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Philounet
Joined: 09 Feb 2010
Posts: 4
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| Posted: Tue Feb 09, 2010 2:48 pm Post subject: PC or Mac: does it apply to home theater as well? |
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Hello everyone,
I'm new here and I am planning on buying a new laptop that I will most probably use for home cinema purposes among other things.
The one I want is atop this laptop review list.
Now here's my question, apart from the overall reliability of the machine, would macs have anything better than pcs on a home cinema-related point of view? Like the image.. anything really.
Anyone to bring wind to the mill?
Thanks in advance!
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ecrabb
Forum Moderator
Joined: 13 Mar 2006
Posts: 15909
Location: Utah
TV/Projector: JVC RS40, Epson 5010
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| Posted: Tue Feb 09, 2010 3:41 pm Post subject: |
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Is this a legitimate question, or are you just spamming the forum with the review site you linked to?
SC
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Philounet
Joined: 09 Feb 2010
Posts: 4
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| Posted: Tue Feb 09, 2010 3:47 pm Post subject: |
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Hi ecrabb,
This is a legitimate question. I happen to know a bit of html but didnt mean to spam. So the computer is a macbook pro 13" 4gb ram, 2,53 ghz so you don't have to click on the link 
In other terms, what kind of computer do you recommend and why?
Thanks a lot for your help.
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CRT_Ben
Joined: 28 Aug 2006
Posts: 1684
Location: Northern Virginia
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| Posted: Tue Feb 09, 2010 3:49 pm Post subject: |
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I smell spam...it's a lot easier to write out a model number than link to a site and explain "it's the one on top of the list"...
edit: I see you posted again. Macs don't have blu-ray capability so unless you want a rather worthless HTPC I wouldn't get a Mac.
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Philounet
Joined: 09 Feb 2010
Posts: 4
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| Posted: Tue Feb 09, 2010 3:58 pm Post subject: |
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Oh wow no blu-ray capability on macs.. I didnt know. Well yeah this changes the deal.. what computer do you recommend/have?
Thanks!
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ecrabb
Forum Moderator
Joined: 13 Mar 2006
Posts: 15909
Location: Utah
TV/Projector: JVC RS40, Epson 5010
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| Posted: Tue Feb 09, 2010 4:07 pm Post subject: |
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I'm Mac user and own and use both Mac and Windows boxes daily... So, I think I can give perhaps a slightly more objective view than "don't get a Mac unless you want a worthless HTPC" (no disrespect, Ben).
As Ben did fairly point out, there is no built-in Blu-ray on a Mac. Apple CEO Steve Jobs is on record publicly criticizing Sony's Blu-ray licensing. You can add an external BD drive, but you'll need to run Windows to play movies without ripping. So, if your primary focus is BD playback, Ben's right - it wouldn't make sense. You could get a ~$500 Windows box and accomplish BD playback. But, there is much more to an HTPC than simply BD playback, and if this is a multipurpose machine, that changes the value equation, too.
MacBook Pro's are also due for a refresh in the immediate near future. I haven't heard any rumors one way or the other as to a BD drive.
SC
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Philounet
Joined: 09 Feb 2010
Posts: 4
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| Posted: Tue Feb 09, 2010 4:14 pm Post subject: |
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Awesome, I have two points of view now 
So I guess I will wait for the new mbp's and take a decision then. Who knows what kind of wonder they'll have inside.
Thanks for the input lads!
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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: Tue Feb 09, 2010 4:15 pm Post subject: |
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What are your primary uses for the HTPC?
_________________
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CRT.
HD done right!
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CRT_Ben
Joined: 28 Aug 2006
Posts: 1684
Location: Northern Virginia
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| Posted: Tue Feb 09, 2010 4:30 pm Post subject: |
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| ecrabb wrote: | I'm Mac user and own and use both Mac and Windows boxes daily... So, I think I can give perhaps a slightly more objective view than "don't get a Mac unless you want a worthless HTPC" (no disrespect, Ben).
As Ben did fairly point out, there is no built-in Blu-ray on a Mac. Apple CEO Steve Jobs is on record publicly criticizing Sony's Blu-ray licensing. You can add an external BD drive, but you'll need to run Windows to play movies without ripping. So, if your primary focus is BD playback, Ben's right - it wouldn't make sense. You could get a ~$500 Windows box and accomplish BD playback. But, there is much more to an HTPC than simply BD playback, and if this is a multipurpose machine, that changes the value equation, too.
MacBook Pro's are also due for a refresh in the immediate near future. I haven't heard any rumors one way or the other as to a BD drive.
SC |
What do you watch in your theater? Movies, or TV? A HTPC with no disc playback is just a PVR at best...For which I'd rather have a set-top, but that's my opinion. If you have everything ripped and use it as a media server that's a different story...but wait, why are we using a laptop for an HTPC in the first place?
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ecrabb
Forum Moderator
Joined: 13 Mar 2006
Posts: 15909
Location: Utah
TV/Projector: JVC RS40, Epson 5010
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| Posted: Tue Feb 09, 2010 6:37 pm Post subject: |
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| CRT_Ben wrote: | | What do you watch in your theater? Movies, or TV? |
Both, but I didn't think this was about me or you or what we watch. Second, not everybody who has an HTPC also has a "home theater". In fact, I'm quite certain there are FAR more HTPC's connected to LCD, plasma, and RPTV's than there are HTPC's connected to front projection setups like most of ours here.
| CRT_Ben wrote: | | A HTPC with no disc playback is just a PVR at best...For which I'd rather have a set-top, but that's my opinion. |
You're right - that is your opinion. Personally, I'd rather have an HTPC - especially for just OTA. You can spend $180/year for a Tivo subscription, or you can run a MythTV box for free. Or, if you have a Mac, EyeTV. You get the benefit of archivability, streaming to other devices in the house, storage options, etc. Personally, I think must set-top DVR's suck.
But, that's why I asked the OP what his purposes where... Maybe the extent of "HTPC" to him is just watching/recording/playing OTA, and watching iTunes store purchases or streaming Netflix... Any HTPC would work fine for all those things without adding the train wreck that BD playback seems to be (IMHO).
| CRT_Ben wrote: | | If you have everything ripped and use it as a media server that's a different story...but wait, why are we using a laptop for an HTPC in the first place? |
As for why anybody would use a laptop for an HTPC... Maybe so they could have one portable computer that serves all their computing needs, including work and HTPC. Maybe not preferable for some of us here, but it can be done. Not everybody wants/needs multiple time-sucking computers in their lives.
SC
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CRT_Ben
Joined: 28 Aug 2006
Posts: 1684
Location: Northern Virginia
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| Posted: Tue Feb 09, 2010 7:20 pm Post subject: |
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I'd love to respond point by point but I don't want to derail his thread...obviously he wants BR playback because the lack of it "changes the deal", so I stand by my recommendation unless they add BR drives in the next gen...in which case it sounds like a Mac would be perfect for his needs. I'm not Mac hating here, SC...
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ecrabb
Forum Moderator
Joined: 13 Mar 2006
Posts: 15909
Location: Utah
TV/Projector: JVC RS40, Epson 5010
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| Posted: Tue Feb 09, 2010 8:38 pm Post subject: |
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OK, that's cool. I guess I got thrown off because you said "unless you want a rather worthless HTPC I wouldn't get a Mac" before he said that lack of BD playback "changes the deal"... So, I was really just pointing that lots of people use HTPC's for lots of different things. What's worthless to one guy is the perfect solution to another guy.
For some people, it might even be worth running a Mac as a BD-less HTPC, alongside a set-top BD player. Some people here have satellite or cable, and no "TV" at all running on their HTPC, while some people have only TV running on their HTPC. Lots of options and variations and you don't necessarily have to have everything in the HTPC.
SC
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michael k
Joined: 28 Dec 2008
Posts: 18
Location: sweden
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| Posted: Tue Mar 30, 2010 9:03 pm Post subject: |
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aint bluray in htpc dead?
4 the cost of the drive and software you can buy a nice ordnary blurayplayer
and plex is a awsome program 4 your mac
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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: Tue Mar 30, 2010 9:07 pm Post subject: |
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| michael k wrote: | aint bluray in htpc dead?
4 the cost of the drive and software you can buy a nice ordnary blurayplayer
and plex is a awsome program 4 your mac |
Nope, while a standalone is easier you can't make a stand alone do 1080i/48/72/96 or any other custom resolution. Unless you add a nice scaler which will cost more than the HTPC usually.
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HD done right!
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michael k
Joined: 28 Dec 2008
Posts: 18
Location: sweden
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| Posted: Tue Mar 30, 2010 9:09 pm Post subject: |
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i got a scaler in my system point taken
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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: Tue Mar 30, 2010 9:11 pm Post subject: |
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| michael k wrote: | | i got a scaler in my system point taken |
What resolution do you run your blurays at?
_________________
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CRT.
HD done right!
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michael k
Joined: 28 Dec 2008
Posts: 18
Location: sweden
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| Posted: Tue Mar 30, 2010 9:15 pm Post subject: |
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1080p 60
i use my onkyo 886 as a scaler but i have a lumagen but we nether got to be freinds
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ecrabb
Forum Moderator
Joined: 13 Mar 2006
Posts: 15909
Location: Utah
TV/Projector: JVC RS40, Epson 5010
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| Posted: Wed Mar 31, 2010 2:47 am Post subject: |
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| AnalogRocks wrote: | | Nope, while a standalone is easier you can't make a stand alone do 1080i/48/72/96 or any other custom resolution. Unless you add a nice scaler which will cost more than the HTPC usually. |
All true, but here is EXACTLY why I will NOT use an HTPC as my primary playback device...
http://www.curtpalme.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=243661
Here's a quote:
| perisoft wrote: | So, I've been doing bluray for a while now. I've used two methods to rip BDs - ClownBD, which spits out .ts files, and MakeMKV, which... spits out .mkv files.
<snip - narrative on the half-dozen different ripping and playback tools that fail/crash/artifact/etc removed>
This is all absolutely infuriating. My wife just wants to watch a goddamned movie, rather than having to spend a half hour starting to watch and then going back to fix something, or re-rip something, or re-rent it from netflix because it got screwed up the first time.
Various combinations of players and rippers ALL FAIL, and all fail in DIFFERENT WAYS. Delayed audio, choppy video, wrong audio, wrong stream, wrong colors, only plays in stereo, plays multiple streams at once, can't seek within the file, crashes randomly in the middle of playing, and on and on and on and f*cking on. I'm not sure I've seen the same failure twice; it's difficult to comprehend how everyone involved in this business can fail so completely, consistently and with such diversity.
What rippers/players are you guys using, and what are you using to rip blurays? I'm about to blow six kinds of gasket here... |
I'm a computer guy... I work with computers every day for a living... I know what I'm doing... But, I will NOT tolerate spending hours screwing around with filters, drivers for soundcards, drivers for video cards, codecs, ripping software, and on and on and on just to get native rate playback.
Wake me up when it isn't a complete CF to get smooth, reliable, trouble-free Blu-ray playback on a Windows box that doesn't cost as much as $600 for a decent BD player and the used Lumagen everybody says I need.
SC
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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 Mar 31, 2010 2:59 am Post subject: |
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Oh that's fine SC. I don't rip anything so none of the above applies to me. I just set the video card to 1080i/48/72/96 put the disk in and push play. 
_________________
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CRT.
HD done right!
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greg_mitch
Joined: 03 May 2006
Posts: 5320
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| Posted: Wed Mar 31, 2010 3:04 am Post subject: |
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Just download Mike's tool for ripping and muxing to MKV's.
Get disc from netflix...pop in computer and fire up program and simply name the file...wait 45 minutes...pop out disc and put it back in the mail.
Plays directly from MCE or streams to a variety of players around the house.
You don't get any free lunches though...some people would rather pay less and put time in to make it "just right". Others would rather pay top dollar to have someone else choose for them how they should use their machine.
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