PC or Laptop as source for A/V receiver

[bhaskie]

Further, I also require your suggestion on a "Lens based Projector" that I've found in eBay:

eBay India: 150" TV BIG SCREEN HOME CINEMA PROJECTOR <LENS KIT> DIY (item 250346508937 end time 29-Dec-2008 14:09:45 IST)

Please advice on this as well.

Thanks,

Nitin.

The seller has 0% +ve feedback and negative points. The kit costs a thousand bucks. Absolutely ridiculous.

Look what the product claims (pasted below) - don't even bother clicking the link my 0.02

"Simply put, it is a Projection unit that when attached to your ordinary TV will project the image up to sizes of 150". Our kit is designed so that your image can be ANY size up to 150". Anyone can build this kit. In fact, my kids have built one for the garage and it is truley amazing."

 

[thevortex]

Please tell me your HTPC configuration, i.e. motherboard, CPU, RAM etc.

Would I require a high end processor such as a 3GHz for blu-ray/HD playback?

How would you rate the Intel DG45ID motherboard, that comes with HD sound, HDMI?
Intel Desktop Board DG45ID - Overview

Thanks,

Nitin.

I dont know if you still need the full configuration. Anyway here goes:

Gigabyte MA78GM S2H mobo
AMD Athlon 64 X25400+ (you can even go for a 5000+)
1 GB DDR 667Hz RAM
500 GB Seagate Hard disk
ASUS Xonar D2X sound card
Antec NSK4480 cabinet with matching 80+ rated power supply
Samsung DVD combo drive
I am still hunting for a quality TV Tuner card. I have narrowed it down to Hauppage but it is not available in Chennai, I am told. I am having to look around.

 

[unleash_me]

...How do you rate the performance of this sound card? I have an IBM T60 laptop as well. My concern is because I've noticed quality difference between cd/dvd players and sound cards in audio quality - could be because I was using the onboard sound card. How would you compare a hardware player based against this sound card?

Where is this item available at Bangalore and how much did you buy it for?

Hello Nitin,

My reason to pick up this particular card was purely for getting an optial out since my laptop dint have one. However the card is pretty decent for laptop applications. It cost me around 4k from Golcha Computers (08022213509/08041146173/08022278811/08022998403 and 9845048112)

I have tried the M-Audio Transit borrowed from a friend. It was very impressive but dint fit the bill for me cuz of its size.

Recently I came across WD TV HD Media Player ( WDAVN00 ) this one. Will try it shortly.

Cheers.

 

[nitinbose]

Hello Nitin,

My reason to pick up this particular card was purely for getting an optial out since my laptop dint have one. However the card is pretty decent for laptop applications. It cost me around 4k from Golcha Computers (08022213509/08041146173/08022278811/08022998403 and 9845048112)

I have tried the M-Audio Transit borrowed from a friend. It was very impressive but dint fit the bill for me cuz of its size.

Recently I came across WD TV HD Media Player ( WDAVN00 ) this one. Will try it shortly.

Cheers.

Hi,

The Western Digital media player seems very promising. Any idea of its availability and cost?

Thanks,

Nitin.

 

[bhaskie]

I dont know if you still need the full configuration. Anyway here goes:

Gigabyte MA78GM S2H mobo
AMD Athlon 64 X25400+ (you can even go for a 5000+)
1 GB DDR 667Hz RAM
500 GB Seagate Hard disk
ASUS Xonar D2X sound card
Antec NSK4480 cabinet with matching 80+ rated power supply
Samsung DVD combo drive
I am still hunting for a quality TV Tuner card. I have narrowed it down to Hauppage but it is not available in Chennai, I am told. I am having to look around.

Here's mine (1 yr old):
I got the same mobo with AMD64 X2 4800+ (got the cpu for 3.5K last feb)
2x1GB 800MHz DDR (enough memory, costs arnd 2K)
Coolermaster 600W power supply + antibiotics cabinet (the antec was more expensive!) - remember PSU is very important!
2x500gigs SATA HDD + 320 IDE HDD + 200GB external
2 SATA DVD drives

For blu-ray playback, am planning to get these:
Blu-ray SATA drive - Pioneer BDC-2202B 5x Blu-ray ($105) or Sony BDUX10S SATA Blu-ray
Auzentech x-fi HD 7.1 when it gets launched (hopefully this jan end) or
Asus Xonar D2X

Nitin, do remember that getting a pci-e sound card or blu-ray drive might be too early now. moreover bluray discs are way too expensive now, and availability is an issue as well.

 

[thevortex]

XX does not support ASIO.

I prefer FoobarASIO with my setup.

I assume you are talking about XXHighEnd player. It is my understanding that XXHighend makes sense only if you use it with Vista. Since I have no intentions of spoiling my computing experience with Vista I have not experimented too much with that player.

 

[thevortex]

Here's mine (1 yr old):
I got the same mobo with AMD64 X2 4800+ (got the cpu for 3.5K last feb)
2x1GB 800MHz DDR (enough memory, costs arnd 2K)
Coolermaster 600W power supply + antibiotics cabinet (the antec was more expensive!) - remember PSU is very important!
2x500gigs SATA HDD + 320 IDE HDD + 200GB external
2 SATA DVD drives

For blu-ray playback, am planning to get these:
Blu-ray SATA drive - Pioneer BDC-2202B 5x Blu-ray ($105) or Sony BDUX10S SATA Blu-ray
Auzentech x-fi HD 7.1 when it gets launched (hopefully this jan end) or
Asus Xonar D2X

Nitin, do remember that getting a pci-e sound card or blu-ray drive might be too early now. moreover bluray discs are way too expensive now, and availability is an issue as well.

The Azuntech x-fi is still a Creative x-fi chip at its core. Also unless you are using Vista and are using the HTPC for playing games, the Xonar still beats the Azuntech on pure musical experience.

Did you take a look at the Xonar HDAV 1.3 deluxe. That might fit the bill for your HD playback requirements. I am not sure that the Xonar D2x on its own can handle True HD audio.

 

[thevortex]

Hello Nitin,

My reason to pick up this particular card was purely for getting an optial out since my laptop dint have one. However the card is pretty decent for laptop applications. It cost me around 4k from Golcha Computers (08022213509/08041146173/08022278811/08022998403 and 9845048112)

I have tried the M-Audio Transit borrowed from a friend. It was very impressive but dint fit the bill for me cuz of its size.

Recently I came across WD TV HD Media Player ( WDAVN00 ) this one. Will try it shortly.

Cheers.

I am curious about one thing. If you already do have a HTPC or a laptop why would you buy the WD TV HD Media player?

With all the codecs installed the PC itself should be able to handle most file format right out of the box. It should then only be a question of adding hard drive space, should it not? I hope I am not missing some crucial thing here.

 

[nitinbose]

I am curious about one thing. If you already do have a HTPC or a laptop why would you buy the WD TV HD Media player?

With all the codecs installed the PC itself should be able to handle most file format right out of the box. It should then only be a question of adding hard drive space, should it not? I hope I am not missing some crucial thing here.

The WD TV HD media player comes with about 1TB of storage, so what you have to do is to connnect to a PC/Laptop, copy your a/v content, and then connect the media player to a TV/LCD screen & A/V receiver and enjoy full HD audio and video.

As you mentioned a PC has all the codecs installed, however we have to opt for a high quality audio card and graphics card or the ASUS card mentioned earlier in this discussion. Along with the other components, the price shoots upto 30K!!!

While the media player should cost not more than 10K in India.

 

[bhaskie]

The Azuntech x-fi is still a Creative x-fi chip at its core. Also unless you are using Vista and are using the HTPC for playing games, the Xonar still beats the Azuntech on pure musical experience.

Did you take a look at the Xonar HDAV 1.3 deluxe. That might fit the bill for your HD playback requirements. I am not sure that the Xonar D2x on its own can handle True HD audio.

This is a new card from Auzentech. Flagship model at $250, and its not yet launched (tentative date end of jan).
It is an HDMI 1.3-native PCI Express Audio Combo Card, unlike the Xonar D2X, which has a pci-to-pciExpress bridge chipset. Let's see whether this card is able to live upto its expectations google "Auzentech x-fi HD 7.1" for more on this card.

Right now all I am bothered about is the audio from the PC. The Gigabyte Mobo's ALC889A resamples all audio before passing through HDMI right?
So if I get the Xonar D2X, I can use its analog outs. I checked and the DAC's used in the Xonar are much better than than the Denon 1909, in fact as good as the denon AVR's coming at 100K!

Blu-ray is very uncertain, I don't think I can get blu-ray discs for cheap at least for a year or two, and I am very happy streaming h264 through the HDMI out of the MoBo. My 720p display cant ask for more!
So my main concern is audio, hence the D2X instead of the HDAV. I am willing to wait for another 6 months before the blu-ray playback PC market matures, with stable drivers, and good OS support. A lot of issues seen with the xonar HDAV drivers as well (I guess thats for vista, which I dont use anyway).

 

[thevortex]

The WD TV HD media player comes with about 1TB of storage, so what you have to do is to connnect to a PC/Laptop, copy your a/v content, and then connect the media player to a TV/LCD screen & A/V receiver and enjoy full HD audio and video.

As you mentioned a PC has all the codecs installed, however we have to opt for a high quality audio card and graphics card or the ASUS card mentioned earlier in this discussion. Along with the other components, the price shoots upto 30K!!!

While the media player should cost not more than 10K in India.

Does the media player have a sound card installed within? I doubt it. And does the media player do some sort of upscaling? I again doubt it.

If the above two questions are answered in the negative there is no reason at all to get the media player. At least none that I see.

Also it is not at all essential to have a high quality graphics card to enjoy even Full HD content on your LCD or Plasma TV. Come to think of it there are even mobos offering SPDIF out through an onboard connection. That means you are all set to connect it to your AVR and go.

 

[thevortex]

This is a new card from Auzentech. Flagship model at $250, and its not yet launched (tentative date end of jan).
It is an HDMI 1.3-native PCI Express Audio Combo Card, unlike the Xonar D2X, which has a pci-to-pciExpress bridge chipset. Let's see whether this card is able to live upto its expectations google "Auzentech x-fi HD 7.1" for more on this card.

Right now all I am bothered about is the audio from the PC. The Gigabyte Mobo's ALC889A resamples all audio before passing through HDMI right?
So if I get the Xonar D2X, I can use its analog outs. I checked and the DAC's used in the Xonar are much better than than the Denon 1909, in fact as good as the denon AVR's coming at 100K!

Blu-ray is very uncertain, I don't think I can get blu-ray discs for cheap at least for a year or two, and I am very happy streaming h264 through the HDMI out of the MoBo. My 720p display cant ask for more!
So my main concern is audio, hence the D2X instead of the HDAV. I am willing to wait for another 6 months before the blu-ray playback PC market matures, with stable drivers, and good OS support. A lot of issues seen with the xonar HDAV drivers as well (I guess thats for vista, which I dont use anyway).

I will check up on that Azuntech model. I actually did check the Chennai market a lot for the Azuntech Prelude card but in vain. Please do check if they are available at your location. Bangalore, right?

About HDMI out, I am not quite sure the Xonar D2X can transfer audio through HDMI on the mobo. It has got optical and coaxial outs and then the analogue outs. If you use the analogue outs then the HDMI would only carry picture.

I think thats the way to go unless you want to experience Dolby Digital or DTS encoding on any non-encoded content.

 

[unleash_me]

I am curious about one thing. If you already do have a HTPC or a laptop why would you buy the WD TV HD Media player?

I was merely mentioning about my interest in the product, not really suggesting nitin to consider the same.

 

[bhaskie]

I will check up on that Azuntech model. I actually did check the Chennai market a lot for the Azuntech Prelude card but in vain. Please do check if they are available at your location. Bangalore, right?

About HDMI out, I am not quite sure the Xonar D2X can transfer audio through HDMI on the mobo. It has got optical and coaxial outs and then the analogue outs. If you use the analogue outs then the HDMI would only carry picture.

I think thats the way to go unless you want to experience Dolby Digital or DTS encoding on any non-encoded content.

The quality of sound is :
Xonar D2X > Xonar HDAV 1.3 Deluxe > Auzentech's X-Fi Prelude

Let's see where the "Auzentech x-fi HD 7.1" fits.

So I am really interested in the D2X since it's audio out is the best and its available for cheap (Rs 9k). I don't give two hoots to bluray support now honestly. with not a single bluray in my collection, I would rather improve on what I have currently
Yes, I will be using the analogue outs of the D2X instead of the coaxial/optical out since the quality of the eight-channel analogue audio of this card is supposed to be amazingly good (you've confirmed that as well )

I am from Delhi, so I can get these Asus xonars from the distributers at nehru place. Shouldn't be a problem. However, I am planning to get them from US since they are cheaper.

Thanks a lot!
~bhaskie

 

[thevortex]

The quality of sound is :
Xonar D2X > Xonar HDAV 1.3 Deluxe > Auzentech's X-Fi Prelude

Let's see where the "Auzentech x-fi HD 7.1" fits.

So I am really interested in the D2X since it's audio out is the best and its available for cheap (Rs 9k). I don't give two hoots to bluray support now honestly. with not a single bluray in my collection, I would rather improve on what I have currently
Yes, I will be using the analogue outs of the D2X instead of the coaxial/optical out since the quality of the eight-channel analogue audio of this card is supposed to be amazingly good (you've confirmed that as well )

I am from Delhi, so I can get these Asus xonars from the distributers at nehru place. Shouldn't be a problem. However, I am planning to get them from US since they are cheaper.

Thanks a lot!
~bhaskie

So the HDAV cards lose out in audio quality to the D2X? That is news to me. If people are into listening to music on headphones I understand that the Xonar Essence is the card to look at.

Good luck with the purchase, Bhaskie.

 

[thevortex]

Couple of quick corrections.

The WD player comes with no hard disk, it can accept up to 1Gb 3.5" desktop hard drive.

The X-fi and most onboard chipsets operate at 48KHz for their DSP - so for most video content with AC3/DTS the output is essentially bit-perfect. CD Audio is resampled, but for those running compressed music, this is not a big deal right? After all, most get it free of cost. Once you start buying music, you will invest in hardware to play it in bit-perfect mode.

Which neither the X-fi nor the Auzentech cards can, at least not today. This resampling is the only reason that Creative cards still lag behind Asus as far as overall SQ is concerned. Really, if you're not gaming and want high-quality sound with an SPDIF output, I see no reason to not get the Emu 0404 PCI or similar, with two high quality analog outputs and a bit-perfect digital pass-through for all video content, at all bitrates.

Finally, XX does work on both XP and Vista. Vista does support ASIO at some performance penalty, and since I use my machines for recording and production as well, I'm sticking to XP myself too, thank you very much.

The Auzentech Prelude does resample to 96 Khz I believe. But the Xonar does upsampling upto 196 Kz. But of course it can be argued that the difference aurally is not very great. Although I do think I can hear a slightly more well rounded sound when in 192 Khz.

About the sound cards if we really want for the receiver to do most of the work by using an SPDIF output then we really do not need to buy a high end soundcard, I guess. It is the analogue outs which make a difference.

About the sticking to XP decision - I am with you. No brainer if you ask me