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Originally Posted by ghanz  Nice. As a heads up: I see your mobo has the alc889a audio chip. Even though my p35-ds4 has the same chip I don't see dts connect functions on it on yours. It might be worth to find out if your mobo does have this, because it is a very nice feature. And you do know BlueRay won the war right. I'm now thinkin about bying one  |
Ouch! - Didn't think about that, but I'm hoping it won't matter since audio will be rerouted undecoded. Pleae tell me I'm correct (I've had such anguish before finally deciding on this mobo)... I made a list of candidates and eliminated them one by one until only 3 remained, then I went forum-hunting for reviews and opinions - if I remember correctly the remaining two were ASUS and Abit. Might have to re-check those two a little closer.
Yes, I've heard about the HD battle and it's victor - unfortunately I don't quite have the spare change to buy one at the moment. Will have to postpone getting a BluRay drive till later this year - of course this means I will have to buy loads of BluRay material, so it will be pricey
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Originally Posted by woddog Nice selection
Please let me know how the nsk 2480 goes as I am considering it as a Fusion 430 alternative (cheaper without the VFD and volume control)
For the keyoard, check out the logitech Dinovo mini. It's a 70 key board with a mouse thingo, the size of a Blackberry. You type with your thumbs.
Ghanz, does it matter what type of integrated audio solution you have if you just use SPDIF out (to a receiver with DTS and DD decode)? |
Actually I chose the NSK2480 because it lacked VFD, as far as I understand a lot of the problems people are having with their HTPCs are related to displays - so I'm hoping it will make my life a bit easier
The volume knob also seems to be a bit of a pain as it controls certain audio but not others (I believe it works with media player but not some other players if I remember correctly), as this would still leave me having to control the amplifier volume some of the time I decided it was easier if the volume control was always handled by the amplifier.
I actually checked out both DiNove Edge and the Mini and was leaning towards the Mini, but being a cheapo I decided to try with something simple and maybe later I'll change to the Mini when others have reported their experiences (I like to wait a few months as first impressions can be a bit deceiving).
Thanks to both of you for your input!
And finally a few TV-related questions:
I'm sort of confused about chosing a Plasma-TV
I'll be using an analog TV-signal, the HTPC will mostly be used as a substitute for DVD-player and VCR (along with the possibility to stream films over the network [.avi, .mkv,.mpg, etc...]).
The HTPC will have a DVI-HDMI cable connected to the TV, and Toslink for audio to a receiver.
As I understand it, with the above 720p is probably the best choise as these generally give a better picture quality with analog signals so the Panasonic 42PX80 seems a wise choice.
Does this seem correct, or am I missing something major?
I can't find whether or not the Panny supports pixel mapping (via HDMI), is this a necessity for filling the screen?
Cheers!
/M