Why use external DVD-player when DVD-ROM can be used in a HTPC???

Yep,


I would think video sources are the answer.


Also, using a stand alone dvd player is convienient and stable.


If the HTPC only acts as a video-scaler it can be a very simple PC lacking many things like floppy drives, DVD or CD Rom drives, Sound Cards, Network cards and modems and the like. If all that's being done is Dscaler scaling of video sources then the HTPC can be set up to run Dscaler all the time and no input devices are needed- no mouse, no IR controller, no keyboard. If such a machine were built using carefully chosen components then you wouldn't need much cooling either. You could eliminate most or all of the fans possibly since not much happens in the machine. The hard drive could sleep almost all the time. Stable and simple and maybe even cheap because many hardware comonents aren't needed.


That's my guess.


-Brian

Thanks for all your replies. However I am not yet conviced about the use of a stand alone player if you use a HTPC. Maybe because I don't understand the term "Video Source"?

And I have earlier asked people wheather Dscaler feeded with an external signal would give a better result (in PQ) than a DVD directly played in the DVD-ROM decoded by software, and apperently this should not be the case, especially not with PDVD.

Another thing, since when is the DVD-data converted to analog (apart from being sent into a screen), in the process of decoding in the computer?



Well this is my argument, against stand alone dvd....


First of all buying a stand alone DVD player costs a lot of money, I know people who have easily spent 600-1000US$ on a stand alone DVD-player, for that price I can build a simple, but in the regard of PQ, if not better, at least as good. It is known that VGA cable to projector give the best PQ (yes, even better than composite), I have so far not seen any stand alone DVD-player offering this type of connection....


Regarding sound quality which nowadays is a hot topic, I could argue that a HTPC with present technology of Delta 410 sound cards and similar type, would be able to give out as good sound quality as any reciever in that price class (or even if you double, or quadrable the price, the Delta 410 will beat most stand alone recievers). But for the one who doesn't believe in this, a sound signal can just very easy be passed on digitally (through coax or S/PDIF) to an external reciever/amplifier.


Well, the last point, which would be the only reason for me not to use a HTPC is the matter of stability of a PC and noise. However, with a Windows XP or Win 2000, the matter of system crashed are much smaller. And as along as the computer doesn't carry out too many operations (which it probably wouldn't do anyways during movie watching), the possibility of blue screens etc, is very small.

Regarding cooling. Me myself use watercooling for my processor ([email protected]) and the only noise I can hear is from my papst 120mm @ about 28dB (the water pump is lower than 5dB) cooling my radiator. And it is even possible to lower that noise by lowering the feeded voltage of the fan.

Another solution for extreme no fan-noise fanatics could be the new VIA 933MHZ CPU released today. It can perform as good as any celeron of the same frequencey but without any cooling (well passive cooling in terms of a heatsink=no noise). I.e. the only noise produced would be from a hard-drive and those can also be made almost totally muted.

Another reason is some people prefer the interface on a set top DVD player. I personally prefer the speed and flexability of a software DVD player.


As was stated earlier, if you take SDI out of a set top player and into an SDI card with Dscaler, Some say that gives you better quality than a software player. But the expense involved in making that mod isn't worth it to me.


However, if my sat receiver had an SDI mod, then it might make sense to have the DVD player SDI, and then use a receiver for switching. (I think SDI can be plugged into the composite inputs)


The last time I looked into SDI it was about $500 for the PC, and $1000 for the dish mod and DVD player mod!! $2500 for a slight, if any improvment for DVDs, and a somewhat significant improvement in Dish programming. But it'll still look like crap on the big screen.


So to answer your question- for me there is no good reason to use Dscaler for DVDs.


Although- I did need to use Dscaler with DVDs a couple of times when PowerDVD kept crashing on certain titles.


I would make sure you have Dscaler available in case incompatible titles come up when you have people over.


In fact that is why I didn't sell my DVDO iscan. When my HTPC was new I decided to flash the video card bios two days before we had a bunch of people over for a Movie night. Well something went wrong and the video card stopped working!! The DVDO saved the night. Latter I found some computer wiz on the net that figured out how to flash the bios again by using a PCI video card along with the broken AGP card. I was happy that my $180 video card came back to life



~Jay

Steiner83,



I'm definately not in the rich category by any means. I have my external DVD player because I bought it before I got in to HTPC's. My CPU is stable enough to run my movies now and I probably don't need the external DVD anymore.


As far as the sound issue goes: yes and no. I run the Hercules Game Theater 6.1 sound "card". I mention 6.1 because it decodes a 6.1 rear channel. If I was to run the digital out straight to my receiver, I'd only get 5.1. I am in the test phase of the 6.1 using PowerDVD XP and so far so good. My sound card has digital inputs (both co-ax and toslink) so in theory I could run the digital out of my external DVD player in to the sound card and still get the 6.1. I'm not too sure yet, because my external DVD player may not recognize the extra channel (6.1). Again, not too sure on how that will work yet. I'll give it a try tough......


If you fall in to the category that I do as far as not wanting to spend the extra money on something that isn't "really" needed, then do what you are arguing. Just spend a little extra on the HTPC and forget the external one.



Mike

michaeldare:

Well the reason why I'm arguing against stand alone DVD is the cost.

Why would people spend so much money (well at least for 1K US$ is a lot) when a HTPC can do a better job and much more.


slickrock22:

What graphics card do you use? No matter the quality of your DVDs, software decoder etc will matter if the graphics card is lousy, the worse PQ could of course also depend on the VGA input of your Projector.

I have hard to believe that S-video from a stand alone would give better PQ than HTPC....


Regarding video source...is there anyone who could give me examples of such DVDs that give better result with stand alone + dscaler compared to dvd-rom and PowerDVD.


Thanks again everyone!

The option of using a DVD-ROM drive with a computer monitor provides a totally digital picture that is more easily scaled. I've used a 2x DVD-ROM drive for several years through various generations of nVIDIA cards, along with an ATI AIW Radeon, on a 19"/18" monitor. Originally it was cheaper if you had a computer, to just add-on a $70-ish DVD-ROM drive, compared to paying $200-$300 for a set-top DVD player. Now DVD players have come down in price to the $80 range for an Apex or other no-name brand, and the focus has shifted to progressive-scan DVD players with progressive TV sets. I have a personalised system setup mainly for myself, or the occasional friend I have over to watch a movie. If it's just for myself, I always watch DVDs using my PC, hooked into my surround sound system. When I have company over we always watch DVDs on the TV using the Playstation 2. (20" screen we can set back from, opposed to 18" screen meant to be sat in front of.)


I'm coming to realise how bad my old TV set is looking, even though I doubt it's picture has really even degraded since purchased in the early '90s. The computer monitor along with the software decoding provides a dramatically better DVD picture at 1024x768 at 32-bits non-interlaced, versus the approximated 640x480 interlaced nature of most TVs. I've never been impressed with the TV-out capability of any video card I've used either.


As I've witnessed with my AIW Radeon, my TV set naturally provides a sharper picture for TV broadcasts than the card's TV-tuner on my monitor. One point for the TV set.


For those setting up a system for the family I would have to suggest using a 32 inch, or larger, progressive TV with any progressive DVD player. For those who mainly watch alone or in cramped quarters, you can't go wrong with a DVD-ROM drive and any 15" or larger monitor. For showing off, obviously the largest monitor you can afford is ideal. You also need a fast enough computer and a good graphics card which are usually present. Three years ago with my TNT1 and Celeron 450, I got interlacing artifacts on some DVDs, but since upgrading to an Athlon and newer video cards I have an excellent picture.


One looming issue with using a DVD-ROM drive is that the software players can handle scratched (rented) DVDs poorly. It can cause the player to freeze or lock-up your PC sometimes.. I haven't had that happen in a while, myself. Sometimes you can fast-forward through a skip (and then back-track), but then you lose part of the movie by doing that. One point for the standalone DVD player.


Another issue is that computers give out noise from the many fans inside, while DVD players are silent. With the sound blasting from my surround system, my PC's fans go unheard. Or for the soloist, use headphones with Dolby Headphone mode turned on.


Having been here for the PC-DVD boom, I can't wait for the PC-HDTV move to take off, since 19" monitors that do 1920x1440 are readily available, and should be excellent displays for 1080i TV at a considerably lower cost than buying an HDTV set that does a full 1080i.