XBMC Media Center : Setup Guide, Knowlege Base & Support - Page 16

Originally Posted by dbone1026

Windows 7 is your best bet. You need the correct hardware which would need to be one the following:

- Clarkdale/Sandy Bridge platform
- AMD 5XXX or 6XXX GPU
- NVidia 430 or 450 GPU

Originally Posted by GreenEyez

1) This is on the way. In about 1 week Tiben will finish the DSCodec build that allows the usage of ffdshow audio decoder for bitstreaming. And yes, it requires Windows and a compatible GPU (Ati HD5xxx/6xxx series graphics card, Nvidia GT430, Intel HD Graphics or the new Zacate All-in-one chipsets from AMD (or Fusion). A native implementation without the usage of ffdshow will be implemented in XBMC upon the next release, Eden, but that will take some time (months). Will work on Windows and Linux (and Live) (no use for it under OS X, since there is not mac with a HD audio bitstreaming capable GPU atm)

2)Works fine

3)Works fine

4)Yes it does have that option

5)Don`t know, what usage would that have?

6)Not sure

Originally Posted by frankspin

Nitro67 what you built is above and beyond what I think he is looking for, in either a MediaSmart server or custom built. Hot swap bays and hot swap power supply in a rack mountable case is a bit advanced for someone looking for a low cost option

Jimmyjones if you're interested in building your own go to the unRaid site for different build models. As I stated, you can build a low cost box for about $250 before adding hard drives. Depending on what drives you pick will dictate the cost beyond that. The cases that get recommended are meant for storage so they'll have a lot of drive bays for 3.5HDD so they'll easily support more than 4 drives, which the MediaSmart servers can't. The hot-swappable bays are nice and can really come in handy but they're not essential with your initial build. Also look in the main forum section as someone did a really awesome job of explaining the process of setting up an unRaid box so I'm sure he'll answer any of your questions.

Originally Posted by Nitro67

Frankspin, I have built below that and ran out of hard disk space on 8TB PC, very similar to what you just suggested. I would recommend hot swap bays, now though. Raid can be option in the future. Chenbro has an 8 hot swap bay case that would fit his needs and budget. http://www.chenbro.com/corporatesite...615359e2eb7778 (Now this one has 2 different power supply options, and it is around 130 us, but you need to by the hot swap bays separate) They have other models with 4 drives, but the key is to find a case that offers you expandability in the future. Why the hot swap bays? Well, the main reason is do you want to take it apart each time, you expand the case. Blu-rays will fill a hard drive quickly. Been there and done that, but now I just use a changer. Well, you can rip the video easy, but playing back the audio is a challenge.

Jeff

Originally Posted by evilengineer

6) Damian: As a WHS guru do you have any ideas on Wake-on-LAN? With Windows I could just stick lights out on it. Are there any options for a Linux/Live installation that wouldn't tax a Linux noob too hard?

Originally Posted by evilengineer

5) Resolution switching would enable unscaled video to be fed to an external scaler (DVDO Edge).

Originally Posted by JAB

I use AnyDVD HD plus Another EAC3to GUI to rip to MKV. Then, I use MPC-HC as an external player from XBMC. If you want to play the Blu-ray, complete with menus and special features, you can rip to ISO with Any DVD HD and then play the media using Total Media Theater.

Originally Posted by princeton3

Is it that anydvd does not rip by itself, I need another program to run with it in order to rip?

Originally Posted by No Clue

Anydvd comes with a separate ripper. Start>Programs>slysoft folder> Anydvd ripper. Probably a good time to create a shortcut on the desktop.

BTW, there is an iso ripper and a ripper that will create the BD folder structure on your hard drive. I have been using the latter and XBMC has been playing them ok

Originally Posted by princeton3

Finally, I don't have the htpc yet but was thinking of ripping some dvds to my current pc and transferring them over to htpc once its set up; are there any disadvantages to doing this?/QUOTE]

In the past, I had an HTPC hooked up next to my receiver. It works fine and I was transferring it from my main pc to the HTPC. Transfer speed was slow, so I started filling hard drives and then moving them over. Although, that meant ripping the HTPC apart each time. Biggest disadvantage of HTPC near the receiver is noise. Well, my Zalman fan worked great in the past.

Although, now I have switched to a new way. I have built a huge server that will be in the basment. I just use a long HDMI cable (bluejeans cable) to the receiver. The server will have Wake on Lan, but I use Control4. http://c4central.com/2011/01/26/wake...-via-control4/ Well, I don't plan to do Blu-ray, because I have a changer. There is a XMBC driver that one of the dealers wrote for Control4.


Jeff

Originally Posted by GreenEyez

Instead of shutting down the computer, use sleep mode. It takes 1 second, faster than ANY cold boot of ANY operating sistem (even the lightest Linux distros). Even on XBMC Live, Sleep is faster than booting from cold, and gives you a "set-top-box" experience.
I`ll need to look at the the resolution based on content issue this weekend and get back at you.

If it doesn`t work, you can always use ffdshow with the lancoz resizer to get vey good upscaling for SD content

Originally Posted by princeton3

Is it that anydvd does not rip by itself, I need another program to run with it in order to rip?

Originally Posted by No Clue

Anydvd comes with a separate ripper. Start>Programs>slysoft folder> Anydvd ripper. Probably a good time to create a shortcut on the desktop.

BTW, there is an iso ripper and a ripper that will create the BD folder structure on your hard drive. I have been using the latter and XBMC has been playing them ok

Originally Posted by wuench

It plays DVD ISO's. Looks like unencrypted Bluray is on the roadmap for 11.0. (4 weeks)