I have started this thread for anything that you want to discuss on my HTPC build that has just been posted on the projects area.

Harris

Link to Project: http://www.projecthtpc.co.uk/project1.html

Hi Charris,

Great setup you have there and very well written explanation of components and features. I will have to have a look at the mymovies software as BD & HD-DVD playback from HDD is a pain at the moment.

Have you tried the Prestige and Ghost in the Shell innocence BDs? I can only get these to play in PowerDVD by loading them as an ISO in Daemon tools. Otherwise I get an error in PowerDVD. (Yes I use AnyDVD HD).

Do I understand correctly that you only use Theatretek because PowerDVD doesn't work completely by your remote (mouse needs to be used)?

I used TheatreTek for a while but got fed up with it hanging and moved onto PowerDVD. Do you think it is better for DVD playbac that PowerDVD?

I probably have a ton more questions but I better let you answer these first

Impressive & informative Thanks Charris

Well written, and educative Charris. Nice one geezer Phil...have you tried win dvd 8 japanese version? It plays both formats without a problem.

Hi to all. Thank you for all your kind words. This is a very nice site/forum and I am proud to be a member of it.



I have tried the Prestige last night and it works. I played it from the BD not from the hard disk. I will rip it later but its should normally play OK from the hard disk also. I do not have Ghost in Shell.



I have started and I am still using Theatertek because of the excellent picture quality it offers. When used with a good Nvidia card and the top settings selected (VMR9 e.t.c) I found it to be better than some of the best high-end stand alone DVD players. It is much better in my opinion than powerdvd.

The added bonus of theaterek is excellent integration with mymovies and totally remote controllable.


I think for those with projectors BD and HD-DVD is a must. I am still not sure if it is worth it on a 42" 1024 x 768 plama but on a projector, even a 720p, the difference between them and DVD is huge. I was watching last night the Nip Tuck series on DVD. It is a really bad DVD transfer so much that I started thinking that my projector is not that good and it needs replacement. Then I put in The Prestige BD. It was like I was using a differnet projector and the picture quality was almost cinema film like!!! It was so good that I watched the whole film again!!!


nimiq1,

I just so your setup over at AV and I would like to congratulate you on this great achievement. I am a lot into home automation at the moment and I would like to ask if you did the Crestron setup yourself or if you used a pro to do it? How do you find it? What have you automated?

Great stuff, gives me plenty of ideas! One concern I have though is the xbox 360 drive. I heard the unit was being blacklisted and no HD-DVD's past the end of April would play. Did this materialize at all?

From what I am reading no. I have not found a single HD-DVD and BD that can not be played. I have tried around 60 so far. I have tried Alpha Dog HD-DVD which was released on 30 of April and is working. Also from what I have been reading the Matrix Trilogy which is one of the newest one works. As long as Slysoft is doing their work and they are providing their weekly updates to anydvd HD everything should be fine.

Tikanis Charris thx for the comments. It was done by a pro, didn't want to mess it up really, and everything is automated at the moment

I couldn't agree more, except for the occasional glitch or macroblocking, SkyHD material is as good to my eye as BD. I sit about 12 feet away from the screen too so even a 1080p display of this size would make no difference.

However my fascination with BD is more on the audio side. Ok I will get a PJ some time in the future, next year a nice JVC HD1 would be nice, but the uncompressed sound is something I can enjoy now and I have always been more exited by good sound rather than a good/large picture.

Just out of interest, why do you used analogue and digital connections for DVD and BD content, can't you use analogue for all of them?

Thanks,

Adam

I just visited the mymovies site and it states there won't be any support for Vista x64 this year by the looks of it. Shame, it sounds like a great plugin.

Perhaps it's time to switch to x32, as that is the one most people are using and is less of an hassle

I haven't really had any hassle with it, other than that typical of changing OS. This is the first thing I am really interested in that isn't supported yet. Besides I am not buying another copy of Vista just for one plugin.

Where there is a way, there is a way and all that, if you know what I mean