Budget 0-20k HTPC to bitstream Dolby TrueHD and DTS HD MA

Rockfella

Rockfella

Total bliss!
ex-Mod
  1. What is your budget?
  2. Upto 25k.(However I don’t want to waste money on hardware I’ll never use and I don’t like bells and whistles/bling bling.
  3. What is your existing hardware configuration (component name - component brand and model)
  4. Asus O!Play Mini to play BDrips.
  5. Which hardware will you be keeping (component name - component brand and model)
    • I'll sell the Asus player once the HTPC is operational.
  6. Which hardware component are you looking to buy (component name). If you have already decided on a configuration then please mention the (component brand and model) as well, this will help us in fine tuning your requirement.
    • CPU - Intel OR AMD. Should be able to play 40GB blu rays without breaking a sweat!
  7. Motherboard – Gigabyte H55 chipset based, OR any GIgabyte AMD board capable of bit streaming Dolby TrueHD and DTS HA MA through HDMI with zero workarounds. Board should be mATX OR ITX with USB3 + USB3 header onboard + SATA 3 and obviously HDMI port.
  8. Is this going to be your final configuration or you would be adding/upgrading a component in near future. If yes then please mention when and which component
    • NA.
  9. Where will you buy this hardware? (Online/City/TE Dealer)
    • Delhi.
  10. Would you consider buying a second hand hardware from the TE market
    • No
  11. What is your intended use for this PC/hardware
    • HTPC
    • Download rig, 24x7 operation
    • Watching Blue Ray movies with HD audio (HD Audio is a must!)
  12. Do you have any brand preference or dislike? Please name them and the reason for your preference/dislike.
    • Gigabyte, corsair.
  13. If you will be playing games then which type of games will you be playing?
    • Hardcore European Porn.
  14. What is your preferred monitor resolution for gaming and normal usage
    1. LCD is 720P
  2. Are you looking to overclock?
    • No. (Been there done that so no longer interested)
  2. Which operating system do you intend to use with this configuration?
    • Windows 7 64 bit and XBMC to bit stream DTS HS MA and Dolby True HD.
 
Ok enjoy ....
You could look at H57 if you want usb 3.0 also - GA-H57M-USB 3.0
See this also Bitstream Audio

However are these boards available in India ?
This is a 2010 release board & on socket 1156 ![DOUBLEPOST=1366703223][/DOUBLEPOST]methinks the H77 is what is current & may be available GA-H77M-D3H ~ starting from 5.5k (theitwares); prime 5850
 
I recently assembled my HTPC with exactly same requirements / budget:

* Gigabyte GA-B75M-D3H (USB 3.0 and SATA III)
* Intel G2010 processor **
* Sapphire HD 6450 1GB **
(** You can replace these 2 with i3-3220, HD Audio works on that without GPU, tested myself on my other PC)
* 4GB Corsair Value RAM
* 64GB SSD
* HP MCE Remote (I am using just the USB sensor, my remote is Logitech harmony 700)
* Logitech Wireless Touch Keyboard K400r
* Corsair CX430v2
* CM 361 cabinet (I don't like this cabinet much but did not find better options. BTW, it can accommodate 5 HDDs)
* Asus BD-ROM (Had this already)
 
The B75M D3H is useless for any kind of HT duty. It keeps dropping the connection to the TV at random, and does not support 24fps (no Intel solution does). I would definitely examine AMD solutions for pure HT duty specially if you are integrating with an actual home theater system.
 
cranky said:
The B75M D3H is useless for any kind of HT duty. It keeps dropping the connection to the TV at random, and does not support 24fps (no Intel solution does). I would definitely examine AMD solutions for pure HT duty specially if you are integrating with an actual home theater system.
Click to expand...

Ah yes I agree.... (I seemed to have forgotten my own experience). I initially ran my system 3770k with HD4000 only for almost 2 months. I faced numerous problems - especially with 23.976fps stuff - see this thread http://www.techenclave.com/communit...onnected-to-lg-47-led-strange-problem.139592/

Problem got resolved ONLY after I added the GPU - 660Ti.

For your case, the htpc -I would also support the AMD A8/A10 series cpu's.
 
Yep intel solutions are no good for 24p playback. Either get AMD which works out of the box - you get 23.9766fps instead of 23.976 and excellent hardware deinterlacing. Get a 6570 atleast to be able to use all features.

If you are adventurous and have a bigger pocket, you can also get a GT640 and play with custom resolutions to get an exact 23.976fps. However nvidia's hardware deinterlacing quality is piss poor compared to amd. Also it has issues with setting custom pixel formats such as RGB 4:4:4 or YCbCr 4:4:4 over HDMI. It only supports 4:2:2 out of the box and requires a lot of registry tweaking to get working right. One big bonus of the GT 640 is that it has working 4k resolution support out of the box - both display and hardware decoding.
 
prime said:
I recently assembled my HTPC with exactly same requirements / budget:

* Gigabyte GA-B75M-D3H (USB 3.0 and SATA III)
* Intel G2010 processor **
* Sapphire HD 6450 1GB **
(** You can replace these 2 with i3-3220, HD Audio works on that without GPU, tested myself on my other PC)
* 4GB Corsair Value RAM
* 64GB SSD
* HP MCE Remote (I am using just the USB sensor, my remote is Logitech harmony 700)
* Logitech Wireless Touch Keyboard K400r
* Corsair CX430v2
* CM 361 cabinet (I don't like this cabinet much but did not find better options. BTW, it can accommodate 5 HDDs)
* Asus BD-ROM (Had this already)
Click to expand...

I mentioned H55 but forgot to add that i am more inclined towards AMD because they don't change sockets everytime i fart (which is often :p) Secondly the Elite 361 lacks USB 3 front port. I already have HP remote control which works great with XBMC. Now i need an AMD board with all features mentioned but also SATA3 and i would like to do some testing with the Xonar DX i already have so the board must be able to fit dedicated GPU and my sound card which i know for a fact my current motherboard GA78LMT-USB3 doesn't! It can't hold a meaty gpu maybe can hold a slim one though.
+ i need a fanless GPU this time, done with fan shutting down once warrantee expires ;)
EDIT: I can buy the exact same set up but my current board doesnot have SATA3 :(
 
Rockfella said:
more inclined towards AMD because they don't change sockets
Click to expand...

Yes they do, since 2011 they have changed thrice already and more changes are on the way.

FM1, FM2, AM3 and AM3+ are current offerings and not interchangeable - at least not on the iGPU boards. I also hear AM3+ is to be replaced in Q1 2014 with Kaveri, though FM2 will probably stay.

LGA1155 is far more consistent as it has lasted a full 'tick' and more importantly, fits every CPU from the lowest to the top IVB. One could nitpick and talk about X79 but AMD is fairly clear that they are targeting only the i5 and lower products. It's poor show to have 3 sockets out at the same time when all i5 and below do with one socket, even if different chipsets.
 
Ok, point taken but i am still inclined towards AMD because it is cheaper. I think this gpu with suffice:

http://www.flipkart.com/sapphire-am...UEFG&ref=ccddb164-f4e8-4309-9a74-a742503de268

I will never go 3D. HTPC will be connected to this through HDMI:

http://www.onkyoindia.com/ht_hs-hts3500.html

This played bitstreams Dolby TrueHD but not DTS HD MA :

http://www.asus.com/Multimedia/OPlay_Mini/#specifications

Interestingly the Asus sites states it only supports Audio : MP3, WAV, AAC, OGG, FLAC, AIFF, Dolby Digital AC3, Dolby Digital Plus, DTS 2.0 +Digital out, Tag ID3 but when i play content with Dolby TrueHD it supports that too. I see the DD TrueHD orange light lit up on the AVR.
 
I would suggest that you not fix that which is not broken.A new system involves several questions and compatibility issues - if you have a working solution it may be better to increase server capacity and augment the network instead.

Still, it's your money.
 
cranky said:
I would suggest that you not fix that which is not broken.A new system involves several questions and compatibility issues - if you have a working solution it may be better to increase server capacity and augment the network instead.

Still, it's your money.
Click to expand...
The AVR is in a different house so i can't connect my PC with it. To be honest only reason why i might go for a HTPC is to bitsream DTS HD MA, i don't even know if it is really worthy because this mighty Asus supports almost every other HD audio format except DTS HD MA.
 
I might also add that HD audio from blu ray disks provide a major sound difference only when the rest of the chain is of sufficient calibre.

Most multichannel speaker systems upto about a lakh will not be able to properly showcase the benefits of the better audio streams.
 
Pick up atleast a 6570. A 6450 with 160 shaders and 64bit memory path is useless. It is no different from an igpu. You get 3x the shaders and a higher clock in a 6570 with a full 128bit memory path.
 
To be honest I've not played a single original Bluray disc in this player because i don't have a bluray player :happy: and will never buy one. The previous Phillips HT I had in 2004 stopped reading original DVDs after some years of usage and DVDs (while not in use) simply stopped being read by the player so either ways i won't buy a BD Player (mechanical drive of any sort) this time.
Scenario: Most of the BDrips I have don't have HD audio, so some play in Dolby 2.0, Dolby 5.1 or DTS. Some videos I have have DTS HD MA audio but the O!Play mini is unable to "send" the audio to the AVR and the AVR just plays it as a DTS audio stream (this is what i'm assuming) I downloaded some Dolby TrueHD and DTS HD MA samples and found the sound quality to be much superior to the videos I have, so will have to see what i download now. This is why i feel i'll hear much better audio if i have files with TrueHD and DTS HDMA even with this 27k system :p
cranky said:
I might also add that HD audio from blu ray disks provide a major sound difference only when the rest of the chain is of sufficient calibre.
Most multichannel speaker systems upto about a lakh will not be able to properly showcase the benefits of the better audio streams.
Click to expand...
 
Chaos said:
Pick up atleast a 6570. A 6450 with 160 shaders and 64bit memory path is useless. It is no different from an igpu. You get 3x the shaders and a higher clock in a 6570 with a full 128bit memory path.
Click to expand...


Dear Chaos,

I am using this card at this very same moment and never faced issue with even 15-20 gb blueray rips.
its far more competent than any iGPU.
you are mistaken and wrong about this small wonder which is absolute silent.[DOUBLEPOST=1366728998][/DOUBLEPOST]read up AVS forums and anandtech review for this tiny card .
 
^^Try a 20gig bluray rip using the madvr renderer with jinc scaling and anti ringing filter. The 64bit memory 6450 will come to a crawl.

GPU-z shows an average GPU utilization of around 80% on a 6570. Now draw your own conclusions.
 
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