Budget HTPC for living room (1080p/DTS-MA etc).

Ok, ended up buying PowerDVD to play the bluray movies. Few issues in that the audio changes from HD bitstream to DTS/DD if you watch SD movies and does not automatically change back so need to use it only for HD movies and something else (MPC-HD) for other formats. The Android remote app for it is very good though.

Had lots of problems streaming Bluray ISOs (mounting with clone drive first) but after a network driver update it works fine now.

Still need to tie PowerDVD in to XMBC which unfortunately requires me to take all the spaces out of my file and directory names or it will not mount the ISOs in clone drive :(.

Oh and my amp is not displaying the surround sound format. People tell me that the info button will change it back but I cannot for the life of me find an info button on the remote or the front of the receiver.

On a plus note, I picked up a wireless Microsoft set in a popular chain store over here for around 10 quid. Basic set but works fine. Only thing I would like more is a backlit keyboard...:D

RB
 
Have you considered convertin your ISO's to mkv. Would probably save you a lot of hassle. (well after the initial part of converting them all)
 
Yeah but my AC Ryan HD2 plays the ISOs without an issue if only the main movie and Power DVD plays with menus and extras. Also no issues with embedded subtitles or needing to convert subtitle formats.

I am not so short of space and so ISOs are preferred as I get everything the disk gave in full quality for now and the future without the need to re-rip if some new standard / tech comes out.

Admittedly, playing the full ISOs in Power DVD means having to go through the adverts again which is really quite painful as I have not done that for quite a while now.
 
hello.
fascinating thread. i am now in the market for a
budget HTPC that is capable of bluray iso's with ease, and can do DTS-MA etc.

ive only just found out that this is not possible with spdif!

my budget is £400, absolute max - the cheaper the better.
im not bothered about any other kind of performance (gaming etc) - its gona be purely for bluray films, and must do the DTSMA/DD HD output.

can anyone recommend a build for me? would really appreciate it, or am i going to have to research every kind of chipset on the market today....

cheers.
 
Hi and welcome to the forums.

When you say its purely for playing blu-rays, as in playing the physical disk? or are you looking to save them to a HDD?

Do you have a size limit as well?
 
both, either off a bluray disc, or blurays that i rip to iso's and save them to a HDD.
Size - if you're talking about physical size, then yes i want a 'mini PC' thing - i'm thinking Asrock size mini pc's, for eg, http://www.asrock.com/nettop/overview.asp?Model=ION 3D Series

the one thing im struggling to get my head around is this bitstreaming for TrueHD/DTS MA etc....
im super confused and ive been surfing forums for 2 days now, with no concrete answers.

heres what the manual for my Onkyo AVR says:

Supported Audio Formats
• 2-channel linear PCM (32–192 kHz, 16/20/24 bit)
• Multichannel linear PCM (up to 7.1 ch, 32–192 kHz, 16/20/24 bit)
• Bitstream (DSD, Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, DTS, DTS-HD High Resolution Audio, DTS-HD
Master Audio)
Your Blu-ray Disc/DVD player must also support HDMI output of the above audio formats.

So. What does that Mean?

Lets say i build a HTPC and run the bluray film which has DTS-HD MA.
1. Does the decoding happen in the GPU of the HTPC before it gets to the receiver?
2. Does the GPU just send the audio stream via HDMI to the AVR, and then its AVR's job to decode it?
3. Does the decoding have to be done via GPU or can it be decoded through software, and then transmitted to my AVR?

All i want is to hear the audio the way its meant to be heard, in the best possible quality (forgetting speakers, thats a whole other discussion, i mean just in terms of whats being decoded and output). And therefore im assuming HD audio is better than your 'average' Dts or dolby digital AC3. And....therefore i want 'TrueHD' (for eg) to light up on my AVR, confirming that its outputting HD audio.

I was originally looking at the Asrock ION 3D - but then it says it can't bitstream the HD audio formats. I was attracted to it as i believe it could play demanding bluray's with no problems, but then if it can't do HD audio.............but then can the software to the decoding?

I just don't know, im so confused. please help.

EDIT.....doesn't matter, found an excellent article which explains it http://www.soundadviceblog.com/blu-ray-audio-explained/

SO.....im back to my original question. That Asrock system for 280 quid looks really good.

Can you guys build a better one for bang per buck that meets my requirements? with a budget of 350?
thats my challenge to you! (please)

my other question would be how software decoding of the audio fares, compared to hardware decoding and sending as a bitstream, and whether software audio decoding through things like mpc hc etc...is cpu intensive?
 
Last edited:
hiohaa said:
SO.....im back to my original question. That Asrock system for 280 quid looks really good.

Can you guys build a better one for bang per buck that meets my requirements? with a budget of 350?
thats my challenge to you! (please)

my other question would be how software decoding of the audio fares, compared to hardware decoding and sending as a bitstream, and whether software audio decoding through things like mpc hc etc...is cpu intensive?
Click to expand...

I am not up on pricing in the UK at the moment but I can give you an example of a machine that will do all that and more.

I have used an i3-2100, Biostar H61 board mITX, cheap 2.5" drive, Antec ISK100-90 case (you will need a low profile CPU fan as well). This will do all you want perfectly. I have only changed the case as I have now added a HD6770 for paying games. My main use is for streaming Bluray ISOs over my network from my WHS-2011 server to my HTPC and bitstreaming audio via HDMI to my Yamaha 667 AV amp.

You will need some software for playing the Blurays and something for mounting the ISOs. I use virtual clone drive which is free and works well. I also bought Power DVD Ultimate which can also play Blurays with full menus etc from ISOs. I would hesitate to recommend Power DVD as it seems to have had its command line options removed (taking away the ability to script its startup with something like XBMC) and there is an issue with the sound output setting sticking on the best for the last file / disc played (i.e. you set to best HD audio output for a Bluray disc and then play a dvd it will reset to Digital audio and if you play another Bluray you have to reset it manually back to HD audio). I have not checked recently and there have been a couple of updates so this may have been sorted but be aware just in case it is still an outstanding issue.

The other big option to Power DVD is Total Media Theatre which gets good reviews and should be around the same price to buy.

Also checkout players like the AC Ryan HD2 and Western Digital HD Live TV as both also play Bluray ISOs although I cannot remember what the situation is with HD audio bitstreaming.

Oh and I can thoroughly recommend the Yamaha 667 if you end up looking for a AV amp. Lots of HDMI inputs, and has pre-outs so can be paired with a power amp (or two :D ) if you want to upgrade later. The newer replacement has lost the pre-outs.

RB
 
nice one,
i also found another guide confirming what you said. http://assassinhtpcblog.com/pdf_hardware_guide/assassinhtpcglog.com hardware guide 2012.01.pdf
absolutely essential reading.

i decided to go for:

i3 2105
60gb ocz agility ssd
silverstone itx case w/300w psu
asrock h67 itx (the one you recommended has the previous gen chipset)

total cost = 330.

i already had a spare 2gb ddr3 ram. guess you could add another £20 for that. and i already had a wireless keyboard/mouse combo, which i think cost me 30 quid a while ago.

that system, like yours....is so much better than that asrock one i was originally looking at, for not much more money.
ive built my gaming pc's all my life....can't believe i was about to fall into the consumer trap of buying a prebuild. duno what came over me. i think i was scared away initially coz i have no experience with small form factors.

im also amazed at how much onboard graphics has moved on, to the point where a discrete graphics card isn't necessary for bluray films.
apparently the HD3000 intel graphics thats on that i3 will do the job easily.

as for the amp, i already have an onkyo tsxr 308 (170), its low end as far as the onkyo range goes but it does everything i need. i coupled that to the Q acoustics 2000 speaker set (550)
my tv is pretty old gen, a 47" LG lh3000 from yesteryear, its pretty crap actually but it does the job. That was 600 back in 2010 summer.

total cost of my mini home cinema....£1700. considering im gona get 5+ years use out of all this equipment, thats not bad is it. £340 a year over 5 years.
 
Last edited:
hiohaa said:
nice one,
i also found another guide confirming what you said. http://assassinhtpcblog.com/pdf_hardware_guide/assassinhtpcglog.com hardware guide 2012.01.pdf
absolutely essential reading.

i decided to go for:

i3 2105
60gb ocz agility ssd
silverstone itx case w/300w psu
asrock h67 itx (the one you recommended has the previous gen chipset)

total cost = 330.

i already had a spare 2gb ddr3 ram. guess you could add another £20 for that. and i already had a wireless keyboard/mouse combo, which i think cost me 30 quid a while ago.

that system, like yours....is so much better than that asrock one i was originally looking at, for not much more money.
ive built my gaming pc's all my life....can't believe i was about to fall into the consumer trap of buying a prebuild. duno what came over me. i think i was scared away initially coz i have no experience with small form factors.

im also amazed at how much onboard graphics has moved on, to the point where a discrete graphics card isn't necessary for bluray films.
apparently the HD3000 intel graphics thats on that i3 will do the job easily.

as for the amp, i already have an onkyo tsxr 308 (170), its low end as far as the onkyo range goes but it does everything i need. i coupled that to the Q acoustics 2000 speaker set (550)
my tv is pretty old gen, a 47" LG lh3000 from yesteryear, its pretty crap actually but it does the job. That was 600 back in 2010 summer.

total cost of my mini home cinema....£1700. considering im gona get 5+ years use out of all this equipment, thats not bad is it. £340 a year over 5 years.
Click to expand...

Glad you found something to fit the budget that is way better than the all-in-one unit.

The difference between the H61 and H67 chipsets are fairly minor unless you are looking to add a SATA III SSD at some point and then it makes more sense to go H67. Never hurts to keep your options open though. Have a look at Intels Ark comparison here (just for reference). Both H61 and H67 are current gen but different levels (check the release dates in the link). There is another quick comparison here as well.

The Q-Acoustics has had some good review IIRC as a decent entry level setup. The Onkyo should also be pretty good. As you say, it ticks all the right boxes and should work well with the setup you now have.

RB
 
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