Shall i buy BD Player or Build HTPC

[haisaikat]

Do you think i will be able to use my present PSU and cabinet?

And by the way what is MC Remote? how much does that cost, any links would be good.

Regarding cabinet, yes, regarding PSU check if these two connectors are there in PSU

Here is an example of MC Remote, will allow you to control your pc using a remote. Many Indian sites have cheaper versions of this too.

Amazon.com: New HP OEM Windows Media Center HTPC MCE PC RC6 IR Remote Control + IR emitter and Infrared Receiver for Windows7 Vista XP Home Premium and Ultimate Edition (Discontinued by Manufacturer): Electronics

 

[dillihifi]

Late to join in but I would also like to ask the FMs regarding the type to format which he has in his collection -

if the majority are rips then it is better to assemble a HTPC which would be more future proof as well as versatile in handling a almost all formats that you through at it. Well with a properly configured HTPC the ease of use is almost unparalled you switch it on it will boot into XBMC / or other media centres and you can browse to your heart content using android / ios remotes.

However if you posses a large no of BDs/disc based media then you should opt for the BDP. My take is you do not need the Oppo if the format you need to play is BDs as the oppo excels in other areas. I wouyld suggest that you buy a good specced player like pioneer/Samsung/lg. Here the player will be less future proof.

 

[nicenicenicee]

Late to join in but I would also like to ask the FMs regarding the type to format which he has in his collection -

if the majority are rips then it is better to assemble a HTPC which would be more future proof as well as versatile in handling a almost all formats that you through at it. Well with a properly configured HTPC the ease of use is almost unparalled you switch it on it will boot into XBMC / or other media centres and you can browse to your heart content using android / ios remotes.

However if you posses a large no of BDs/disc based media then you should opt for the BDP. My take is you do not need the Oppo if the format you need to play is BDs as the oppo excels in other areas. I wouyld suggest that you buy a good specced player like pioneer/Samsung/lg. Here the player will be less future proof.

I plan to keep RIPS, its hassle for me to manage different disks, and scratches, non working disks etc etc.

 

[nicenicenicee]

Regarding cabinet, yes, regarding PSU check if these two connectors are there in PSU

I can see psu has these connectors

 

[haisaikat]

I can see psu has these connectors

then do not think of upgrading your psu as of now, upgrade your rest of the components like mobo and processor and ram. In case you still want an alternative AMD based config let me know

 

[nicenicenicee]

then do not think of upgrading your psu as of now, upgrade your rest of the components like mobo and processor and ram. In case you still want an alternative AMD based config let me know

May i request you to propose AMD config as well, in this same budget if i can go a bit powerful, i would prefer that.

I am not stuck to Intel thing honestly. So would love to get something powerful in same price range.

Thanks

 

[haisaikat]

Here is a AMD config, note that I made some research and saw that for highest madvr settings actually you would need a higher card that what I have suggested you in the Nvidia config previously, may be you would need a 750 TI instead of the 460 I suggested.

Motherboard Rs. 4.5K
Buy MSI A78M-E35 Motherboard Online at Best Prices In India | Flipkart.com

Processor Rs. 5.5 K
Amazon.in: Buy AMD A6-6400K Richland 4.1GHz Socket FM2 65W Dual-Core Desktop Processor AMD Radeon HD AD640KOKHLBOX Online at Low Prices in India | AMD Reviews & Ratings

GPU (you do not need at all unless you want to do high madVR and 3D, even for 3D with medium low madVR you can go with lower versions like R7 240 / 260 at half the price) Rs 9.5K
Buy Sapphire AMD/ATI Radeon R7 260 X 2 GB DDR5 Graphics Card Online at Best Prices In India | Flipkart.com

My suggestion will be that you first assess how much of SD content you have and if it will be really worth to you making the investment.

 

[Ashish6464]

Hello people,
I have a samsung bluray player E 5500 but I am experiencing a problem with that.
when I connect it to my Denon AVR X1000 It does not show anything while playing via Pendrive or HDD. And when i insert a disc I can hear only audio no video. I upgraded the firmware but no success.
So after reading through this post I think I will build a HTPC !
As a amateur in building HTPC I hope to get help from you guys.

So what config HTPC should i build so that its future proof for atleast 4-5 years within 15-20k ?

 

[haisaikat]

Hello people,
I have a samsung bluray player E 5500 but I am experiencing a problem with that.
when I connect it to my Denon AVR X1000 It does not show anything while playing via Pendrive or HDD. And when i insert a disc I can hear only audio no video. I upgraded the firmware but no success.
So after reading through this post I think I will build a HTPC !
As a amateur in building HTPC I hope to get help from you guys.

So what config HTPC should i build so that its future proof for atleast 4-5 years within 15-20k ?

Before you jump onto HTPC I suggest you should first troubleshoot your device problems. I hope you have connected the AVR with BDP via HDMI. Did you try connecting the BDP to TV directly and see if picture and sound is coming normally? You need to first eliminate the role of the AVR in this problem.

 

[Ashish6464]

Yes I am connecting the BDP via HDMI to AVR.
I connected the BDP with TV and its working absolutely fine.
So its the issue with AVR?

 

[haisaikat]

Yes I am connecting the BDP via HDMI to AVR.
I connected the BDP with TV and its working absolutely fine.
So its the issue with AVR?

Looks like it, do one thing since it s a Denon, in the MENU you should have Input setup, see if the HDMI port which you are using to connect AVR if that has the right audio and video channel selected, ideally it should be only set in Video and blank for audio (from my denon 1911 experience). Also try with a different HDMI input on AVR

 

[Ashish6464]

I had tried with different HDMI input on AVR but no success.
Will try the setting part on weekend as I am in other city right now.
Will update with the results.
Mean while If you would suggest the config for HTPC it will be great so that i can search for the parts and ask a friend to assemble for me.

 

[haisaikat]

Mean while If you would suggest the config for HTPC it will be great so that i can search for the parts and ask a friend to assemble for me.

What is your budget? And what is the majority of content you have from below which you intend to play using the HTPC
1. DVDs
2. BDs
3. downloaded HD content
4. downloaded SD content
5. Audio CDs
6. Ripped mp3
7. Ripped FLAC/WAV / Lossless Audio

 

[Ashish6464]

Budget is around 15-18K
Most of my content is downloaded HD and HDX few SD and few DVD, BDs and ripped mp3

I did a little research and found these combo CPU

1) intel celeron 1037 Benchmark 1774
2) Intel celeron 1037 benchmark 1774
3) AMD A4-4000
4) Intel Quad-core Celeron J1900 benchmark 1934

Although I am comparing them based on their benchmark , ports, and DDR3 capacity.
The last one looks good to me, whats your take on this?

 

[haisaikat]

Budget is around 15-18K
Most of my content is downloaded HD and HDX few SD and few DVD, BDs and ripped mp3

I did a little research and found these combo CPU

1) intel celeron 1037 Benchmark 1774
2) Intel celeron 1037 benchmark 1774
3) AMD A4-4000
4) Intel Quad-core Celeron J1900 benchmark 1934

Although I am comparing them based on their benchmark , ports, and DDR3 capacity.
The last one looks good to me, whats your take on this?

I am using a new HTPC with A4-4000 so far excellant for normal 1080 p playback with its on-chip GPU. Do you need 3D?

 

[Ashish6464]

Nope No 3D as of now. Projector isnt equiped with 3D.
Should I go for Combo cpu or seperate MB and Processor?
I want a sleek cabinet to match the other equipments in HT

 

[Ashish6464]

What mother board did you use in your HTPC and how much did it cost you?

 

[RMCWS]

I have recently built a budget htpc with suggestions from the learned forum members here. My requirement was simple; to play rips from the hdd with xbmc only. no requirement for 3d or gaming.

Combo Motherboard - Gigabyte GA E350N - Rs. 4567
DDR 3 2GB Ram Strontium - Rs1470
WD 2 GB HDD - Rs. 5197
PowerOn Cabinet with 450w SMPS - Rs.1050.
Total damage: Rs,12284.

Also bought a 300 speed wifi dongle later for 750 bucks. No dvd/ bd drives yet.

For more info, you can check this thread

 

[Ashish6464]

Thanks RMCWS.
My requirements are quiet similar to yours. + Gaming (not hardcore)
I am confused whether to have a bluray drive or not.
The processor of your combo is AMD E-350D and its benchmark is 724
while few combos which i have shared above have much higher benchmark. Price difference is not much.
What do you suggest? I am not a technical guy but one of my friend told me to check benchmark of the processor before buying.

 

[haisaikat]

I think for non-3D / 4K requirements RMCWS has put up the right hardwares.

For future upgrade ability to 3D / 4K, I suggest separate components unless you want to do the next upgrade after 3 to 4 years.

Also in future with more adaptation of newer formats like H.265 we can never be sure if our existing processor will have enough juice to decode the same and the only way in my opinion to stay safe is to go with upgrade able components (processor mostly).

I used as motherboard MSI Global A78M-E35 since it supports pci 3 and will be upgrade able for at least some time.

Regarding benchmark, can you let us know which benchmark are you referring here as reference?