looks much nicer than browsing folder by folder in windows explorer right?

when configured as an external player, there's no resuming function. you can't resume from the last watched position. which for me is a very nice feature to have

all the tv series have to scrapped for info and the info be ready in a nfo file.
i use ember to scrape all the tv series info although i do think xbmc itself could scrape it.

use ember. and pair with tvrename for renaming.

put the xbmc shortcut in start menu > all programs > startup

7MC with MediaBrowser have the ability to separate your files into isolated custom categories like concerts, music videos, bluray bdmv, low definition, high definition and yada yada. with xbmc, you're stuck with videos and movies.

i spotted a few nice ones in plaza lowyat.
garage sales also got selling. used to think it's hard to find in malaysia, turns out they're not that rare.

1. never tried adding another scraper. but with ember, you could scrape the movie from any movie that have an imdb page. manually insertion of metadata are not really adviced as it's quite complicated to edit the nfo files.

2. because it's easier. and allows greater control

have only tried .srt files. and xbmc does support manual time sync using srt subtitles.

with core i3, you don't even need a graphics card. just use the integrated graphics. and core i3 does support hardware acceleration and bitstream function (though software decoding is already fast enough to decode x264 and h264).

save your budget and dump it to the case or hdd.

there's no nvidia based graphics that can bitstream hd audio

it can transmit LPCM 7.1, but won't bitstream DTS-HDMA/TruHD to the receiver.

any particular reason to get that particular board?
h55m board (non-pro) are real easy to find locally.

power dvd have no problem with unprotected BD.ISO
the only reason to keep the protection is if you're ripping to ISO and AnyDVD HD can't decode the disc. never found a BD that AnyDVD can't decode yet. so unless you find one, it's better to remove the protection.

i believe multichannel PCM (or LPCM) is the best that nvidia could do. you can't bitstream hd audio using nvidia chips.
set the media player to decode hd audio to LPCM and if the settings are correct, you should get 6 or 8 channels multichannel audio on the receiver.

if the decoding process is done right, it won't make a difference.
i've tried comparing the quality when decoding done by the HTPC and when bitstreamed and done by the AVR, and i can't differentiate.

i'm guessing you're gonna run into lots of problem if you still go on with your plans to go with the HTPC route. htpc requires lots of technical knowledge and is not for everyone. IMO you should seriusly consider the dune.

1. similar performance. tho amd + ati takes more heat and more power compared to i3. and i3 have less 3d performance from its internal graphics.
2. i bought it from garage sales. lots of links given in pages before this.
3. yes. tmt3 have a mini player that works wonderfully with wmc

first time i hear about nvidia chip that could bitstream. a new line i presume. and quick search on the net reveals that bitstream has some quirks that nvidia needs to sort out with the drivers.

for an article written in june. lots of things could change in 4 month

i'm still using 10.6. no problem whatsoever for me. already downloaded the 10.9, but lazy to fix something that's not broken haha
got some free time tomorrow. maybe i'll try the 10.9 to see if i have any color banding.

and p/s: i've never had any issues with scaling issues using either the VGA port, DVI port nor the HDMI

no i didn't get the rescaling issue with 10.6. though i never need to use the scaling anymore after setting the display to 'just fit' instead of the widescreen '16:9' ratio. fonts (and pictures) looks sharper with just fit.

i'm also using a plasma. just fit does disable the burn-in pixel shift function. i make sure not to keep the image for too long on the screen. just fit makes the picture and fonts much much sharper. i like the extra sharpness.

i'm using 5450. and yes there's no noise reduction and deblocking function.

i'm on 10.6 and still there's none of those option.

checked back my config. there's noise reduction and deblocking function in both 10.6 and 10.9. it's in the all settings, and somewhere below inside there. the deblocking IINM is labelled extra sharpening.

i've upgraded to 10.9, and HD (bluray) video playback seemed smoother compared to my previous 10.6
so just to be sure, i've uninstalled the 10.9 and revert back to 10.6. confirmed that BD playback on my system is smoother. just that 10.9 have audio issues during chapter seek (it messes up the audio and causes loud distortion when seeking through chapters).

so i've upgraded to 10.9 but keeping the 10.6 audio drivers. solves the audio problem.
i can tell that the BD playback is much more smoother compared to 10.6, both when refreshing at 23.976Hz and 60Hz. and pulldown conversion from 23.976Hz/24Hz material to 60Hz are done better with 10.9 compared to 10.6

guess i'll be keeping the 10.9. the best config for my htpc for BD playback are as follow:
enable both noise reduction and deblocking (extra sharpening) set at 20.
deinterlacing are done with motion adaptive, pulldown detection.
disabled force smooth cinema function.
refresh rate at 60Hz.

playback are done with totalmedia theater 3, hardware acceleration enabled. tmt3 plugin called from mediabrowser.