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For HTPC folks
- Thread starter RKS
- Start date
with shipping, its about a 7 dollar discount over newegg, 173 vs 180.
decent deal.
As for replacing a standalone player, bluray/hd playback on an htpc is problematic to say the least.
htpc is nice to archive/rip media for later playback. Unless yer willing to invest in the hardrive space and the time to do it, i strongly recommend you stick with a standalone.
decent deal.
As for replacing a standalone player, bluray/hd playback on an htpc is problematic to say the least.
htpc is nice to archive/rip media for later playback. Unless yer willing to invest in the hardrive space and the time to do it, i strongly recommend you stick with a standalone.
scootermaster
Platinum Member
It's still relatively immature technology, but it will get better, and soon.
There are cards in the pipe that will decode all those fancy HD audio streams, and pass it over HDMI. Once that happens, you really should be able to build yourself a great HD/BD player.
Samus
Golden Member
Assuming you have a decent computer, you're fine. I've found a Core 2 6300E is just about enough for MKV 1080P's, so think a 2.2+GHz Core 2 to make sure you have everything covered.
Videocard is irrelevent since there is no hardware assist for this stuff yet, so just put in a cheap ATI Radeon HD 2400 for $50 and you'll be fine for now. Just have a good CPU.
Videocard is irrelevent since there is no hardware assist for this stuff yet, so just put in a cheap ATI Radeon HD 2400 for $50 and you'll be fine for now. Just have a good CPU.
You lose a LOT of flexibility over a stand alone player. The software controls are lame at best. The Ultra version of the software costs $80 more with the discounted upgrade price, and in my experience it is not ready for prime time. Compared to a Panasonic BD30 player the PQ is also lacking.
I've had one of these drives and it's great. Noise is not a problem. The bundled DVD software is slightly crippled because it only outputs 2 channel audio. Otherwise I believe it's the same as the "Ultra" version (check ebay for that...no idea of legitimacy).
The comment about picture quality is a bit odd, since this is an optical drive that has little to do with the actual picture quality on your TV. There are many factors that affect picture quality, like video card, connection used, graphics settings, and the TV itself. An HTPC is very capable of matching or surpassing the PQ of any standalone device.
The comment about picture quality is a bit odd, since this is an optical drive that has little to do with the actual picture quality on your TV. There are many factors that affect picture quality, like video card, connection used, graphics settings, and the TV itself. An HTPC is very capable of matching or surpassing the PQ of any standalone device.
The DMP-BD30's HDMI output is Deep Color compatible, with 4,096 steps of gradation. Image quality is further enhanced by Diagonal Processing, which creates smoother, sharper diagonal lines. An optical drive is not a complete DVD Player it must use software to decode. The PQ is certainly affected by the DVD software.
uhmm no.
You can hw accelerate mkv file playback. Most of the video in mkv's are h264.
Install retail copy of pdvd, you can then use the pdvd h264 codec in any number of media players. (mpc, media portal, etc) Just set it as the preffered codec to use for that video type.
Im running an old x2 4200 with ati2400 to play 1080p mkv right now. Without the pdvd codec, its unplayabale.
I bought this drive in late January for $230 or so and its been great. It has dropped in price significantly since the death of HD-DVD, as LG has basically hacked the price of a cheap HD-DVD player off the drive and sell it for about the same price as an optical BD drive. I don't know if I'd say its particularly hot only because I think it will drop in price even further.
As others said, drive works great but the included software is a bit lacking. If you're satisfied with DTS/DD over digital coax/toslink to a receiver you're fine. There's currently no way to get the better audio formats like LPCM/DTS-MA/TrueHD without the Ultra version via analog out. Even then, PDVD only uses a 48kHz internal sample rate instead of 96kHZ. I don't think anything in this generation is outputting bitstream or 8 channel LPCM over HDMI and it may not happen for 2-3 generations down the line.
Also as others stated, newer GPUs with built-in hardware decoding will reduce the hardware requirements otherwise. Newer 8-series NV and 2k ATI and above parts will handle most of the hardware acceleration offloading it from the CPU. The newest upcoming IGP parts from ATI and NV will also handle video decoding. PQ is excellent and limited only by your display. I haven't had any problems with playback other than 3:10 to Yuma which currently requires the Ultra version with profile 1.1 update.
As others said, drive works great but the included software is a bit lacking. If you're satisfied with DTS/DD over digital coax/toslink to a receiver you're fine. There's currently no way to get the better audio formats like LPCM/DTS-MA/TrueHD without the Ultra version via analog out. Even then, PDVD only uses a 48kHz internal sample rate instead of 96kHZ. I don't think anything in this generation is outputting bitstream or 8 channel LPCM over HDMI and it may not happen for 2-3 generations down the line.
Also as others stated, newer GPUs with built-in hardware decoding will reduce the hardware requirements otherwise. Newer 8-series NV and 2k ATI and above parts will handle most of the hardware acceleration offloading it from the CPU. The newest upcoming IGP parts from ATI and NV will also handle video decoding. PQ is excellent and limited only by your display. I haven't had any problems with playback other than 3:10 to Yuma which currently requires the Ultra version with profile 1.1 update.
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