What is the sound output like on the board? The one thing that makes me nervous about consolidating everything to on board HDMI output is sound interference. The motherboard I'm using now isn't necessarily for HTPC's but the on board sound was crap and there was tons of interference when playing movies at any kind of volume. I have one and it works like a charm (assuming you are using Vista). Install the drivers that come with the board (or the updated ones on Asus's website) and everything will work 100%. If specific programs can utilize different audio ports, you can split the output too. I have winamp running through some computer speakers while all my movies go through the HDMI. I couldn't recommend it more. Does anyone have any good guides on getting my new Harmony 880 working with my HTPC? Whats a good IR receiver that I should be looking at?
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May 12, 2008 18:06
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That.... That is beautiful.
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Jun 13, 2008 02:38
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I have a Harmony remote, is there a good IR... uh, receiver, that I can use with my HTPC? I'll be using a Vista w/ XBMC on top of that as the front end.
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Feb 9, 2009 22:21
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PeePot posted:The Microsoft "M17-7900" remote and IR receiver works well with my Harmony remote. Of course you'll have an extra remote. Bookmarked. Thanks, Im compiling a list for my HTPC rebuild.
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Feb 12, 2009 00:29
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TheScott2K posted:My buddy bought two of these when experimenting with MCE 2005 in college, both of the remotes ended up dying. The receivers turned out to be great, though. I use one in the living room with a Harmony and another in my room with a 360 media remote. And if your Windows is new enough you don't even need to install a driver. You'll probably have good luck with it. Yeah I have a nice Harmony already, so the remote will be stuffed into a drawer.
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Feb 12, 2009 20:38
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NoneMoreNegative posted:OK, new house in the pipeline, needs a new all singing/dancing HTPC to keep me entertained Some of the newer nVidia video cards (8, 9, and GTX cards) support audio passthrough with their special DVI->HDMI adapter. It basically uses un-used DVI Dual link pins to cary the audio over. It does this using the sPDIF header that is found on many motherboards. I use it with my P5Q/GTX260 and it works well. You just have to select Digital Audio Output for your device. I don't know what types of audio it will passthrough though. I haven't tried anything 5.1 or better because I don't have a reciever just yet. E: and the new video cards will support DXVA so you could offload h264 to the GPU if your program you use for playback supports it
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Apr 7, 2009 18:28
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Is the Revo AR3610 worth getting now or would the new ZOTAC ZBOX HD-ID11 (which looks sweet) be worth it? All I really do is watch TV/movies I rip over teh network, its gonna pretty much not ever have to do any hard computing or encoding.
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Mar 8, 2010 03:51
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Medikit posted:That Zotac looks awesome. That being said I don't think it's going to be any better at playing your movies. It was more of a price thing, I have a spare 250GB drive floating, a license for Win7 (or hell, Ubuntu seems to be tits for a XBMC supporting OS), and might be able to score some cheap RAM, the Acer seems to be great with the keyboard though i would probably want something like the Denovomini.
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Mar 9, 2010 06:18
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Could you also do a network drive if you have another XP/Vista/7 machine?
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Mar 9, 2010 21:14
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Bonzo posted:Yes. I have a Dell tower in my basement connected by ethernet to my router. A 500MB Lacie USB drive is connected to my Dell via USB. The drive is shared out using basic windows File sharing. This server also runs uTorrent. Perfect. The way it seems is I'll be getting the Revo 3610 and sharing over the network. I just don't know if I want ubuntu or 7, I'm guessing 7 because it might be easier for network drives?
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Mar 10, 2010 19:52
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BorderPatrol posted:Linux will give you VPDAU acceleration on video, but you won't be able to run some browser-based streaming line Hulu and Netflix. I might mess with Linux then. I don't really care about Netflix and Hulu, more like ripping my assload of DVDs and having a nice frontend to play them by over the network. I'll give it a shot, my Linux/CLI is so-so, how crazy is it to get it working? Is there a good forum or setup guide for Ubuntu (or whatever the flavor of the week is) XBMC and VPDAU?
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Mar 12, 2010 04:12
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BorderPatrol posted:Personally, if all you want to do is XBMC then what I like to do is just install the XBMC Live distro straight to the harddrive. Boots up quickly and right into XBMC, no configuration necessary. Rad, thanks man/woman
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Mar 12, 2010 04:22
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