FAQ for the 3D HTPC - Page 32

That didn't take long ... the egg has now dropped prices on the Vision 1 single glasses (20%) and the kit (33%).

What you recommendation will be then, I know that for general use 430 are ideal, but if add light gaming is well ?

Rene, thanks for this chart!

Is it possible you to show us the differences between Clarkdale and Sandy as well?

Well, whatever. XFX HD 6570 and XFX HD 6670 are 1-slot and very quiet. As for GeForce, check EVGA GT 440 and ZOTAC GT 440 as well as GT 430. XFX HD 6670 is the best for gaming among them.

Sure. I just need to do a quick test.

Unfortunately, that cards not in sale where I am from... ordered http://www.sapphiretech.com/presenta...n=&lid=1&leg=0.
Cheap and quite powerful for HTPC. I hope this card will not let me down... on 3D Bluray playback and light gaming. And will be silent like most of Sapphire products. ( HM - WTF is that....)
Thanks renethx.

Hi everybody.
Due to recent purchase of 3D-plasma I want to build HTPC, which is able to play BD 3D and other video. Also I don't want to use discrete graphic card, because there are CPUs (APUs) which support hardware decoding of BluRay 3D video.
So I'm choosing between 2 configurations:
1) Intel Core i3 (either i3-2100T or i3-2105) and H67 chipset MB
2) AMD A6-3500 (Llano) and A75 chipset MB

I know that Intel Core i3-2100T is able to play BD3D. The CPU load during playback is 10 - 20%.
But there are doubts about AMD A6-3500. Though this processor theoretically should support MVC hardware decoding, I've heard about unsuccessful attempt of building HTPC with this APU. BluRay 3D playback wasn't hardware accelerated, the CPU load was near 100%. The playback performance wasn't good enough. Maybe this happened due to driver's issues.

The question is: does anyone has information about BluRay 3D playback using AMD A6-3500 APU?

A6-3500 (and any other Llano APU) supports BR 3D with HDMI 1.4a 3D video (Frame packing) output perfectly. CPU usage:

- BR 3D Hardware acceleration On: ~25%
- BR 3D Hardware acceleration Off: ~85%
- 1080p24 2D->3D conversion: ~75%

Triple core @2.1GHz is a bit weak for 2D->3D conversion (I would like to see CPU usage < 66%).

Are there specific options in Catalyst drivers, which can disable MVC hardware decoding for Llano APU?

You can't enable/disable hardware decode acceleration in AMD VISION Engine Control Center. It's the player (TMT, PowerDVD etc.) that turns it on/off.

I am using one, and it works beautifully with BR-3D. I am also getting near-perfect 2D BD playback at 24p using TMT5 with Catalyst 11.8 drivers.

It's a great HTPC processor.

However note that the Intel won't give you perfect 23.976 fps. As far as I know Radeon is the only thing that will give you perfect 24fps playback.

Radeon is not "perfect" either. My A6-3500 gives ~23.97520Hz (the last digit fluctuates constantly), that means a frame drop every 1/(23.976-23.97520) = 1250 sec = 21 min.

Exactly why I said NEAR perfect.

Hi all,

first of all, i'm fairly new to this forum, but in the past few days i found some interesting explanations about several things which i didn't get 100%. So thanks all for contributing.

Now i do have a problem of which i can't find the solution it seems.

I have a HTPC setup meant to be a 3D HTPC. It's an asus P8P67 motherboard, intel i5 2500K & a zotac GTX 430 ZONE graphical card. On the HTPC i got Windows 7 64 bit installed. All of this is hooked up with a hdmi cable to my samsung UE55D6530 (yes, i'm in europe ). For sound, i'm a bit behind, i don't have a HDMI (nor 3D) capable receiver yet so i use the SPDIF out on my HTPC to connect the sound to my receiver.

The good thing is : everything seems to work as it should.
The bad thing is : EXCEPT :
* Playing 3D movies with Total Media Theatre or PowerDVD always starts with audio in sync, but after a while audio gets more & more out of sync... after 10 minutes i need to stop the movie & restart it
* When playing 2D movies, sometimes i notice microstutter. This is very minor, but irritating if you know it, like i do

My nvidia drivers are the latest 285.62, and my refresh rate is 23hz in the control panel, same issue on 24hz...

Anyone here can help me before i throw it all out of the window ?

Cheers !

I'm still working through getting my system fully connected, but I've run across some forum chatter about the 285.62 drivers not being ready for prime time. The suggestion was to roll back to the 280.26 drivers from August if you're having problems.

Not sure whether this would resolve the issue you're having, but I figured I'd throw it out there.

Unfortunately, i've used all drivers from may up till now, and they all give me the same issue

thanks for the suggestion anyway ! keep 'm coming

i have the same audio sync problem with TMT 5(114), 285.62 drivers, and a GT430

not sure what the issue really is, but there are many people with the same problem

http://www.arcsoftsupport.com/en/for...lipsync-issues

I have a question about playing 3D mkv file from my HTPC

Video card: GT 430
TV: sony 55HX820
Receiver: Denon 2112ci

My connection: HDMI from GT 430 to Receiver, HDMI from receiver to TV

When I use TMT to play 3d Bluray ISO or 3D SBS mkv file, the 3D signal is automatically sent to my TV (viewing environment as Nvidia 3d Vision)

But when I use Stereoscopic Player to play 3D SBS mkv file, I choose Layout as Side by side, Viewing Method: Nvidia 3D Vision, the 3D signal is recognized automatically on my TV but the picture is shown on the TV twice (Top and Bottom). If I change Viewing Method to Side by Side, the TV is not recognized 3D signal and I have to manually select on the 3D menu to Side by Side to watch that 3d SBS mkv file.

It's OK for 3d SBS files, but i have some 3D FS files, I won't be able to watch them because on my TV there's no FS option (only side by side or Tob/Bottom). Again, If i chose Nvidia 3D vision, 3D signal is automatically detected but picture shown as top/bottom again.

Has anyone been able to play 3d out of an AMD E-450 (Brazos, HD 6320) laptop?

There is at least one good deal out there (Lenovo @ BB), but I cannot find any confirmed information on playing hdmi 1.4a 3d out of one of these. This review says 3d "wasn't available".

Hi,

If I use auzentech home theater HD with this setup



can the audio card pass the 3D content to my AVR? or would this other setup work?



Setup:
Asus rampage iii extreme
intel i7 950
ocz ddr3-1600 6gb
xfx ati hd5970
auzentech home theater hd
pioneer vsx-521-k

Like the resources very much...

^^

I'm assuming you're wanting to pass the 3D to the display and the lossless audio to the AVR ... and in that case, you're going to want to go with option #2. However, I'm not sure about ATI cards. I know my nVidia 430GT does it, but IIRC, there's some hiccup with the ATI cards.

There is still another third option:

Primary DVI out of video card > HDMıI in of TV over a DVı to HDMI cable.

Secondary DVI out of video card > HDMıI in of AVR directly without using audio card. (over DVI to HDMI cable)


_ _ _ _

Hey all.

I am having some issues with my htpc when routing through my receiver to my new LED. The tv reads the signal as 720p instead of the 1080p that it is actually outputting. Also, the display that shows in my control panel is the receiver instead of the tv. I can get the tv to read the signal as 1080p if I change my pc to 24hz in the control panel instead of 60hz, but this creates major video lag. I'm wondering if anyone else has had this issue.

Here is the rundown of my set up:
LG 55LW5600 connected to Pioneer 1120 via HDMI with my pc connected to my receiver via HDMI through my ATI 6970.

If I connect my pc straight to my tv, this solves all of the video problems, but then I can't receive all of the audio codecs I want, so I really don't want to have to do this.

Any help would be greatly appreciated

Only thing I can add is that its normal for you AVR to show up as the display. Does your AVR do any type of video processing? You may want to make sure all that is off.

In my Denon, I had to change the scaling setting from Auto to 1080p to get it to output a 1080p signal. Since my projector is native 720p, it was rescaling the 1080p signal from the HTPC before sending it to the PJ.

All right, I need a little help to determine what I'm missing to enable 3D playback.

Running: ArcSoft TMT5, nVidia 430GT, 3D Vision kit, HDMI high-speed to Acer H5360, DVI to Denon 3808

I have 3D enabled in TMT5 and I've run the setup in the nVidia wizard. I've verified that I can view 3D images in the nVidia setup process.

However, when trying to display a 3D-enabled BR, I'm not getting any picture -- only the DD MA-HD audio. I can play back the 3D disc in 2D if I want, but apparently not 3D.

Manually setting the screen resolution to 1280x720 120hz and enabling nVidia 3D Vision on the Acer menu still doesn't get me a picture.

The H5360 is correctly identified in both the nVidia Control Panel and in Stereoscopic 3D setup; however, Device Manager and the Monitors tab on the 430GT Properties box shows Generic PnP Monitors for both outputs. I don't know if this is significant.

One last thing I'll mention on system specs, even though the 430GT should be able to handle the 3D, I'm trying to run this on a P4 3.4Ghz single core HT processor with 2GB RAM. I know that's light -- but figured I'd at least get stutter if it's pushing too hard for the core hardware. No hesitation on the audio and BR 2D is just fine.

Anything else I can try? Or is the most likely cause of my situation the processor?

@roknrol,

I guess your issue is related with TMT's "automatic refresh rate switching" stuff. I think it converts refresh rate to 1080*24 in place of 720*120 hz.

I would suggest:
1) Connect DVI to HDMI cable to Acer's HDMI in. (for video)
2) Connect HDMI to HDMI cable to your AVR's HDMI in. (for audio) Don't forget to assign your Denon as default sound playback device.
3) Disable stereoscopic 3D on nVidia Control Panel.
4) Restart your PC and enable 3D again and setup nVidia again. Don't forget your emitter is connected and make sure you set up your Acer PJ to 3D nVidia mode on its own menu.
5) Download Stereoscopic Player's trial version if you don't have it:
http://www.3dtv.at/Downloads/Index_en.aspx
6) Select "nvidia 3D vision" under Stereoscopic Player's menu > view > viewing method.
7) Open largest ssif file under your BD folder's BDMV > Stream > SSIF and give it a go.

Best.

Hiya,

could anyone please give me some advice. Never realised getting a 3d HTPC setup would be so stressful lol

I just bought a couple of days ago a Radeon 6450 low profile card.

I've managed to get it working finally, direct to the TV after many many hours (mainly being the latest couple of revisions of catalyst drivers totally messing up the hardware acceleration)

The main 2 issues I have now are

1. When it drops to 1080p24 (as the tv reports), it actually drops to 1000p24 if look in the screen res info. With both PDVD11 and TMT5. As a result, the TV displays a fair size border around the screen......and in that mode I can't seem to adjust the overscan to make it fit properly.

2. Having an Onkyo 607 1.3 receiver, I figured I might have a bit of headache getting audio/vid output. I thought I could force it, but as it turns out from the earlier mentioned chart, the 6450 cards can't do HD audio and video through 1.3, and I get no signal when switch to 3d when I try to force the EDID. I then thought of trying a dvi-hdmi cable without audio signal as the primary display (and use the secondary hdmi to send audio to AVR) but it seems impossible to detect 3d using DVI on this card too.

I don't need audio to be on both outputs - just whichever one is connected to the AVR

So options are

1. Try to figure out why it goes 1000p24 to fix that issue, and buy a dvi-hdmi with audio carrier adapter for about £10 which I believe may sort out the sound issue.

2. Just buy a Nvidia GT430 card and return or sell on this 6450. Am I right in thinking that I'd still have to use a 2 cable solution? Would I still have to get a dvi-hdmi w/audio adapter for that?

Please help me sort this out guys, determined to get it sussed out someway or other