Blu-ray HTPC - Motherboard and OS?

To my knowledge, Vista is the only OS to us; I don't think you can play a BD on a Mac and I don't think Linux is there quite yet either.

If what you want is a BLu Ray experience where you put in a physicla disc and you receive 1080/24p, uncompressed non-downsampled HD Audio, then buy a PS3 or a Profile 2.0 BD player that decodes the new HD codecs and can send them LPCM to your receiver.

Driver maturation is a part of the process here, and it never moves fast enough, or even in the right direction, for most of us on this forum. That being said, with the right components (some of which are not out yet) and updated drivers, you'll be able to do what every other BD player can do and its upgradeable over time.

For example.
For the highest video quality (including 24p output), you can:
(1) purchase one of the new 780G full size ATX boards, and put in a Phenom quad core, or
(2) purchase any motherboard with a PCIe 2.0 slot, a low power 4850 45w processor, and a Radeon 4850, or
(3) wait for the G45 from Intel (we don't know about the details regarding video quality, post-processing and 24p output yet, but I assume it will all be there.

For non-downsampled, uncompressed or bitstreaming of HD Audio, you can:
(1) wait for the Asus and Autzentech cards. They both are PAP compliant and come with software that is also PAP compliant. This allows for (a) bitstreaming of the new HD audio formats and (b) sending uncompressed LPCM to your receiver that is not downsampled by the software (PDVD or TMT).

The big plus for the HTPC route is that it is arguably cheaper or at least the same, its futureproof for the most part. There are drawbacks, as you note, involving driver issues and hardware compatability. Plus, you can mount BD as ISO's to a media sever and stream them all over your house.

I also feel like its worth mentioning that I havfe read an article recently in a monthly HT magazine that conducted a soundtest involving the new formats and most folks couldn't tell a difference between HD and non=HD tracks. THe people that could define themselves as audiophiles by and large.

My point is, with the 8200 board and the 4850 video card, you can send 7.1 LPCM that gets downsampled. I think most folks would say that it would be very difficult to tell the difference between downsampled and non-downsampled uncompressed LPCM. Especially if your speakers are not very high end. So, in the end you have to ask yourself if that matters and if you could tell the difference.

Just some thoughts.

Alex

Another option and one I'm waiting for, will be something like this...

If you're looking for a one cable does it all kind of thing and uncompressed audio we're not there yet. This solution might not appeal to everyone but is in fact one that will work, for the best audio/video experience.

Meanwhile the 8200 boards have the best promise for what you're looking for at the moment. Some people have them working with XP & Vista, effective rates of success varies according to hardware choices and driver compatibility.