Blu Ray and HTPC

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WaffleMakerMan

138 posts

Master Geek

#30686 17-Feb-2009 20:14

Hi all

Sorry if this has been discussed

I looking at getting a Blu-ray player for my HTPC but I’m wondering is the playback cut down an any way? Like does it output in 1080p is the color stripped back (deep color I think is what it is) and can it output over spdif from an internal sound card? Or would the best option be to go for a proper blu-ray player like a ps3 or something? Cheers

Batman

Mad Scientist
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#196375 17-Feb-2009 20:41

~~what video card have you got? and your system specs - have you got a dual core cpu?~~

my goodness what does night shift do to one's brain ... do you have an hdtv?

ok so it's entirely up to you ... i believe in pc you have way more control over the output tweaking as long as you get the right software and you can tweak the colours till you grow old. as long as your hardware can output properly to the tv it (picture characteristic) will be a software issue. i reckon it's a matter of preference. i'm old fashioned - entertainment and computers are mutually exclusive in my mind, but for other geeks they seem to enjoy wanting to use the keyboard the mouse the tv remote and lots of clicks to get things right whereas i have a ps3 - turn on the tv and insert bluray = awesome picture...

WaffleMakerMan

138 posts

Master Geek

#196386 17-Feb-2009 21:28

cheers for the reply, I have a HDTV with HDMI 1.3, The main thing for me is im going for the one box to rule them all idea with the HTPC, and PS3 is alot more costly then a BD reader but I don't want to loose quality over it!!

Nety

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#196404 17-Feb-2009 22:22

WaffleMakerMan:
cheers for the reply, I have a HDTV with HDMI 1.3, The main thing for me is im going for the one box to rule them all idea with the HTPC, and PS3 is alot more costly then a BD reader but I don't want to loose quality over it!!

Picture should be the same. However I have not seen any comparisons done between something like a PS3 and a media centre.
As for deep colour... No disk to date and any time soon (in fact think blu ray does not even support it currently) will use deep colour. By the time it does and you have a TV that will show it (different thing to having HDMI 1.3 support) then your current media centre will be long gone.

The current got ya with using a media centre is sound. Affectively you cannot get the true HD sound formats from a PC to a HD AV without them being molested. Instead you are limited to Dolby digital and DTS.

Media centre PC - Case Silverstone LC16M with 2 X 80mm AcoustiFan DustPROOF, MOBO Gigabyte MA785GT-UD3H, CPU AMD X2 240 under volted, RAM 4 Gig DDR3 1033, HDD 120Gig System/512Gig data, Tuners 2 X Hauppauge HVR-3000, 1 X HVR-2200, Video Palit GT 220, Sound Realtek 886A HD (onboard), Optical LiteOn DH-401S Blue-ray using TotalMedia Theatre Power Corsair VX Series, 450W ATX PSU OS Windows 7 x64

nofam

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#196447 18-Feb-2009 08:37

The current got ya with using a media centre is sound. Affectively you cannot get the true HD sound formats from a PC to a HD AV without them being molested. Instead you are limited to Dolby digital and DTS.

Well, if you want to fork out another $400, and have a spare PCIe slot, you could buy an Asus Xonar card

WaffleMakerMan

138 posts

Master Geek

#196619 18-Feb-2009 23:19

nofam: The current got ya with using a media centre is sound. Affectively you cannot get the true HD sound formats from a PC to a HD AV without them being molested. Instead you are limited to Dolby digital and DTS.

Well, if you want to fork out another $400, and have a spare PCIe slot, you could buy an Asus Xonar card

Lol by then you could have bought a ps3 too! Im not too fussed about the sound as long as it can do 5.1 via optical/coax thats all my system can handle anyhow

Nety

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#196635 19-Feb-2009 08:22

Do remeber to factor in the cost of the software. You need something like Totalmedia Theatre or Cyberlink to play the blu rays.

WaffleMakerMan

138 posts

Master Geek

#196745 19-Feb-2009 17:52

Cheers yeah ill remember to count that into the balance aswell :)

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1gkar

722 posts

Ultimate Geek

#198459 27-Feb-2009 23:45

Not sure if you have bought a BD drive since the last post. I upgraded to BD at Xmas time. I got the LG GGC-H20L one & it came with Cyberlink's PowerDVD HD? ver. 7.3. The first itme I opened it, it gave me the option to get an upgrade download. Turns out the 102mb package upgraded me to the PowerDVDHD? 7 Ultra version which allows full DTS/AC3 playback via SPDif. Not sure about via PC speakers.

I was thrilled I didn't have to fork out for the upgrade.

Can't comment on visual playback as I've only a 1080i LCDTV

Silverstone LC14 HTPC Case/Intel E4600 CPU/GA-EP35-DS3 MOBO/Asus EN9500GT graphics/2GB RAM/total 2TB HDD space/HVR-2200 & 2X 150MCE tuner cards/LG GGC-H20L BD Drive/MCE2005/Mediaportal/TVServer 1.1.0Final/LG 55"3D LED-TV/Denon AVR-1803 receiver/X1 projector

WaffleMakerMan

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Master Geek

#198535 28-Feb-2009 14:31

Nah I haven't made up my mind yet, still tossing up between the drive and a PS3, I didn't realise that you can get a second hand one sub $500 these days, Thats moving into the affordable range for me. Chances are ill be waiting till next yeah though anyway as the wedding is coming up this year and the household finances are moving into lockdown :(

Thanks for the reply though

lchiu7

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#198537 28-Feb-2009 15:04

I have both but if I had neither, I would go PS3. This is for a number of reasons

1. No hassles playing back BD movies - HDCP bla bla bla all go away - and you get full lossless audio
2. It's a great video player apart from BD movies
3. You can backup content from your BD titles from the PS3 (create an ISO) and put that on a PC if you want. Plus once the content is on a PC you can re-encode for other platforms if you want
4. And as an aside, it's a great gaming platform.

I don't play any movies on my PC. I suspect it's a video card issue since every time I put in a BD or DV-DVD, PowerDVD7 starts up, switches Windows Vista to basic screen mode and never presents any video.

Staying in Wellington. Check out my AirBnB in the Wellington CBD. https://www.airbnb.co.nz/h/wellycbd PM me and mention GZ to get a 15% discount and no AirBnB charges.

ajst2duk

170 posts

Master Geek

#198786 2-Mar-2009 15:55

lchiu7: I have both but if I had neither, I would go PS3. This is for a number of reasons

1. No hassles playing back BD movies - HDCP bla bla bla all go away - and you get full lossless audio
2. It's a great video player apart from BD movies
3. You can backup content from your BD titles from the PS3 (create an ISO) and put that on a PC if you want. Plus once the content is on a PC you can re-encode for other platforms if you want
4. And as an aside, it's a great gaming platform.

I don't play any movies on my PC. I suspect it's a video card issue since every time I put in a BD or DV-DVD, PowerDVD7 starts up, switches Windows Vista to basic screen mode and never presents any video.

You have both? - by your own admission you cannot get the HTPC option to work, so you really only have the PS3? For the record, I got a blu-ray drive for around $250, software cost another $100 and it plays back brilliantly on an HD plasma, though I am only running it through a 2ch stereo setup via an outboard DAC. Really obsoletes any need for a PS3. So I could say:

1. No hassles playing back BD movies - HDCP bla bla bla all go away (with an HDCP compliant card)
2. It's a great video player apart from BD movies
3. You can backup content from your BD titles from the HTPC (create an ISO) Plus once the content is on the HTPC you can re-encode for other platforms if you want
4. And as an aside, it's a great gaming platform.

Just my 2c worth......

lchiu7

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#198790 2-Mar-2009 16:28

Each to his own I guess. To comment

No hassles playing back BD movies - HDCP bla bla bla all go away (with an HDCP compliant card) - and the cost of such a card. Plus can you output TrueHD or DTS HD Master from your PC?

Plus I meant the PS3 can playback other video content in addition to BD movies and BD movies backed up to external hard drives.

Finally for the type of games my kids want to play it has no parallel (GH, Ratchet and Clank, etc.). And I don't have to spend all my time doing tech support on the platform so games play seamlessly

I have never tried to get the HTPC option working. I do have a HTPC but it's purely for recording content from cable TV or Freeview using gbpvr. All content is played back either using the PS3 or a Popcorn Hour. And it does fine with a Sempron 3600

As people say, YMMV. This was just my view.

Staying in Wellington. Check out my AirBnB in the Wellington CBD. https://www.airbnb.co.nz/h/wellycbd PM me and mention GZ to get a 15% discount and no AirBnB charges.

ajst2duk

170 posts

Master Geek

#198818 2-Mar-2009 20:43

yeah I know, just for the sake of balance, and maybe I'm jealous of the fact my wife won't let us get a PS3, there are advantages/disadvantages in both.