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12-26-2008, 09:42 AM
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#1 | | Even when im right, revscene.net is still right!
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| HTPC vs PS3
Alright so I'm looking for something that will play blu-ray and be able to stream videos from my desktop to my tv. PS3 seems like the way to go, but I already have a 360 and probably wouldn't game on the PS3 except for the exclusive titles. I also have an old computer just collecting dust (2 7800gtx's, 2gb ram, not sure what cpu). I was thinking I could just upgrade that a little bit. Another thing I would like about having a HTPC is playing roms.
What do you guys think? What are your experiences with HTPCs? If I go HTPC I don't really want to spend > $450
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12-26-2008, 09:44 AM
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#2 | | Hacked RS to become a mod
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No reason to get a PS3 for media, if you already have a 360. It plays the same video files as the PS3, and can stream from your PC as well.
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12-26-2008, 10:24 AM
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#3 | | Resident Bullshitter
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i love my HTPC
even in HK, i used a HTPC w/ media center as the HD box instead of those set top box that they sell. Not to mention, my HTPC upscales everything to 1080P and plays everything thats shared between all my comps.
believe it or not the most expensive component in my HTPC(s) is actually the keyboard and mouse combo (dinovo edge, dinovo edge mini for my setup in my room), and then the case is not cheap. LOL
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12-27-2008, 10:03 PM
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#4 | | Diagonally parked in a parallel universe
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what tv tuner/video card are you using for the htpc?
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01-09-2009, 06:14 AM
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#5 | | WOAH! i think Vtec just kicked in!
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can the 360 or ps2 play mkv files in 1080p?
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01-09-2009, 08:20 AM
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#6 | | Rs has made me the man i am today!
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| Quote:
Originally Posted by .Renn.Sport  i love my HTPC
even in HK, i used a HTPC w/ media center as the HD box instead of those set top box that they sell. Not to mention, my HTPC upscales everything to 1080P and plays everything thats shared between all my comps.
believe it or not the most expensive component in my HTPC(s) is actually the keyboard and mouse combo (dinovo edge, dinovo edge mini for my setup in my room), and then the case is not cheap. LOL | Is it Media Center itself that upconverts, or something else on your HTPC?
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01-09-2009, 08:23 AM
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#7 | | OMGWTFBBQ is a common word I say everyday
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Originally Posted by nns Is it Media Center itself that upconverts, or something else on your HTPC? | its the awesome hydeness he radiates.
In fact, he has a 4 year lead in 3-D HDTV technology because the hydeness is so awesome. Panasonic just stole a fraction of it and reverse engineer it.
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01-09-2009, 09:04 AM
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#8 | | Zombie Mod
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The 'upconvert' is done by the media player. The HTPC runs at 1080p (probably 1920 x 1200 res) all the time, and everything would be scaled to that resolution.
I recommend the HTPC route. HTPC gives a lot of versatility, and basically no limitation on file formats, since you can just download software or updates.
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01-09-2009, 10:06 AM
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#9 | | OMGWTFBBQ is a common word I say everyday
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^+1
2 7800 should be powerful to do hard decode on blu ray movies with any dual core CPU, if you get a BD drive as an upgrade.
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01-09-2009, 03:32 PM
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#10 | | Rs has made me the man i am today!
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Originally Posted by Presto The 'upconvert' is done by the media player. The HTPC runs at 1080p (probably 1920 x 1200 res) all the time, and everything would be scaled to that resolution. | You're referring to the software running on the HTPC, right? The reason I ask is because i'm looking for software for an HTPC that can upconvert videos. I don't think Windows Media Center upconverts.
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01-09-2009, 03:58 PM
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#11 | | Resident Bullshitter
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windows itself will upconvert everything to the resolution windows is set at.... hence 1920x1080 = 1080P
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01-09-2009, 05:36 PM
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#12 | | The RS Freebie guru
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HTPC would be way more practical, since you can play absolutely any type of media file you want on it. Sounds like really the only thing you need is a Blu-Ray drive, which you can get for about $140...
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01-09-2009, 07:32 PM
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#13 | | OMGWTFBBQ is a common word I say everyday
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Originally Posted by InvisibleSoul HTPC would be way more practical, since you can play absolutely any type of media file you want on it. Sounds like really the only thing you need is a Blu-Ray drive, which you can get for about $140... | and a decent sound card
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Originally Posted by Fei-Ji haha i can taste the cum in my mouth | There is a time when you have to sig a post.
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01-10-2009, 06:52 AM
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#14 | | I don't like cheese but I love milk!
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Originally Posted by wouwou and a decent sound card | I definitely wouldn't waste any money on the sound card unless you are looking for a particular type of audio in/out that is not available on your motherboard. (i.e. optical)
I've tried comparing the OB sound card vs a M-audio and Audiogy sound card and you really won't see any difference in terms of sound playback quality...it just gives you more interface and features and that's it.
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01-10-2009, 10:03 AM
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#15 | | RS.net, helping ugly ppl have sex since 2001
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Recently got a new HDTV as well here.
Any baseline configs that you guys would recommend? I've been out of the rig building business for a while now. Space is of concern.
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Last edited by Levitron; 01-10-2009 at 10:03 AM.
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01-10-2009, 10:55 AM
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#16 | | Resident Bullshitter
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nothing much is needed for spec.. mATX board, best if there are those ATI or nVidia chipset that support HD decoding and HDMI out. I havn't check which board is capable of those. but i did get a nvidia board for another MCE that has HDMI out. any pentium dual core or higher is good enough. 2GB ram... better if u get more since ram is cheap anyways. HDD size of your choice and case of your choice.
if you want to add TV tuner, that i'm not sure what's good here for canada. since u'll have to use the cable box as well. and Media Center only support composite and s-video input from cable box and not anything better.
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01-10-2009, 06:37 PM
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#17 | | I don't get it
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Make sure that the video card you choose has HD decoding otherwise your computer may be too slow. My 6000+ with a cheap video card is choppy when playing 1080p movies.
I use my PS3 to watch movies. HTPC is obviously better but if you want something that plays Bluray and be able to play movies you downloaded, the PS3 will save you a lot of money.
It's a hassle to copy movies to the PS3. You usually have to convert the movies through a program called "mkv2vob", copy to external hard drive, then connect the external hard drive to PS3. Also keep in mind that the maximum file size is 4GB because your hard drive has to be FAT32 and Windows can only copy up to 4GB files on FAT32 drives. If you have larger files, you have to use a program that allows you to use your PS3 to browse and download files from your computer. The PS3 internal hard drive can hold files larger than 4GB.
Last edited by Denny; 01-10-2009 at 06:38 PM.
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01-10-2009, 07:29 PM
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#18 | | Resident Bullshitter
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why waste time copying when u can just stream and transcode video with tversity
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01-10-2009, 08:00 PM
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#19 | | OMGWTFBBQ is a common word I say everyday
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| Quote:
Originally Posted by Ferra I definitely wouldn't waste any money on the sound card unless you are looking for a particular type of audio in/out that is not available on your motherboard. (i.e. optical)
I've tried comparing the OB sound card vs a M-audio and Audiogy sound card and you really won't see any difference in terms of sound playback quality...it just gives you more interface and features and that's it. | well if the mother board has a HDMI out, there is really no need for sound decoding, but without you lose so much more for sound via regular aux/optical link
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Originally Posted by Fei-Ji haha i can taste the cum in my mouth | There is a time when you have to sig a post.
It just happened.
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01-10-2009, 08:42 PM
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#20 | | Get Money, Get Paid
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I would suggest using an HTPC. With an HTPC case, it really looks great with your other AV equipment.  | |
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01-10-2009, 11:08 PM
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#21 | | I only answer to my username, my real name is Irrelevant!
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u should get the 4870 since it handles the lossless audio and 7.1
and new asus soundcard  Quote: |
The Xonar HDAV1.3, equipped with stereo analog outs and two HDMI ports, is a slick PCI card which, in addition to the above mentioned audio, can stream up to 192KHz/24bit, 8 channel LPCM – giving computer users the capability to see and hear a full HD presentation on their home PCs. A Deluxe model comes with a "daughter card" and a ribbon cable to expand the analog audio to a full 8 channels, as well.
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Last edited by StylinRed; 01-10-2009 at 11:23 PM.
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01-10-2009, 11:59 PM
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#22 | | Rs has made me the man i am today!
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well, if you're going to play just the exclusives on the ps3 and need a bluray player, why not PS3  can't always get the .mkv files and most movies are avi!
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01-11-2009, 08:38 PM
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#23 | | WOAH! i think Vtec just kicked in!
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what if you use a 16gb flash drive or something will that work
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01-11-2009, 08:39 PM
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#24 | | WOAH! i think Vtec just kicked in!
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| Quote:
Originally Posted by Denny Make sure that the video card you choose has HD decoding otherwise your computer may be too slow. My 6000+ with a cheap video card is choppy when playing 1080p movies.
I use my PS3 to watch movies. HTPC is obviously better but if you want something that plays Bluray and be able to play movies you downloaded, the PS3 will save you a lot of money.
It's a hassle to copy movies to the PS3. You usually have to convert the movies through a program called "mkv2vob", copy to external hard drive, then connect the external hard drive to PS3. Also keep in mind that the maximum file size is 4GB because your hard drive has to be FAT32 and Windows can only copy up to 4GB files on FAT32 drives. If you have larger files, you have to use a program that allows you to use your PS3 to browse and download files from your computer. The PS3 internal hard drive can hold files larger than 4GB. | whats about a 16gb flash drive to transfer
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01-15-2009, 02:50 PM
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#25 | | I Will not Admit my Addiction to RS
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I run a ps3 with this program: http://ps3mediaserver.blogspot.com/
Small program, not clunky like tversity and full stream of mkv's with no hiccups
* Ready to launch and play. No codec packs to install. No folder configuration and pre-parsing or this kind of annoying thing. All your folders are directly browsed by the PS3, there's an automatic refresh also.
* Real-time video transcoding via MEncoder, tsMuxer or Avisynth
* DVD ISOs images / VIDEO_TS Folder transcoder
* OGG/FLAC/MPC/APE audio transcoding
* Thumbnail generation for Videos
* You can choose with a virtual folder system your audio/subtitle language on the PS3!
* All formats PS3 natively supports: MP3/WMA, JPG/PNG/GIF/TIFF, and all kind of videos (AVI, MP4, TS, M2TS, MPEG) the ps3 is willing to play
* ZIP/RAR files as browsable folders for pictures/audio files
* Preliminary support for pictures based feeds, such as Flickr and Picasaweb
* Preliminary Internet TV / Web Radio support with VLC, MEncoder or MPlayer
Last edited by Franjo; 01-15-2009 at 02:54 PM.
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