HTPC based on i3 Sandy Bridge Platform

[khanmadari]

^^ Congratts Man, Good choice hardware. Any reason you went for Intel H67 instead of ASUS H67. ASUS is suppose to have better quality you know. Anyway good it see its up and running and with XBMC as well. Some quality snaps of the setup will highly be appriciated. Now start configuring XBMC per you your needs ..... it has a lot under its sleeves .....

Reason for Intel, it was only available @ lamignton rd, on second thoughts since it is with three year warranty, went for it.

Will take snaps once I am all set with XBMC setup with my choice of Skin and custom inetrface hyeah:

Rajesh

 

[sam9s]

Wow Congrats on your purchase... do share your movie and audio experience...

@Sam - Is 2100t processor in Nehru place? I am planning to go there tomorrow incase its available there. Wana start building this now. N yes I am inclined towards the i3 than fusion (for the sake on future proofing as well as installing Mac OS on the system for office work).

The only thing that I am unsure is do I get coaxial out from the MOBO and if yes which mATX Mobo to opt for? Lastly which Cabinet to buy.

Thanks.
Vishu

Yes its available. No issues and Yes you do get coaxial out. But why ain't you prefering HDMI.

Sent from my Desire HD using Tapatalk

 

[Vishu_fbd]

Well the hdmi out will go into tv and coaxial to my onkyo. Am i missing a link here?

Also i checked with 2-3 dealers in nehru place none seem to stock 2100t. Infact no one has heard abt it!

 

[khanmadari]

Well the hdmi out will go into tv and coaxial to my onkyo. Am i missing a link here?

Also i checked with 2-3 dealers in nehru place none seem to stock 2100t. Infact no one has heard abt it!

If I am not wrong your receiver model accepts 2 HDMI inputs,
So why you need Coax to carry audio signal to receiver, you can send as well through HDMI.

If your receiver dont have HDMI then, all H67 MOBO can carry digital audio output either in Toshlink or Coax depending on their port options.

Rajesh

 

[Vishu_fbd]

it has hd passthru option. one hd out from htpc wud go into tv and you are suggesting to use 2nd hd out to onkyo

or

sending directly to avr first and then take it to tv?

/V

 

[baijuxavior]

Well the hdmi out will go into tv and coaxial to my onkyo. Am i missing a link here?

Also i checked with 2-3 dealers in nehru place none seem to stock 2100t. Infact no one has heard abt it!

HDMI carries both audio and video. So it is better to connect HDMI output from GPU to your Onkyo AVR and then from AVR to TV using another HDMI cable. Therefore no need for coaxial.

 

[Vishu_fbd]

this is classic chicken and egg situation!

Let me explain why i prefer hdmi out to tv and coaxial (instead of hdmi and optical) to AVR.

Since hdmi carries both audio and video, in scenarios where I do not have to use AVR (for movies and also for my TS+ HD), to keep volume at a sanity level then I use this option. The TV sound is more than sufficient in those cases.

When I need to listen using my HT (on weekends) I use the coaxial out to carry audio. Optical out is the least preferred option since the audio quality is less than coaxial (my own experience says that).

If I directly carry signal to AVR first then I lose out on the flexibility.

Thanks.

 

[sam9s]

Well audio sanity can be maintained, via AVR as well. You can switch the mode to make just the fronts work. Anyway if thats how you wanna work, seems okie. But what when you want the HD Audio. Coaxial does not carry HD audio. You have to use HDMI in that scenario ....

 

[khanmadari]

few snaps of HT setup with XBMC

 

[baijuxavior]

Rocking bro!

 

[baijuxavior]

Please post pics showing your rig clearly. A little more light is needed.

 

[khanmadari]

Biaju, I have taken few snaps but still in camera will upload it over week end.

 

[sam9s]

Also i checked with 2-3 dealers in nehru place none seem to stock 2100t. Infact no one has heard abt it!

Try SMC International, Cost To Cost ......

 

[khanmadari]

uploading few detail pics as advised by Baiju..

 

[khanmadari]

Yesterday, explored Boxee TV, My initial impressions

1. they have quite good collections of online movie collection and TV shows ( I think some Khan plugin)
2. Quite good impressive interface for displaying your own collections and retrieve movie information from web.
2. Capability to stream DD, DTS, DTS MA, DD HD. ( I could stream DTS signal) need to try out DTS MA.

Downside

Some how I was not able to see any video though there was DTS audio signal coming out from my receiver.

Tried to explore if there are any additional CODECS required and how do I use already installed on my HTPC, but still no success so far.

Let me know if any one of you folks have tried out.

Regards
Rajesh

 

[Paul joseph]

Re: Z68 Mobo

where can i find Z68 mother board