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bbfarmht
Joined: 27 May 2006
Posts: 1273
Location: Where the Mississippi runs east to west!!
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| Posted: Tue Apr 14, 2009 5:46 am Post subject: researching components |
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I was reading "Maximum PC". The recent issue has an article on building a Tv & Movie pc. I started looking into pricing to put one together. I like the idea of being able to use it as a Vp and as a Bd player.
I want to run some part by you guys. I want to see what you think of the hardware. The motherboard I am looking at is the Jetway NC81-LF.
The reason I chose the mini-itx mb was because I am looking at the Silverstone ML02B-MXR. Its a nice small case yet functional. There is also the slim Blue-ray drive that goes with the case.
The video is built into the mb so I won't have to worry about finding a video card.
The things that I am not sure about are.
1. Will I be able to output the uncompressed audio from this mb
2. Is there going to be an issue with bd playback
_________________
Adam
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both"
Benjamin Franklin
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akajester
Joined: 09 Jul 2008
Posts: 934
Location: Wisconsin
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| Posted: Tue Apr 14, 2009 2:34 pm Post subject: |
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Over the last year I've been really deep into htpc stuff. I use media portal as the front end over winxp sp3 and it's working great. I will tell you that many people have problems with integrated graphics. Especially if you're going to use video acceleration (dxva). I would make sure the board has a pci express 16 slot for a graphics card. Try the onboard first. You can always get a radeon card with a half height adapter to put in there for like $40 that will work awesome. Just something to be aware of.
Regarding audio, you'll need to do spdif or digital coax out to get decent audio. You WILL NOT get DTS-HD or TRUEHD audio out of a computer. The software manufacturers have strict rules they have to follow and they are not allowed to do it. At this time no hack exists to make it work either. Unless you run bluray rips off your hard drive, etc. In order to play BD's, you'll need to use cyberlink powerdvd 8 or 9. They have some tricks to make it appear integrated in software like Media Portal, but it's not fully integrated at this time, and the free codecs, like Media Player Classic home cinema don't do BD yet. So, you can get bit perfect playback from spdif. All my movies are HD quality in mkv container format with either AC3 or DTS audio. You need to use AC3Filter to get DTS of spdif without issues.
Sorry if this is alot to digest. It's hard to put into words what I've been experiencing the last year. Many hours of frustration! 
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akajester
Joined: 09 Jul 2008
Posts: 934
Location: Wisconsin
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| Posted: Tue Apr 14, 2009 2:40 pm Post subject: |
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Regarding that board specifically. If you get either the dual core 7750 processor or the amd quad core (both are under $100 at newegg), you will be able to play any 1080p content without peaking your cpu. Without hardware acceleration and with the 7750 processor I got about 50% cpu. With dxva enabled I get about 5% cpu. So... if you don't mind the cpu usage you SHOULD be fine with onboard video. If you plan to use the hdmi out for audio, you still won't get DTS-HD or TRUE-HD audio due to the software limitations. Then again, if they ever lift that "cap", you'd be all set with hdmi audio out. Let me know if you have any other questions.
That's a sweet looking case! My htpc is behind the wall, so I did just a cheap case and full atx. Things get more expensive the smaller you get.
-akajester
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bbfarmht
Joined: 27 May 2006
Posts: 1273
Location: Where the Mississippi runs east to west!!
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| Posted: Tue Apr 14, 2009 5:37 pm Post subject: |
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The cpu I was looking at was the Amd Phenom 9350e. I'm trying to stay close to what the article had for parts. I did change the case they used and the mb and optic drive. But those components are all similar in size. I was hoping to be able to output DTS-HD or True-HD. Maybe I won't go with this route.
Do they output the audio in linear-pcm? If so it would be like using the Ps3 as the BD source.
_________________
Adam
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both"
Benjamin Franklin
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akajester
Joined: 09 Jul 2008
Posts: 934
Location: Wisconsin
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| Posted: Tue Apr 14, 2009 6:17 pm Post subject: |
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| bbfarmht wrote: | The cpu I was looking at was the Amd Phenom 9350e. I'm trying to stay close to what the article had for parts. I did change the case they used and the mb and optic drive. But those components are all similar in size. I was hoping to be able to output DTS-HD or True-HD. Maybe I won't go with this route.
Do they output the audio in linear-pcm? If so it would be like using the Ps3 as the BD source. |
Actually, you could get by with a much cheaper processor. This is the one I got and had 50% cpu with bluray rips;
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103300
I later upgraded to this one but saw no noticeable difference in speed;
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103244
Of course this was with xp, not vista. although I verified all 4 cores were being used.
You'll be able to "play" the audio formats but they're downsampled so htpc's can't get true dts-hd. That doesn't mean this won't change in the future though. to be honest the audio out via spdif is excellent and I'm happy with it right now.
I see now that the asus xonar is sporting dts-hd, truehd, etc. curious how that works when the software manufacturers block it. Could it be because it's a hdcp compliant audio card? edit: you need to use arcsoft total media player in order to use the dts-hd master audio pass-thru. interesting.
http://www.xpcgear.com/xonarhdavdel.html
-akajester
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AnalogRocks
Forum Moderator
Joined: 08 Mar 2006
Posts: 26706
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
TV/Projector: Sony 1252Q, AMPRO 4000G
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| Posted: Wed Apr 15, 2009 12:38 am Post subject: |
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| akajester wrote: | | bbfarmht wrote: | The cpu I was looking at was the Amd Phenom 9350e. I'm trying to stay close to what the article had for parts. I did change the case they used and the mb and optic drive. But those components are all similar in size. I was hoping to be able to output DTS-HD or True-HD. Maybe I won't go with this route.
Do they output the audio in linear-pcm? If so it would be like using the Ps3 as the BD source. |
Actually, you could get by with a much cheaper processor. This is the one I got and had 50% cpu with bluray rips;
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103300
I later upgraded to this one but saw no noticeable difference in speed;
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103244
Of course this was with xp, not vista. although I verified all 4 cores were being used.
You'll be able to "play" the audio formats but they're downsampled so htpc's can't get true dts-hd. That doesn't mean this won't change in the future though. to be honest the audio out via spdif is excellent and I'm happy with it right now.
I see now that the asus xonar is sporting dts-hd, truehd, etc. curious how that works when the software manufacturers block it. Could it be because it's a hdcp compliant audio card? edit: you need to use arcsoft total media player in order to use the dts-hd master audio pass-thru. interesting.
http://www.xpcgear.com/xonarhdavdel.html
-akajester |
ANy analog decoding of the True HD stuff on PC?
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akajester
Joined: 09 Jul 2008
Posts: 934
Location: Wisconsin
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| Posted: Wed Apr 15, 2009 12:09 pm Post subject: |
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| AnalogRocks wrote: | | ANy analog decoding of the True HD stuff on PC? |
Unfortunately no, as the software will downsample it either way.  AT least that's what I've been told. I tried it on my system just for S&G's and the analog sounded really muddy. Perhaps it's my cheap onboard audio though. The optical sounded way better.
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