BURKEPHOTOS
Technical User
Tired of watching hulu on a 20" monitor and am considering building a dedicated media computer. Any ideas and/or comments?
BURKEPHOTOS
BURKEPHOTOS
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?s BUILDING MEDIA COMPUTER
- Thread starter BURKEPHOTOS
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- #2
I've built a couple. I've used Windows MCE 2005, MythBuntu and MythDora.
Ask away.
(I even have pictures of my build online)
Just my 2¢
"What the captain doesn't realize is that we've secretly replaced his Dilithium Crystals with new Folger's Crystals."
--Greg
Ask away.
(I even have pictures of my build online)
Just my 2¢
"What the captain doesn't realize is that we've secretly replaced his Dilithium Crystals with new Folger's Crystals."
--Greg
Remember that to get full HD all (3) things must be HDCP-compliant: The source (usually a Blu-Ray player) the video card, and the monitor. Currently just about everything is, but many folks like to re-purpose older gear for an HTPC and need to be aware of this.
Usually, with HTPCs, you're looking for a decent (not great) CPU, a better than decent (but still not great) GFX card and I personally would pay close attention to TDP. I would prefer as many passively-cooled devices as possible to reduce noise. Low-profile options for GFX & tuner cards is a nice plus, so you can use a slimmer case.
Tony
Users helping Users...
Usually, with HTPCs, you're looking for a decent (not great) CPU, a better than decent (but still not great) GFX card and I personally would pay close attention to TDP. I would prefer as many passively-cooled devices as possible to reduce noise. Low-profile options for GFX & tuner cards is a nice plus, so you can use a slimmer case.
Tony
Users helping Users...
- Thread starter
- #4
BURKEPHOTOS
Technical User
Fill me in on the meaning of HDCP and TDP. You're right, it would be nice to use my Sony 32" XBR3 as a monitor.
Thanks,
BURKEPHOTOS
Thanks,
BURKEPHOTOS
If you'd rather just buy a PC and use it as an HTPC, one series I've been looking at myself, b/c they are quite cheap, and seem to be able to do the job (if you get the right CPU) is the Acer AX.. series of computers.
It's a tiny box, so it'll take up practically no space. You can get it with Blue Ray installed if you want, it has HDMI out onboard (or some come with a preinstalled graphics card that also includes HDMI for better performance, and then you can just use the installed Vista media center. Or if you find a new one with Windows 7, even better, the Windows 7 media center... or so I've read that it's better. I know from experience that Vista's media center works really well - MUCH better than XP Media Center... then again, I didn't use either for terribly long... First time with XP, I just ended up using that machine elsewhere... the Vista machine I ended up selling, b/c someone needed a computer, and I needed the money.![[smile]](/data/assets/smilies/smile.gif "[smile] [smile]")
HDCP has to do with the ability to send video and stereo audio over one HDMI cable.
TCP is pretty new, I think... as far as television... but if he's referring to TCP/IP then it's clearly to do with the internet connection. You can read up on Transmission Control Protocol. I'm not sure how it relates to digital media, right off-hand...
--
"If to err is human, then I must be some kind of human!" -Me
It's a tiny box, so it'll take up practically no space. You can get it with Blue Ray installed if you want, it has HDMI out onboard (or some come with a preinstalled graphics card that also includes HDMI for better performance, and then you can just use the installed Vista media center. Or if you find a new one with Windows 7, even better, the Windows 7 media center... or so I've read that it's better. I know from experience that Vista's media center works really well - MUCH better than XP Media Center... then again, I didn't use either for terribly long... First time with XP, I just ended up using that machine elsewhere... the Vista machine I ended up selling, b/c someone needed a computer, and I needed the money.
HDCP has to do with the ability to send video and stereo audio over one HDMI cable.
TCP is pretty new, I think... as far as television... but if he's referring to TCP/IP then it's clearly to do with the internet connection. You can read up on Transmission Control Protocol. I'm not sure how it relates to digital media, right off-hand...
--
"If to err is human, then I must be some kind of human!" -Me
- Moderator
- #6
Mmmm... I avoid computers starting with "A".
Acer.
Aptiva.
AST.
Apple.
Just my 2¢
"What the captain doesn't realize is that we've secretly replaced his Dilithium Crystals with new Folger's Crystals."
--Greg
Acer.
Aptiva.
AST.
Apple.
Just my 2¢
"What the captain doesn't realize is that we've secretly replaced his Dilithium Crystals with new Folger's Crystals."
--Greg
[ROFL]
I was the same way with Acers before. I got a stinky cheap deal on one Acer myself, fixed it up... it became the media PC that I sold. It handled everything well, running Vista, even with an old out-dated graphics card (so I could send RCA video to my old CRT tv. It had 3 GB Ram initially as well. Then I did a fresh install of Vista, without all the bloatware after I sold it (well, they got smacked with a virus not long ago, so I reinstalled for them instead of trying to troubleshoot)... Well, that thing is smoking fast now... and that's just with a Pentium Dual Core - same architecture, but it's no Core 2 Duo/Quad.
It's also a VERY quiet machine.
Recently, my parents got one of the AX... series Acers from a pawn shop. And it was the low-end, running a Sempron. It ran pretty well... I took off a little of the software for them, but with little time available, couldn't do much. After stripping out some of the bloatware, it's now running like a champ.. and I didn't clean everything off.. Oh, and it's also very quiet, and tiny too.
I'd prefer to build my own, but for something like a media PC, where I don't intend to do any heavy lifting other than possibly - some day - playing some hi-def content..
A custom build to handle hi-def is gonna run at least $500 to $600 at a minimum... more if you want to be picky about parts... The Acers I'm talking about can be had on eBay for a couple hundred if you reinstall, or less than $500 with everything setup and ready to go - sometimes with a widescreen monitor as well.
--
"If to err is human, then I must be some kind of human!" -Me
I was the same way with Acers before. I got a stinky cheap deal on one Acer myself, fixed it up... it became the media PC that I sold. It handled everything well, running Vista, even with an old out-dated graphics card (so I could send RCA video to my old CRT tv. It had 3 GB Ram initially as well. Then I did a fresh install of Vista, without all the bloatware after I sold it (well, they got smacked with a virus not long ago, so I reinstalled for them instead of trying to troubleshoot)... Well, that thing is smoking fast now... and that's just with a Pentium Dual Core - same architecture, but it's no Core 2 Duo/Quad.
It's also a VERY quiet machine.
Recently, my parents got one of the AX... series Acers from a pawn shop. And it was the low-end, running a Sempron. It ran pretty well... I took off a little of the software for them, but with little time available, couldn't do much. After stripping out some of the bloatware, it's now running like a champ.. and I didn't clean everything off.. Oh, and it's also very quiet, and tiny too.
I'd prefer to build my own, but for something like a media PC, where I don't intend to do any heavy lifting other than possibly - some day - playing some hi-def content..
A custom build to handle hi-def is gonna run at least $500 to $600 at a minimum... more if you want to be picky about parts... The Acers I'm talking about can be had on eBay for a couple hundred if you reinstall, or less than $500 with everything setup and ready to go - sometimes with a widescreen monitor as well.
--
"If to err is human, then I must be some kind of human!" -Me
Clarification, HDMI can send video and audio over the same HDMI cable. HDCP is High Definition Content Protection which ensures that the communication is encrypted from the media source (Cable, Satellite, BlueRay, whatever) to the output (TV/monitor, audio system, etc).
It's basically about keeping someone from being able to insert a device between the player and the output device that makes a copy of the media as it is played.
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Another problem to note is sound over the HDMI connector. If you want Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD (both Blu-Ray uncompressed 7 channel) without the purchase of top end sound cards, you need one of the newer 5000 series graphics cards capable of decryption and sending over the HDMI cable to your AV centre or TV.
I believe that other graphics cards will have the ability soon, but currently only the 5000 series can decrypt these standards and they are really OTT in terms of graphics power for the needs of a Media Centre.
Regards: Terry
I believe that other graphics cards will have the ability soon, but currently only the 5000 series can decrypt these standards and they are really OTT in terms of graphics power for the needs of a Media Centre.
Regards: Terry
Nelviticus
Programmer
Wahnula was referring to TDP, not TCP. TDP is Thermal Design Power - i.e. how much power the processor draws (or more accurately, is designed to draw). The higher the TDP the hotter things get so the more cooling you need, and more cooling usually means more noise. A HTPC needs to be as quiet as possible, so ideally you want a processor with a low TDP.
Nelviticus
Nelviticus
- Moderator
- #11
Well, on a related note....
My Media Center PC is now running Windows 7 media center.
I have to say... me likey.
I put a new mobo in it a couple of months ago.... it's truly amazing.... let me see if I can find a link....
There it is. I built it with 4GB RAM.
The nice parts include:
S/PDIF digital out, HDMI Out, a CRAPLOAD of USB and SATA ports, and a VERY QUIET 64bit processor. The machine is virtually silent.
That, with a shiny new BluRay player in it, and I got a kickin' system.
Just my 2¢
"What the captain doesn't realize is that we've secretly replaced his Dilithium Crystals with new Folger's Crystals."
--Greg
My Media Center PC is now running Windows 7 media center.
I have to say... me likey.
I put a new mobo in it a couple of months ago.... it's truly amazing.... let me see if I can find a link....
There it is. I built it with 4GB RAM.
The nice parts include:
S/PDIF digital out, HDMI Out, a CRAPLOAD of USB and SATA ports, and a VERY QUIET 64bit processor. The machine is virtually silent.
That, with a shiny new BluRay player in it, and I got a kickin' system.
Just my 2¢
"What the captain doesn't realize is that we've secretly replaced his Dilithium Crystals with new Folger's Crystals."
--Greg
To address what Terry (tf1) is referring to, check out this article and the first link inside it:
Lossless 8-channel sound that Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD provides is not possible on earlier GPU's. ATI's Radeon HD 5700/5800 series is the first to officially support it, although like Terry said some models like the 5870 is overkill when gaming is not a necessity.
With that said, I do believe that even older cards like the Radeon HD 4650 will still pass 5.1 over HDMI using the older Dobly Digital and DTS format. So unless you have a need for 8-channel support at the moment, I'm not sure having TrueHD or DTS-HD compatibilty is that high of a priority for most people.
~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Einstein
[tab][navy]For posting policies, click [/navy]here.
Lossless 8-channel sound that Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD provides is not possible on earlier GPU's. ATI's Radeon HD 5700/5800 series is the first to officially support it, although like Terry said some models like the 5870 is overkill when gaming is not a necessity.
With that said, I do believe that even older cards like the Radeon HD 4650 will still pass 5.1 over HDMI using the older Dobly Digital and DTS format. So unless you have a need for 8-channel support at the moment, I'm not sure having TrueHD or DTS-HD compatibilty is that high of a priority for most people.
~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Einstein
[tab][navy]For posting policies, click [/navy]here.
Actually, I just confirmed with an Anandtech author that S/PDIF formats such as Dolby Digital and DTS based on the older 5.1 digital format will work fine on older HDMI video cards such as the Radeon HD 4000 series. In fact, any RV7xx GPU will support 16-bit 8-channel LPCM with software decoding (Cyberlink PowerDVD 8 or 9).
So again, you only need the latest Radeon 5000 series cards if you have a need for 24-bit LPCM which obviously requires newer hi-def audio equipment.
~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Einstein
[tab][navy]For posting policies, click [/navy]here.
So again, you only need the latest Radeon 5000 series cards if you have a need for 24-bit LPCM which obviously requires newer hi-def audio equipment.
~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Einstein
[tab][navy]For posting policies, click [/navy]here.
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- #15
Weird... I could have SWORN that I replied to this yesterday.
kjv:
Blu-ray rocks. Although I did have to get the latest version of PowerDVD to play it. Blu-Ray playback isn't supported native in 7, it seems.
Just my 2¢
"What the captain doesn't realize is that we've secretly replaced his Dilithium Crystals with new Folger's Crystals."
--Greg
kjv:
Blu-ray rocks. Although I did have to get the latest version of PowerDVD to play it. Blu-Ray playback isn't supported native in 7, it seems.
Just my 2¢
"What the captain doesn't realize is that we've secretly replaced his Dilithium Crystals with new Folger's Crystals."
--Greg
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