Hi-Def Multimedia Jukebox - My HTPC Example

Mr Latte

Mr Latte

Mr Latte

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8 Aug 2003
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Well this may interest some of you, its the latest addition ive added to my livingroom. If your considering a HTPC it might give you some ideas.

MCE%20Keys%20START.JPG


You know i dont do things in half measures...

Linkage Here:
Silverstone Tek MCE 2005 HTPC
 
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Very nice looking machine. I put one together not long ago now, finally ended up putting it together in a SilverstoneTek SUGO case, not as AV looking, but it was the only decent looking case I could get that would fit on the shelving of the tv cabinet next to the amp.

Surprised you bothered with something as fancy as the X-Fi soundcard, onboards usually have a digital out nowadays, unless you *really* wanted to play games. For surround on mine I use ffdshow to remix to a 5.1DD stream, I know its an extra compression stage but I haven't noticed a serious effect and i'd rather make use of all the speakers.
 
very nice setup indeed. should be good for 1080P as well :D

going to knock up my own setup when i can sort out where il be living, looking at making a central server mounted under the floor where all the kit will sit, run cables up and have an external usb cable or three left loose behind the setup so i can conect mp3/external hd-dvd or blue ray etc and of course a network connection as well. full syetem would be liquid cooled so its as silent as possible. now i just need a new house :D
 
Right well good gents, still yet to fully test the performance. Planning to try 3-5 Hi-def movies running at once via VLC just to see how she copes. Wil even give some 1080p a go and get back to you.

This system rips the pants off my loft (3Ghz P4) It totally blazes through encoding/shrinking of digital video and same goes for unraring/decompressing. Oh regards the Audio yes Xfi is a bit OTT but tbh onboard audio sucked and the Xfi's crystalizer is indeed a nice feature.

Audigy Xfi - Do You Want To Lean More?
Of course you do, anyways thats a seperate guide i done a while back regarding Audigy cards.

If any questions your welcome, btw nice to get some of your opnions.
 
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very nice Mr Latte. love the ms Keyboard

seems a bit wasted on you living room setup i would think you would use the loft setup more? ( i no i use my projector more any way :) .)

whats the picture like on the sony lcd. i would think you would notice a bigger inprovement on the projector than you would on the tv,

re 1080p it should fly through it.

3-5 hd movies will be the reel test and i should think it will be able to cope with 3 but i bet you start getting drop outs with anything over that.
 
Do you have a screen that can do 1080p ? if so which,

how is the heat issue with the case with no fans ?

are you overclocking at all ?

thanks mr latte, nice to see some of your posts again
 
looking very good Mr L,

if you want to get the best from 1080i HD stuff I would recommend playback with Theatertek (for de-interlacing, use pixel adaptive, excellent performance from the purevideo decoder - I think your card can do this, have a hunt on the NV site for which features are on which card) & ffdshow to scale to your projectors native res (you can also use this to improve dvd playback significantly), doing this will give you PQ that rivals very expensive external scaler boxes.

VLC de-interlacing is basically going to give you 540p quality still looks good but can be a whole lot better..
 
Paulus said:
serves me right for skim reading..... :(
Click to expand...

Im used to it, say no more actually thought you were having a laugh as theirs nothing more annoying than spending time doing something giving details for someone to just ask questions thats already been covered. :D

This HTPC system is used in our livingroom not on the AE700 in the loft, (thats more my fun room) As a family we prefer to watch movies on the HDTV, its also closer to the kitchen. Although the 500GB is getting filled quite quickly with 1080i / 720p Hi-def movies and weekly shows

Anyways Mcmad made some good points although i use nearly all the multimedia software going with all kinds of video.

Regards movie output and HDTVS bear in mind here is what i believe happens.
btw this is my take on this i may not be totally accurate here

Youve got 3 factors

1. Video format resolution
These can be interlaced or progressive video:480i 480p 540i 540p 720p 1080i 1080p
2. Graphics card resolution
What resolution is your card outputing in?
Typical HDTV display resolutions 1280x720 1280x768 1360x768 1920x1080i
3. HTDV display native resolution
What is the displays resolution, will it run 1:1 pixel matching?
The most common HDTV resolution is 1366x768 and very few HDTVs will run 1:1 at this resolution. 1280x720 and 1024x768 are the next most common resolutions.

What happens then
You play back any of the video sources 480i -1080p it doesnt matter these get scaled to the GFX card output setting. If your HDTV does not display 1:1 then your display will further scale the GFX resolution so that it displays fullscreen at the HDTV panels resolution.

EG 480p video source - 1280x720 GFX output - 1366x768 HDTV display resolution. As always though the better quality the source of course the better it will look.
 
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Hi there,

Looks amazing.......

I looked at that picture and thought that was the new Media Center Remote and my heart stopped and I new I had to get one if it was.....but it was a keyboard :(.

If only they did a remote in that style....

Enjoy your build!

Thanks...
 
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