Stand alone vs. HTPC blu-ray?

[alphasigmookie]

I'm finally considering upgrading to blu-ray. I currently run my DVD's through my HTPC and upconvert them to 1080i. I'm am debating between just adding a blu-ray drive to my HTPC. The one thing that concerns me is I'm running ~5 year old tech on my "HTPC" (basically my old desktop) and it only has an Athlon-64 3200+ (single core) and Gforce 7600 GT (using DVI to HDMI to my Onkyo receiver) in windows xp pro 32-bit. It works great for netflix, pandora and mp3's and does ok at DVD upconverting but I'm not sure how it will handle blu-ray?

Does anyone foresee any major issues with just plopping a blu-ray drive in my system? What about software? Some drives come with it and some don't. Any recommendations?

 

[jtvang125]

I'd recommend one of Ati HD series video card to offload the decoding and also simplify the connection (audio and video on single hdmi). That single core is going to choke on high bit rate scenes at 1080p.

 

[poofyhairguy]

I recommend a stand alone.

First of all, HTPCs and Blu Ray playback is hell. The software that does work with Blu Rays works poorly with remotes so it has an extremely low WAF.

Secondly, that GPU of your is way too old. You need a newer graphics card for certain.

 

[coolVariable]

I recommend a stand alone.

First of all, HTPCs and Blu Ray playback is hell. The software that does work with Blu Rays works poorly with remotes so it has an extremely low WAF.

Secondly, that GPU of your is way too old. You need a newer graphics card for certain.

+1.

Even DVD playback on HTPCs is not ideal! Had many DVDs where I was forced to rip it (circumventing the DRM) because it would not play properly on the HTPC otherwise. Blu-ray is just a nightmare.

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

My experience is a bit different. I haven't had a DVD or Blu-ray yet that doesn't play perfectly on my HTPC (using TotalMedia Theater 3). The remote works just fine as well.

btw, does your motherboard have a PCIe slot? If so you might be able to get away with upgrading the video card that can offer better GPU acceleration features than the 7600. Without a better vid card your system would struggle to play BD.

 

[simonizor]

I would also recommend a stand-alone player. Many of them have Netflix playback if you're interested in that.

I sold my PS3 recently and have been looking for a replacement blu ray player. I was originally going to go with a blu ray drive for my PC, but after reading through multiple sites stating that the software and the hardware rarely cooperate the way that they should made me change my mind on that one.

 

[poofyhairguy]

If so you might be able to get away with upgrading the video card that can offer better GPU acceleration features than the 7600.

OP needs more than that. to get at proper DXVA2, OP needs Windows 7. XP won't cut it.

So both an OS upgrade and a BD-Rom and BD-Rom software. Ouch.

So yeah OP, as I said just buy a normal Blu Ray player. I love my newer Samsung one.

 

[Modelworks]

Unless you already have the hardware or can add it easily then go with the bluray player.
This one can do netflix and play local content. Seen it online for $220
http://www.samsung.com/us/consumer/t...ype=prd_detail

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

OP needs more than that. to get at proper DXVA2, OP needs Windows 7. XP won't cut it.

So both an OS upgrade and a BD-Rom and BD-Rom software. Ouch.

So yeah OP, as I said just buy a normal Blu Ray player. I love my newer Samsung one.

DXVA2 calls are decoded into DXVA1 in XP. The difference is the renderer (VMR-7/VMR-9 in XP vs. EVR in Vista/Win7). TMT3 and PowerDVD 10 both run on XP as well so XP can play BD and upgrading to Win 7 is not mandatory. However, if the OP is planning on using Media Center, 7MC is an improvement over MCE and would be more desirable.

 

[poofyhairguy]

DXVA2 calls are decoded into DXVA1 in XP. The difference is the renderer (VMR-7/VMR-9 in XP vs. EVR in Vista/Win7). TMT3 and PowerDVD 10 both run on XP as well so XP can play BD and upgrading to Win 7 is not mandatory.

You are right that DXVA2 is downgraded into DXVA1 in XP and that some Blu Ray software still supports that. But all that Blu Ray software also requires a much beefier CPU in XP mode (at least a dual core) because DXVA1 is not as good of a backend.

In my experience, there is no way to make ancient single cored systems play very high bitrate x264 in XP. DXVA1 was never meant for that purpose, which is why DXVA2 exists.

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

You are right that DXVA2 is downgraded into DXVA1 in XP and that some Blu Ray software still supports that. But all that Blu Ray software also requires a much beefier CPU in XP mode (at least a dual core) because DXVA1 is not as good of a backend.

In my experience, there is no way to make ancient single cored systems play very high bitrate x264 in XP. DXVA1 was never meant for that purpose, which is why DXVA2 exists.

Back when blu-ray drives initially came out for the PC I recall plenty of people running it with an Athlon-64 3000+ in XP. I was using an E6600 and it still rarely utilized more than 25% of the CPU. Now I'm using an E4300 under Win7 and CPU usage hovers @ 9% when playing BD.

I guess the point is that while Win 7 is awesome for offloading x264 video to the GPU even XP did a relatively decent job at it. It would be nice if he had a dual-core CPU but his 3200+ does have enough horsepower to scrape by, even in XP.

 

[Fallen Kell]

You would need to make a few upgrades for the HTPC to really do blu-ray.

1) New video card, right now, best bets are the AMD HD5xxx series (if/when Nvidia turns on bitstreaming audio on their latest cards, I would say use the Nvidia)
2)New OS, Win7
3)New software: TMT3 is really what you want for Blu-Ray and HD-DVD playback

Unfortunately, that is not a small amount of money/investment, and a stand-alone would be cheaper. However, the stand-alone would not give you the same feature set that the HTPC has...

Really it comes down to if you want to upgrade your HTPC or not. You will have to do a lot of re-working of your interface (unless you are using MediaPortal already) to integrate the TMT3 to properly load when you want it.

 

[simonizor]

You would need to make a few upgrades for the HTPC to really do blu-ray.

1) New video card, right now, best bets are the AMD HD5xxx series (if/when Nvidia turns on bitstreaming audio on their latest cards, I would say use the Nvidia)
2)New OS, Win7
3)New software: TMT3 is really what you want for Blu-Ray and HD-DVD playback

Unfortunately, that is not a small amount of money/investment, and a stand-alone would be cheaper. However, the stand-alone would not give you the same feature set that the HTPC has...

Really it comes down to if you want to upgrade your HTPC or not. You will have to do a lot of re-working of your interface (unless you are using MediaPortal already) to integrate the TMT3 to properly load when you want it.

Pretty much the only advantage that an HTPC would have would be the ability to rip the Blu rays to your hard drive.

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

You would need to make a few upgrades for the HTPC to really do blu-ray.

1) New video card, right now, best bets are the AMD HD5xxx series (if/when Nvidia turns on bitstreaming audio on their latest cards, I would say use the Nvidia)
2)New OS, Win7
3)New software: TMT3 is really what you want for Blu-Ray and HD-DVD playback

Unfortunately, that is not a small amount of money/investment, and a stand-alone would be cheaper. However, the stand-alone would not give you the same feature set that the HTPC has...

Really it comes down to if you want to upgrade your HTPC or not. You will have to do a lot of re-working of your interface (unless you are using MediaPortal already) to integrate the TMT3 to properly load when you want it.

The NVIDIA 260.xx driver released earlier this week enables PAP for their 400 series of cards so bitstreaming is finally a reality. The problem with the 400 series is that there's really not a decent HTPC video card in their lineup. AMD, otoh, has some low-profile 5570s and some low-profile, passively cooled 5550s so they still come out as the better choice for an HTPC at the current time.

If using TMT3 with 7MC there's a plug-in included with TMT3 that integrates it into 7MC.

 

[poofyhairguy]

The Nvidia 420 should pop up sooner or later. That will be THE card for HTPCs.

 

[Fallen Kell]

Pretty much the only advantage that an HTPC would have would be the ability to rip the Blu rays to your hard drive.

That and an integrated single device for netflix, Hulu, DVD, HD-DVD, Blu-Ray, CD, internet radio/video, youtube, DVR/Live TV.

 

[Fallen Kell]

The NVIDIA 260.xx driver released earlier this week enables PAP for their 400 series of cards so bitstreaming is finally a reality. The problem with the 400 series is that there's really not a decent HTPC video card in their lineup. AMD, otoh, has some low-profile 5570s and some low-profile, passively cooled 5550s so they still come out as the better choice for an HTPC at the current time.

If using TMT3 with 7MC there's a plug-in included with TMT3 that integrates it into 7MC.

Don't get me wrong, I have a Powercolor HD 5750 (one of the passive cooled ones), and as much as it is a good card, the drivers simply suck. AMD has no clue how to write drivers. I would gladly take an Nvidia, even one with a fan, and not have to deal with AMD's crap drivers.

 

[s44]

That and an integrated single device for netflix, Hulu, DVD, HD-DVD, Blu-Ray, CD, internet radio/video, youtube, DVR/Live TV.

DVR, yes.

But for all the proprietary stuff (Hulu, Netflix, and whatever the next things on the block are), PS3 is a much better bet than the PC. Content providers just like locking things down.

 

[mmntech]

I'd recommend standalone. If you want a more holistic media approach, embedded systems like the Playstation 3 are a good bet.

 

[simonizor]

That and an integrated single device for netflix, Hulu, DVD, HD-DVD, Blu-Ray, CD, internet radio/video, youtube, DVR/Live TV.

Any good standalone player can do all of that minus HD-DVD playback and DVR/Live TV.

The best option is to have both an HTPC and a standalone Blu ray player. It's not really worth the inconvenience of having to deal with software and hardware that don't always cooperate to have a Blu ray drive in your computer, and a standalone player is relatively the same price as an internal PC Blu ray drive anyways. The only thing you lose is the ability to rip the Blu rays to your PC.

 

[velillen]

Any good standalone player can do all of that minus HD-DVD playback and DVR/Live TV.

My gf's brother had a blu ray player that upon start up had icons for netflix, hulu, pandora, youtube, and two or three others. Not sure which model exactly, think it was a sumsang but dont quote me on that.

Standalones are great for out of the box features and usability. HTPC's allow you to add and remove features as well as just do more outside of the features originally offered. Standalones are often cheaper whereas HTPCs are more expensive initially but are able to stay upto by updating/upgrading.

 

[alcoholbob]

Back when blu-ray drives initially came out for the PC I recall plenty of people running it with an Athlon-64 3000+ in XP. I was using an E6600 and it still rarely utilized more than 25% of the CPU. Now I'm using an E4300 under Win7 and CPU usage hovers @ 9% when playing BD.

I guess the point is that while Win 7 is awesome for offloading x264 video to the GPU even XP did a relatively decent job at it. It would be nice if he had a dual-core CPU but his 3200+ does have enough horsepower to scrape by, even in XP.

Even one core of your CPU is faster than the AMD 3000+ clock for clock. If it's running at 25% on your CPU then it would be running at least 80% on the A64 3000+...

 

[Koing]

I went with the PS3 route

Koing

 

[IndyColtsFan]

I recommend a stand alone.

First of all, HTPCs and Blu Ray playback is hell. The software that does work with Blu Rays works poorly with remotes so it has an extremely low WAF.

Secondly, that GPU of your is way too old. You need a newer graphics card for certain.

I'm late to respond, but I definitely agree with this poster. You can get the Panasonic DMP-BD65 for under $120 off of Amazon and it supports the latest standards, has internet connectivity, and supports Viera Cast so you can do Netflix, Amazon VOD, etc.

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

Even one core of your CPU is faster than the AMD 3000+ clock for clock. If it's running at 25% on your CPU then it would be running at least 80% on the A64 3000+...

80% would seem to fit the definition of "scrape by" pretty well.