Forum - View topicThe Otaku's Guide to Building a HTPC
|
Goto page Previous 1, 2, 3, 4 Note: this is the discussion thread for this article |
| Author | Message | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
kizzmequik_74
 Posts: 302 Location: QC, Philippines |
|
|||
Heh, to be really honest, say that it's already obsolete now, since the build isn't rocking the latest-and-greatest components. 
But really, unlike a gaming-heavy usage pattern (which requires cutting-edge parts to play the newest games at high resolution with antialiasing and anisotropic cranked up) HTPCs built today would get pretty good mileage. With the next substantial steps up in HD tech still more than a half-decade into the future and no new-and-upcoming physical formats for HD video (right?), a current HTPC that can play Blu-ray discs as well as 1080p media files in whatever container and codec without dropping frames is basically set for the near future...
You may be right: a lot of the current benchmarks say that latest-generation Radeon cards trounce the opposition... But actually, if you pick up a newer motherboard with good integrated video, you wouldn't really need a discrete card, saving you a bit of golds. |
||||
|
||||
|
jsevakis
Former ANN Editor in Chief
 Posts: 1684 Location: Los Angeles, CA |
|
|||
|
In a perfect world, I would have gone for a motherboard-integrated video processor. Unfortunately till I get a new TV I'm stuck with component video out, and I couldn't easily find one that could do both Blu-Ray level video and component out.
I wanted to leave myself open anyway, since once I do go HDMI I want it to have 7.1 audio embedded. (Are those shipping yet? They weren't when I bought all this.) Looks like I fixed the wake-up-and-never-go-back-to-sleep issue. Turns out media sharing was the culprit. Well, I just got substantially happier with this thing. |
||||
|
||||
|
clicq
Posts: 6 |
|
|||
|
According to ATI's website, the Radeon 48xx series, http://ati.amd.com/products/radeonhd4800/index.html and the 46xx series http://ati.amd.com/products/Radeonhd4600/index.html support 7.1 audio over HDMI. There's even a whole thread at AVSforums for the cards: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1029603.
So yep, they're available! I think 7.1 sound is a bit overrated though and a bit expensive, since you need a receiver that takes audio over HDMI, which tend to be more expensive than ones that don't (not all receivers with HDMI are able to get audio off the HDMI). |
||||
|
||||
K.o.R
 Posts: 221 |
|
|||
Definitely do not use the on-board video if it's an nForce chipset - I can seriously fry an egg on the heatsink of the chip, meaning temperature-related crashes. Even a lowly 7300GS will handle most video processing fine (though I don't think the 7 series supports DXVA). But for general xvid, h264 and DVD it'll do fine. |
||||
|
||||
|
kizzmequik_74
Posts: 302 Location: QC, Philippines |
|
|||
|
Well, I was thinking more of a motherboard with AMD's 690G/740G or 780G chipsets like the GIGABYTE GA-MA78GM-S2H bigl523 suggested (which has the 780G). As far as I know, there aren't any egg-frying related temperature problems with those chipsets.
Well, unfortunately, there is that. Of course, the trials and travails of your HDTV shopping odyssey would likely make a good (and educational) article when you ever decide to take the plunge. 
|
||||
|
||||
Raoh
 Posts: 357 Location: Florence, OR |
|
|||
|
I use a program called TVersity to send files to my Xbox 360 and watch them on that. Xbox 360 can natively play Divx and Xvid with the optional media playback kit, which is like a three mb download to the Xbox 360 from XBLM.
The downsides to this are that I cannot record any live TV (but I have a DVR for that). The upside is that the TVersity program has a Transcoding feature. Transcoding is basically on-the-fly file re-encoding. So, those MKV's get converted into Xbox 360 friendly AVI's and play just fine. The downside to that is that if your PC has under a 2GHZ processor and less than 512MB ram it can take a few minutes for playback to start. In general, it looks pretty good. Although, on my 37inch LG Plasma, I can usually notice pixilation (even though the Xbox 360 itself is hooked up via HDMI and is set to 1080P). The Xbox 360 itself has ways to change screen resolution and such, but to get a full screen image, you'll need to let it stretch and pixilate a bit. This is really only an issue if you're that worried about it. But, if you're worried about quality, why the heck are you getting fansubs and not waiting for DVDs? Anyways, I just use this and it works great. On the other hand, my archived stuff on DVD-R and RW works fine too, since the Xbox 360 can read those media formats as a type of storage device, I can watch the older stuff I have just fine as well. DVD playback begins quicker because it doesn't have to Transcode (which it only does if the device it's being sent to doesn't understand the format natively), however, Transcoding only happens when its needed. Generally, streaming an Xvid file doesn't take long. Since no matter how fast your internet is it doesn't really matter. I have my PC with a wireless router and my Xbox 360 has the wireless adapter. The PC ignores my internet, and just sends the file straight to my Xbox 360, so its very high speed (about 5-10mbps depending on if I am torrenting or not). This should be looked at as an alternative to those who want it. Xbox 360's have HDMI as a standard now and the cheapest one is $199.99. You still have to shell out for an HDMi cable, but thats it. The TVersity program is free. It also supports various other formats, including the PS3 (it can stream to the PSP as well). I quite like this solution, myself. EDIT: Here's a picture from about a week ago showing what it looks like (I was rewatching parts of Macross Frontier): 
|
||||
|
||||
Gnathonic
 Posts: 3 |
|
|||
|
hmmm. it gets pixelated you say? sounds like the scaling algorithms aren't that great in the 360. If one uses a PC instead there are plenty of options that can scale better to those higher rez screens. (good scaling is more likely to make an image blurry than it is to make it look pixelated... (slight) blurriness is harder to notice at 2x source rez than is pixelation)
I hadn't look into the 360 option myself so your insight on it was interesting to read... sounds like an ok thing to do if one already has the 360. |
||||
|
||||
|
jsevakis
Former ANN Editor in Chief
Posts: 1684 Location: Los Angeles, CA |
|
|||
|
It gets pixellated because you can't do real-time one-pass transcoding and expect it to look good.
Not an option for me. Fansubs don't always look the best, but reducing them a generation further to watch them doesn't seem like a good option to me. My own personal video files... even less so. Plus I don't game really, so it's a total waste for me to have a 360. |
||||
|
||||
|
K.o.R
Posts: 221 |
|
|||
What's the feasibility of over-the-network frameserving (i.e with something like AVIsynth?) - you end up with completely uncompressed frames so anything should be able to display with no problem. Of course that's assuming you could get the 360 or whatever to accept the incoming frames 
|
||||
|
||||
|
Raoh
Posts: 357 Location: Florence, OR |
|
|||
|
Actually, the transcoding has nothing to do with it. As I said, it just straight streams xvid files (which is the most commonly used format now). It only transcode if the container is not an AVI.
I'm pretty sure the pixilation is my Xbox 360 stretching the image from it's 704 X 400 to 1920 X 1080. Stretching the image can lead to some pixilation even on a computer. I've seen it happen. The Xbox 360 is a good way to go, even if you don't game. As I said, $199.99 + HDMI cable (If you use Composite or Component, those come with the system) + free TVersity software is still significantly cheaper than the almost $600.00 for an HTPC (not including the shipping or software). I'm only stating this as a cheaper alternative to those that want to use it. By all means, stick with your HTPC's (to those who use them). I have never had a problem with TVersity, so, I don't feel the need to go get the components for an HTPC, when I already have the means of doing what the HTPC does. |
||||
|
||||
makomk
 Posts: 8 |
|
|||
|
I'm curious which USB TV device you bought - this doesn't seem to be mentioned anywhere. Linux has decent support for a fair amount of TV hardware these days, but it can easily take well over half a year between the drivers being written and out-of-the-box support even if everything goes right.
For what you're doing, MythTV should work about as well as can be expected - which is to say, no BluRay or NetFlix playback due to DRM, mostly-usable DVD playback (the menu support is still slightly buggy), decent TV recording, and no softsubbed anime unless you're technically-minded and can put in the effort to configure it. It's also quite stable, since the developers use it themselves. I think in the US you have to pay for TV guide data, though. Your setup is probably about as good as can be achieved, unfortunately. |
||||
|
||||
steev-sama
 Posts: 41 Location: USA |
|
|||
|
Wow, that is a lot of work for something one can do much easier. Plus you can use WMP 11 to set up a media center like system on your computer. I have it set up on my PC so I can stream video and music to my 360 and PS3. That way you don't have to use Vista, which can be a pain in the arse.
What I did was buy a 12 foot VGA cord, a 12 foot male to male audio cord, and a wireless keyboard/mouse. That allowed me to plug my computer into 32" HDTV. I have 2 VGA inputs on my graphics card so I have a split screen and can watch anime on my HDTV easily. I use my HDTV for my main monitor most of the time now, it is just nicer to see everything bigger. 
My set up would work for older models too.. you can get a VGA to Composite adapter. |
||||
|
||||
|
Panoptican
Posts: 160 |
|
|||
|
You can also use TVersity with a PS3 for anyone interested. Which is what I do. It's great having a dvd player, blu ray player, and all around media player all in one machine. Plus the PS3 is wireless right out of the box which is more convenient for networking. Oh and it can play some video games I guess
As mentioned before the quality does seem to take a bit of a hit when you stream a file from your computer to the PS3 through TVersity. However you can also play files with a usb thumb drive as well (or maybe a burnt DVD, I'm not sure). There has also been a few times where files have not played properly with sound or subtitles being messed up. This might be something a smarter person could fix. Which is my next point. I set up all this in very little time and I don't consider myself a computer expert or anything. Also, the program is completely free and still be updated, so all in all it's a great deal. And definitely one you should check out if you already have a PS3 or Xbox360.
|
||||
|
||||
|
jsevakis
Former ANN Editor in Chief
Posts: 1684 Location: Los Angeles, CA |
|
|||
Oh, sorry. I got an Avermedia AverTV USB Hybrid Volar Max. Over-the-air TV looks amazing in HD, and being in NYC I get good reception most of the time. (Only PBS doesn't come through.) If you want cable, you have to use a CableCard, which means you can't build your own machine. CableCard readers are only available to OEM suppliers. Grr. |
||||
|
||||
 |
All times are GMT - 5 Hours |
|
|
|
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group