Assassin's Simple/Beginner HTPC Buying Guide - Page 500

Shark007 will do nothing to make VLC play HD Audio as VLC uses its own spltter that does not support HD Audio. Use MPC-HC or even the WMC Player if frame rate switching is not important to you with LAV filters.

You can program a Harmony remote to toggle through audio but MPC-HC will select the HD Audio tract automatically if it is the first audio tract in the mkv container.

Shark contains codecs and splitters. It also registers these codecs so they can be used in windows media center and windows media player.

I see so many people using shark pack when it is completely unnecessary if using an external player such as mpc-hc.

Thanks for the reply Sammy2,

I wasn't aware Shark007 was unable to manipulate VLCs codecs. Thanks for clarification on that.

Xzener

Just use TMT5 to play back the mkv files. No problem.

Well, I was hoping to get HD audio working with VLC, but will have to wait until the VLC developers take that on. Supposedly, TrueHD is supported... But have yet to see it work on my system. I will continue to use TMT5 for folder rips.

I have never used TMT5, but I know it allows you to play blurays on your HTPC. Since most blurays have HD audio, you would think TMT5 would allow you to bitstream HD audio! Is there really no setting in TMT5 to bitstream hd audio over HDMI? I was thinking about buying TMT5 to play blurays straight from disc. As of now, I just rip them using MakeMKV.

How is TMT5 even being suggested for BluRay rips? TMT5 has the Cinavia copy control crap in it so it is definitely not a good choice for playing rips.

I built a htpc using your guide but am having trouble finding a decent RF remote that does not look to busy so my parents can even use it. Everything simple seems to br IR and being that my pc is behind the seating position thats not an option. Can someone help em out with a good RF remote under $90.00 its a windows 7 pc.

No, it doesn't. And, according to ArcSoft_Jason (post #3363):

"Cinavia is a requirement for all AACS licensees for all in-support hardware and software players if they want to maintain their license. It's coming (eventually) to everything that's not discontinued."

You won't have a problem with rips, you'll have a problem with direct playback of discs. The ripping software (makeMKV, AnyDVD) will need to deal with the copy protection.

Again.

I suggested it because I use it all the time and it works very well.

Try it free for 15 days: http://www.arcsoft.com/totalmedia-theatre/

Michael

 

The Harmony RF models are 890, 900, 1000 and 1100. Once programmed (probably by you), they are as simple to use as a "point and shoot" camera. Programming can be a bit tricky, but there are forums here to help if you need it. The info in the guide is still applicable, you just need one of those specific models.

DealNews often reports refurbs on sale.

There are also many devices such as this http://www.smarthome.com/80604/Universal-Remote-Control-MRF100B-PowerBlaster-RF-Receiver-IR-Converter/p.aspx for converting any IR remote signal to RF. There are even batteries that can be placed in the remote to do the job. Do a google search for "ir to rf converter" to get lots of options.

I don't have bitrate #s handy, but these would be Blu-Ray and HD-DVD rips with no re-encoding. I have a mix of both AVC and VC-1 (don't think I have any MPEG-2). I tend to rip multiple audio tracks - I'll take the DTS HD-MA or Dobly TrueHD, along with an AC-3 track if available.

Um...You are sort of right. TMT5, prior to ver. 5.3.1.172 doesn't have Cinavia yet. But it will, unless you don't upgrade. And if you don't upgrade then there will be BluRays that simply won't play. After you upgrade you will have a problem playing rips in TMT5 because there is no ripping software (yet) that can remove the Cinavia watermark. The only Cinavia infested media type that TMT5 will play, by license, is store-bought-officially-pressed disks (or 'direct playback of disks'). There are plenty of other (non-licensed) players that can play Cinavia infested rips, but TMT5, because it is licensed, is not one of them.

Here's what ArcSoft beats around the bush to say: http://www.arcsoft.com/Forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=10631&title=cinavia-protection-in-tmt5 ... Google 'tmt5 cinavia' for links to the truth.
Edited by olyteddy - 12/17/12 at 9:11pm

I would confirm that. I know I upgraded one of my machines to a later version to play brave and walla Cinavia present. The challenge is today no ripping software can deal with this model. So, it's keep older version and never upgrade and be pseudo ok or not be able to play latest features/releases on occasion.
Edit: post above beat me to it.

I'm thinking of giving J River a shot. Will it coexist with WMC? Any known problems with running both?

Yes it will and no there isn't.

Assassin,

Quick question for you.

I bought your guides a long time ago but now I am building a new HTPC for my living room which has no optical drive.
I was going to use your guide on installing Win7 from USB but just want to verify that those links are still current and correct and will work with the OEM version of Win7.

thanks!

I just watched an AnyDVD rip of Brave with no problem. Latest (AFAIK) versions of AnyDVD and TMT5.

I guess this will be another case of "Your mileage may vary." At least until the ripping software catches up, which, traditionally, isn't long.

Here's hoping, anyway.

This is an interesting link. Thanks for it.

http://blog.dvdfab.com/cinavia-protection.html

Edited by LastButNotLeast - 12/18/12 at 12:00pm

Thanks

Your text blurb about wtv makes it seem like the format is the cause of unnecessary file size bloat, just wanted to point out . . .

Many of my recordings are 1080i w/ Dolby, which is why they average 4-5 GB per hour. Arguably, several of those recordings can handle a re-encode to 720p with little quality loss perceived in a 61" or less viewing environment.

Assassin,

Curious why you set the max width to 720? To keep 720x1280 (720p) resolution, I set the width at 1280. The conversion takes longer (roughly 2x) but it makes sense to me to keep the higher resolution. Is it purely a conversion quality vs. time tradeoff that has you at 720; or is there some magic here that I don't understand?

Thanks!

I think it's the default

Nzbmatrix closed up shop.

Yes they did.

Little late to the party

http://torrentfreak.com/nzbmatrix-shuts-down-citing-piracy-troubles-121209/

Or funeral

All depends on which side of the fence you sit

I am putting together a build based on some of the Assassin's recommendations. I have a question in regards to Silverstone GD05B and ASRock H77 Pro4-M motherboard. The case has 3 build in fans (case fans) with a 3-pin female power connectors. However, on this motherboard there are only 2 Chassis Fan Connectors, and only one of them is 3-pin male connector. So here is my question - Did I choose the wrong case (or motherboard)? Is one attached fan would be enough?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812226070

For 3 fans buy two of them. Plug the female end of one into a male end of the other, Now you will have 3 male ends (3 fans) and a female end (motherboard). You may be able to find a splitter that has 3 male ends to begin with but I gave up searching and just went this route.
Edited by Dropkick Murphy - 12/19/12 at 7:31pm

I just completed a build in this case with the asrock h77m which is similar. My mother board has the two chassis fan headers one four pin and one three pin as well as a three pin power fan header which I used for the third fan...works great! Ps just checked asrocks website and the pro4 has the same headers. Incase you did not know you can plug a three pin fan into a four pin header.
Edited by cheezit73 - 12/19/12 at 7:54pm