Questions for the ASrock ION 330 HTPC

Questions for the ASrock ION 330 HTPC - Printable Version

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Questions for the ASrock ION 330 HTPC - rossoneri711 - 2010-01-14

Hello guys,

Since there is a lot of interest in this new HTPC, i decided to start a thread, that all people can post their questions and receive answers on the HTPC all in one place.

No matter what the question, silly or not, people can ask them here, in order to avoid excess use of threads, and keep it all in one place.

I am gonna start off by some of my own questions.

1. How am i gonna install Windows 7 on my HTPC if i dont have a keyboard connected? I know for some that it may be silly, but i just cant get my head around it. I dont have a wired keyboard at home so i will connect my wireless one. My question is: will the asrock pick up my wireless prior to the installation of windows and the installation of drivers for it?

2. Does the ASRock support Windows 7 64-bit or just 32-bit?

3. I read in various threads about playback issues with various OS. Which one makes for the best playback for XBMC? Windows or Ubuntu?

4. Should you use the InstantBoot feature or not? I heard that it just does the same work as the Standby/Sleep like most computers.

5. I have purchased an ASrock ION 330 HT-BD, with a 500GB HDD and 4GB DDR2 memory. Since i am only gonna use my HTPC for basic browsing, gambling and mostly XBMC, will that be enough?

Well that's a start, hopefully some will find it useful, if not delete it!

- blittan - 2010-01-14

1. a normal wireless that act as a standard USB would work

2. both, the sample I received from ASRock had Vista 64-bit on it.

3. Ubuntu, since you can use VDPAU, meaning hardware accelerated playback within XBMC, as with windows you currently have to use an external player to achieve the same thing

4. it's basically the same, no real need for it, just hibernate instead of shutting down.

5. Sure enough.

- rossoneri711 - 2010-01-14

Since i am not familiar with Ubuntu i am gonna install Windows 7 64 bit. Though when you say external player, that means i can only HD content with VLC instead of XBMC? or is there any way i can assign an external player in XBMC options to use?

- blittan - 2010-01-14

look around the forums there are even a DSPlayer branch.

Also look at http://wiki.xbmc.org , there are guides of installing minimal ubuntu and xbmc, also there are several "help scripts" for installing xbmc in linux, worth a try Smile

If you dont succeed or feel it's too complicated, just intstall windows 7 then

- MaxHeadroom - 2010-01-15

I got myself the Asrock ION 330 HT-BD for Christmas to upgrade from the Xbox. It came with Win 7 which I prompty replaced with Ubuntu to get the most out of the GPU. As I have been with Windows since it first came out and had never touched Linux I very quickly got frustrated and went back to Win 7. I now have both OS on the machine and everything is working perfectly under Win 7. I used Tiben20's DSPlayer and HD content is working well. I plan to try and familiarise myself with Ubuntu over time.

I've also got a Harmony One remote which works beautifully with Win 7.

I use the Instant Boot feature and it comes up in about 4 seconds.

- kizer - 2010-01-15

After beating my head against the wall for a few days I have Linux running on mine and it works perfectly. It doesn't boot in 4seconds, but then again mine is coming up from a cold boot too. Big Grin

Plays 1080P just fine and I have HDMI audio for 2CH and I switch over to my Optical out when I want to turn on the reciever and use 5.1. Yeah I could run it all through HDMI, but I'm to lazy to tinker with the Amp everytime I want to watch something that isn't 5.1.

Wife gave me the sign of approval so I must be doing something just right. As well I replaced my Xbox with this. I'm using the Xbox remote and dongle and it works great.

- rossoneri711 - 2010-01-15

@ blittan

I'll guess i will give it a hot and see how it goes. But i am guessing i will be returning to Win7 mostly due to gambling reasons Smile

i like to do my gambling on my big HD screen ehhehe and i guess there are no casino software for linux.

What do you mean exactly about the DSplayer? Is that something that i can include in XBMC to use it to play? or is it an external player like VLC? I am sorry i am new at this.

I bought this keyboard as well for wuse with my HTPC (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110448333237&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT Hopefully it will work great, and saves space. Its perfect for hitting the spin button on the slots Smile

hahaha

nevermind for the DSplayer...found the thread http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=61355

- blittan - 2010-01-16

Perhaps wine and casinogames work Smile

but then you need a full install of ubuntu Smile

- rossoneri711 - 2010-01-25

the ASrock is finally here. It came with Win7 after all. Now i dont know what to do.

If i go to Ubuntu i sacrifice all other applications i want to install.

If i stay at windows i lose playback.

Isn't there another way for playback to work under Win7? Aside DSplayer because it doesn't support subtitles.

==============================================

- Did a bit of researching and saw the news for Crystal HD Video, and i read that you can achieve that by using a PCI card. I located that into ebay http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/BroadCom-BCM970012-Chipset-4-UMPC-Mini-PCI-e-HD-Decoder_W0QQitemZ260541814068QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Computing_Networking_SM?hash=item3ca9809534.

Will i be able to use this card in my asrock ion 330 ht-bd to achieve the playback issues?

- 328iGuy - 2010-01-25

Quote:.
Will i be able to use this card in my asrock ion 330 ht-bd to achieve the playback issues?

No as the ASrock doesn't have any empty slots for the card.

Just go with Ubuntu and you will never look back! Smile

Download the XBMC Live 9.11 ISO, burn it, boot from it and in 5 minutes you will have a nice install of XBMC ready to add sources and skins too! Wink

- rossoneri711 - 2010-01-26

I have made the switch to Ubuntu, and i still trying to finish the guide i found here http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?p=490942

One question. I heard about an application called WINE and that it can run Windows Applications from inside UBUNTU. Can anyone comment on it?

And one more thing, does anyone using UBUNTU does any gambling on their machine? Smile

downloaded casinos mostly. Will i be able to use it with WINE?

- rossoneri711 - 2010-01-29

ok reverted back to windows 7 due to problems i had making everything work under Ubuntu.

I havent installed any codecs, or XBMC yet because i wanted to ask you. I have Windows 7 x86 installed with 4GB on my ASrock ION 330 HT-BD.

- What codecs do i need to install?
- which version of XBMC should i install?

- hasselhof - 2010-01-31

Hi,
I have set my ASrock ion 330 ht bd up to boot into ubuntu 9.1 from the hdd then I select XBMC from the desktop. I'm using the nvidia 185 drivers. My problem is that every screen I access is way to big for my tv screen, I am using the HDMI connection. Is this called HDMI overscan?.
What I can see is very clear and nice quality but just to big for the 32" lcd JVC tv .I am very new to Linux and have followed a guide to get me this far, but am struggling to solve this problem. I have tried every setting on my tv to no avail, and from the nvidia x server gui I have, I think tried every setting to make the screen fit.

If I connect my ASrock to the tv with vga the screen fits perfectly.But the image quality is far inferior to the HDMI connection.

The adaptor that comes with the ASrock is a HDMI to DVI not sure if they expect you to use this instead of the direct HDMI, anyway my lcd tv doesn't have a DVI connector.

I have tried to load on the nvidia 190 drivers as I read some where that there is a slider that you can offset the screen to fit but couldn't get the cmd line stuff to work, my screen just went blank.

Any help would cheer me up Big Grin

Thanks

John.

- 328iGuy - 2010-01-31

hasselhof Wrote:Hi,
I have set my ASrock ion 330 ht bd up to boot into ubuntu 9.1 from the hdd then I select XBMC from the desktop. I'm using the nvidia 185 drivers. My problem is that every screen I access is way to big for my tv screen, I am using the HDMI connection. Is this called HDMI overscan?.
What I can see is very clear and nice quality but just to big for the 32" lcd JVC tv .I am very new to Linux and have followed a guide to get me this far, but am struggling to solve this problem. I have tried every setting on my tv to no avail, and from the nvidia x server gui I have, I think tried every setting to make the screen fit.

If I connect my ASrock to the tv with vga the screen fits perfectly.But the image quality is far inferior to the HDMI connection.

The adaptor that comes with the ASrock is a HDMI to DVI not sure if they expect you to use this instead of the direct HDMI, anyway my lcd tv doesn't have a DVI connector.

I have tried to load on the nvidia 190 drivers as I read some where that there is a slider that you can offset the screen to fit but couldn't get the cmd line stuff to work, my screen just went blank.

Any help would cheer me up

Thanks

John.

Have you adjusted the overscan under "Settings" and "Video Calibration" in XBMC?

That has to be done on all systems to begin, then you should be all set! Nod

- hasselhof - 2010-01-31

328iGuy Wrote:Have you adjusted the overscan under "Settings" and "Video Calibration" in XBMC?

That has to be done on all systems to begin, then you should be all set!

Thanks for the quick reply, yes I have done this and I can Get XBMC to display properly now thanks. But When I'm on the Ubunto desktop I still get the screen spilling of the edges of my TV. IE I cant see any of the toolbars at all. I wish there was a setting in Ubuntu like the video calibration in XBMC.

Please help.

Thanks

John.