This didn't seem to be generating much interest on the main HTPC forum, so I thought I'd post it here.

I was thrilled to discover that using Boot Camp on my MacBook pro to run Win XP SP2 in a separate partition I could join in the fun of experiencing HD DVD. My dedicated HTPC, being a Pentium 4 is not up to the task. Perhaps with over-clocking and a change of graphics card it might scrape through; but my MacBook Pro seemed a more likely contender.

In the Mac forum I read the thread on getting a Mac Mini to pull it off and the CPU on the MacBook Pro is more powerful, being a 2.16 ghz Intel Core Duo.

I ran the PowerDVD test software and it still warned me that the CPU could do with upgrading. Since that's not an option though, I decided to try it anyway.

Following the PowerDVD Ultra and AnyDVD threads here, I got hold of both and the XBOX 360 HD DVD drive.

The PowerDVD test also didn't like the ATI drivers supplied by Apple, so I downloaded and installed the latest Omega drivers and it was happy.

I found some posts on www.xlr8yourmac.com which were very helpful.

After purchasing a copy of Appollo 13 on HD DVD, i tried ripping it to an external HD using AnyDVD, then playing back from the hard drive with PowerDVD Ultra. After suffering multiple crashes, I followed the advice on xlr8yourmac which pointed out that the chips on the ATI card are clocked at way under their potential on a MacBook Pro, so I downloaded the necessary software and tried overclocking. This gave me improved results on the 3DBenchmark game testing software; but I still got crashes on PowerDVD Ultra after overclocking. In fact the situation seemed worse.

I also read advice on xlr8yourmac that it's a good idea to download SMCFan controller software on the MAC side and this seemed to make sense. I figured it could be that the Mac was shutting down or rebooting to protect the hardware from overheating during HD DVD playback. SMCFan control runs under Mac OS X, though after setting the fan speed there, when you re-boot into Windows that fan speed is maintained. This seemed to help; but I still got crashes in PowerDVD Ultra when trying to play the HD DVD from the Hard Drive.

I then played with some of the PowerDVD settings and found that if I disabled Hardware Acceleration, the movie would play and keep playing for a while; but still the Mac crashed after, perhaps an hour. Thinking it might still be overheating, I booted into Mac and set the fan speed at the Max of 6000RPM having previously set them to 3965RPM.

Voila! Now I can watch an entire HD DVD movie and all the extras without any problems. Fantastico!

It seems to use up all the system resources Windows has to offer, because once the movie has finished, I can't seem to do anything. I keep getting System Quota exceeded errors. When I reboot Windows it runs fine however.

As a footnote I'm also able to run standard DVD's using Zoomplayer and ffdshow and the MacBook Pro can also do more than my old Pentium 4 based HTPC. I can use VMRL9 and ffdshow resize to 1440 x 960 or 1152 without any problems. In fact an excellent Criterion transfer of La Notte Bianche, looked as good as HD DVD with these options.

On HD DVD, I'm losing some resolution, since I'm using my JVC SLX 21 which is 4:3 native and using max resolution over DVI of 1400 x 1050. It still looks awesome, although perhaps a bit softer than full resolution would be.

No doubt the same thing could be achieved on a similarly spec'd Windows laptop. However I find it works well using Windows for just this purpose and the Mac side for everything else. It's as if Windows is happier being dedicated to these HT tasks and has learnt to dedicate its resources to that purpose.

For everything else I find the Mac OS a more elegant solution anyway.

It's so cool to have the same machine I tote on the road with me and do client work on, to also double as my HTPC when I get home.

Sorry this has been so long. I hope others can benefit from my experience though.

geoff

Hi Geoff, I guess you didn't read the "Please read first" posts at the top of this forum as we discuss not only Mac hardware here, but the Mac OS as well. While the Mac is the only machine able to run OS X, Windows and Linux, we only discuss OS X here, while the other operating systems have their own forums. Thanks for your understanding.

Apologies. I should have read that first.

geoff

I would not have seen this had it not been posted here. This type of thing should be posted in the Mac forum for a heads-up, and then if necessary, all future discussion carried out on the PC forum. However, I do not understand why there is such a division... HTPC (MAC- or PC-based) is what it's all about, and since Apple's given us the ability to take full advantage of both platforms, why not merge the discussions?

That's my 2¢ and I'm sticking by it... :)

Hi Geoff, I guess you didn't read the "Please read first" posts at the top of this forum as we discuss not only Mac hardware here, but the Mac OS as well. While the Mac is the only machine able to run OS X, Windows and Linux, we only discuss OS X here, while the other operating systems have their own forums. Thanks for your understanding.

I would not have seen this had it not been posted here. This type of thing should be posted in the Mac forum for a heads-up, and then if necessary, all future discussion carried out on the PC forum. However, I do not understand why there is such a division... HTPC (MAC- or PC-based) is what it's all about, and since Apple's given us the ability to take full advantage of both platforms, why not merge the discussions?


"Please note: This forum is intended only for discussion of the Mac as both an operating system, as well as hardware and that issues related to Windows or Linux running on Mac hardware belong in the forums dedicated to those operating systems.
Off topic posts and threads may be removed or moved to the appropriate forum.

Thank you!" -- Alan Gouger

In case you are not familiar, Alan is the administrator of the AVScience forum, not the moderator.

Secondly, the OP is running Windows. What difference does it make if he runs it on Dell, Gateway, Apple or Bob's Computers? The forums here are organised by operating system, not hardware. If you want to know what's new in Windows, their forum is right next door and you can read all you like. What's the problem with doing that?

I agree with Further.
Why not move geofsto's comments to the Windows/MCE on the MAC sticky and keep all Windows discussions there? Simple enough.

I certainly didn't want to upset the, er, 'Applecart' by posting here. I already posted on the main HTPC forum and there seemed to be little interest. That's probably because if someone hasn't invested their hard earned cash in Apple hardware they probably wouldn't care too much, unless they were a potential switcher.

I do think Apple has created a new situation here with BootCamp (and soon with Leopard). I also feel that new situations like this might also warrant new approaches by both moderators and the administrator of these forums. All of whome I have the utmost respect for BTW.

I disagree with the argument that there is no difference with a comparable set up on Dell or any other hardware that can run Windows. There are a number of unique considerations which I discuss in this thread.

This coupled with similar disagreements in the thread concerning the Mac Mini further suggest to me that additional consideration needs to be given to these threads which discuss HT solutions involving non-Mac OS's running on Apple hardware.

geoff

I certainly didn't want to upset the, er, 'Applecart' by posting here. I already posted on the main HTPC forum and there seemed to be little interest. That's probably because if someone hasn't invested their hard earned cash in Apple hardware they probably wouldn't care too much, unless they were a potential switcher.

I suspect there was "little interest" in the Windows forum because virtually all of them already know that Windows supports HD-DVD. The fact that it worked on a Mac is no more significant than it worked on any other Intel box. The fact that there was a lack of interest is proof of that.

The fact that Apple hardware can now run Windows is new. However, the fact that two operating systems can run on the same hardware is not at all new. Both Linux and Windows have been running on the same hardware for probably almost 15 years. And yet, no one has proposed that discussion of Linux and Windows be merged because they both run on the same hardware.

Again, these forums are organised by operating system and nothing else. The names of the forums make that clear.

I certainly didn't want to upset the, er, 'Applecart' by posting here. I already posted on the main HTPC forum and there seemed to be little interest. That's probably because if someone hasn't invested their hard earned cash in Apple hardware they probably wouldn't care too much, unless they were a potential switcher.

I do think Apple has created a new situation here with BootCamp (and soon with Leopard). I also feel that new situations like this might also warrant new approaches by both moderators and the administrator of these forums. All of whome I have the utmost respect for BTW.

I disagree with the argument that there is no difference with a comparable set up on Dell or any other hardware that can run Windows. There are a number of unique considerations which I discuss in this thread.

This coupled with similar disagreements in the thread concerning the Mac Mini further suggest to me that additional consideration needs to be given to these threads which discuss HT solutions involving non-Mac OS's running on Apple hardware.

geoff

This has been debated ad nauseum over the past two months. We've come to agreement that all Windows discussion belongs in the Windows forum.

ps. While there are some nuggets of information in your post that may concern the Mac folks, the overall questions posed are not of Mac OSX interest. Rather they are Windows software and driver related.

geoff, you're late to the party, the issue has already been decided by the "powers that be." Please don't rehash why you feel differently, it's already been eloquently stated by others prior to the decision being made, the "powers" decided on a course, that's it. First, let me say I enjoyed reading your post and am happy for your success. I do think others here would appreciate reading about it.

But it doesn't warrant its own thread here--to report your success, and also if there are some Mac hardware issues that you encounter when running Windows and especially Windows home theater software, the place to check first and then to mention it is in that sticky FAQ started by Bob Sorel and maintained by Ryan et al, at the top of this forum. That thread is where all the "I'm trying to get x Windows software to work on my Mac" queries and driver/install/vid card solutions go--then once something is installed, once it's up and running, followup discussion takes place back over in the Windows HTPC forum. And one role of that Windows/MCE/whatever FAQ here is to link people to news and developments, and reports just like yours, back over in the Windows forum.

Them's the guidelines...by the way, welcome.

Thanks. Yes it's clear to me now and you're right, of course, I was late to the party. Being able to run HD DVD in the way described has got me excited about HT all over again after some hiatus from these forums.

Will be following discussions and posting both here (where relevant) and on the Windows forums on these topics.

I agree to stick to Mac OS related issues here outside of the FAQ/Sticky mentioned and accept this thread should be in the Windows forum only.

geoff