HTPC WIP: Quick Q&A

L31mr0d

Ok i'm in the process of building a HTPC/Console replacement setup at home.

I've bought the TV (Hitachi 42PD 9700U) and the stand looks pretty much like this one.

Currently I have my sig rig hooked up to it from my PC's DVI output to the VGA input on the TV. Currently I have the TV's resolution at 1366x768 (WXGA) although the screen is specced at 1080i (i.e. 1024 x 1080) This appears slightly blurry, but only from closer than 1ft.

The HTPC will be made mostly from parts in my current rig as i'm building a new one. Here are the full specs anyway.

CPU: Opteron 165
Cooler: Zalman CNPS8000
RAM: 2GB Mushkin eXtreme
MOBO: Asrock mATX 939NF6G
GFX: 7900GTX
HDD: 1 x 500GB WD SATA2
SOUND: Unknown
PSU: Corsair 520w
Optical: Unknown
Case: Unknown
K&M: Logitech Cordless Desktop S510
Gaming controller: Logitech Cordless Rumblepad 2

No my questions are.

1. Should I stick with the onboard sound on the mobo or invest in a PCI sound card?
2. Should I buy a current cheap DVD-RW or wait to buy a HD-DVD/Bluray player?
3. What kind of case should I go for? One like this? Or one like this?
4. Should I bother investing in something like this remote setup?
5. What cable should I use to connect to the TV to get the best reception? Should I stick with the DVI to VGA adapter? Or should I look for a DVI to HDMI adapter? What would be better for running off the PC?

All help is appreciated.

subway

1: depends on your speakers, if its just stereo speakers the built in sound should suffice. if its an external decoder and the onboard does spdif passthrough its also fine.
if your going anolog to a 5.1 system, then get a decent pci soundcard
an audigy 2 zs will suit your needs and shoukd cost around 20-25 euro
2: if you no hd-dvds just get a dvd-rw, there only 30euro, upgrade when youve decided on a format (also theres a hd dvd thread in this forum about how they dont work in mce generally)
3: eh, whichever you prefer, its your front room
4: its nice, but mce does everything onscreen anyway. i have an led display on my sound system and i wish i could turn it off
5: not sure, if the native res is 1366x678 you should run at that
1080i is 1920x1080 so it will just be shrunk to fit on to your screen

L31mr0d

subway wrote:

1: depends on your speakers, if its just stereo speakers the built in sound should suffice. if its an external decoder and the onboard does spdif passthrough its also fine.
if your going anolog to a 5.1 system, then get a decent pci soundcard
an audigy 2 zs will suit your needs and shoukd cost around 20-25 euro
2: if you no hd-dvds just get a dvd-rw, there only 30euro, upgrade when youve decided on a format (also theres a hd dvd thread in this forum about how they dont work in mce generally)
3: eh, whichever you prefer, its your front room
4: its nice, but mce does everything onscreen anyway. i have an led display on my sound system and i wish i could turn it off
5: not sure, if the native res is 1366x678 you should run at that
1080i is 1920x1080 so it will just be shrunk to fit on to your screen

Thanks for that. In reply

1. That reminds me, i'm going to need to get a 5.1 surround sound set as well. What ones would you recommend? How could I set it so that I could get surround sound from my TV, DVD player (if seperate) and PC without having to switch cables, would this be by using an external decoder? What is SPDIF passthrough, does this mean all the sound gets routed to an external sound card?

2. The thing is i'm going to be wanted to watch HD DVDs on this TV as they come out to make full use of it. Is it possible to buy and download HD DVD's yet?

3. Why i'm asking is which would suit my needs better, option 2 is more square so I was thinking I could fit the woofer in beside it, but then I don't know which would make more sense for the stand I bought.

4. I asked about the remote because i'm wondering how to interface with the PC when flicking between movies and music? I've tried the MS keyboard and remote and didn't like them. What do you use to pause/play/ff/rw movies?

5. This TV has an odd native res. It's not full 1080i, rather 1024x1080

subway

i use a logitech z-5400 set.
its very much a mid-end setup, but puts out aroun 350 watts and does dts and dolby
it has 3 stereo inputs, 1 coaxial and 2 optical inputs.
it has its own remote for switching between the inputs.

you can buy hd-dvds afaik but i havent made the move to hd yet so my knowledge is limited. i dont need a flat screen tv and prefer a crt image for regular tv so am not yet prepared to make a purchase. someone else should be able to help out here.

i prefer the oblong shape as i can stack stuff up on top of it, hasve a think about how your going to lay it all out

i use the ms remote, it does everything and i think its a lot better than many others.
take a look at some of the harmony remotes on komplett.ie for a high-end alternative

in terms of cabling, if vga can get the correct resolutiion and frequency for your tv then stick with that

8T8

For HD-DVD's not to much point in repeating myself so take a look at this thread.

The PC you have is powerful enough to decode HD-DVD's though so you can ignore that topic on the thread.

I use the MS remote as well I think it works great but you can get replacements from Logitech that may feel different.

The weird resolution is normal for a plasma TV they do not often the same resolution standards as LCD HDTV's and use an internal scaler to output the content onto the display even if it isn't actually capable of displaying a true resolution. Sort of the same deal with 720p LCD HDTV's that support 1080i.

If using the VGA input it may or may not limit the resolution of the display to PC resolutions try 1280x720 as a resolution as the display is a native 16:9 model or the 1024x1080 if you can force it but Plasma's are different to LCD so the text problem may not be that as big of a deal it is with LCD.

L31mr0d

I've been recommended on another forum to use the HDMI connection instead of the VGA connection. Would you also agree with this? Would I be able to use the same resolution when using HDMI?

Also, I went looking for a DVI to HDMI cable and i've come across this question.

A simple adapter from DVI to HDMI costs €4.87, yet a cable that goes from DVI to HDMI costs a ridiculous €60.03? Whats with the huge cost difference and which would I be better off going for? Would the simple adapter be just as good as the cable?

SouperComputer

HDMI just carries a DVI signal along with digital audio if required. Do you have a HDMI cable? They arent so cheap, which is probably why the cable is more expensive.

In terms of quality, its a digital signal so it either comes through or it doesnt. If you plan going long lengths however, you may want to consider higher copper-content cables.

mathias

I have This and it works fine , its a digital signal , there is no need for expensive cables like analog , unless you plan on running very long distances and certainly not for a minute distance like 1.5 metres as in your link !!

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=316699

L31mr0d

Ok, I bought a DVI to HDMI cable from Argos there the other day. I'm having a bit of trouble getting the TV image as crisp as it was through the VGA connection though. One quick question. If I run a 720P avi over the VGA connector and my screen res is 1366x768, will the video be displayed at true 720P? Also, If I have a 1080i video and run it over the VGA, will my computer scale it down to 720P?

SouperComputer

L31mr0d wrote:

Ok, I bought a DVI to HDMI cable from Argos there the other day. I'm having a bit of trouble getting the TV image as crisp as it was through the VGA connection though. One quick question. If I run a 720P avi over the VGA connector and my screen res is 1366x768, will the video be displayed at true 720P? Also, If I have a 1080i video and run it over the VGA, will my computer scale it down to 720P?

TBH, find out what the native resolution of the actual panel is and set the res to that. Anything else is a compromise.

L31mr0d

the native res is 1024x1080... but its supposed to downscale well from true 1080i (1920×1080)

I messed around with the settings a little last night and the screen setup pretty good at 1080i, the text is readable and movies and games look a lot better than on the VGA connection (something weird was happening when connected via VGA, it was like some colours couldn't be displayed, so they where sorta rasterized, like when you look up close to colours on a bill board) this isn't happening any more over the HDMI connection, the blacks also look a lot deeper.

But, like always, i've run into one niggling problem... there seems to be a flicker around the edges of windows and icons on their horizontal lines. At first I though it was a simple refresh problem, but my TV only has 2 settings, 50hz and 60hz, both of which don't resolve the problem. Does anyone else know of another possible solution to this?