[Nomarian]

Hello everyone,


I am currently building my first HTPC and have a few questions, but first here is what I was building.


Pentium D 3.4Ghz Processor

4GB RAM

Nvidia 7600GT Video card with HDMI and HDCP compliant

DVD-ROM drive (upgrade to HD-DVD or Blu-ray later)

Soundblaser X-FI sound card

Windows Vista


I was going to connect the HDMI out of the video card into my receiver and then also connect the SPDIF from the sound card to the receiver. I was then going to use PowerDVD 7.2 Ultra and play HD movies (eventually) out and to the projector through the receiver which does HDMI switching.


1.) How do I set the display settings so it reaches the maximum resolution of my 1080p projector? (VPL-VW50) There are no drivers for a projector from what I can find.

2.) Is it better to send sound directly to the receiver instead of back into the card, so it can path both the video and sound through the HDMI port?

3.) Is PowerDVD the way to go? I see a lot of talk about FFDShow and Theatertek? software.


Thanks in advance and I look forward to many sleepless nights making this perfect!

 

[Ian Fleet]

1.) Powerstrip is the preferred app for custom 16:9 resolutions using a HTPC.

It's not always easy but there's a sticky thread above that has good suggestions.

2.) I doubt there's a quality difference using a SPDIF or HDMI connection for sound however, SPDIF from the soundcard to receiver seems more direct. I don't have a HDMI input on my receiver so I've never tried it.

3.) Ffdshow and Theatertek or Zoomplayer is a good way to play standard DVD's or AVI files. Ffdshow will upscale the picture through a algorithm.

Here's a straightforward setup guide. http://www.htpcnews.com/index.php?op...=132&Itemid=54

Once you get it going try the settings from the Ffdshow sticky, they're better.

There's alot of chat right now with using the Xbox HD-DVD player and PowerDVD Ultra. Sofar the problem seems to be having trouble with the software since the HD version of PowerDVD and WinDvd is new, but like everything with a HTPC the solutions are never straight forward.

 

[Nomarian]

Thanks Ian. I guess I will do some testing and post back here.

 

[kapone]

That 4GB RAM is way overkill. If you're gonna run XP or MCE, it won't use more than 2GB anyway, so use that money elsewhere.