Projects
HTPC build by charris
I have managed to build and use a computer
(HTPC) for dvd playback that can exceed in picture quality most of the high end
dvd players that I compared it to. I have been using that for two years and the
amazing picture quality and also the added bonus of having all your dvds ripped
on hard disks and playing them at the press of a button through my movies (www.mymovies.name) ,
left my Lexicon RT-10 and Denon 3910 unused. The key to perfect upscaled dvd playback
is Theatertek (www.theatertek.com)
and using an Nvidia card (7600 and higher).
I have just upgraded though to an M-Audio
Revolution soundcard which has better output and the sound improved quite a bit.
The good thing is that
using the motherboard’s onboard audio both outputs work at the same
time so changing from Dolby Digital (DVD) to DolbyTrueHD and PCM (HD-DVDs and BDs)
is just a button press on my processor.
Now that I am using the M-Audio soundcard
I have it default to the analogue 5.1 output so it is ready for Powerdvd. When I
watch the a DVD in Theatertek I have the audio option to spdif and Theatertek can
bypass the default Windows (soundcard) option (5.1 analogue) and use the spdif output.
Now with the release of Cyberlink PowerDVD Ultra 7.3 I have added the Xbox360 drive
and the LG DB drive to the same pc and everything works perfectly and I can get
excellent picture quality from the hd formats as well. The picture is as good as
the hd stand alone players and the software can decode Dolby TrueHD and DTS HD.
You need also to buy the Anydvd HD from Slysoft which removes region coding on BDs
(big advantage to the stand alone players), HDCP protection and also lets you rip
the HD-DVDs and BDs to your hard-disks.
I have tested about 20 HD-DVDs and about 20 BDs (regions A and B) and they all work
perfectly.
Also mymovies is being updated at the moment so that you if you rip your HD-DVDs
and BDs you can catalogue them as you do with your dvds and play them at the press
of a button but instead of launching Theatertek you will be launching Powerdvd.
For audio I had been using the SPDIF of my motherboard (toslink is preferable for
pcs) for dvds in theatertek so that my processor does the decoding, and the 6 analogue
outputs for the HD formats so that Powerdvd does the decoding.
For HD-DVD/BD I use Powerdvd Ultra 7.3. This software will decode the HD audio formats
(Dolby Digital+, Dolby TrueHD and DTS HD) and will output LPCM using analog to the
amp/processor. The only thing you need is an amp/processor with 5.1/7.1 analog inputs.
You will need three cables for this: the cables have one 3.5mm headphone jack at
one end and two RCA jacks at the other end.
I believe anybody that is comfortable with pc’s should consider the above solution.
As i mentioned the picture quality (PQ) is exceptional and also the cost of the
Xbox HD-DVD drive is quite small (you will need Powerdvd ultra 7.3 and Anydvd HD
though). The BD drives are quite expensive but I heard rumours some cheaper (half-price)
ones are coming out in a month.