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| Thread ID: 89053 | 2008-04-19 04:42:00 | Vista-Based Home Theatre PC Advice | Chemical Ali (118) | Press F1 |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 660124 | 2008-04-19 04:42:00 | Hi All I'm looking at building a Vista (Home Premium) PC that will connect to my LCD TV and be used as a Home Theatre PC. All I want it to do is: Play DVDs (either ripped to hard drive or via optical drive) Play Blu-Ray discs (via this (www.trademe.co.nz)) Light web surfing Use as a music jukebox View digital photos And that's about it. I've done a fair bit of research on the interweb and have noted with interest that some people include a dedicated video card in their HTPC builds whilst others are just using on-board video from the motherboard to connect to an LCD. Considering that I want to play both current-generation DVDs and Blu-Ray discs I was wondering if a motherboard only solution would do the trick? It would work for as it would save some $ but a little wary about DVD/Blu-ray playback. Cheers Paul |
Chemical Ali (118) | ||
| 660125 | 2008-04-19 05:06:00 | From what I heard (or gathered through these forums in past couple weeks) to play BD through your computer, you will need a dedicated video card such as the 8600GT which is capable of hardware processing of this material for good experience. Also, you may as well make sure your motherboard or video card has a HDMI port and is supporting HDCP for purposes of BD/future hi-def materials. You got your audio sorted? :P | Deathwish (143) | ||
| 660126 | 2008-04-19 05:15:00 | Yep, I've got my audio sorted with the intention of using a dedicated sound card connected to my stereo system. Was thinking of getting this card (www.sapphiretech.com) |
Chemical Ali (118) | ||
| 660127 | 2008-04-19 07:36:00 | If you get one of the new mainboards with the AMD 780G chipset then you don't need a seperate graphics card. The onboard one does hardware decoding of the blu-ray video so you don't even need a very fast CPU. |
CYaBro (73) | ||
| 660128 | 2008-04-19 07:49:00 | Considered using a motherboard with digital out so the audio data from the DVD is passed directly to the AMP? Could save a little money, and space if your using a small case. As for video, Even an office orientated PC works better with a dedicated video card, I would definitely get a mid-range card. |
Metla (12) | ||
| 660129 | 2008-04-20 05:52:00 | So is the consensus that I could get away with playing Blu-Ray or HD-DVD (RIP) based on just the motherboard graphics? Or is a video card (even just a mid-range one required? | Chemical Ali (118) | ||
| 660130 | 2008-04-20 05:59:00 | It depends what the onboard graphics is. My onboard can do 720P but not 1080P. A low end graphics card with a dedicated UVP to decode will be better. 8500GT/8600GT/2400PRO or more. |
trinsic (6945) | ||
| 660131 | 2008-04-20 06:29:00 | Well in terms of onboard graphics I'm (most likely) looking at either: 1: Integrated Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator X3500 on a mo/bo with an Intel G35 Chipset 2: ATI Radeon X1250 graphics on a mo/bo with an AMD 690G Chipset |
Chemical Ali (118) | ||
| 660132 | 2008-04-20 06:47:00 | Well in terms of onboard graphics I'm (most likely) looking at either: 1: Integrated Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator X3500 on a mo/bo with an Intel G35 Chipset 2: ATI Radeon X1250 graphics on a mo/bo with an AMD 690G Chipset Neither of those will do hardware decoding of HD video so the CPU would do all the work which means you need to have a very fast CPU and it will still be running 70-80% usage. Again I would recommend a board with the new 780G chipset as the onboard video with that is great for HD video otherwise look at at least an 8500GT graphics card. |
CYaBro (73) | ||
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