sam9s HTPC Project! powered by XBMC!!

[sam9s]

For just 3D or in general? For non-3D the intel HD2000/3000 are very capable and look almost identical to a discrete card.

No only for 3D, not in general. But still to be on the safe side I'd choose a discreet GPU.

 

[sam9s]

Thanx Sam, For the AMD way wht combination you suggest. the basic thing is that the system should do the basic job smoothly and HD playback shouldnt be an issue.

Well the AMD Fusion platform seems to be doing a decent job. Check out GIGABYTE GA-E350N-USB3, baijuxavior built the HTPC on the same platform. Discreetly any AMD Athalon X2 would do the job easily.

 

[bijaymohanta]

Well the AMD Fusion platform seems to be doing a decent job. Check out GIGABYTE GA-E350N-USB3, baijuxavior built the HTPC on the same platform. Discreetly any AMD Athalon X2 would do the job easily.

Thanx for the prompt reply, I was also considering the fusion board but for everyday computing the dualcore G620 intel is better and by anandtech also G620 is superior to X2 260. AnandTech - Bench - CPU, so i assume that this will solve my query. Else any budget graphics card will be added later on to help in HD playback. Let me know your view.

 

[sam9s]

Ofcourse G620 is superior than X2, its not about superiority here, its about the lowest possible config that we can have for a complete HTPC. (which does not include everyday computing), If you can spend, or have other functionality for your HTPC, then in all means should go for an i3 ......

 

[bijaymohanta]

Ofcourse G620 is superior than X2, its not about superiority here, its about the lowest possible config that we can have for a complete HTPC. (which does not include everyday computing), If you can spend, or have other functionality for your HTPC, then in all means should go for an i3 ......

Thanx sam, i appreciate ur feedback. I will be doing 60-40 % in regular usage-movie watching. Simply for HTPC fusion is enough. I will seek ur help once i build my HTPC. Thanx again Sam.

 

[assassin]

No only for 3D, not in general. But still to be on the safe side I'd choose a discreet GPU.

Why not try the iGPU first? And if for any reason at all if you aren't satisfied then (and only then) add a discrete card. Very little downside to this approach other than the few minutes that it takes to add a card later.

This is what I recommend and most people end up not going with a discrete card.

 

[assassin]

Ofcourse G620 is superior than X2, its not about superiority here, its about the lowest possible config that we can have for a complete HTPC. (which does not include everyday computing), If you can spend, or have other functionality for your HTPC, then in all means should go for an i3 ......

I don't agree with this approach at all.

If price and energy use is about the same why not get something with a little more power?

 

[sub]

The 1 GB GT440 is 4.5k and 2GB GT520 is 3k, which one do you reckon ?

Also for the processor would you recommend 2nd Gen i3 or the i3 540 would cut it for me ? the mobo would anyway be between 3.5 - 4k for both generations .

Thanks for your suggestions.

Hi

I have using HTPC based on Fusion E-350 Gigabyte platform for the last 2 years with XBMC and MPC as my media players for normal and bluray iso's.

A week back just to try some 3D movies on non-3D Plasma TV and Projector (Accer K-11) i purchased XFX GT-520 GPU and istalled on the above platform.

To my surprise XFX GT-520 which cost me around Rs.3240/- works very well and is rendering very good 3D effects on my bluray iso's with TMT 5 as my media player.

Regards

sub

 

[sixthsense]

Hi

I have using HTPC based on Fusion E-350 Gigabyte platform for the last 2 years with XBMC and MPC as my media players for normal and bluray iso's.

A week back just to try some 3D movies on non-3D Plasma TV and Projector (Accer K-11) i purchased XFX GT-520 GPU and istalled on the above platform.

To my surprise XFX GT-520 which cost me around Rs.3240/- works very well and is rendering very good 3D effects on my bluray iso's with TMT 5 as my media player.

Regards

sub

How did you do 3d on a non 3d display ?

 

[jatinmalhotra]

Hi Guys

My HTPC is now complete. But have a few Questions now.

My PC Confg( AMD A6 3500, MSI A75G55 MAtx, Iball Baby cabinet, 4 GB corsair ram 1333, 64 GB Kingston SSD, Movies and TV shows on TB of HDDs)

1. How to auto start XBMC in Full Screen. If I put it in Start Folder the it starts but now its in Menu bar but not Full screen . I would hate to change shells as i need Explorer time to time.

2. All my movies and particularly TV shows are not scrapped properly. Is there any way to correct scrapings and movies naming. Also some TV shows are not even scrapping.

3. i have ordered HP MCE remote for use with logitech harmony. Any hints how to proceed on that.

4. HD audio Bit streaming is working correctly. PQ wise its better than Xtreamer MK1.
Any Video Settings recommendations

 

[crashnburn]

Been using XBMC with a Gigabit NAS for several years now Got CAT6 GigE cabling done in house 7/7 years back

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/82MmArW2CMatevjKiLbG9VrIrd4wyUgKtZYZmzl3c7E?feat=directlink

 

[manniraj]

Hi Guys

My HTPC is now complete. But have a few Questions now.

My PC Confg( AMD A6 3500, MSI A75G55 MAtx, Iball Baby cabinet, 4 GB corsair ram 1333, 64 GB Kingston SSD, Movies and TV shows on TB of HDDs)

1. How to auto start XBMC in Full Screen. If I put it in Start Folder the it starts but now its in Menu bar but not Full screen . I would hate to change shells as i need Explorer time to time. Look into the 2 or 3rd pages of this thread you will get the req info how to modify the user accounts in win 7 or shell for xp. When you do this you need to just click ctrl+alt+del buttons to open the task manager and put in the new task as explorer.exe and your explorer starts without effecting the xbmc

2. All my movies and particularly TV shows are not scrapped properly. Is there any way to correct scrapings and movies naming. Also some TV shows are not even scrapping.

3. i have ordered HP MCE remote for use with logitech harmony. Any hints how to proceed on that.

4. HD audio Bit streaming is working correctly. PQ wise its better than Xtreamer MK1.
Any Video Settings recommendations

My suggestions for your first point in RED.

 

[sixthsense]

Hi Guys

My HTPC is now complete. But have a few Questions now.

1. How to auto start XBMC in Full Screen. If I put it in Start Folder the it starts but now its in Menu bar but not Full screen . I would hate to change shells as i need Explorer time to time.

There you go all the methods listed here HOW-TO:Make Windows boot directly to XBMC (as a shell) - XBMC

I'll also try it today or tomorrow and let you know what worked for me. I've windows 7 home edition , so eventghost method will work for me i suppose. If you've ultimate or professional you can do this through group policy. Getting to explorer is also explained.

 

[sub]

How did you do 3d on a non 3d display ?

I have done it with the help of GT-520 GPU and TMT 5 and the 3D viewing method is Anagalyph.

The Depth Perception is very good and you can use your players or video cards video adjustments to get sufficient brightness and colour, just try it and see.

Regards

sub

 

[sixthsense]

I have done it with the help of GT-520 GPU and TMT 5 and the 3D viewing method is Anagalyph.

The Depth Perception is very good and you can use your players or video cards video adjustments to get sufficient brightness and colour, just try it and see.

Regards

sub

Understood, you mean the red/blue glassses 3D. Well yes i've played these movies before on my earlier media player and we do not need any special hardware or 3D tv for it.

 

[sixthsense]

I am using a quality card, as I wanted to have a quality LAN setup with Cat 6 cables. I am out of India right now, so cannot provide exact model details. But its a D-Link Gbps LAN adapter. I think its THIS one

That's what i thought, this WOL feature works with the wired Lan cards fine and after long research found out the Wireless WOL was featured in windows 7 but only worked with intel integrated wireless adapters on motherboards. Only if i had knew this before i'd have gone with integrated wireless card mobo.

 

[sam9s]

I don't agree with this approach at all.

If price and energy use is about the same why not get something with a little more power?

Price and energy is not at all same. A dual core proc can be had as cheap as 3000 bucks and more than sufficient to perform all HTPC tasks handsomely ......

For an HTPC (assuming its not used for any other activities), I'd always say, save on the proc and if you have to invest, do it on a decent GPU, coz that is the one which is taxed as far as a decent HTPC goes.

 

[sam9s]

Hi Guys

My HTPC is now complete. But have a few Questions now.

My PC Confg( AMD A6 3500, MSI A75G55 MAtx, Iball Baby cabinet, 4 GB corsair ram 1333, 64 GB Kingston SSD, Movies and TV shows on TB of HDDs)

1. How to auto start XBMC in Full Screen. If I put it in Start Folder the it starts but now its in Menu bar but not Full screen . I would hate to change shells as i need Explorer time to time.

manniraj has answered that perfectly .....

2. All my movies and particularly TV shows are not scrapped properly. Is there any way to correct scrapings and movies naming. Also some TV shows are not even scrapping.

Use [Media Center Master to get your scrapping done, if that is missed by XBMC.

3. i have ordered HP MCE remote for use with logitech harmony. Any hints how to proceed on that.

I do not use Harmony but I guess Spirovious has done a lot with harmony ..... get his help

 

[sam9s]

I have done it with the help of GT-520 GPU and TMT 5 and the 3D viewing method is Anagalyph.

The Depth Perception is very good and you can use your players or video cards video adjustments to get sufficient brightness and colour, just try it and see.

Regards

sub

H

How did you manage to get a video/movie that is in Anagalyph format. No movies/videos are made in that format ..???

Or is it that TMT converts a regular video in Anagalyph display in Run time ...???

 

[jatinmalhotra]

My PC Confg( AMD A6 3500, MSI A75G55 MAtx, Iball Baby cabinet, 4 GB corsair ram 1333, 64 GB Kingston SSD, Movies and TV shows on TB of HDDs)

1. How to auto start XBMC in Full Screen. If I put it in Start Folder the it starts but now its in Menu bar but not Full screen . I would hate to change shells as i need Explorer time to time.

manniraj has answered that perfectly .....

2. All my movies and particularly TV shows are not scrapped properly. Is there any way to correct scrapings and movies naming. Also some TV shows are not even scrapping.

Use [Media Center Master to get your scrapping done, if that is missed by XBMC.

3. i have ordered HP MCE remote for use with logitech harmony. Any hints how to proceed on that.

I do not use Harmony but I guess Spirovious has done a lot with harmony ..... get his help

I shall try the steps today..

One more question.

I have a separate PC that is used for Downloading and is on Most of time.
I download a TV episode , watch and delete it afterwords.

But is there someway i can browse my HDDs connected to HTPC and Samba shares on my PC. This is one feature I sorely miss from Xtreamer.....

Other way to go is to Download it on HTPC.