High End HTPC MP based - Page 5

ghanz · 2008-02-10, 18:36

Bussiebaer, I'm using ultramon now for the past few months and I must say it's the best solution. Since it is not natively done by MP and the drivers do not facilitate cloning on different resolutions I did not have a choice. I tried the LCD plugin that goes around, however if I have to switch to the LCD, I like having the whole interface on the LCD and I need it to look good (no disrespect). The good thing about ultramon (you have to install the vista version if you have vista!) is that it is really fast! It switches between screens and resolutions almost instantaneous. I planned to write a script for ultramon so that i can use my remote, however for my setup it's no big deal to use the keyboard (right under the couch). So ALT+N switches MP to the next monitor and I use hotkeys for 3 profiles (samsung only, lcd only and both). For me this works great

Swingsultan,

Yeah the thing is, someone gave me the 8800gts. All my prelimenary study was pointing me to ATI 2600 or 3750. I was aiming for the UVD video chip, a little less watts and the pins for hdmi 1.3 audio passthru. The chip would still be nice although I don't miss it now. The watts and heat Is not a real big thing and as it shows now the first real hdmi 1.3 audio card will have a video passthru which I would not have thought to happen in a million years! (auzentech will bring an expansioncard for it's 7.1 card in May, giving the long awaited HD audio 7.1 pcm lossless audio!!!)
this will be also the day I buy a blueray drive for my system.
I use Vista for directx10. I use 32 bit because of compatibility with adobe premiere cs3. I must say It al worked out very well.

Now letts get that crappy TV signal upscaled a little better using ffdshow and I can watch TV also, instead of watching movies in 1080p only!

ghanz · 2008-03-07, 08:30

Ok last update.

Upscaling is not what it is supposed to be. I'm using microsoft mpeg2 decoder for tv, this together with the scaling functions of my 8800 card are still the best solution. I haven't been able to beat it with any combination of postprocessing, upscaling, etc. The picture is very good so the effort is not worth it anymore.

Soundwise I'm very happy with DTS connect. The only minor thing is that I haven't been able to get DTS audio files to work properly under MP. (without changing configurations)

Whatching Full HD still brings me joy everytime I start a movie. My collection is now about 800GB. I find the picture quality of x264.mkv files the best, however sometimes audio is not completely in sinc. WMV HD does not have this problem produce a very good quality as well.

Speaking of which my next project will be a blue ray drive, however I'm waiting on the price to drop just a little more. I would like to be able to burn a dvd or cd when the need is high. I'm not looking for a blue ray burner though

Currently bought a olympus e510, so now working on figuring out if I can get ORF/ RAW to work in Mediaportal, or if just to shoot raw and jpeg and leave raw just for developing. (Ithink the later)

I haven't been able to get spinsafe1080p to run. I'm sticking with xface!

Very happy with my mediacenter and can't wait to start with MP2

2008-02-10, 18:36	#41 (permalink)
ghanz Portal Member Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Ouderkerk Age: 35 Posts: 64 Thanks: 8 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts Country: My System	Bussiebaer, I'm using ultramon now for the past few months and I must say it's the best solution. Since it is not natively done by MP and the drivers do not facilitate cloning on different resolutions I did not have a choice. I tried the LCD plugin that goes around, however if I have to switch to the LCD, I like having the whole interface on the LCD and I need it to look good (no disrespect). The good thing about ultramon (you have to install the vista version if you have vista!) is that it is really fast! It switches between screens and resolutions almost instantaneous. I planned to write a script for ultramon so that i can use my remote, however for my setup it's no big deal to use the keyboard (right under the couch). So ALT+N switches MP to the next monitor and I use hotkeys for 3 profiles (samsung only, lcd only and both). For me this works great Swingsultan, Yeah the thing is, someone gave me the 8800gts. All my prelimenary study was pointing me to ATI 2600 or 3750. I was aiming for the UVD video chip, a little less watts and the pins for hdmi 1.3 audio passthru. The chip would still be nice although I don't miss it now. The watts and heat Is not a real big thing and as it shows now the first real hdmi 1.3 audio card will have a video passthru which I would not have thought to happen in a million years! (auzentech will bring an expansioncard for it's 7.1 card in May, giving the long awaited HD audio 7.1 pcm lossless audio!!!) this will be also the day I buy a blueray drive for my system. I use Vista for directx10. I use 32 bit because of compatibility with adobe premiere cs3. I must say It al worked out very well. Now letts get that crappy TV signal upscaled a little better using ffdshow and I can watch TV also, instead of watching movies in 1080p only! Last edited by ghanz; 2008-02-10 at 18:48. Reason: Automerged Doublepost

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2008-03-07, 08:30	#42 (permalink)
ghanz Portal Member Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Ouderkerk Age: 35 Posts: 64 Thanks: 8 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts Country: My System	Ok last update. Upscaling is not what it is supposed to be. I'm using microsoft mpeg2 decoder for tv, this together with the scaling functions of my 8800 card are still the best solution. I haven't been able to beat it with any combination of postprocessing, upscaling, etc. The picture is very good so the effort is not worth it anymore. Soundwise I'm very happy with DTS connect. The only minor thing is that I haven't been able to get DTS audio files to work properly under MP. (without changing configurations) Whatching Full HD still brings me joy everytime I start a movie. My collection is now about 800GB. I find the picture quality of x264.mkv files the best, however sometimes audio is not completely in sinc. WMV HD does not have this problem produce a very good quality as well. Speaking of which my next project will be a blue ray drive, however I'm waiting on the price to drop just a little more. I would like to be able to burn a dvd or cd when the need is high. I'm not looking for a blue ray burner though Currently bought a olympus e510, so now working on figuring out if I can get ORF/ RAW to work in Mediaportal, or if just to shoot raw and jpeg and leave raw just for developing. (Ithink the later) I haven't been able to get spinsafe1080p to run. I'm sticking with xface! Very happy with my mediacenter and can't wait to start with MP2