Upgrade to support HDTV, HDDVD & Blu-Ray (1 Viewer)

If you were planning to upgrade your HTPC to support HDTV, HDDVD & Blueray would you

  • Need to upgrade the CPU, Motherboard, Memory & Graphics Card

    Votes: 218 29.9%
  • I would just need to upgrade my PCIe x16 Graphics Card

    Votes: 167 22.9%
  • I would consider looking for a cost effective PCI hardware decoding solution.

    Votes: 276 37.9%
  • I would consider looking for a cost effective PCIe x1 hardware decoding solution.

    Votes: 213 29.2%
  • Other - please state in reply.

    Votes: 51 7.0%

  • Total voters
    729

dman_lfc

Retired Team Member
  • Premium Supporter
  • July 28, 2004
    1,772
    30
    UK
    Home Country
    New Zealand New Zealand
    Hi All,

    I'm trying to gather some information about some hardware projects i'm involved in.
    You as a user of MediaPortal and part of this fine community I hope you can help me out.

    So my question to you is in the form of this poll.
    Please consider answering as best you can.
    If you need further clarification then please don't hesitate to ask.

    Please take into consideration that your CPU% should be as low as possible and I'm sure you want a quiet system too.

    Many thanks for your support.
     

    deebo

    Portal Pro
    April 19, 2006
    233
    3
    8500gt already on its way :p

    gigabyte 8500gt passive+hdcp

    and i wouldnt really even need that, my current htpc has the cpu power to decode 1080p h264 but the integrated gf6150 cant push the data to the screen, resulting in frameskips and alot of jitter/freezes
     

    xemumanic

    Portal Pro
    March 19, 2006
    100
    0
    East Strondsburg PA
    Home Country
    United States of America United States of America
    I agree with deebo, the 8500/8600 cards make the decoding almost a non-issue, if you have a CPU from the past 2 years or so. So I think the issue now becomes how do you get that content. Either a Blu Ray or HD-DVD drive, or HDTV tuner card.

    Personally, I plan to rebuild my HTPC, and all I really need to do, besides a HD tuner and a BRD/HD-DVD drive, is the CPU/RAM/Mobo combination.

    EDIT: I didn't know until later that the reason for this thread and vote is to get data for some new decoding card? I'm all for that, that would make it easier to build a low power, quieter HTPC, if there was a dedicated decoding chip. Too bad I can't change my vote.
     

    Spragleknas

    Moderator
  • Team MediaPortal
  • December 21, 2005
    9,474
    1,822
    Located
    Home Country
    Norway Norway
    The reason why we're asking is that we have an option to implement a H/W decoding solution that will require you not to have to upgrade at all in most cases.

    All you will need is a spare PCI or PCIe x1 slot.

    So please have a look at this poll and let us know your strategy for the next generation of video and audio quality.
    [forum link]
    Just a bit about the hardware decoding solution. It will be capable of decoding VC1, MPEG-2, H.264, DivX & Xvid video streams with most audio.
    So if you have a high CPU% decoding any of these at the moment in standard or high definition then it may be a solution for you.

    Sounds interesting!!!
     

    Elconejo

    Portal Pro
    May 9, 2005
    129
    0
    41
    Belgium
    It would be nice if there could be a hardware sollution that upscales to HD (1080p). So the analoge tunercards, for example, would look much better on the HD-tv.
     

    benboy

    New Member
    June 28, 2006
    2
    0
    I would of thought my biggest expense would be in getting an HDCP supported monitor and graphics card.

    Unless of course I were to do the evo demux and rebuild method, but then that isnt really native support.
     

    mpfrank

    Portal Pro
    November 6, 2006
    186
    0
    Cologne
    Home Country
    Germany Germany
    I am planing to replace my EN7600GS with 8600GT (purevideo HD support). Rest of my HTPC is up to date and powerful enough and won't need an upgrade.
    In my Silverstone case there is no more space for additional HW-accelerator card. Not PCI and not PCIe. All slots are busy (two tv cards, CI module in PCI slot, WLAN card, PCIe graphic adaptor).

    Working codec solution would be more helpful for me than HW solution for decoding.

    mpFrank
     

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