HTPC Golden Age? Reducing Component Count - Page 5

Julie's Journey to Cut the Cable Cord

"I'm sick of cable, sick of CableCard, sick of cable bills, sick of "60 Minutes" not recording because a football game ran too long. So I'm on a journey to cut the cable cord, once and for all. Hopefully you can help me do it."
http://www.cepro.com/article/my_jour...he_cable_cord/

Julie needs to read this thread as she still has too many subscription based gadgets.
My advice is dump the iWhatever and go HTPC.

I have two, what I deem necessary subscriptions: Verizon smartphone subscription and land based Internet.

I recall reading this article when it was originally published. Looking back his analog approach has turned out to be the wrong one. One cannot mix analog milli-volt and micro-volt signals with 50 volt steps in class D output stages. Dah! But it was the best choice for him at the time to form a company and cash-in.

He doesn't make much sense either:
Quote:
"Digitally controlled class D. Amplifiers with a digitally generated control that switches a power stage. No error control is present. Those that do have an error control can be shown to be topologically equivalent to an analog-controlled class D with a DAC in front."

The Tact Millennium got excellent reviews but was hideously expensive. The lesson here is to never buy technology before its time.

The graduate level Korean based mathematics wizards have now advanced the SOTA in digital amplifiers. I think I posted they used multiple feedback paths too.
All for $199 with no tax and free shipping.

Now is the time based upon superior engineering.

Hardware manufactures are well aware of the consumer trend to cut out the cable TV middleman.
So they are tacking on their proprietary Internet solutions.
Here is a nice table from HDGuru.com:


Are there similar tables for Blu-ray players? Or media players? How about receivers?

Why are we being pushed to purchase a TV to get Internet access?
Why do we need to purchase a Blu-ray player to get Internet access?
Why do we need to purchase media player to get Internet access?

Instead consider reducing your subscription and gadget count by purchasing a highly integrated Blu-ray based HTPC. It plays every format, and with the highest performance to boot.

I've just completed assembling another high-performance htpc with the new Radeon 6870 card, since I sent my first MB back and purchased a second.
I also wanted to see any benefits over the small sized real-low power htpc's and add Blu-ray 3D playback capability.

I selected an Intel 655 ($149) and overclocked it by simply increasing the multiplier, with a compact CPU heatsink:

The case is really nice but really large/deep, the Antec NSK2480:

The 6870 requires a second PCI-e power cable so I substituted an Antec 500w green power supply.

I also updated the AMD driver and Power Dvd 10 to the latest release (and disabled Blu-ray Live: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...905&highlight=). Having the two identical motherboards allow me to use the boot disc backup (after using another license key ).

So how does it work Blu-ray 3D work? Beautifully with the Samsung 700 HDMI 1.4 all-digital receiver and Panasonic 65" VT25 plasma. Some functionality gets disabled and the picture goes off the screen on the bottom. No doubt Cyberlink will fine-tune to enable 1:1 mapping.

The only surprise is a large improvement in 2D picture quality over the Radeon 5570. I had to change the grounding too (I use them deadly cheater plugs).
One nice feature of the best plasmas is the per-pixel contrast is greater than that of LCDs. The 6800 series redesigned and optimized H/W offer greater fine detail (in this same area). I only use the edge sharpness control. Now every 2D picture is more 3D dimensional. The picture is harder hitting (pop) too.
In conclusion a worthwhile upgrade for those who want the best picture quality at popular prices.
Now htpc pulls ahead of the best stand-alone players. Of course the the Radeon 6800 series also processes interlaced OTA/WMC 7 HDTV signals superbly too.

Forgot to add the outstanding 8GB of 1333 memory for $99.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820226095

For some reason its out of stock.
This is a far better suited for htpc than the very expensive SSD's pushed by Tom's Hardware. In fact I minimize my Windows virtual memory disc, because there is now enough (much faster) ram. SSD's excel for quick boot times which is unimportant for htpc. Instead I use Windows sleep mode anyways. Never underestimate people in the industry pushing the highly profitable lines (that goes for movie critics too). Dah!

Video picture quality is of primary importance in htpc selection, at all price levels, as even inexpensive Walmart HDTVs can show the difference.

To that end, experienced reviewers can effectively compare and rate image quality between competing brands and price points thanks to the new HVQ 2.0 image quality tests:
http://www.hqv.com/index.cfm?page=benchmark

The Kitguru.net offers some excellent reviews including this massive image quality tests. The results are still valid even though AMD/ATI has introduced the 6800 series with image results topping out over 200!
http://www.kitguru.net/components/gr...d-intel/all/1/

The ATI 6850/70 series offers crystal clear images, lowest level of artifacts, Blu-ray 3D and HDMI 1.4. These are the features which smaller form factor htpc's or notbooks omit because they don't have the space for a full sized video card.

The ASRock Vision 3D appears to be a breakthrough HTPC but the user experience here at AVS merits caution, and the Kitguru review somehow omits rating the image quality.
A system is only as good as its weakest link and KitGuru's review blows it in refusing to discuss the limitations of the nVidia GT 425M. The M stands mobile and is designed for space saving notebooks which strongly implies reduced image quality. Another case where what is omitted is the most important.
AnandTech gives us the rest-of-the-picture:
"We find that the GT 430 scores the same as the GT 425M in the ASRock Vision 3D. It is also better than the Intel HD Graphics (which scored 133) with respect to this metric, but comes up short against the HD 5570."
http://www.anandtech.com/show/3973/n...force-gt-430/4

Notice that I just replaced my 5570 with a 6870 and noticed a large improved in high frequency detail (see above posts):

HQV 2.0 Benchmark
-------------------
Intel HD Graphics 133
Nvidia GT 425M 148
AMD/ATI 5570 189
AMD/ATI 68xx 204

In any event this is the type of minefield the consumer must wade through.
Lesson learned: avoid mobile chipsets in HTPC's or just go with the Intel Integrated solution in the i3 or i5 processors.

Further by going with a proprietary all-in-one htpc, upgrades to improved video cards are limited to non-existent. Better to build your own htpc.

With freedom comes responsibility.
But I do understand exactly what you state.
The solution is to automate, use vertical integration and simplify.

WMC 7 DVR is an excellent example of being set up once, and let it perform the housekeeping tasks automatically. It puts the computer to sleep when not busy. Same goes for Windows Update.

Video cards now send all audio data untouched to the receiver. No need for a high-end sound card and analog cables.

My Samsung 700 all-digital Samsung receiver is superior to all ( analog, ICE and class A/B others, costs less, and consumes less power) . HDMI issues are almost eliminated with just a htpc connected to it. No more high-end separate analog components. One cable to receiver and one to the TV. Is that not elegant?

The network head-end is expected to be busy and cluttered, but no-one except yourself should ever go there. Fiddling should be minimal. Turn it on and forget about it.

Resist the temptation to buy more media gadgets. Ask what can they do that my htpc cannot do better? For example some media servers are rated highly because they include now include an Internet browser! Big deal. The real fight is to create simple drive shares and prevent MicroSoft from taking control.

As for reducing hard drive count, I changed philosophy now that 2TB cost $80. That is I make backup copies of music and pictures on several PCs, especially to the boot drives. This helps to reduce network traffic and especially wireless issues, since alot of media files are local. Since I always back up each boot drive, there are plenty of copies, both on and off-line. I should never loose anything.

I use Beyond Compare 3 (a wonderful file comparison tool) to consolidate and eliminate duplicate songs and movies (as I buy more Blu-rays). They all fit on a WD USB 3.0 3TB mybook (however the usb port on the router has issues with drives over 2TB).

Thanks for the excellent post.

I think you nailed me on this one. A basic rule in testing is to change one variable at a time. I changed several; even switching to a new computer.
However i do have several systems with Power Dvd and ATi 5750 cards. So was it the new video card, new driver, Power DVD 10 update or a better computer power supply?
The answer is, usually in real life its a combination of factors leading to an improvement.

There has been a great race in the HDTV market to achieve and restore the best "natural" sharpness which was removed when the signal was sampled. Samsung HDTVs have led the charge, with many other brands recently catching-up.

The Panasonic VT25 built-in image processing is NOT the most naturally sharp. It is now, for the first time with the 6870. I don't use much sharpness enhancement either as the new extended resolution is largely built-in. The clarity is approximately at the same level as my Pioneer 141, probably the best plasma display ever built.

The professional reviewers noticed the improved detail, I believe. This is why the HQV scores now reach over 200! True progress.

I would use the HQV 2.0 results as a primary guide to image quality. If the video card costs $50 extra to achieve a score of over 200 then go for it, as 210 is virtual perfection.

Yes, but its annoying to frequently go reset it in the audio configuration to pass-thru untouched to the receiver via the HDMI cable.
Power Dvd likes to decode into PCM as its default state. I find its decoding inferior to the Samsung for two reasons: the tonal balance can change a bit (the Samsung is clearer) and the volume level is noticeably lower than the Samsung.

Note: their have been issues with 3D disc compatibility.

This latest Pwer Dvd 10 also threw in a hidden video quality setting: I set it to best rather than the default auto.

But it sure is nice not seeing it flicker with advertising ever time you stop playback - as the firewall block makes it bee-have.

"You misunderstand how the HDHomerun is designed to be used. It's for recording HD TV, not watching live HD TV. "

I guess the manufacture (Silicon Dust) doesn't know what they are talking about either:
"HDHomeRun is a TV tuner for computers - Ethernet attached. The HDHomeRun connects to your home router enabling you to watch and record TV from any computer on your home network."

http://www.silicondust.com/

Again Silicon dust allows any computer to become a TV, especially since the resolution on both is 18920*1080.

On my home theater big-screen, Blu-ray playback stuttered and badly and it varied, as sometimes it was smooth and other times it was not.
Local playback (files stored on the local hard drive) was much smoother than network streaming.

The networking tab of Windows task manager showed deep nulls (data rates going down to zero). Network playback must be smooth with certainly no dips half below the average rate.

The possible solution can be easy to complicated. I'll offer a few which worked for me:
0) Check if the Intel processor has Speed-Step enabled in the BIOS menu. Disable this guessing on Intel's part on each computer. The free program CPU-Z will display the processor core clock, and let you see if the speed is "hopping around", in a rather poor, unsuitable manner for hard real-time (video) programs. I think this was the root cause of the network stuttering.

1) Allow exceptions for typical video and audio files by the virus scanner

2) Establish a clean baseline by reinstalling the latest Ethernet drivers from Windows Device Manager. Do this for all computers on the network.
Realtek drivers are here:
http://www.realtek.com/downloads/dow...&GetDown=false

Leave everything default except for MTU which I set to 9K, since were streaming. Other settings (like off-loading) are pretty dangerous, and can choke your streaming. Ridiculous but true.
Then, with Windows Task Manager->networking->network utilization monitoring, copy video files between computer desktops. For Gigabit Ethernet you should see 80-90MB/sec (9*8 = 720Mbits/sec).

3) Uninstall the ATI/AMD drivers/software completely from the Control Panel, then reinstall, then reinstall Power DVD 10

4) make sure the buffers are enabled if you use Virtual Clone Drive program

5) Disable Internet Moderation in the Device Manager-> Network Card ->Advanced properties

6) allow big Jumbo Frames (9K) in the same advanced properties

7) power saving features are nice when they don't cause performance degradation.

Motion jerking can also be caused by selecting the incorrect video vertical refresh rate (24 or 30Hz) for the particular source. Look at the information box in PowerDvd to see what rate the disc was mastered at.
Then select a video refresh rate to be the same or multiple (with zero remainder) which s best compatible with the display. For most its 24 or 60Hz.

I already designed for the most power efficient htpc. However it must be able to run instantaneously and at full throttle too. Speed-step is obsolete and should be eliminated, as its behavior leads to unpredictable, inconsistent results which are tough to track down.

The usb tuners I've sampled have all had inferior performance. Not recommended for a htpc.

Again DVRs need dedicated tuners. WMC needs to know how many tuners it has for its exclusive use, so as to provide feedback to the user who want to record and watch too many programs concurrently.

An important WMC 7 setup point:
When setting up WMC 7 to scan for TV stations with the AverMedia Duet tuners installed, disconnect the Ethernet cable from the wall. This forces WMC to only discover and use the two internal tuners. Further no one else can see them. They are both dedicated and exclusive, and will be the only tuners WMC 7 will use.
For those feeling lucky, they could also use one of the "floating" HD Home Run tuners with Quick TV to watch a third channel, if the two other are busy recording. Whew!

Actually the HTPC in our family room is the only one that records.
Everyone else adds its "Recorded TV" shared folder through the Windows Media Player or Center Setup. Everyone else also uses the floating HDHomeRun Tuners.

We can also add a portable TV to any room instantly, with our i3 based 17" 1440*900 Asus notebook, using a wireless N 300mbs connection.

Dedicated tuners guarantee Quality of Service. Otherwise scheduling conflicts will occur: its just a matter of time.
I learned my lesson, afterI lost control of a tuner (to another user) by just changing channels. It only took a few milliseconds to get screwed (just like on Wall St).

Also remember to set the region code (in Device Manager) for new Blu-ray optical drives. Otherwise erratic playback issues will result.

Now my home network of five computers are always reliable for any and all network streaming tasks, both internally and externally. I pay no subscriptions other than basic Internet service.
I don't have to wait for Sony, Google or Netflix, Hulu to add features over the next ten years, while they fight-it-out over bandwidth issues.
I buy music and carefully screened Blu-rays (not falling for reviewer/industry hype) from Amazon, but rent most movies from convenient dollar kiosks first.
I can fast-forward at anytime (think Adobe Flash Player) and view at my convenience with no DRM or downsampling quality issues.

Here is a new form of DRM from Pandora:
"Unfortunately our music licenses limit the amount of songs you can skip in an hour".
In other words we pay to loose our freedom of choice, buy into more media gadgets and clutter, all because we are unable to manage our own computers.

The pressure is on Tivo to adapt and survive. Apparently they too don't mind dumping cable, as they have a nice chart highlighting the quality of OTA programming:
http://www.tivo.com/products/source/...broadcast.html

My family records many of these free shows and keep the ones we choose. The closed Tivo DVR has two OTA tuners built-in, but streaming is questionable and limited.
Then there is still that extra monthly subscription.
Further they still insert advertising, monitor every button customer press and send it instantly to advertisers. Just like Google!
Except, as Tivo is all to quick to point out, Google is missing that all important Digital Video Recorder (DVR). Both omit disc playback.
What a cat fight!

The purpose of this post is to highlight the superior programming content of OTA broadcasters. So consider not paying to be held captive and monitored with a htpc, which does everything extremely well.