1st HTPC Build

npfman said:
what would be the advantages over going LLano rather than Zacate?
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The Llano is jus a much more powerful build. If you would like to look at stats: here

not a bad margin!

There are a series of F1 mITX baord coming out for the llano chip aswell. should see them nearer the end of the year. Which will be good for small htpcs.

Nightglow said:
ASRock has just announced a nice new Z68 mini ITC HTCP board, which comes with a remote, & is now high on my list.
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I can't see any features of the Z68 being usefull to a HTPC . If you are using the onboard graphics then lucid virtu doesn't come into play, SSD caching is only usefull for writing to HDDs, all htpcs do is read data. The only cool part seems the remote. and you can use your smart phone for that :)
 
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npfman said:
Excellent!, Thanks very much for the replies, i was reading about the new LLano setup, looks good, will i have to get a cooler for it though?

I have an Onkyo 606 AV Reciever so being able to Bitstream DTS audio via HDMI is a must!, have a 5.1 system with various speakers, wharfedale monitors, yamaha front speaker and mission rear speakers with a mission sub.

Use my PS3 at the moment, vob the mkv files and save them on the hard drive, DTS is fantastic but its not bitstream as its an old fat PS3.
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Both the AMD Zacate & Llano setups will do hd audio VIA hdmi and can bitstream.

Also, if you set audio output on the fat PS3 to LPCM you can get dts-ma & dolby true hd.
 
Hi peeps,

Got it altogether and setup, cant believe how quiet it is!, quieter than my tv!. Its like lightning too.

Got XBMC installed, only got one problem, cant get anything other than 2 channel stereo output from HDMI!

In the windows control panel sound settings it says i can get DTS etc in the supported formats when i choose optical out but when i go to HDMI output it just says 2 channels and HDCP not supported, i have tried updating the driver but it still says the HDMI controller is microsoft

Is this a driver issue? I have that realtek HD audio manager too, and that wont let me do it either.

Bit worried!

Cheers

Nick
 
Installed the latest Realtek drivers and got it to say HDCP supported on HDMI, but it still says only 2 channel and no DTS support like it does on optical.
 
Its ok i fixed it!, it was a setting on my amplifier, i had to turn off 'Audio TV Out', i think Windows was seeing my TV Speakers rather than my 5.1, all sorted now, cheers everyone for their help. Im sure i will be back soon with more teething problems!.

ps I have installed HippoRemote on my iPod touch for use as a remote, is this good enough or does anyone know any better?

Cheers again

Nick
 
Glad to hear you sorted that problem, it does sound like it found your tv speaker rather than your surround.
Once its all sorted and working wouldn't mind some pics!

There is an actual XBMC remote available from the iTunes store you can use. I haven't tried it as I'm on WP7. And I'm not sure where my iPod is.
Literally search for "XBMC remote".
 
I will get some pics as soon as, got XBMC installed and most of its working. Got the XBMC commander app too and its class, really pleased with my whole setup!

Only thing is that i have about 60 'DTS' mpg files that i converted with mkv2vob previously so i could play them on my ps3 (no mkv support), all my new MKV files play DTS fine, but whenever i try to play one of the mpg files all i get is static, is this a codec issue?, dont really fancy ripping 60 films again!
 
npfman said:
I will get some pics as soon as, got XBMC installed and most of its working. Got the XBMC commander app too and its class, really pleased with my whole setup!

Only thing is that i have about 60 'DTS' mpg files that i converted with mkv2vob previously so i could play them on my ps3 (no mkv support), all my new MKV files play DTS fine, but whenever i try to play one of the mpg files all i get is static, is this a codec issue?, dont really fancy ripping 60 films again!
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It would be helpful if you loaded on in VLC (VideoLan) on a PC and then went to [tools] -> [codec info] and posted a screenshot so we can see exactly how the file is encoded. There are other tools that will show the codec info, possibly ever properties in Windows Explorer, but as I use VLC a lot, this is the was I know you can definitely do it.

RB
 
Cured the mpg static!, installed latest version of ffdshow and set HDMI passthrough.

Another seperate problem now, getting a slight stutter during 1080p playback in XBMC, have dxva2 enabled, processor is sitting at 10-20%, but getting this really annoying stutter, only with 1080p quality mpg/mkv'!
 
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Cured the stuttering i have set the video options in XBMC to

Allow DXVA2 - On

Adjust display refresh rate to match video - On

Sync Playback to display - On

and it cures the stuttering, also disabled dynamic contrast within ATI Catalyst control centre

Problem now is when i set 'Adjust display refresh rate to match video' to On, i get the 24P picture to my tv but theres a big black 2 inch border around the video!, its that or disable it and get choppiness and 60Hz!
 
The menu etc fits the screen but when you goto watch a video you get the border since changing the setting.

My current spec is

AMD A6-3650 LLano (ATi Radeon 6530D)
Gigabyte GA-75M-UD2H


HDMI Out to Onkyo TX-SR-606 AV Reciever and from that to my Panasonic G20B

Running Windows 7 64Bit and the latest Catalyst Control centre and 11.6b Hotfix
 
Fixed it, In ATi CCC, set the desktop resolution to 1080p24 and adjusted the overscan to the same as the normal 1080p60 and then changed back!
 
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