Shall i buy BD Player or Build HTPC

[Ashish6464]

Budget is around 15-18K
Most of my content is downloaded HD and HDX few SD and few DVD, BDs and ripped mp3

I did a little research and found these combo CPU

1) intel celeron 1037 Benchmark 1774
2) Intel celeron 1037 benchmark 1774
3) AMD A4-4000
4) Intel Quad-core Celeron J1900 benchmark 1934

The above are what i found could be better than Gigabyte GA E350N.
bench mark for AMD e350n is here

 

[Ashish6464]

For future upgrade ability to 3D / 4K, I suggest separate components unless you want to do the next upgrade after 3 to 4 years.

Also in future with more adaptation of newer formats like H.265 we can never be sure if our existing processor will have enough juice to decode the same and the only way in my opinion to stay safe is to go with upgrade able components (processor mostly).

I used as motherboard MSI Global A78M-E35 since it supports pci 3 and will be upgrade able for at least some time.

I think haisaikat has a point future upgradability is important.

 

[RMCWS]

Thanks RMCWS.
I am confused whether to have a bluray drive or not.

I have not added any dvd/ bd drive intentionally. Firstly to reduce cost, and secondly, I have a dvd rom in the desktop (not htpc). I also have a sony bd player and a philips dvd player.

May be in future, I'd like to add a bd rom (region free) in my htpc and sale the current sony bdp.

 

[Ashish6464]

I have not added any dvd/ bd drive intentionally. Firstly to reduce cost, and secondly, I have a dvd rom in the desktop (not htpc). I also have a sony bd player and a philips dvd player.

May be in future, I'd like to add a bd rom (region free) in my htpc and sale the current sony bdp.

Yeah makes sense!
Even I have a DVD rom in my desktop and a samsung BD player(which i cannot connect to my avr some how).

 

[Ashish6464]

Hi guys,
So i managed to connect my Denon AVR to my home pc in network via lan cable and I installed plex as well.
I am experiencing a problem I can see the plex and the movie files in network but none of the movie files are playing.
It shows -
Video (not play)
music
photos
Any idea what might be the cause?
Also my denon setting under options are as such.
video select <off>
source DVD
If the video setting is off I can view the files on the plex media server but when i turn it on i cannot see the files through projector only on AVR screen.
Help much appreciated!

 

[Ashish6464]

i found that no receiver plays video from network.
So i guess i need to build a HTPC only!

 

[haisaikat]

i found that no receiver plays video from network.
So i guess i need to build a HTPC only!

You are correct but in case any of the other devices like the smart tv or the BDP you own have Lan ports by chance? If yes try video with them.

 

[noblejose]

Interesting thread guys!
Looks like its time to look in to HTPCs, I do have a high-end desktop with i7 processor and Asus mobo with 16GB RAM and 2TB HDDs, (No Graphic Card yet; running fine on inbuild Intel HD Graphics 3000). I have to buy a Blu ray drive as I have only DVD drive in my pc. My question is that; can I replace my Samsung blu ray player if I add a decent blu-ray drive and set this up with required softwares and tools like XBMC and video upscaling plugings etc.. I do have some Blu ray discs, but I also have lots of HD video rips; so thinking towards HTPC way. Please add your comments/ suggestions.

 

[haisaikat]

Interesting thread guys!
Looks like its time to look in to HTPCs, I do have a high-end desktop with i7 processor and Asus mobo with 16GB RAM and 2TB HDDs, (No Graphic Card yet; running fine on inbuild Intel HD Graphics 3000). I have to buy a Blu ray drive as I have only DVD drive in my pc. My question is that; can I replace my Samsung blu ray player if I add a decent blu-ray drive and set this up with required softwares and tools like XBMC and video upscaling plugings etc.. I do have some Blu ray discs, but I also have lots of HD video rips; so thinking towards HTPC way. Please add your comments/ suggestions.

An overkill for HTPC is what you have. Nevertheless take a look at this AnandTech | The Sandy Bridge Review: Intel Core i7-2600K, i5-2500K and Core i3-2100 Tested you will have idea for relative performance benchmarks of i7 with inbuilt HD3000 vs a low end dedicated GPU. So unless gaming is a requirement, I think for normal HD content playback this config should excel. If you have lot of SD content and wish you use custom GPU assisted scaling algorithms like MadVR then you processor will be the best suited one provide you also add a dedicated GPU later on as a upgrade. Also I am not sure how much of 4K video or 3D stereo will be supported on stock HD3000 but in any case you configuration will do fine for HTPC at least upto 2D 1080p.

Regarding your other question about replacing samsung BD Player, it is a wider topic. If you do not have requirements like playing multiple region BDs (especially sourced for US) and / or BD writing or ripping then you would do better with your samsung BDP. Initial BDP capability setup in HTPC is time consuming and you would need to have the patience. If you can source your BDs carefuly so that they are region Free (when purchasing from abroad) or region C (purchased in India) then better stay with BDP.

 

[noblejose]

Thank you haisaikat!
I'm clear that its better to keep my BDP, and probably I'll add a decent dedicated graphic card to make my pc for MadVR and other capabilities as I do have lots of SD content also.

I have some doubts on connectivity part:
What is the best way to connect an HTPC to AV Receiver?
1) Can I just connect my HDMI output to Onkyo receiver and get audio and HD videos through it?
2) does it affect on refresh rate as the pc external monitor output is just 60Hz
3) How to connect my laptop to receiver? (my workstation laptop has a high-end dedicated 2GB nvidia DDR5); I do have HDMI and display port outputs.

 

[haisaikat]

Thank you haisaikat!
I'm clear that its better to keep my BDP, and probably I'll add a decent dedicated graphic card to make my pc for MadVR and other capabilities as I do have lots of SD content also.

I have some doubts on connectivity part:
What is the best way to connect an HTPC to AV Receiver?
1) Can I just connect my HDMI output to Onkyo receiver and get audio and HD videos through it?
2) does it affect on refresh rate as the pc external monitor output is just 60Hz
3) How to connect my laptop to receiver? (my workstation laptop has a high-end dedicated 2GB nvidia DDR5); I do have HDMI and display port outputs.

Regarding questions 1 and 3, take a look at this thread http://www.hifivision.com/home-thea...49996-how-bitstream-hd-audio-htpc-laptop.html before and let me know if you can try out this. In short the HDMI out from your laptop or PC should connect to any of the HDMI inputs of AVR. Regarding question 2, if you are playing 24fps content on 60Hz display then there are judders that will be observed. Try googling around for "3:2 pulldown" and "frame extrapolation"