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Official HTPC Guide Discussion Thread (Part 1)


Thasp

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The first time I tried to use all highest settings w/ BD Rebuilder to BD-9 on 33.6GB movie only blu ray folder "Man on Fire" my 6000+ @ 3.2Ghz I aborted @ 75% completion after 30hrs

 

I am now @ 77% completion of Kill Bill Vol. 2 after 5hrs same settings w/ my Phenom II 940 @ 3.5Ghz

 

600% improvement

 

ocgw

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I am downloading a newer benchmarking program now but ran this older version

 

3D03.jpg

 

does this score look any good?

 

ProcessorMultimedia.jpg

 

ProcessorArithmatic.jpg

 

Cryptography.jpg

 

cache.jpg

 

added a lil' HTv and NBv and she is stable @ 3.8Ghz all four cores at 100% reencoding

 

ps just bumped the storage up to 8TB

 

 

I backed off on the voltage from 1.55v to 1.48v, and I am feeding my cpu hsf from a molex rather than a mobo pin header, got my max temps down 3c to 52c

 

Oddly, this produced an instant increase in reencoding from rates in BD Rebuilder from 33 on the 1st pass and 11 on the 2nd pass to 37 on the first pass and 14 on the 2nd pass

 

ocgw

 

peace

Edited by ocgw

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Not had a lot of joy with divx player to be quite honest. I quite like Media Player Classic, due to low resource requirements and massive flexibility in the codecs it uses.

 

Horses for courses and all that I guess!

 

 

Get a copy of Core AVC it is by far the most efficient for x264 .mkv's and it integrates with WMP automatically. Trust me, its much faster than ffdshow.

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$80 at Newegg gets you one. :)

 

A SATA one sure, but not a dedicated set-top player :lol: My gran donated me a Sharp BD-HP21H anyhow, so that was handy.

 

 

Get a copy of Core AVC it is by far the most efficient for x264 .mkv's and it integrates with WMP automatically. Trust me, its much faster than ffdshow.

 

I have both - I just prefer the post processing options from ffdshow :)

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There are no unused cpu cycles on the 2nd video reencoding pass of BD Rebuilder

 

I see all four core "locked" on 100% for 6-7hrs straight

 

There may be no more of a cpu torture test than BD Rebuilder, I would definetely keep an eye on my temps starting out

 

Now that I remember it a guy w/ an 8-core Mac Pro reported that BD Rebuilder seemed to be hard limited to 4 threads, and that he wished it weren't the case so he would get 50fps instead of 29

 

I got 54+fps today on 1st pass @ "highest quality"

 

54.jpg

 

18+fps on 2nd pass @ highest quality

 

18.jpg

 

ocgw

 

peace

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  • 2 months later...

So, I wanted a HTPC so I could use it as a variety of things. They are:

 

TV receiver/recorder (to replace my Dish PVR)

NAS(to replace my NSLU+Hard drives)

DVD/BD Player(obvious what this replaces...)

Amplifier(for my 5.1 Surround sound speakers, could this replace an amplifier assuming a sound card is present?)

Gaming(To replace my Wii perhaps, I have a better system for hardcore gaming)

 

I was thinking about this build:

 

Cheap Intel CPU+ Mobo = about $100

Case+PSU= about $50

BD Drive+ Big HD=about $200

Ram=$25

Sound card=$60

TV Tuner=$100

Nvidia 6200=$0(I have a spare one)

This totals up to about $535, right?

 

What about OS? I was thinking about XP MCE, but Vista Home Premium has MCE inherent in it, so I think I'll use that.

 

Am I Missing something? Will an HTPC be able to handle everything above?

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So, I wanted a HTPC so I could use it as a variety of things. They are:

 

TV receiver/recorder (to replace my Dish PVR)

NAS(to replace my NSLU+Hard drives)

DVD/BD Player(obvious what this replaces...)

Amplifier(for my 5.1 Surround sound speakers, could this replace an amplifier assuming a sound card is present?)

Gaming(To replace my Wii perhaps, I have a better system for hardcore gaming)

 

I was thinking about this build:

 

Cheap Intel CPU+ Mobo = about $100

Case+PSU= about $50

BD Drive+ Big HD=about $200

Ram=$25

Sound card=$60

TV Tuner=$100

Nvidia 6200=$0(I have a spare one)

This totals up to about $535, right?

 

What about OS? I was thinking about XP MCE, but Vista Home Premium has MCE inherent in it, so I think I'll use that.

 

Am I Missing something? Will an HTPC be able to handle everything above?

 

I honestly can't say, because I have never built a budget HTPC, I have over $3000USD invested in my HTPC rig and it isn't perfect

 

But here are my thoughts on your proposed project my friend

 

1. I would go w/ a nice overclocking mobo

 

2. I would not skimp on the psu

 

3. You are right about not having to spend top dollar on the ram

 

4. OB sound should do w/ a nice mobo

 

5. A nice Haupagge TV card can be had in that range

 

6. Entry level gfx is sufficient for HTPC but not far gaming

 

7. You can download Windows 7 RC for free, and it is fantastic

 

in my most humble of opinions

 

ocgw

 

peace

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  • 6 months later...

I have read the guide and this thread, among many others, but I still have some confusion. I am new to PC building so I am sure it is my inexperience.

 

I want to build a HTPC but before I start, I want to unsure the end product will do what I want it to do.

 

I want to:

Rip DVDs and store

Use as media hub for all my music/pictures as well

Watch/Record HD and play back stored HD programming from my Direct TV box.

 

I am confortable with the first two but I seem to be going in circles about the recording HD programming from a Sat box. Some say it can be done, some say it can't, some have crazy hacks that are out of my comfort zone and some products say they do it, but I am skeptical. I have a direct TV HD Sat box (no DVR) with HDMI output going directly into my 1080i Samsung TV.

 

I visited Hauppauge's website and took a look at their PVR and tuner cards (per some recommendations). They say they can do HD recording from a sat box, except they do not have a HDMI input. I was under the impression that decoded HD can only travel via HDMI. Now, HD over analog is better than non-HD over analog, its still not true HD. I also though S-video was outdated, but it comes up a lot as an option. I want to make sure I am preserving my HD that I am paying for. Recording it in HD would be nice, but if not I guess I'll have to come up with a switch system to cut out the HTPC when I want to watch HD programming, or abandon the build.

 

So thats my confusion. Here is what I am trying to figure out.

 

1) Can I watch and record HD through a Sat box and through a HTPC? What is the best solution?

 

Im sure there is a way, and I know I am not the only one who wants to watch HD and have a HTPC.

 

Please set me straight....

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  • 2 years later...

Hello everybody.

Unfortunately i have not followed the hardware news for some time now, so i'm pretty lost at choosing the right parts, maybe some of you guys can help me?

 

Well first of all budget is around 350-400usd, which ain't a alot, but my requirements are pretty low too.

 

I want my system to play very big high bitrate 1080p movies(25GB) in a smooth solid quality, and then i want a 1TB 3,5" harddrive and support for atleast one more.

I don't care about blu-ray drives nor very nice audio quality, cause i'm only playing in stereo anyway. Support for a sound card upgrade later will though be appreciated much :)

 

I need only 1 HDMI port and 1 gigabit ethernet too

 

If needed i'll build the system myself, but a cheap prebuild system is okay too.

 

Like everybody else i appreciate a silent system, but again my budget is tight so i might have to compromise.

 

Thanks a lot for the help :)

 

- Martin

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Hello everybody.

Unfortunately i have not followed the hardware news for some time now, so i'm pretty lost at choosing the right parts, maybe some of you guys can help me?

 

Well first of all budget is around 350-400usd, which ain't a alot, but my requirements are pretty low too.

 

I want my system to play very big high bitrate 1080p movies(25GB) in a smooth solid quality, and then i want a 1TB 3,5" harddrive and support for atleast one more.

I don't care about blu-ray drives nor very nice audio quality, cause i'm only playing in stereo anyway. Support for a sound card upgrade later will though be appreciated much :)

 

I need only 1 HDMI port and 1 gigabit ethernet too

 

If needed i'll build the system myself, but a cheap prebuild system is okay too.

 

Like everybody else i appreciate a silent system, but again my budget is tight so i might have to compromise.

 

Thanks a lot for the help :)

 

- Martin

Hey Martin,

 

Repost this as a new thread in the system builds area and you will get all the help you need to build your new htpc

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