Build in VGA enough for normal DVD playback. HD needs more grunt.

Have you guys try to play Blu ray movie with .TS extension? The file is something like 15-32Gb. Any lag of speed?
My friend have setup up his HTPC with this spec. (Sorry some simple spec he pass to me)

C2D E8500 CPU
8600gt GPU

Using windows media player, he said some jerking when you watch is carefully. Is the CPU and the GPU speed cannot handle big blu ray file?

This post has been edited by ozak: May 12 2008, 02:10 PM

where he get the BR disc player ah? (oh wait. his is a file ah? well, lemme know if you guys know where to get player).

I only come by HD disc player so far.

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Added on May 12, 2008, 2:13 pmBR decoder card btw
http://www.albatron.com.tw/English/product...fication&no=235

This post has been edited by goldfries: May 12 2008, 02:13 PM

Not the disc. Is a download blu ray movie file. Play it from the HDD. I pass this movie to him try. And some MKV file also. I ve some blu ray and HD DVD file.

This post has been edited by ozak: May 12 2008, 02:14 PM

btw i posted some thing in my earlier post - BR decoder card.

How about those HDMI, HTDI certified GPU? Example http://my.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=2&l2=6...133&modelmenu=2
Why a normal fast GPU card cannot decode a blu ray or HD DVD file?

not BR certified mah. HDMI refer that they can do HDMI output.

i also not sure la but i definitely want to try.

the thing is this, the other day my friend used his External HD drive (Xbox wan la) connect to his Dell XPS laptop and play Batman Begins HD and output it to LCD TV also no issue ah. i don't see jerking effect.

Bro,Goldfries. where u get the mini itx board? u got "jalan"? I just got my hands on a similar board from Intel.

got it from friend lor, at Netraid Sdn Bhd.

I know I'm gonna get flame and killed here, but I can;t resist it. I need to ask how you guy configure your HTPC. What frontend you use, codec, how to upscale it, resize, etc...

Please help. I got a machine

P4 HT 2.6Ghz
ATI Radeon 9200SE
1GByte of ram
Asus P4P800 Motherboard
On-board ADI 1985 sound codec
19" Monitor

please help. I need you sifu's and experts advice. Thanks

The specs are fine by my standard. On the software side, you will need some programs like Windows MCE05. If you cannot afford that, go for MEdia Protal. Nuff said.

I do have MCE05. But I'm curious to know what you all do for the upscaling and refining of the videos. I tried ffdshow and it seems that my pc can;t handle the stress

Time for an upgrade perhaps? I think normal DVD playback should be fine.

Actually everything is fine until I use Avisynth. Everything slow down. beyond that point.

Anyway, thanks for the informations. I guess i need to make more research on how to make DVD look better on my machine

Proper codecs can help improve the quality

Mine setup is :

P4 1.6Ghz socket 478
RAM 256MB SD RAM PC100
Harddisk PATA Seagate 80GB
ATI Radeon 7000
Sound on board Intel
PSU 350 watt
Windows MCE 2005

Hehehehe...enough playing AVI file at my TV....

This post has been edited by ikan_semilang: May 15 2008, 04:59 PM

Wait for intel's onboard

Well, anyone who are looking for budget HTPC setup should take a serious look at AMD 780G or Nvidia 780a series motherboards:

- The price is around RM 340. Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H is quite a good choice.
- The onboard video card support hardware decoding for DVD/H264/Blu-ray. As long as you are not into gaming, you don't need a dedicated video card.
- Multichannel onboard soundcard is included from Realtek.
- There is no need to buy high end CPU, a dual core 2.0GHz+ will be enough for normal usage, but Phenom CPU offers more post-processing features like higher quality deinterlancing for DVD playing.
- Pair it with 2GB DDR2 800 RAM and it'll even run Vista SP1 smoothly.
- Compare the setup with Intel platform and you'll know that you are getting a lot for lower price, since Intel do not have a decent onboard video card yet. Nvidia haven't release their new motherboard chipset for Intel also.

So, for now AMD platform is a very good choice when it comes to low cost HTPC. At least until Intel strikes back. Personally, don't have too much hope for X48 series chipset in terms of low cost HTPC, as you can expect higher price by looking at how much X38 is cost now. Meanwhile, AMD 790GX chipset will be out around June 2008, but it's more expensive.

I don't hate Intel actually, just that they have very good CPU but not motherboard chipset. Therefore, we have to spend more money to get dedicated video card to fill in the void. It's a good choice if you're into gaming, but not very impressive for HTPC, especially if you want it to be small and run cool.

The Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H is using the AMD 780G chipset right?

Yup, they are using 780g chipset, with hdmi+dvi+vga port.