Cool!!!

Yes you can. I use to do that 1 or 2 years back. But beware of the HDMI-DVI converter. I use the one that comes with the box, works fine. If you buy outside, some might not transmit audio properly.

Guys, I am noob at HTPC. Hence, pls give a slight recommendation for RM1500 budget on PC setup. I will pair with 40" LED Tv and 5.1 speakers

I play:
1) Movie - MKV 720/1080
2) Games - No a fanatic but home the setup are able to support

Pls recommend me the spec. TQ.

This post has been edited by kopking10: Dec 15 2010, 03:57 PM

Do yr own research and come up with the spec and others will give you comments on yr suggested specs..

or just get those HTPC ready products like Dell or others..

Get Dell Zino.

yes went n have a look at it last nite...easier package. thanks for those who has helped. I have gotten the spec i required.

Btw, i have a set of 5.1 home theater speaker NOT pc 5.1. May i know how to connect to PC since they are running the black n red cables?

Look for optical-in or coaxial-in on your AVR. Your mobo/souncard usually has at least one of these optical out or coaxial out.

Windows 7 can convert white and red cable to 5.1 Dolby surround... I have tried on my dell zino it works...

This Zino HD review claimed



Is this true?

Source : http://www.hdtvmagazine.com/podcast/2010/0...ron-zino-hd.php

This post has been edited by chokia: Dec 16 2010, 10:10 AM

partially true. zino should able to get 5.1 dobly digital.
ati 4000 series card only can transfer PCM 7.1, but not hd bitstream TrueHD and DTS-MA. Start from ati 5000 series card resolved this issue.

planning to built this setup:

i3 540
asus p7h55m usb3 or gigabyte h55m-usb3
1gb x2 corsair pc1333 ddr3
wd 1tb green
samsung dvdrw
psu: seasonic 520w s12ii or silverstone 500w strider
atx casing

bajet 1.5k

sifu2 here pls comment.........

This post has been edited by gtd: Dec 16 2010, 02:42 PM

True for Dell Zino 400 series
Reason
1. HDMI card does not support DTS-MA / Dolby True HD
2. It has no optical out


Not true for Dell Zino 410 series (Except those with build in card -no HDMI but can use optical)

1. Use the discreet ATi5450 card which can out 7,1 via HDMI


Basically Dell have solved this issue all together with the new graphics

Recently found out bitstreaming hd audio using the ffdshow audio via audio passthru is actually sounds better without using Reclock...

hi...below is my own rig found from internet....
any comment?
casing i tend to buy from china....
malaysia have so less htpc casing....
any suggestion on PSU?

upsampled hd audio?
i can't seem to diffentiate bitstreaming mode (avr does the decoding) to decoded mode (tmt3 decodes to lpcm and sent to avr). theoritically it should sound the same as tmt3 does the same thing otherwise the avr would be doing.

but upsampled to 96kHz using reclock (tmt3 decodes to LPCM, then passed to ReClock for upsampling), everything sounds much better with much better integration and seemless transition between speakers.

for music i never do any resampling. everything are played at its native 16bit 44.1kHz

Not upsampled audio, it's mainly loseless audio like DTS-MA and TrueHD, to my ears it sounds better without using ReClock...

try and upsample the lossless to 24/96. set tmt3 to decode to lpcm then reclock to upsample to 96khz.

you do know that ffdshow can't decode dts-ma/truhd right? if you let ffdshow decode the track, it'll only decode the ac3/dts track. explains the loss of quality compared to bitstreaming.
and if reclock just handle the clock sync and still passes the bitstream without decoding, then it shouldn't sound any different with or without reclock.

Today is the release day for the latest stable version of XBMC.

Just to inform the HTPC kakis.

For PSU, pls get those high efficiency 80PLUS with Active PFC rating with bigger silent fan (140mm)

I'm a fan of Xigmatek powersupply for their "green/environmental friendly" for both the recycle paper packaging and high energy efficiency..

400W or 500W will depend on yr HTPC requirements as power supply unit will last the longest compared to cpu/memory/mobo/hdd/lcd..

---

Added on December 20, 2010, 1:19 pmSome comments...

[errors corrected and comments deleted]
i3 is a DUAL CORE CPU!!!


If you plan for 2 x 1GB memory, might as well go for 1 x 2GB and later upgrade another 2Gb to make it 4GB.

What about a "decent" graphic processor like nVidia or ATI for HD video decoding ?

This post has been edited by stan001: Dec 21 2010, 12:23 AM

are you sure it's a single core?
because the intel product page specifically said that it has 2 cores and are capable of handling 4 threads.