Can an HTPC put out as good a blu-ray picture as a BR player?

[bovinda]

If you hook an HTPC up to a nice TV (say, a very nice 50 or 52 inch plasma or LCD, once you decide which one you're going to get), can you get as good a picture on it as if you were playing directly from a blu-ray player?

If so, how?

I'm trying to avoid buying a stand-alone BR player if I can, I'd rather just use my HTPC for everything.

 

[erwos]

Yes, it can. However, you may run into some issues trying to get your PC to play back 7.1 PCM audio.

 

[bovinda]

Good to know it can...can you tell me about the how part?

I've been using Windows Media Center (Vista) for awhile now, and it's been fine on my regular ole' CRT, but now that I'm upgrading TVs, I'd like to maximize picture quality, and I'm not sure WMC can cut it (although it'd be great if it could). I guess I'll have to see the picture quality when the TV gets here. But any suggestions about how to go about learning about it now?

 

[OneOfTheseDays]

Go buy a PS3.

 

[marketsons1985]

AFAIK it's very similar to anything you'd do with a normal BR player. Is the LCD the only display connected or will you be dual-screening? I had my BR drive going on my PC and had no problems with PQ. Used one of Pixar's THX optimization discs and the picture looks great.

Your computer will put out 1080P and look very nice Even VMC looks great in 1080.

 

[The Boston Dangler]

you'll need a decent cpu to display hi-rez content smoothly.

 

[s44]

Nope, just an OK modern GPU (including newer integrated ones).

 

[zinfamous]

Originally posted by: OneOfTheseDays
Go buy a PS3.

This. buying a quality receiver + PS3 + real speakers will save you tons of money on building an HTPC that can come close to utilizing everything BluRay. Actually, that computer still doesn't exist. Who knows when it will...

I was thinking along your lines, then realized I didn't want to have to troubleshoot all the software issues and power/heat/hardware issues that come with an HTPC. never mind the ever-present urge to upgrade.

The PS3 really is a remarkable device.

 

[erwos]

Originally posted by: zinfamous
This. buying a quality receiver + PS3 + real speakers will save you tons of money on building an HTPC that can come close to utilizing everything BluRay. Actually, that computer still doesn't exist. Who knows when it will...

I think you've missed out on what's been going on in the past couple years. There are newer motherboards with integrated video and audio can play back profile 2.0 Blu-Ray discs with hardware acceleration and 7.1 PCM audio - same as the PS3. Heck, I think those same Intel motherboards actually support powering on via IR, so that probably makes it _more_ convenient than the PS3 in a lot of ways.

As a low-cost option that can also play games, the PS3 is great - I own one and use it for BR-D playback - but its day of being the world's greatest pure BR-D player for the money are gone. The world has changed in two years.

 

[Shawn]

The PS3 sucks for audio. Even this cheap Memorex Blu-ray player I just got has the option of outputting 5.1 analog. The PS3 does not.

 

[jtvang125]

A properly built htpc can output a picture just as good as a standalone but can do so much more:

1. Catalog your entire movie collection (pending enough HDD space)
2. Playback your music in just about any format
3. Playback videos in just about any format
4. Browse the web
5. Watch streaming videos from web (Netflix, Youtube...ect)
6. Play PC and web games
7. Full function DVR with a TV tuner card
...

 

[manimal]

Setting the audio on the ps3 to lpcm and not bitstream greatly improves the sound of the ps3. I use both a HTPC and a PS3 and the audio seems very comperable on my median setup in sig. LPCM on the htpc greatly improved things on the pc and the drivers seem to be a little better but the overall difficulty in gettings things just right on the htpc can be a drawback. The best thing about the htpc is the fact it can work with just about any format with the right plugins-ffdshow-coreavc-mymovies-pwvd.

Ya and cost...

 

[zinfamous]

Originally posted by: erwos

Originally posted by: zinfamous
This. buying a quality receiver + PS3 + real speakers will save you tons of money on building an HTPC that can come close to utilizing everything BluRay. Actually, that computer still doesn't exist. Who knows when it will...

I think you've missed out on what's been going on in the past couple years. There are newer motherboards with integrated video and audio can play back profile 2.0 Blu-Ray discs with hardware acceleration and 7.1 PCM audio - same as the PS3. Heck, I think those same Intel motherboards actually support powering on via IR, so that probably makes it _more_ convenient than the PS3 in a lot of ways.

As a low-cost option that can also play games, the PS3 is great - I own one and use it for BR-D playback - but its day of being the world's greatest pure BR-D player for the money are gone. The world has changed in two years.

Odd. there was some agreement only a month ago or so on these boards that an HTPC was still incapable audio-wise to match even a PS3.

How about all of the codecs that you can get from a receiver?

 

[erwos]

Originally posted by: zinfamous
Odd. there was some agreement only a month ago or so on these boards that an HTPC was still incapable audio-wise to match even a PS3.

I must have missed that, then. The new Intel boards can do 7.1 PCM audio over HDMI, which is the same as the PS3.

How about all of the codecs that you can get from a receiver?

Nope, just regular DD/DTS and PCM for now. The PS3 can't output DD+, TrueHD, DTS-HD HR, or DTS-HD MA, either, for that matter.

 

[zinfamous]

Originally posted by: erwos

Originally posted by: zinfamous
Odd. there was some agreement only a month ago or so on these boards that an HTPC was still incapable audio-wise to match even a PS3.

I must have missed that, then. The new Intel boards can do 7.1 PCM audio over HDMI, which is the same as the PS3.

How about all of the codecs that you can get from a receiver?

Nope, just regular DD/DTS and PCM for now. The PS3 can't output DD+, TrueHD, DTS-HD HR, or DTS-HD MA, either, for that matter.

Odd. mine outputs DD+ and DTS-HD MA.

The firmware update was back in February/March, I believe. DD+ capable for at least as long as I've owned it (1 year+).

EDIT: well, it outputs DTS MA, but not through bitstream. I'm still confused to all hell by how all this audio processing works, and why it seems necessary to have all of these Lossless codecs...

 

[destrekor]

Originally posted by: zinfamous

Originally posted by: erwos

Originally posted by: zinfamous
Odd. there was some agreement only a month ago or so on these boards that an HTPC was still incapable audio-wise to match even a PS3.

I must have missed that, then. The new Intel boards can do 7.1 PCM audio over HDMI, which is the same as the PS3.

How about all of the codecs that you can get from a receiver?

Nope, just regular DD/DTS and PCM for now. The PS3 can't output DD+, TrueHD, DTS-HD HR, or DTS-HD MA, either, for that matter.

Odd. mine outputs DD+ and DTS-HD MA.

The firmware update was back in February/March, I believe. DD+ capable for at least as long as I've owned it (1 year+).

EDIT: well, it outputs DTS MA, but not through bitstream. I'm still confused to all hell by how all this audio processing works, and why it seems necessary to have all of these Lossless codecs...

Yeah, the PS3 can decode every audio format and output the multichannel PCM data for it, up to 7.1ch.
What I'm not sure of, is can PCs currently decode all of the audio formats and then output to PCM? Or are they just capable of 7.1ch PCM but cannot yet decode the lossless codecs?

 

[Pliablemoose]

Yes, if you have a even a mediocre video card, CPU, and a BR DVD drive, you'll get BR resolution.

It's a little expensive, but with Vista Premium you get TIVO functionality for free in Media Center, a big plus for a cheapskate like me

 

[s44]

Originally posted by: jtvang125
A properly built htpc can output a picture just as good as a standalone but can do so much more:

So can a PS3, at a fraction of the cost and effort.

DVR-over-tuner is only useful if you just watch OTA.

 

[bovinda]

Originally posted by: Pliablemoose
Yes, if you have a even a mediocre video card, CPU, and a BR DVD drive, you'll get BR resolution.

It's a little expensive, but with Vista Premium you get TIVO functionality for free in Media Center, a big plus for a cheapskate like me

I've got and use Vista MC, but I'm not happy with the picture quality. The color just seems washed out and the blacks aren't great. I know it's not the PC, b/c the colors and blacks outside of VMC are great, but TV playback (and DVD playback) in VMC just looks blah. I'm not sure what to do about that.

That's why I'm wondering if the picture quality of BR playback would be blah as well in VMC. What software does everyone use for BR playback on an HTPC, anyway?

 

[erwos]

Originally posted by: bovinda
I've got and use Vista MC, but I'm not happy with the picture quality. The color just seems washed out and the blacks aren't great. I know it's not the PC, b/c the colors and blacks outside of VMC are great, but TV playback (and DVD playback) in VMC just looks blah. I'm not sure what to do about that.

That's why I'm wondering if the picture quality of BR playback would be blah as well in VMC. What software does everyone use for BR playback on an HTPC, anyway?

It's probably your video card drivers. Have you tried tweaking the video overlay settings?

 

[bovinda]

Originally posted by: erwos
It's probably your video card drivers. Have you tried tweaking the video overlay settings?

I have not...not even sure how to do so, actually, or what effect that would have. (A little new to all this, still...) How do you do that in VMC?

Second Q: do you think there's much loss of PQ converting DVI output to VGA? I'm thinking of getting a DVI-to-HDMI cable to see if there's any difference, too.

 

[flxnimprtmscl]

Originally posted by: s44

Originally posted by: jtvang125
A properly built htpc can output a picture just as good as a standalone but can do so much more:

So can a PS3, at a fraction of the cost and effort.

DVR-over-tuner is only useful if you just watch OTA.

I'm sorry, but when it comes to a good home theater device to have a HTPC destroys a PS3. I'll honestly never have be without one. Trust me, if you haven't set one up you're missing out