# HTPC...



## Ultimateherts (Nov 13, 2006)

So I'm ready to build another newer HTPC. What I like is the Blu-ray/Hd-dvd drive by LG. However I'm still not keen on the support for the whole HDMI connection for HTPCs. However having all my movies at one click without getting up is very nice! 

As for a guide for anyone else wanting to build one that is unsure of what hardware to get here is what I have in mind for my needs:

*Processor: Amd Athalon [email protected] 64 6000+*
Speed is 3GHz 

*Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-MA69G-S3H*
It's says it can support HDMI HDCP + full audio and video

*RAM: 2 gigs*

*HD: 1TB or more
*
*Optical Drive: LG GGC-H20L *
Supports Blu-ray/Hd-dvd movies

*VideoCard: Onboard HDMI or Visiontek Radeon HD 3850*

*Soundcard:Onboard HDMI*

*TV Tuners: 2 one HD and one Analog (required by WMCE)
*
*Additional hardware: Holo3dgraph pci *
Basically it takes the place of an external scaler. It uses Faroudja DCDI and has component, s-video, and composite inputs and allows you to output and upscale to your tv resolution.

*Operating system: Windows Media Center Edition 05
*


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## rekd0514 (Sep 24, 2006)

Thats gonna put a hole in the wallet.


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## HIS4 (Oct 6, 2005)

That might be a tough task. I don't think there are any video cards out there yet that have native HDMI outputs other than integrated solutions. The only thing is that I've the integrated solutions do not have the processing power to reliably display full HD signals. I don't think those HDMI outputs support the latest Dolby Digital/DTS HD audio formats either.

Because most of the stand alone video cards do HDMI via an adapter to the DVI-D port, those ports will pass video only. Sound would have to be via toslink or coax digital. As of right now, I'm not sure there are any sound cards that will pass a Dolby Digital/DTS HD audio signal.


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## Ultimateherts (Nov 13, 2006)

HIS4 said:


> The only thing is that I've the integrated solutions do not have the processing power to reliably display full HD signals. I don't think those HDMI outputs support the latest Dolby Digital/DTS HD audio formats either.
> 
> Because most of the stand alone video cards do HDMI via an adapter to the DVI-D port, those ports will pass video only. Sound would have to be via toslink or coax digital. As of right now, I'm not sure there are any sound cards that will pass a Dolby Digital/DTS HD audio signal.


Actually going by the manufacturers specs it says that it can support full 1080p video and dobly/dts hd sound! The benefit of the new audio is 7.1 channels of sound and it is all lossless! There are no soundcards currently that can support dolby/dts hd sound because you need an HDMI connection. Everything comming out now requires HDCP so until that time if the motherboard cannot for some reason do the audio as well I will be stuck with 5.1. However for my needs I'm currently running 5.1 so that would not be such a big deal.


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## Ultimateherts (Nov 13, 2006)

rekd0514 said:


> Thats gonna put a hole in the wallet.


Actually if I use onboard HDMI I can get away with around $1000-$1200. That is for my needs though, the price would be consideribly less if say you only wanted to watch dvds. That would knock a lot off the cost because you could get away with smaller hard drives and a slower CPU. My last HTPC I built for dvds only and it was around $500 grand total!


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## HIS4 (Oct 6, 2005)

Ultimateherts said:


> Actually going by the manufacturers specs it says that it can support full 1080p video and dobly/dts hd sound! The benefit of the new audio is 7.1 channels of sound and it is all lossless! There are no soundcards currently that can support dolby/dts hd sound because you need an HDMI connection. Everything comming out now requires HDCP so until that time if the motherboard cannot for some reason do the audio as well I will be stuck with 5.1. However for my needs I'm currently running 5.1 so that would not be such a big deal.


There have been tests of HDMI equipped motherboards. I believe the one that I saw was an Asus board but the result was not good. It was not able to display a full 1080p signal without intermittent pixelization. As far as the HD sound goes, its hard to tell from the manufacturers specs because they don't specify which standards they are compliant with. If they actually came out and said Dolby True HD and DTS-HD then it would be a little more clear but there general statement of lossless audio compliance doesn't say much.


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## Ultimateherts (Nov 13, 2006)

HIS4 said:


> There have been tests of HDMI equipped motherboards. I believe the one that I saw was an Asus board but the result was not good. It was not able to display a full 1080p signal without intermittent pixelization. As far as the HD sound goes, its hard to tell from the manufacturers specs because they don't specify which standards they are compliant with. If they actually came out and said Dolby True HD and DTS-HD then it would be a little more clear but there general statement of lossless audio compliance doesn't say much.


Well my tv is an hd crt so 1080p is out of the question, but as long as it can do 1080i I'm all set. If they list 7.1 lossless audio support then that is saying they support Dolby/DTS hd! Those are the only audio formats that support 7.1 lossless.


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## MarkZ (Dec 5, 2005)

Why are you stuck on HDMI? Just use component. If it's a good DAC, it shouldn't be a downgrade (could even be an upgrade, depending on your tv).


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## aneonrider (Apr 28, 2007)

Need an awfully huge room to ever need 7.1...


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## Ultimateherts (Nov 13, 2006)

MarkZ said:


> Why are you stuck on HDMI? Just use component. If it's a good DAC, it shouldn't be a downgrade (could even be an upgrade, depending on your tv).


HDCP! If you use component on hd-dvd/blu-ray you might only get 480p!


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## MarkZ (Dec 5, 2005)

Ultimateherts said:


> HDCP! If you use component on hd-dvd/blu-ray you might only get 480p!


What's HDCP?


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## ECLIPSEsqfan (Sep 2, 2007)

I posted a thread on opinions for the M-Audio Delta 1010 soundcard for CarPC duty, but it may work equally well for your needs in the HTPC realm. Many of M-Audio's Delta series cards are well equipped and som even have balanced xlr/din connectors and un-balanced rca's in addition to SPDIF and optical outs.
This particular one has 10 inputs and 10 outputs and can be configured any number of different ways...

Just a thought 

-Mario


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## MiniVanMan (Jun 28, 2005)

Okay, let's talk.

I'm wanting to do a full scale HTPC. One that will allow me to copy, store, and playback DVDs in full Dolby Surround (DTS, Digital, etc, etc, etc). I really only care about 5.1, so 7.1 isn't that important. I also, don't want to have to use a receiver. I'd prefer to go from the sound card, via analog, straight to an external power amplifier. 

I understand that Vista has room correction software, and that's the key in my situation. I haven't found any other software of it's kind, so I'm wondering how good it is. There are plenty of software programs out there that offer Dolby decoding (PowerDVD, etc), it's just getting it from that software to an external amplifier, along with room correction that's got me hung up. I'm sure it can be done, I just haven't found the right combination yet.

Any thoughts?? This will be an almost no holds barred build. Video is the easy part. It's the audio that's posing the problems.


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## Ultimateherts (Nov 13, 2006)

O.k for copying dvd's I use dvd shrink. it allows you to rip a dvd straight to your hard drive with no compression. It also allows you to select the audio track. In my case a lot of my dvd have both dolby digital and dts audio tracks, but I really want just the dts track, I could then just select the dts track and it will rip the video + audio in one file (.vob). As far as decoding software my older sound blaster audigy2 actually had that built in to their software that came with the card when I bought it. For watching dvd's I really like Zoom player. It allows for many different file types and there is a lot of support for it on the web. Also dvd shrink and zoom player are free!


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## Ultimateherts (Nov 13, 2006)

ECLIPSEsqfan said:


> I posted a thread on opinions for the M-Audio Delta 1010 soundcard for CarPC duty, but it may work equally well for your needs in the HTPC realm. Many of M-Audio's Delta series cards are well equipped and som even have balanced xlr/din connectors and un-balanced rca's in addition to SPDIF and optical outs.
> This particular one has 10 inputs and 10 outputs and can be configured any number of different ways...
> 
> Just a thought
> ...


If you want 7.1 lossless you can't do it via optical, SPDIF, or analog. It can only be done via HDMI with HDCP! I know it sucks, but those are the specs for hd-dvd/blu-ray.


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## HIS4 (Oct 6, 2005)

Ultimateherts said:


> Well my tv is an hd crt so 1080p is out of the question, but as long as it can do 1080i I'm all set. If they list 7.1 lossless audio support then that is saying they support Dolby/DTS hd! Those are the only audio formats that support 7.1 lossless.


Well, if you do go for it, keep us updated. I'd be very interested in a fully integrated solution for motherboard, audio, and video. That would save a lot of money on an HTPC build.

Good luck with the build.


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## Ultimateherts (Nov 13, 2006)

MiniVanMan said:


> Okay, let's talk.
> 
> I'm wanting to do a full scale HTPC. One that will allow me to copy, store, and playback DVDs in full Dolby Surround (DTS, Digital, etc, etc, etc). I really only care about 5.1, so 7.1 isn't that important. I also, don't want to have to use a receiver. I'd prefer to go from the sound card, via analog, straight to an external power amplifier.
> 
> ...


O.k so I have researched some software, what looks like the best for your needs would be DirectDvdHd

http://www.orionstudios.com/DVDFeatures.html

It allows for control over each speaker and can support a lot of different file formats. I have not used this piece of software, but going by the manfacturer specs it looks great!


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