2011-09-28, 22:36
Hi guys. I've asked some questions in the Mac forum (always kind of slow over there) and wanted to pester people here with a couple of questions.
I am about ready to chuck my Boxee Box out of the window due to the continued audio dropout issues with not only HD audio tracks, but now, core DTS, etc
. It's a good box, and might get there "someday" but I am having doubts about it, and want at least one solid streaming box hooked up to my primary display (65" Plasma) and AVR (Yamaha RXV-1800) for solid movie watching. It also has to work well with my Harmony One remote (for wife approval factor).
All of my movies are either DVD or Blu-ray rips. On Blu-rays I generally have been only ripping the HD Audio tracks, which means I have both DTS-HD and Dolby True as well as the regular assortment of LPCM, regular DD 5.1, vanilla DTS, etc. The solution does not have to bitstream HD audio, but I have to at least get 5.1 real (non matrixed) audio out of the track to be somewhat satisfied with things.
I have sort of narrowed things down to a couple of options but wanted to get some input and see if I have missed things. I should also point out that while I have built literally dozens if not hundreds of systems (I am currently employed as an engineer doing alpha/beta test environment work) I have very little desire to do custom builds and tweaking, I just want to plug something in, load an OS and drivers and get XBMC to work.
Having said all of that, here's what I am considering;
1. XBMC on 2010 Mac Mini. I have a buddy with a 2010 C2D Mac Mini that he will sell me for $400. Other than a 4GB RAM upgrade, this is stock. I understand that lossless audio is not supported, but I'm not 100% clear on if I will get anything whatsoever out of a True-HD track or not when running on OS X. Another option is to dual boot this into Windows 7 if that would improve things. Why go with an old, used Mini? I love Macs (yes, you can hate me, it's okay)... and I would possibly have other applications for this down the road, or gift it to my parents, etc.
2. Zotac AD03 or similar. I have not run AMD hardware for years, but I understand that the Zotac's are considered about the best "out of box" machines at the moment for HTPC use. However, if I understand correctly, only the AD03 can do HD audio? Or is HD audio via LPCM an option with other models vs. bitstreaming? As I said earlier I don't care about bitstreaming as long as I get high quality multi-channel audio of some kind via HDMI to my Yamaha AVR.
Sorry for the long post, any guidance in this area welcome.
I am about ready to chuck my Boxee Box out of the window due to the continued audio dropout issues with not only HD audio tracks, but now, core DTS, etc
. It's a good box, and might get there "someday" but I am having doubts about it, and want at least one solid streaming box hooked up to my primary display (65" Plasma) and AVR (Yamaha RXV-1800) for solid movie watching. It also has to work well with my Harmony One remote (for wife approval factor).All of my movies are either DVD or Blu-ray rips. On Blu-rays I generally have been only ripping the HD Audio tracks, which means I have both DTS-HD and Dolby True as well as the regular assortment of LPCM, regular DD 5.1, vanilla DTS, etc. The solution does not have to bitstream HD audio, but I have to at least get 5.1 real (non matrixed) audio out of the track to be somewhat satisfied with things.
I have sort of narrowed things down to a couple of options but wanted to get some input and see if I have missed things. I should also point out that while I have built literally dozens if not hundreds of systems (I am currently employed as an engineer doing alpha/beta test environment work) I have very little desire to do custom builds and tweaking, I just want to plug something in, load an OS and drivers and get XBMC to work.
Having said all of that, here's what I am considering;
1. XBMC on 2010 Mac Mini. I have a buddy with a 2010 C2D Mac Mini that he will sell me for $400. Other than a 4GB RAM upgrade, this is stock. I understand that lossless audio is not supported, but I'm not 100% clear on if I will get anything whatsoever out of a True-HD track or not when running on OS X. Another option is to dual boot this into Windows 7 if that would improve things. Why go with an old, used Mini? I love Macs (yes, you can hate me, it's okay)... and I would possibly have other applications for this down the road, or gift it to my parents, etc.
2. Zotac AD03 or similar. I have not run AMD hardware for years, but I understand that the Zotac's are considered about the best "out of box" machines at the moment for HTPC use. However, if I understand correctly, only the AD03 can do HD audio? Or is HD audio via LPCM an option with other models vs. bitstreaming? As I said earlier I don't care about bitstreaming as long as I get high quality multi-channel audio of some kind via HDMI to my Yamaha AVR.
Sorry for the long post, any guidance in this area welcome.
It should also be pointed out that I have a very expensive console from Standout designs that will only accommodate a very small machine, that's another reason that a Mac Mini, etc, will fit the bill vs me putting even a "mini tower" into the mix.
