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+--- Thread: Best XBMC HTPC Hardware with HDMI / HD / 1080p + HDMI Audio (/showthread.php?tid=34235)
- BLKMGK - 2008-12-05
Schroeder Wrote:If I am correct, the case comes with a remote. Essentially the IMON MINI remote.
Can anyone confirm how this is working and on the LCD? I have a case with IRDA receiver and LCD now but none of the hardware accepts standard drivers, all wants patched stuff last I tried and I really don't much like that. Would like something nearly PnP which seems hard to find for LCD and remotes other than the MCE stuff - which works awesome.
- succo - 2008-12-05
BLKMGK Wrote:Succo, any hope for PCI express cards being supported vs integrated?as far as i know, it should already work, at least from what i see around... many people using dedicated video cards (with internal cables to connect the hdmi to the internal digital output) seem to have hdmi audio unmuting the secondary iec958, but, as it's not my case, i can't say for sure
- Kryspy - 2008-12-05
So, gonna throw my AMD 4600+ into a server case. I am thinking that even though proven; a E8400 may be overkill and for $60 less how do people feel about the E7300 and a 775 board with onboard 7100?
Kryspy
- BLKMGK - 2008-12-06
succo Wrote:as far as i know, it should already work, at least from what i see around... many people using dedicated video cards (with internal cables to connect the hdmi to the internal digital output) seem to have hdmi audio unmuting the secondary iec958, but, as it's not my case, i can't say for sure
If hooking it up to an internal SPID/F header aren't you simply getting the same output as you would from an optical out? If I've misunderstood please correct me but on my video card there's an input for this that I've not used as SPID/F optical out is not the same as HDMI sound. The optical and coax outputs cannot output the same uncompressed bandwidth that true HDMI audio can. If hooking up using an internal cable I do not see why even a software change would be needed - I'll grant I've not tried it however so I'm quite curious.
Krypsy, I'm running a 2.66ghz CPU - just not at it's stock speed. *My* BD H.264 rips of King Kong and other movies had dropped frames until I went to 3Ghz. I do not know how this compares to encodes done by "the scene" as I don't download movies so if that's your target YMMV. <shrug>
- succo - 2008-12-06
yes i guess you're right, it's not 'real' hdmi audio, it's spid/f routed to hdmi, you won't have full hdmi bandwidth but, as far as i know, that's how many cards work...
as far as i can see, you have a 8500 with hdmi out... have you got hdmi audio under windows? last time i tried (but it was 1 year ago) i couldn't hear anything without hooking the internal cables on a gf 9600 i had
and again, with onboard video, it should be 'real' hdmi, when supported
- codexile - 2008-12-06
spozen Wrote:codexile :
I'm also getting that motherboard + E8400 if you get your setup up and running before i do, it would be great if you report back how good it works under linux and with XBMC.
Will do! It all arrives Tuesday so I will keep you in the loop!
Tarantulas Wrote:So what did you choose to use in terms of a remote?
I'm still considering what case I want, and something that can be powered on via a remote is a big boon for me, and the reason that lots of people choose the Fusion.... but yeah, it is pretty huge for no good reason at all.
Admittedly haven't put a lot of thought in on this one. Maybe I shoulda gone with the Fusion
- BLKMGK - 2008-12-06
succo Wrote:yes i guess you're right, it's not 'real' hdmi audio, it's spid/f routed to hdmi, you won't have full hdmi bandwidth but, as far as i know, that's how many cards work...
as far as i can see, you have a 8500 with hdmi out... have you got hdmi audio under windows? last time i tried (but it was 1 year ago) i couldn't hear anything without hooking the internal cables on a gf 9600 i had
and again, with onboard video, it should be 'real' hdmi, when supported
Honestly the system I'm running has never booted Windows. I primarily run Windows, mostly Vista, on my other systems but this one was built for XBMC and that's all it's run so I do not know how it would work in Windows. I do know it has a SPID/f input though so that would probably need to be hooked up and yeah not "true" HDMI audio so I didn't even bother. Probably should have since it's one less wire but oh well, coax is easy enough to run. The Asus board I linked earlier though has an onboard 9300 so it ought to do "real" HDMI if possible - that board is VERY attractive to me for my next build.
Comments on this config? - Snowflake - 2008-12-06
I know someone else just posted a similar config, but i'm curious what people think of this one. Near as I can tell it should be 1080P capable, with audio over HDMI, and SPDIF out if I choose to go that route instead (no receiver yet, so for now it'll be HDMI to the TV and it's built-in speakers).
Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 Dual Core Processor LGA775 3.16GHZ Wolfdale 1333FSB 6MB Retail - $229.99
Antec Fusion Black 430 HTPC Desktop mATX 1X5.25 2X3.5INT 430W ATX12V Black VFD Volume Control - $219.68
Scythe Mini Ninja Heatpipe Heatsink AM2 LGA775 S478 S754 S939 80MM 2300RPM 32.2CFM 24.2DBA - $36.99
Mushkin XP PC2-6400 4GB 2X2GB DDR2-800 CL4-4-4-12 240PIN DIMM Dual Channel Memory Kit - $78.16
Patriot Mini 8GB USB2.0 Flash Memory Drive Orange - $19.99
ASUS P5N7A-VM mATX LGA775 Nforce 730I/GF9300 DDR2 PCI-E16 PCI-E1 2PCI SATA HDMI DVI VGA Motherboard - $166.18
Prices are CDN$, local to Vancouver, BC. Totals out at $750-ish CDN. I'll re-use an IDE DVD-ROM until I convince myself that it's worth buying a Blu-ray player.
E8500 because the 8500 is on sale and actually cheaper than the 8400, at my usual store. I like the idea of the Antec Micro Fusion 350 case instead of the 430, but (a) my usual store doesn't have it in stock, and (b) i'm a little worried about smaller cases not being able to take full-size cards if I need/want to expand in the future. So most of this stuff will be rattling around inside the cavernous 430 case... I can live with that as long as it's mostly quiet.
- spozen - 2008-12-06
BLKMGK Wrote:spozen - define "cracked"? I am aware of what they are doing at Doom9 but nto looked ni at least a few weeks. Last I saw they were playing some vids but not all and getting the keys to play them required hacked firmware and other hoops so not exactly PnP and certainly not yet as easy as Slysoft's software. Speaking of which the new BD+ has them stymied at the moment with something like a month before they are back in business on the new stuff last I checked. It's going to be a running battle no matter what I'm afraid. Anyway, likely OT for this thread but certainly somewhat applicable in that HDMI audio is what you need for the latest CODECS found on these disks. Other than BD I'm not sure where you'd be sourcing stuff with the new uncompressed CODECS and BD on Linux is an issue still <sigh>
I was referring to BD+:
Quote:"BD+, the Blu-ray copy protection system that was supposed to last 10 years, has now been solidly broken by a group of doom9 researchers. Earlier, BD+ had been broken by the commercial company SlySoft."
From:
http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/11/01/1728222
And what codecs are you talking about?
Snowflake,
Don't you think 4GB RAM is a bit overkill for XBMC?
- BLKMGK - 2008-12-06
Spozen, last I read that thread a week or two ago on Doom9 they still were working the bugs out. I know that right now the Slysoft guys are dead in the water on the NEW BD+ - like on Meet Dave and they say it will be a month or more to get past it. I'm pretty sure that on Nov 1st those guys were still bumping into movies that gave them heartburn. there's not some magic key that is cracking all of those either, they are having to do dumps I'm pretty sure and using modified firmware to get there too I think. Hard to follow to be honest, I know they have written an emulator for the VM that the BlueRay players have onboard and are perfecting it, they use that to output unencrypted video. Still not in a state where it will be in a Linux player anytime soon I think but perhaps for ripping here soon enough for at least some titles.
As for CODECS, most all of the 7.1 stuff is uncompressed. It simply uses too much bandwidth for coax or optical out which is why HDMI video is of interest. so far as I know BD is the only source material using these. Tru-HD and DTS-HD are two of them I think.
4gigs is a bunch of memory but won't hurt and could always be available should the machien be repurposed. Memory has gotten pretty cheap so I am putting bunches ion my machines too <shrug> 2gigs would likely do him just fine though - working for me.
- spozen - 2008-12-06
Maybe this is a little OT: So their is no master key to unlock all blu ray movies?
About those codecs you should be avabile to chose audio track like DVD rite? Then you can use 5.1 if you only have SPDIF.
- BLKMGK - 2008-12-07
Yeah we're getting OT so I'll try to be brief - no there's no master key and BD+ movies change keys and crypto fairly often, read the thread on Doom9.
Those CODECS don't have to be used, you can certainly use other ones that are 5.1 but if you want "true" sound blah blah then you want true HDMI audio which is what folks in this thread are after I believe - it's not yet well supported in Linux. I personally rip my stuff using eac3to with AC3 sound so I get 5.1 but it would be nice to be able to use 7.1 too - my receiver supports it. It would also be nice to be able to have both 5.1 and 7.1 soundtracks in a single container (MKV?) and allow XBMC to select which one to use - I don't *think* that's possible right now.
Anyway, we're far enough off track - lets try to get back to the hardware stuff. So far as I can tell onboard video chipsets support this best, Intel G45(?), some later ATI, and now it looks like 9x NVIDIA? Do any of the latter two work as PCIe boards for true HDMI audio or is it only the onboard chipsets working?
- succo - 2008-12-07
as i said earlier, alsa 1.0.8a should work with nvidia 78/7a, which should cover the 8x series as well... again, i'm talking about onboard chips, i don't think dedicated video cards come with an audio processor, that's why many use the internal cable (hope to be wrong)
- BLKMGK - 2008-12-07
Thanks for the clarification Succo, looks like my next build will use an onboard chipset then!
- BLKMGK - 2008-12-07
Crossposting from the XBMC dev forum where a baseline reference standard hardware is being discussed.
I put together a NewEgg list using the motherboard above. It's not yet showing as a Public List but I have shared it as "XBMC cheap build". If you have a NewEgg account you can pull it up using this -> https://secure.newegg.com/WishList/MySavedWishLists.aspx?WishListNumber=9999386&WishListTitle=XBMC%20cheap%20build but it may overwrite an existing wish list, at least it seemed to for a friend who tested it. Build doesn't include a remote and includes a CHOICE of HDD - both SATA laptop and desktop SATA drives in sizes easily able to accommodate XBMC or maybe just boot it from a USB stick. Case is cheap, they offer several, the P/S is a brand I've used before but is low capacity - 270Watts and not 80+ rated. I have a slight concern as to the physical size of the DVD burner as in reviews of this case DVD size can apparently be an issue. I actually need to build a system so I may build this one - and test an overclocked Celeron while I'm at it - so perhaps I can provide feedback after. I might use an aftermarket CPU cooler to aid in swapping CPUs as the Intel ones are NOT easy to reuse in my experience but will otherwise try not to deviate.
I desire HDMI audio and 1080 video as do many others so this could be interesting.
Edit: Ordered. I swore my next box would be a Shuttle XPC but the requirement of HDMI audio and graphics I KNOW will work precluded that. <sigh> I did order the $60 2ghz Celeron CPU to test so we'll see how that does in overclocked form.
