Need HDMI output from 3 yrs old PC - Possible ?

[spirovious]

thanx for the info..Juz in case if i wish to add an other 1 TB HDD to the existing CPU, should i consider upgrading my power supply ?

If so which one should i consider...

I am using VIP-gold 400W SMPS which are good in budget.
There are better from Corsair,Coolarmaster.

 

[baijuxavior]

Could you please share with me the name of the codec that need to be installed on my system?

For drivers should i check the Nvidia site...

XBMC has its own codecs and external codecs are not needed.

Check nVidia site for driver updates.

 

[elangoas]

XBMC has its own codecs and external codecs are not needed.

Check nVidia site for driver updates.

Thanx buddy...Will check that....

XBMC 12.2 is sooper cool...Lovely default skin much & far better than WDTV Live Hub Media center.... Getting hooked to XBMC hyeah:

Yesterday watched a movie thru the PC, when i pause it & play it after 2 - 3 mins, i noticed that the video jumps (fast forward action) for a sec or so & then resumes normally.... Is this normal ?

Also if am planning to an internal HDD, what is the maximum capacity that i need to look @ ? Is the additional HDD capacity dependent on internal PSU ?

 

[baijuxavior]

You will never look back at media players once you start using xbmc. I suggest you to try Aeon Nox skin which is my favourite. It has lots of eye candy features like customizing your home window.

Playback issues like these are sometimes file specific. I have seen this behavior in a few movies.

Go for 2TB HDD. The price difference between 1TB and 2TB is very small. Last month I bought 2TB Seagate from ebay for 5.3K after applying coupon.

 

[elangoas]

You will never look back at media players once you start using xbmc. I suggest you to try Aeon Nox skin which is my favourite. It has lots of eye candy features like customizing your home window.

Playback issues like these are sometimes file specific. I have seen this behavior in a few movies.

Go for 2TB HDD. The price difference between 1TB and 2TB is very small. Last month I bought 2TB Seagate from ebay for 5.3K after applying coupon.

Sure.. i will try that skin....

So can i go ahead and add 2 TB HDD to my existing CPU ? Or should i look @ power supply also ?

 

[baijuxavior]

Your existing power supply should support 2tb hdd. But going for a better psu is recommended as you already added a gpu.

 

[aakashr]

Always update drivers directly from the manf site i.e. nvidia or AMD. I do not use the disc that comes with the card, better to install the latest drivers directly from the site.

XMBC is the best way to watch movies............welcome to the family. But it's a never ending road of tweaking and enhancing performance, so with time I am sure you will be able to optimize the system even better. The possibilities are endless what you can do and how you want to use the system.

All the Best!!!

 

[elangoas]

Thanx for the suggestions....The convenience that i get (Listening to music while browsing) is really cool....

BTW am trading my WD TV Live Hub for a 2 TB internal HDD (new) :yahoo: with one of my colleague..

Have started to explore XBMC.... How do i get the 1080p/24 output from movies played thru XBMC...

The reason i ask is because, the default settings output of my graphics card is 1920 x 1080p/60..What happens when i play a movie with 1080p/24 ?

 

[vaibhavyagnik]

Thanx for the suggestions....The convenience that i get (Listening to music while browsing) is really cool....

BTW am trading my WD TV Live Hub for a 2 TB internal HDD (new) :yahoo: with one of my colleague..

Have started to explore XBMC.... How do i get the 1080p/24 output from movies played thru XBMC...

The reason i ask is because, the default settings output of my graphics card is 1920 x 1080p/60..What happens when i play a movie with 1080p/24 ?

24 is the Frame per second (fps) of the movie file. While 60 is the refresh rate of your display (measured in Hz). You will not face any problem while watching the movie.

 

[elangoas]

24 is the Frame per second (fps) of the movie file. While 60 is the refresh rate of your display (measured in Hz). You will not face any problem while watching the movie.

Now am clear with 50/60Hz refresh rate... So when a movie is played thru XBMC, i believe the output by default is 1080p/24 ? is that correct....

 

[vaibhavyagnik]

Yup. You can check by pressing O on the keyboard. It will bring up the on screen display of XBMC

 

[vaibhavyagnik]

Now am clear with 50/60Hz refresh rate... So when a movie is played thru XBMC, i believe the output by default is 1080p/24 ? is that correct....

The output will equal to FPS of the movie file. not all movies are 24 FPS. some are 24.3 (?) there are other fps also but i dont remember. In short start playing movies! you should not have any problem

 

[elangoas]

Yup. You can check by pressing O on the keyboard. It will bring up the on screen display of XBMC

Sure will try them & update here

The output will equal to FPS of the movie file. not all movies are 24 FPS. some are 24.3 (?) there are other fps also but i dont remember. In short start playing movies! you should not have any problem

Ok.. atleast most of the movies that i have downloaded from internet are 24fps... When i play them from WDTV Live hub, they are displayed on my Tv as 1080p/24...

But when i playing music thru XBMC (playing FLAC), the video settings information inside XMBC says that the video output is 1920 x 1080p @ 60Hz, 60 fps... I haven't checked the settings when i play a movie... Will check & update here...

 

[elangoas]

Your existing power supply should support 2tb hdd. But going for a better psu is recommended as you already added a gpu.

Thanx all for your suggestions ...Successfully added 2 TB Seagate Internal internal HDD (Secondary Disk) to my CPU...:yahoo: in addition to the existing 1 TB HDD (Primary Disk)...

Now need dump movies in the new HDD..hyeah:

 

[elangoas]

Hi Again,

Have been using the current setup for quite sometime... But there seems to be a lag in video refresh especially when my wife plays the Farmville2.

Also have observed when running the XBMC & keeping a browser open with Farm Ville2 has more lag (the refresh on Farmville2 happens a little late)..

An other thing that i noticed when i played an Avater movie of 46GB thur XBMC, it stutters for few secs when playing....I am not really very sure if Farmville2 demands a good GPU.....

Not sure what exactly is the issue.. My system has Win 7 (32 Bit) with 4GB of DDR2 RAM.. + Zotac Nvidia Geforce GT610 graphics card...

Anyways i will be moving this graphics card to my mom's PC so she can use it with 32 inches LCD TV..

i would like to stepup with the graphics card, could you please recommend a graphics card for budget up to max 10K.....

 

[Vagabond]

I have similar requirement... not sure some solution is available for me or not...

I have this old system from collage days, lying unused.

Config - P4, Itel 745 motherboard, 512 Ram..

Can I use for HD video streaming and FLACs ??

Which graphic card available, can i add optical port to it somehow ?

Thanks

 

[sarith]

i would like to stepup with the graphics card, could you please recommend a graphics card for budget up to max 10K.....

ZOTAC NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost 2 GB GDDR5 Graphics Card

(ZOTAC NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost 2 GB GDDR5 Graphics Card - ZOTAC: Flipkart.com)

 

[manniraj]

I have similar requirement... not sure some solution is available for me or not...

I have this old system from collage days, lying unused.

Config - P4, Itel 745 motherboard, 512 Ram..

Can I use for HD video streaming and FLACs ??

Which graphic card available, can i add optical port to it somehow ?

Thanks

For HD video playback you can get any decent graphics card like Nvidia 610 or an AMD one. For playing FLACs I think it will be better if you can let us know the other details like amplifier/speakers that you already have or going to purchase. I would suggest you can get a decent USB DAC rather than investing in optical port for the computer. As the optical out needs to be fed to DAC to convert rather you can invest in the USB DAC to save some costs (provided if you do not have already the same).

Thanks

 

[Vagabond]

For HD video playback you can get any decent graphics card like Nvidia 610 or an AMD one. For playing FLACs I think it will be better if you can let us know the other details like amplifier/speakers that you already have or going to purchase. I would suggest you can get a decent USB DAC rather than investing in optical port for the computer. As the optical out needs to be fed to DAC to convert rather you can invest in the USB DAC to save some costs (provided if you do not have already the same).

Thanks

Thanks for quick reply.

My setup - Samsung 32" LCD & sony DZ590 HTiB

Other question - say I want to use this old system as HTPC, what components are required ? Any guide lines ?

 

[manniraj]

Thanks for quick reply.

My setup - Samsung 32" LCD & sony DZ590 HTiB

Other question - say I want to use this old system as HTPC, what components are required ? Any guide lines ?

As suggested you will require a decent graphics card and for music I think you will require a USB DAC (my suggestion would be ODAC - small, simple and superb) and feed your Sony HTiB.
But I think your Sony HTiB may not have a HDMI in port so how you will play the video on TV and sound thru Sony. Check if the Sony has a spdif in then you can get a Asus sound card which will serve the dual purpose of giving you the spdif out and also there will be no need for a USB DAC and get a decent graphics card. So you can use the graphics card HDMI for video to the TV and use the sound card spdif to your Sony HTiB. You will get 5.1 sound.