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What HTPC software are you using

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I'm old school and I run BeyondTV with Windows 7 Pro 64-bit. I also use two ATI TV Wonder 650 PCI tuners. My hardware is an Athlon II X4 620, 4 gig DDR2-800, and 5 terabytes of disk space. Video output is an NVidia 8600 GTS going to a 40" Samsung 1080p LCD, and the optical output from my sound card goes to my Panasonic Dolby DTS 5.1 receiver.
 
I am using XMBC alongside ember media management.Ember is still deep in the beta stages with V1.0 due out in a few days time ,but i have been really impressed with its development.I did try WinMC but was plagued by crashes and forced restarts.I wouldn't say that XMBC is the most user friendly setup but once it is configured correctly it runs well with a good choice of skins and viewing effects
 
Unless you need to play blurays (in which case an htpc is kind of pointless) there is nothing better than XBMC for linux. It plays and offloads everything to the GPU, while having an amazing interface for browsing your media and it scrapes 99% of information for you.

I don't even know why anybody would use anything else.
 
Cybordolphin said:
Ok.......... got my fancy pant program Media Browser back in business on Media Center.

Now. What do you use for Blu Ray rips??? I have my Blu Rays ripped to ISO. BUT....
low and behold.... TMT3 Does not play ISO!!?? Or at least not the demo version.

So. What is a good player that will play ISO rips?
Click to expand...

Cybordolphin, I believe that might be a limitation of the demo.

I know it works with AnyDVD HD and Virtual Clone Drive because that is what I use for my Blu-rays.

I would keep things in the ISO format. If you want to conserve space and don't care about menus or extras then you can save a fair amount of space, especially on Blu-rays, by just extracting the movie. I'm not familiar with this exact process but I remember reading about it at AVS Forum.
 
Fallen Kell said:
Why in the world do you say that? I can play blu-ray and HD-DVD's from my HTPC with full DTS-HD and TrueHD audio bitstreaming to my pre-processor.
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Because if your main source of media is bluray disks and you put up with having to get up and swap media everytime you watch something, in my opinion you lost the biggest advantages of having an HTPC. It's a lot easier to buy a $100 tabletop BD player for that purpose.

If on the other hand most of your media is not on bluray but on hard drives (downloaded or decrypted) then XBMC does everything and better than anything else. You can cling to the fact that it doesn't support TrueHD and DTSMA bitstreaming, but it's irrelevant because 1) you can decode and stream 8 channel pcm 2) most people don't have the necessary hardware to bitstream, eg. radeon hd5000 3) most people don't have the necessary audio equipment to hear the difference from the core track, but now i'm just generalizing.

Agree?
 
Personally I don't think it is irrelevant, but I do have a HD5750, a really good audio/video pre-processor (Integra DHC-9.9), and decent speakers, so I can hear the difference with the HD audio stream vs the core stream on my setup.

These features are still new (i.e. only had the capability in the last 2weeks), I havn't tried to see if I can use a ripped blu-ray from hard disk (havn't been able to justify the space it uses, even with around 5TB usable space on my HTPC... I guess I have too many TV shows and DVD iso's stored up on the system). If/when I get around to converting the DVD iso's to H264+Flac audio, I might consider storing blu-ray images. I only have about 30 blu-ray discs at the moment so it is not hard to find the one I am looking for, unlike with my DVD collection which is in the 500+ range, which is why they have been systematically ripped and stored on the HTPC.
 
I have around 200 blu-rays ripped to my hard drive.

SageTV will play .mkv muxed with FLAC, TRUEHD, DTS-MA as long as you have a decoder that supports it, which ffdshow now does. ffdshow also allows you to bitstream truehd and dts-ma although I see no real reason to do this. The information is going to end up the same if you send it over hdmi to your receiver or send it has LPCM.

I don't agree 100% with most people not having the infrastructure to support high-def I think more and more people are getting the technology.

Also, Xonar HD supports 1.3 so you can bitstream with any videocard that has dvi-out.
 
OK.... I have everything tweaked perfectly now.

The programs TMT3, Media Browser, Metabrowser, and Media Center are all working in harmony and I am WAY stoked.

I have (2) 2 terabite drives and I have a dozen or so Blu Ray movies ripped so far. They are playing perfectly using the .M2TS. I will see if I can get my Vista version of Media center to play the ISO files.

I do want to also see if I can "stretch to fit" some of my movies. I am finding that Media Center overrides some of the adjustments you can make with TMT3 (like stretching to fit). For the purest who does not want to stretch to fit... Media Center is certainly doing its job!

I am using the CHOCOLATE theme and very happy right now.

This combination rocks.

Just need to get the weather on the chocolate theme showing and my wifey will likey!

My HTPC outputs via HDMI to our plasma right now. Tomorrow up goes my 159" (13.5 foot +-) electric screen and will be switching over to my new Epson 8500UB projector (which by the way.... I can't say enough about this projector. VERY good picture... engage the frame interpolation and it'll freak you out!). High Def looks amazing.

Honestly.... don't know how I could get a better picture right now. Gotta love the improvements over the past 10 years.
 
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Good points Yoxxy. I too agree that more and more people will at least have receivers that will be able to handle the data. The jury is still out on speakers, at least mainstream. Most stuff you will find at Best Buy have horrible lows and highs, which results in compressing the audio into the mids (which again results in the audio mixer engineers trying to compensate by stressing the bass and in turn clipping more and more of the amplitude to raise the overall sound level of the recording because of how poor the sensitivity response is for most home equipment and the resulting need for power to drive it, which is also completely lacking in the majority of home gear).

I will say it as well, my speakers are not very efficient, especially when you compare them against something that was designed well over 60 years ago, klipschorns. But stores today wouldn't be caught dead carrying something that is more than 7-8" in width...
 
Fallen Kell.... how you like that 9.9??? I was looking at getting one of those. I currently run my sound through a Sherwood preamp to a surround of Def Tech speakers and am very happy.... but can't get the pure audio like you are getting.

I think I will pop for one of those soon. That and I am thinking of going to a tall server case instead of my slick black HTPC black case.... as I am more concerned with drive space now than I am with the look. I no longer keep my HT equipment in view anyway.
 
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To rip the Blu Rays... I am using DVDFab6. Works perfectly and I don't need to run the ol AnyDVD, and the slew of other programs I used to run when ripping DVDs. I can rip in either ISO or .m2TS, etc..
 
Cybordolphin, I get a big grin on my face every time I put on music or a movie 😀 I took a bit of a gable with it (I was one of the first in the country with one, posts on avsforums thread about it with pics etc.), but I definitely love it. I had heard plenty of good about the 9.8, and so when I heard the 9.9 was comming out and was fixing the few things wrong with the 9.8, I was really all over it. Got a pretty good deal from a local dealer (15% off list, which considering I was a "pre-order", and he could have easily gotten away with charging full price at the time, since I was the first person to even inquire about one as I had a contact in Onkyo/Integra that let me know dealers should be able to put in orders on that day, and the dealer didn't even know that info).

Anyway, I love it. The room correction is great, and it matches very well with my amplifier and speakers. I thought when I upgraded to separate amps that my soundstage could not get any wider, but boy was I proven wrong when I replaced my Harman Kardon DPR-1001 with this (the HK was a tide over receiver while I waited for pre-pro's to get their act together with HDMI, and the time just kept ticking by. I thought I would only use it for a year tops, but that 1 year turned into 3 because HDMI kept changing, not bad for $200 that I paid either).
 
I ended up going to Denon and a Outlaw amp. I had a 9.8 and an Onkyo 500x.

Both the onkyo branded stuff used as a pre-amp seemed to have problems for me. However I think in the end it may have been my projector. At this point I have the Denon just pass the signal through rather than change it as my media pc seems to output a bit better quality than the scaler can.

I can notice the difference quite a bit between the FLAC files and the DTS files. DTS even seems like the voice is quite a bit more mumbled when you have a lot of action going on whereas the FLAC or DTSMA/TRUEHD files are crystal clear during dialogue and heavy action.

A friend of mine got the new twilight for my wife (even though we will buy it, she really wanted to see it) and I couldn't stand the DTS file compared to our usual uncompressed it was as if you had put a big piece of Styrofoam over the center channel throughout the movie.
 
Fallen Kell said:
I too agree that more and more people will at least have receivers that will be able to handle the data.
Click to expand...

I agree with this as well. Since this thread is talking about HTPC software, the percentage of people with HTPCs who also have the equipment to take advantage of HD audio is probably much greater that the percentage of the general population who have the equipment to take advantage of HD audio.
 
Fallen Kell said:
I use MediaPortal+StreamedMP Skin+Moving Pictures Plugin+MPTV-series Plugin. Other software installed includes FFDShow, Halli Splitter/Codec, ArcSoft TMT, PowerDVD 9, and Virtual Clone Drive.

MediaPortal integrates with Virtual Clone drive for playing .iso images of anything (CD, DVD, Blu-Ray, HD-DVD). You can also tune MediaPortal to use the exact codecs that you want depending on if you are playing a DVD, or captured video, etc. I typically am using the ArcSoft video codecs due to them having hardware offload support. You can also set MediaPortal to use any player software you want, or use the built in ones.
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Great call...Media Portal with Moving Pictures plug-in is definitely the best way to impress people when they come over. They can scroll through movies by the dvd covers (like you're at a movie store) and it does a great job automatically loading all movie and tv episode info. If I highlight on a movie title it'll show a movie poster (different from the dvd cover, and you can select different ones in the settings) while giving you rating, directors, actors, movie synopsis, year, and length. This is how TV shows work, I have a folder called Dexter, with a subfolder called Season 3, with episodes i've just named "1, 2, 3, etc.." and it automatically shows each episode's actual name, what that episode was about, a picture from that episode and when it aired.

I'll point out that I haven't used other media player software recently though, so i could be behind the times on their advancements.
 
820 high def movies and 38 TV series organized through the MediaBrowser plug-in for 7MC. MetaBrowser gathers all my metadata and artwork for the various titles. Everything is pulled from my file server over the network so it's easy for multiple HTPC's to connect at once.
 
My HTPC is strictly for HDTV, using a MyHD 120 card + daughterboard. I use the software that comes with it for timeshifting and DVR. Do my DVDs with a stand alone upconverting deck. No Bluray because my projector is only 720p. I can play movies from my HD or HTPC's DVD player, but usually don't bother and use use the standalone deck. The HTPC won't run anything newer than XP, so I'd need a new mobo etc to move to Windows 7.
 
flxnimprtmscl said:
7MC (or VMC) Total Media Theater, AnyDVD, Virtual Clone Drive, and Media Browser. All must have programs imo. Oh, and Meta Browser.
Click to expand...

I don't think many people realize that you can extend the functions of media center with some great features like dvd covers for movies, tv shows, sorting etc.

All you need to install is media browser:
http://www.mediabrowser.tv/


And use Meta Browser to catalog the media:
http://themetabrowser.com


I would use meta browser for all my media even if you use another application to play the media. It stores the information and covers in a way that is easily accessible from any application so if you change apps in the future you are not having to do it all over again.
capturenx.jpg
 
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I'm another htpc owner who's not a big fan of windows media center.

Primarily, I use boxee or xbmc. At the moment, I'm using xbmc since it handles dvd playback and content indexing better and is more stable/smooth running, but xbmc also prevents the cpu from idling. (a throwback to its xbox origins on an os that didn't support proper multitasking) XBMC does have some limited tv watching capability by using an hdhomerun.
Once boxee comes out of beta, I'll probably switch back to that. Having netflix + hulu + fancast streaming is very nice content wise, you wouldn't even need a tv tuner. (maybe an external hdhomerun to stream from)

I have windows 7 media center set in the background to wake up and record tv shows I'm interested in them. I then have MCEBuddy (just found this program, it's fantastic!) set to wake and run in the background to automatically convert the giant .wtv files to h264 (avi?) files and dump them into folders (arranged by tv show automatically) for xbmc (or boxee) to index. I need to get another program I think to pick up metadata info though. (maybe metabrowser?)

Still, even if you don't just use windows media center as a video recorder like I do, I'd recommend getting mcebuddy. There's absolutely no reason to waste 6GB of space on an hour long tv show.

I also have PowerDVD 9 set to start automatically if a bluray disk is inserted, but I usually just watch blurays on a $100 player.

My favorite setup was mythtv (mythbuntu), running boxee or xbmc in the front. I used the web interface to schedule shows, and had mythtv automatically convert and dump them in an appropriate folder. Still, the lack of netflix streaming, bluray playback, and games made that less appealing, and my current tv tuner doesn't have linux drivers anyway.

The thing that makes it all work well is having a good wireless keyboard and remote. I use the gyration media center remote, it's a combination mouse and remote and it really makes the whole experience a lot more usable, I'd recommend it to anyone who can't find one program to do it all. There's even one that lets you make music playlists directly from the remote, it has a little built in lcd screen.
 
Modelworks said:
I don't think many people realize that you can extend the functions of media center with some great features like dvd covers for movies, tv shows, sorting etc.

All you need to install is media browser:
http://www.mediabrowser.tv/


And use Meta Browser to catalog the media:
http://themetabrowser.com


I would use meta browser for all my media even if you use another application to play the media. It stores the information and covers in a way that is easily accessible from any application so if you change apps in the future you are not having to do it all over again.
capturenx.jpg
Click to expand...


Good post. And you can use daemontools lite (free) with media browser, so you can store all your movies as iso files. I use imageburn (another great freebie) to create an iso of my movie, and it's the fastest and most convenient way to run a movie collection. And If I ever want to make a disk to watch on a dvd player, just burn from the iso.

The ability to play iso files is a must for me with any htpc software solution.
 
Rio Rebel said:
The ability to play iso files is a must for me with any htpc software solution.
Click to expand...

Agreed. I might have to look at Media Browser/Metabrowser. But the fact still remains that Media Center still does not support the Hauppauge HD-PVR (without paying for third-party software).
 
No need for the HD-PVR anymore.. for not much more money you can just grab a CableCARD tuner and it works native under Windows 7. (unless you're on satellite, which it does not support)
 
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