[gable74]

Guys,

I am looking for a little advice. I recently updated my HTPC with a new XfX ATI 5850 and 700w power supply to drive it. The rest of the system consists of a Onkyo tx-nr807 and a Sony Bravia KDL52XBR4. Out of the box the 5850 took a little manipulating to get the drivers installed but once they were the picture looked fantastic....much improved over my Nvidia 8300s. I am using VMC and Mediabrowser as my front end along with WMP cinema classic to play my MKV's. I do not have FF or AVC installed and have not installed anything other than the card and WMP classic and all my stuff (1080p) plays smooth. A few things I have questions about........


1. Up until now, I have played .mkv files exclusively from my HHD and had no blu ray drive installed. I am considering picking up a BR drive and want to know what is the best software to use to play them?


2. Would I see any improvement by installing FF or AVC to give me more tweaking options? Are they any good threads that go into detail about setting up WMP classic and adjusting the settings within it?


3. I noticed at the 1920x1080 setting with the new 5850 card that the screen does stretch all the way to edges of the TV like the old card had the ability to do. Does anyone know if there is an option in the Catalyst software that will let me pull the edges of the screen to fill my TV? There is currently about a 1.5" border all the way around. It would be nice if I could pull that to the edge of the TV.


Thanks for the help,

Jimmie

 

[hirent]

5850 seems overkill for a HTPC (unless you do a lot of gaming that requires it).

Silent 5450 is available for $35 which does the same thing.


Software choice is personal preference, people either like it or hate it. I use MPC-HC (free) and PowerDVD 9.


I never installed FF/AVC for anything until I started using MPC-HC for bitstreaming (FFDshow is reqd).

My rule is not to install any drivers/software unless I absolutely need it.


For the border, one word, scaling:

Go to CCC and click on Display Options. Select the drop down arrow in the small display symbol and click configure display. Scaling option is now available. Just drag the slider until it fills your screen.


Good Luck.

 

[gable74]



Quote:
Originally Posted by hirent /forum/post/18159189


5850 seems overkill for a HTPC (unless you do a lot of gaming that requires it).

Silent 5450 is available for $35 which does the same thing.


Software choice is personal preference, people either like it or hate it. I use MPC-HC (free) and PowerDVD 9.


I never installed FF/AVC for anything until I started using MPC-HC for bitstreaming (FFDshow is reqd).

My rule is not to install any drivers/software unless I absolutely need it.


For the border, one word, scaling:

Go to CCC and click on Display Options. Select the drop down arrow in the small display symbol and click configure display. Scaling option is now available. Just drag the slider until it fills your screen.


Good Luck.

Does the 5450 have HDMI out with high Def audio? I guess I could have went with something cheaper but I got a good deal on this one and plan on building a more stout system later in the year.


Okay, so I need FFDshow to bitstream audio? I will install that tonight then. Thanks for the disply info in CC, I will look for that tonight also. Any tricks with FFDshow on setting that up? I will do some searching, there is probably a butt load of stuff on FFDshow tweaks.


Thanks for the help,

Jimmie

 

[hirent]

All 5000 series cards have the same audio capability and same video performance as far as HD video playback is concerned. Gaming performance increases as you go higher up the chain.

Hence, if your only use is for HD video and audio the cheapest 5000 card will do.


FFDshow is only required if you use MPC-HC as your BD player. Considering that both are free and utilize the PAP in the 5000, they are becoming very popular.

If you use PowerDVD 9 then nothing else is required.


You will need to search the 5000 series thread on this forum for settings and such. Many people have posted helpful threads with step-by-step directions.

 

[gable74]

Even in CCC i do not see a way to stretch my screen. I selected the options given in the post above but it detects my receiver....not a monitor.

 

[gable74]

Nevermind....I found it. I had to right click on the display and select properties.

 

[gable74]

Setup continues.........


I am having a difficult time getting true 5.1 sound from my HDMI out. I have selected all the appropriate settings in the audio properties. Using the HDMI out only for my audio/video but can only seem to get stereo sound. I have downloaded several 5.1 test clips and none seem to utilize the surround speakers. I have went over the properties section several times but still no luck. I have the onboard audio disabled in the bios as well. I am using a Vostro 200 with an ATI 5850 and HDMI out into an Onkyo tx-nr807. DVDs and blu rays play surround sound fine from the stand alone player but true 5.1 does not seem to be working from the HTPC.

 

[hirent]

Did you play an actual DVD or BD to test for sound?

The reason I ask is because; I recently did a fresh install of Win 7 (RC is expiring) and Windows Test sounds would only play from the front speakers. However when I played a movie soundtrack all was good and it passed through all the audio signals to the receiver.

Also, first check and see under 'Playback Devices' whether HDMI audio is set to 5.1 speakers.

 

[gable74]

Can someone explain to me how to enable bitstreaming in the 5850? All movies via HTPC and windows media classic cinema display as MULTICH PCM on the Onkyo 807. How do I enable bitstreaming in order to allow the Onkyo to do the decoding?


Thanks