JonDeutsch

[JonDeutsch]

[quote=mikinho]

For 24p playback, you no longer need to disable UAC.  See 24p Works on Intel Sandy Bridge With UAC Enabled.  Make sure you apply the BIOS properly.

Did you change the MP4 decoder?

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That’s good news.  I might do that, but since I’m OK without UAC enabled, do I still need to update the BIOS to get better 24p support?  Or am I OK as-is right now with an older bios (from 3/1/11)?

Did I change the MP4 decoder… um, I’m not sure.  I would have presumed that Shark007 might have done something, but I’m not a codec expert.   The MP4s (CNET VideoPodcasts, etc.) always looked choppy before and after I installed Shark007 codecs, so I’m guessing this is the default media player codecs in action.

Does this make sense?

Thx.
Jon

[JonDeutsch]

Hi NightCactus,

Thanks for the reply.  (BTW, form masters… I did not get an email notification that there was a response!).

I have recently installed a codec pack to play back my MKVs.   I use Shark007 codecs as well (32 and 64 bit both installed).   I had a lot of problems initially with getting my DTS to play back with MKVs as well as DVR content.  But when I finally clicked on the checkbox at the bottom for Shark007 suggested settings, most things seemed to start working.  I play very little MKVs, so I haven’t focused much on them.  But in my brief tests, I saw no significant video playback problems.

Do you think the 24fps stuff can be resolved via Shark007?  I wasn’t aware that it would/could actually affect ‘traditional” DVR content, etc.  (I suppose I should have guessed that it could based on the fact that, poorly configured, I lost my DTS/DD playback).

I am going HDMI directly to my Sony SXRD TV.  I do have a pre/pro processing the audio, but not the video, as it has no HDMI switching built in (it’s “old”).

I have also checked the WMC settings and I am at the proper refresh rate and resolution… good idea though!

So… do you think my hiccups with DVR are based on Shark007 settings?  Is that possible?  There is just something funny with WMC coming out of pause and recovering from a 7 second jump forward (going backward seems to be A-OK). 

And the 24fps thing… you have Shark007 totally fixing that?  What are your settings?

Thanks!

Jon

[JonDeutsch]

Hi Greg,

Thanks for the idea.  Actually, it’s quite interesting to think of a laptop as an HTPC.  After all, it is small.  My concern with a laptop would be the fan noise.  Esp under load, there’s not a whole lot you can do if the fan gets loud (like fans on my current laptops tend to get).

Also, it would mean external tuner cards (which isn’t the end of the world), but still…

[JonDeutsch]

Hi Aaron,

Thanks for the reply.  I read on a few boards that the HD 2000 made WMC’s interface choppy at times.  That scared me away from that chip.  

re: SATA III HD… I was wondering more about if SATA III @ 5200RPM would be equiv speed of a SATA II @7200RPM.   Also, wondering if “intellipower” is truly 5200RPM or is it truly variable?

In the reviews of the chassis, they highly recommend a modular PSU, which is why I keep on trying to lock that part of things in place.  But I agree there’s a big savings there if I could feel comfy with non-modular with the Silverstone.

 

[JonDeutsch]

OK, based on this conversation, I’ve updated my shopping list:

• SILVERSTONE GRANDIA GD04B 
• Intel BOXDH67BLB3 LGA 1155 Intel H67 Mobo
• Ceton InfiniTV 4 Quad-tuner Card 
• SeaSonic X series SS-400FL Active PFC F3 400W ATX12V Fanless 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular 
• Intel Core i3-2105 Sandy Bridge 3.1GHz LGA 1155 65W Dual-Core 
• Crucial M4 CT064M4SSD2 2.5″ 64GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
• G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666)
• Western Digital Caviar Green WD20EARX 2TB SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5″
• ASUS Black Blu-ray Drive SATA Model BC-12B1ST/BLK/B/AS – OEM
• GELID Solutions FN-PX12-15 120mm Case Fan with Intelligent PWM control
• SILVERSTONE NT01-E 2 x 60mm fans (optional) CPU Cooler

 

My hesitations include:

• Going i3 vs. i5, but the lower wattage allows for items like the NT01-E to work (it requires 65W or less CPU).
• Having only 64GB as a boot drive (presuming SATA III would be better than SATA II for SSD?)
• 5200 RPM Green drive.  But at 6gb/sec throughput, does that at all mitigate “INTELLIPOWER”?
• Fanless PSU – would that create airflow issues with the Silverstone case?

Any thoughts/opinions appreciated.  Thx. 

[JonDeutsch]

Any thoughts on how much space a boot drive should really have?  64GB SSDs seem popular enough, but how much does Win7 want/desire without having to have to deal with space management?

And… when Win8 arrives, I want to make sure that my system is ready (including boot drive space) to safely handle the future.  

I think the i3 makes sense from the low-wattage perspective, and I think you both have convinced me to save some money and wattage and go with an i3.  My only concern is that I keep hearing that commercial skip apps desire an i5.  And what about other WMC apps?  Like MyMovies and MediaBrowser.  Would they perform better with that quad-core CPU power?   Or is the i3 all you really need, including all extended WMC functionality?

Thanks,

Jon

[JonDeutsch]

Hi Swoon,

Thanks for the thoughtful reply.  Much appreciated.

You make a compelling case for the SSD.  I think I will go that direction, especially if the guide pops up faster.  My guide delay today drives me nuts.  However, as mentioned above, I’m very concerned about reliability.  From the stats I could gather, Intel is one of the most reliable.  I’m not an Intel fanboy.  I’m a value fanboy. 🙂  But I do not want to substitute value for long-term reliability.   Esp. on a boot drive.  What a hassle to recover from a crashed boot drive!   Any thoughts on this?

Now there are two well-informed people telling me that I can cool down and get an i3 and a lower watt PSU.  That’d be great.  Thanks for the model # recommendation.  I’m not  driven by SeaSonic as much as I’m driven by quietness and reliability.  So any other recommendations for PSUs would be appreciated.

I am also frankly struggling with the chassis decision.  I’d prefer a lower-profile case that only accepts low-profile PCI/e cards.  However, I’m not entirely sure if my existing Aver780 ClearQAM PCI card is low profile or not, and I’m not sure if I want a high quality audio card in the future (like an Auzentech) would be low-profile or not.  I’m just not that in touch with the intricacies of these components, or how accurately they are labeled when it comes to low profile or not.  

Why would I want to keep my Aver780?  Primarily because I want FM radio support. And it looks like the only way to keep FM radio support is to do it via one of these ATSC/ClearQAM cards.  Right?

Thanks!

[quote=swoon]

Hi Jon,

Your choice of motherboard is excellent (I have four of them myself). Especially since you use networking features to communicate with your WHS and potentially networking your InfiniTV, the importance of having a quality NIC like that in the DH67BL can’t be stressed enough. On the surface, it may appear that AMD is cheaper, but buy an add-in NIC and you’ve negated much of the price advantage not to mention lost an expansion slot and potentially limited your chassis choice.

Do you really need the power of the i5-2500k in your HTPC? If you won’t be doing commercial skipping or other CPU-intense activity, then you don’t need that much CPU. An i3-2100 should be plenty without compromising performance.

The SeaSonic supply is excellent, but you don’t need nearly that much wattage unless you’ll be using multiple higher-end gaming-caliber GPUs. It is also going to waste power for your config. Power supply efficiency drops dramatically when load is less than 20%. I recommend you look for something more in the 300 – 400W range. If you want to stick with SeaSonic, take a look at the S12II 380B. You’ll also save quite a bit.

Intel is a fine choice for SSD. If you want to cut off $50 (or more), check out the 96GB Kingston V+100 SSD. For HTPC use especially, the performance increases of the more expensive SSDs are not going to be all that noticeable. This model often goes on sale (as you can see from our Hot Deals forum). I use this model for my HTPC with the i3-2100 and DH67BL and I am very happy with it. Boot times are MUCH faster than powering on a cable STB from the off state which measure into the minutes. It is true that SSD is a luxury. It helps with system responsiveness. There is a noticeable improvement when opening guide, accessing anything database related like a movie library, recorded TV history, schedule, etc. I won’t build another HTPC or desktop without one.

The HDD should be fine. If you are doing commercial skip analysis, you should consider a 7200 RPM model.

Unless you have some non-low-profile expansion cards, you may want to consider a low-profile chassis and also one that will allow internal IR.

You didn’t mention DRAM. It is so cheap right now, you should buy 8GB and at minimum 4GB since you are using two extenders.

[/quote]

[JonDeutsch]

Hi RehabMan,

Thanks much for the detailed response.  So, I haven’t done any commercial skipping software to-date, but that’s mostly due to a concern of earlier reports of such tools missing the cues and deleting whole segments of shows.   As I do not want any errors like that, I’m still in the mode of skipping forward through commercials.  If those problems are behind us, then perhaps I should be looking into such software.

If I do, is the Core i5 significantly superior to the i3?

re: SSD.  So, I’ve been reading up on them (it’s all rather new to me), and it seems like the Intels experience the least problems/errors/return rates.  I was a bit freaked out by the more recent OCZ feedback on NewEgg, where a lot of people recently were losing their data!    So, the Intel is significantly more expensive, what I do not want is an unreliable HTPC.  It needs to “just work” for 3-5 years.  Just like an STB.   With that, does that change your recommendation?  Or am I over-reacting to a string of feedback on NewEgg?

re: PSU.  Thanks.  I have completely lost track of what’s needed for the new breed of CPUs and cards.  If you have a specific model # that you recommend that is very quiet and modular (apparently, that Silverstone chassis really works well with modular PSUs), that would be greatly appreciated.

re: RAM.  Oh yeah.  8GB DDR3 RAM is about $50. Need to get that onto the list!  

[quote=RehabMan]

You could save some money going with an i3 instead of the i5, unless you have some specific use for the additional CPU abilities (ie. you plan to do a lot of transcoding, commercial skipping, etc.).  The Sandy Bridge i3 chips… and even to some extent the Sandy Bridge Pentiums are more than capable of normal HTPC duties.

The SSD is definitely a luxury, but it is likely a luxury that you’ll like… a lot.  You might look at some of the OCZ drives, unless you’re stuck on going with Intel.  The Sandforce based Vertex II drives have worked out pretty well for me so far (I also had an Indilynx based Vertex drive that went belly up less than a year — it was replaced on warranty though and is still running fine).

You definitely do not need a 650w power supply.  I’m running 350w Seasonics in a couple of HTPCs and a 400w fanless Seasonic in my main HTPC.  All are still overkill.

When you take out the cost of the Ceton ($300 at newegg.com) you’re down to $700.  Not that I’m suggesting not having the Ceton card… just that it is the most expensive component of the HTPC and makes comparing your cost for the HTPC against what “computers normally cost” difficult.  You’d save about $100 going with an i3 so now you’re down to $600.  The SSD is a $180 luxury, so now you’re down to $420… which is pretty low for a pretty nice PC.

Oh… you’ll need some RAM.

 

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