# Upgrading my old PC, to make it a HTPC



## TheLetterD (Aug 12, 2012)

What I *WANT* to get:
1. A PC Case (Mini Tower)
2. PSU (A basic BUT good one would be fine)
3.(Please tell me IF I should get one) Entry level Graphic Card

1. What is the purpose of the computer? What all applications and games are you going to run? (Stupid answers like 'gaming' or 'office work' will not work. Be exact. Which games? Which applications? Avoid the word 'et cetera.')
Ans: *HTPC*

2. What is your overall budget? If you can extend a bit for a more balanced configuration, then mention this too.
Ans: *4-5K* (Will extend it to 6K IF a Graphic Card is needed)

3. Planning to overclock?
Ans: Nope.

4. Which Operating System are you planning to use?
Ans: Windows 7(With XMBC on top)

5. How much hard drive space is needed?
Ans: - already have a HDD

6. Do you want to buy a monitor? If yes, please mention which screen size and resolution do you want. If you already have a monitor and want to reuse it, again mention the size and resolution of monitor you have.
Ans: Nope

7. Which components you DON'T want to buy or which components you already have and plan on reusing?
Ans: *1. CPU (Core 2 Duo E7200 2.53 GHz)
2. Mother Board (Asus P5N MX)
3. Ram (2 GB DDR2 667MHz)
4. KeyBoard + Mouse (Logitech Wireless)
5. TV(If possible please suggest me a good TV too. I need a 46 inch, full HD, good clarity TV(3D or Smart Tv not really needed))
6. HDD (WD 500 GB)*

8. When are you planning to buy the system?
Ans: September

9. Have you ever built a desktop before or will this be done by an assembler?
Ans: Assembler.

10. Where do you live? Are you buying locally? Are you open to buying stuff from online shops if you don't get locally?
Ans: Chandigarh, nope, will buy it locally.

11. I have some questions: Should I buy an entry level Graphic Card if my onboard NVidia 7050 chip handles 1080p? Should I get a new PSU , I already have a desi Intex 450Watt, and If I wont be getting a new Graphic Card, I (think?) I wont need a new PSU, right?


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## Utkarsh Sharma (Aug 12, 2012)

Cooler Master Elite 361: 2.4k
FSP Saga II 400W: 1.8k
Zotac GT 520 1GB DDR3: 2.5k
Total: 6.7k


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## ArjunKiller (Aug 12, 2012)

Your current PSU is fine. Buy a 5670 for around 5k and invest the left over cash in a cheap zebronics mini ITx cabby


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## Utkarsh Sharma (Aug 12, 2012)

It's a cheap PSU that OP's having. These PSU's are harmful and when they blow up( 95% of them blow up ) they take the rest of the components with them. So it's not recommended to use any local or desi PSU.


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## whitestar_999 (Aug 12, 2012)

buying a 5670 or above card for htpc is worth only if person has a good level of expertise in configuring system/software settings & intend to use madvr renderer.GT520 is good enough for 1080p & much better than outdated 7050 onboard graphics.


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## TheLetterD (Aug 13, 2012)

Hmm. I think I will go for the GT520 then. What about ATI's HD64/65XX? Arnt they less power hungry? And would I need a new PSU for these Graphic card? Do these actually BLOW UP? And I will be getting a cheap 5.1 sound card too! my Mobo only has a 1 Aux port for Audio Out.


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## reniarahim1 (Aug 13, 2012)

Whats your budget on the TV? Sadly all the TVs above 40" are smart TVs with unnecessary features.


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## TheLetterD (Aug 13, 2012)

well I guess 80K ?

And yeah!! What about the cabby? which should I go for *www.flipkart.com/browse/computers/components/cabinet-20282?filter=type_fa%3AMini+Tower&ref=14856b56-0972-4543-9e4d-6c1144fea17e?


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## avinandan012 (Aug 14, 2012)

you can look into 

1. if you want complete slim cabinet choose this  

2. if you want to have a beautiful little box choose bitfenix prodigy white

see silverstone  @ primeabgb


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## aloodum (Aug 14, 2012)

For an HTPC, you'll be good off with a 520 as others have suggested.Has enuff juice to slice through most formats, unless you get creative and put a lot of filters 

Some pointers when building the HTPC:
Depending on your case choice, you may have to opt for a low profile/half height video card.Most of the htpc/low end card now-a-days come in this particular size.Make sure that whne you buy one, GPU Brackets for both Half height and full height are included in package.

PSU front:That generic smps would do fine. Its true that cheap smps's have a high failure rate, but a large number of those failures result from ignorant users themselves. For a PSU that can supply at max 14-17A on the 12V supply, users have attached power hungry video cards which need 26A. Naturallythere will be faulires. Blowing up here would be blown capacitors, burnt insulations...not literally blowing up 

Ironically,theres an advantage with cheaper smps

Most HTPC cases would be cramped . Most decent off the shelf smps have loads of wires, that too with heat shrink shielding. Tucking away neatly all those wires can get on your nerves     Some Higher end HTPC cabinets come in with their own power supply's with different form factor, like flex power supply's which are smaller not only in size but output also, avg being 250W, which is more than enuff for a genuine htpc.


Cases: Well you dont have too much of a choice. The actual high quality HTPC's from silverstone will make you bankrupt 
Incase youre settling for something less costly, you may look at the cooler master series, though im not too updated with the offering from competition.
But stay away from the CM 100 slim cabby..theres just too much restriction on HDD size

I had actually my older htpc on a slim cabby with a c2d 7300,an asus p5 mobo and a half height 9500GT. The case was of chinese origin but was quite decent for ventilation with ample fan mountings..allowing me maintain proper airflow with just two fans. The only gripe was the smps was front mounted and it threw all the hot air on me 

All the best for ur HTPC


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## Kunal_Mehta (Aug 14, 2012)

You could perhaps opt for the Cooler Master Extreme Power 650W. Also I'd recommend the Kingston HyperX LoVo. It consumes less power and is ideal for an HTPC.


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## panwala95 (Aug 14, 2012)

650w is over the top for a htpc that too a crappermaster (yuck)
you should just go for a fsp saga ii 380w or even a local psu will do (for gt 520)


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## TheLetterD (Aug 15, 2012)

Hmm. I guess Ill just go with my Intex for now, then whenever I collect the money Ill gwt the Corsair VS450(FSP Availability in Chandigarh is poor).
Now I need to decide which one should I go for out of these?
Zotac NVIDIA GeForce GT 610 Synergy Edition 1 GB DDR3 Graphics Card vs Zotac NVIDIA Geforce GT 520 Synergy Edition 1 GB GDDR3 Graphics Card: Compare Graphics Cards: Flipkart.com
I know the performance is almost the same, but what about the power consumption? And Temp.?
I wont get them from Flipkart because(I think) they are overpriced over here.
And I know there are no TVs today which have the resolution of 2560 x 1600, but in the future if I do get a TV which supports this Res. will I be able to play 2560 x 1600 Video on it?
I know thats thinking way ahead, esp. when even buying a blueray player and Blueray movies cost an arm and a leg. 
But I do want to use this PC for as long as possible.
AND My Asus Motherboard only has a PCI E 1.1 slot. Will I face any problems/performance drop ?
Thanks in advance!


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## panwala95 (Aug 15, 2012)

you should go for the gt 520
it will perfectly suit your needs and will be slightly better than the 610 because of the gddr3 memory 
good luck!


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## whitestar_999 (Aug 15, 2012)

gt 610 is simply re-branded gt 520.another equivalent card is ATI Radeon HD6450.


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## TheLetterD (Oct 4, 2012)

Hello, so Im bringing this thread back as Im going to buy all the components this sunday. So I need to know the following things:
1. If I get a Mini-Tower Cabby will I have to use a different type of small PSU or will the regular corsair vs450 work?
2. Which graphic card should I go for? the HD6450 or the GT 520 or the GT 610 or HD 5570. I want low pwer consumption and the best bang for buck. For eg. if there will be a substantial performance bump if I spend 500 bucks and get a better one please let me know. My MAX budget will be 4K. Please note that all I need is an HTPC and light gaming for a few months before I get a proper gaming pc!
Thanks


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## TheLetterD (Oct 7, 2012)

Umm hello? BUMP


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## whitestar_999 (Oct 7, 2012)

depends on cabby since local ones don't have standardized sizes.
if you are going to get a proper gaming pc then no point in spending extra on this setup.just buy the cheapest & easily available one.


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## TheLetterD (Nov 6, 2012)

I created a new thread but Ill close that down and continue from this one. Sorry MODS! 

Recently my RAM failed and I got it replaced with some el cheapo brand of DDR2 RAM cuz my local assembler didnt have any! Its 667 2GB single Module. I am re-purposing this old PC to use it as an HTPC cuz my processor and motherboard and HDD still work well and I will be getting a new Gaming PC next year. But I want to play a few games every now and then, and I want flawless HD content playback. SO I wanted to know that if I get an HD5570 DDR3 Graphic card, will it bottleneck my Game performance? I want to play Batman Arkham Asylum, NFS Hot pursuit 2011, and Far Cry 2, The Walking Dead: Episodes 1-6. If it will should I buy new RAM? :/
Please Help! 

Here is my conifg:
Windows 7 32 bit Home Basic
Intel Core 2 Duo E7200(2.53Ghz)
ASUS P5N-MX
El CHeapo 2GB 667 Mhz RAM
500 GB WD HDD
(Getting these soon): Cooler Master elite 361 PC Case, Corsair VS450 PSU

Also How is 1400 for a Transcend 2GB single Module DDR2 800 Mhz RAM? SHould I go for it? :/


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## TheLetterD (Nov 7, 2012)

*BUMP* Help please? :/


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## whitestar_999 (Nov 9, 2012)

i am not a gamer but as far as i know 6670(or equivalent) is minimum recommended for playing most games at low settings.


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## The Incinerator (Nov 9, 2012)

If you use the PC to surf ,downloading, game and watch movies its a different story then get a HTPC or whatever that is! 
But if you just watch movies just get a media player like Asus Oplay WD live or better and attach your HDD and watch movies without paying high electricity bill for no reason. HTPC are archaic.


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## TheLetterD (Nov 9, 2012)

No thankyou. I want to get a HTPC cuz:
1.Its up-gradable
2. I can get a Blu-Ray drive when prices fall. I wont have to get a HD Media Player + BluRay player
3. I can play a few old racing games at low settings
4. The Video quality would be amazing
5. I have this old PC and ill get a Gaming PC next year, And selling this PC would hardly get me 4-5K. So this is why I am re-purposing it.
6. No format problems. Media Player Classic will play em all.
7. Ill use it for downloading too.
And a media player which gives me all the stuff I listed will cost me somewhere around 8-9k. so why not spend 7k on my old PC? to save 200-300 rs. of electricity? Please.


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## The Incinerator (Nov 9, 2012)

Its your wish if Rs 300 to 500 just for electricity is nothing for you to watch movies. That Rs 500 will be Rs 6000 at the year end just for watching movies alone. So if you are comfortable with that go ahead. That Rs 6000 and some more months will get you a separate Blu Ray player and still save from next day for electricity space and wire clutter mess. When these Media Players and the LED/LCD like Samsungs were not there the a HTPC did make somewhat sense but now no more. For example a 43 inch Samsung Plasma for Rs 36500 can recognize a externally Powered HDD of 1TB and can play any format,any dam format. That is the way forward. But Im not telling you to go and pay Rs 36500 for a true Movie experience but to get a Media Player which plays all formats, support flash drives to Ntfs HDD,has WiFi streaMING OPTIONS and makes life simpler and better.


WD TV Live - Rs 6000 
Seagate Freeagent Goflex TV - Rs 8200
Asus O!Play Mini - Rs 4400 (New Firmware)
Amkette Flash TV HD - Rs 3990 (Entry Level)

Those are MRP ,could be had for less. I think the first two are with 500GB HDD,not sure.


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## whitestar_999 (Nov 9, 2012)

^^just like audiophiles can't be content with Rs.15000 speakers from logitech,F&D,altec lansing,..... similarly those who pursue video quality can not rely on anything other than a HTPC.when one needs custom video renderers,frame rate manipulation,audio clock rate deviation using reclock,deinterlacing algorithms,fancy video codec like 10bit H264(which no hardware player supports at the moment as far as i know & no hope for at least 1-2 years) & such PC/HTPC is the only option.this statement that "HTPC did make somewhat sense but now no more" is completely wrong as far as a videophile is concerned.


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## TheLetterD (Nov 10, 2012)

I am no Video-phile but I thought re-purposing my old PC would be better than getting a new HD media player+Blu Ray player! And I cant stand the pathetic video-quality from my old DVD player and the Intergrated Graphic chip on my PC. ANND as far as my power consumption goes using many Power calculators even at LOAD the power consumption is roughly *250w*. And If i get a good efficient PSU like a Corsair VS450 , lets say it will consume 250w all the time. (I know the actual power consumption is higher but then again it wont be on 100% load all the time). And say I use it 10 hours a week, *40 hours a month*(one hour every week day and 1.5 on Saturday and Sunday) and in *4 hours it consumes 1 Unit* of electricity which lets say will cost me *5 rs*. So *Rs. 50 a month*? And that is *600 a year*. So if I use a media player for 10 years I may be able to buy a blu ray player. LOL
No offence bro but I made the decision AFTER thinking a lot about it! DW!  And I needed something to play games on for 5-6 months before I get a good PC! Ill upgrade it to an A4 and Crossfire the 6450/or if I get a 6570 Ill get a AMD A6 when my motherboard stops working. And btw the Video Quality on those TVs which can play Videos from a USB drive, is pathetic.


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## The Incinerator (Nov 10, 2012)

whitestar_999 said:


> ^^just like audiophiles can't be content with Rs.15000 speakers from logitech,F&D,altec lansing,..... similarly those who pursue video quality can not rely on anything other than a HTPC.when one needs custom video renderers,frame rate manipulation,audio clock rate deviation using reclock,deinterlacing algorithms,fancy video codec like 10bit H264(which no hardware player supports at the moment as far as i know & no hope for at least 1-2 years) & such PC/HTPC is the only option.this statement that "HTPC did make somewhat sense but now no more" is completely wrong as far as a videophile is concerned.



A videophile even in wildest of dreams wont buy a HTPC he would rather buy something like  Lumagen Radiance XE-3D and a transport or Ill put it simply, something like  a Denon DVD-2500BT/Oppo BDP-95EU.An HTPC is laughable when you compare the picture quality with these mentioned. A videophile with respect to the term will never ever use a compressed format to begin with. I think you mixed up the term Videophile.
Videophile - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


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## virajk (Nov 10, 2012)

Sorry to Hijack this thread, I am having no suggestions on my Post in this forum. I would like some attention to be given to it as well, since Ill be purchasing a PC within two days.It happens to be my second post suggesting recommendations on a config. 
Here is the link : *www.thinkdigit.com/forum/pc-compon...65995-new-gaming-config-30k-have-psu-gpu.html


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## The Incinerator (Nov 10, 2012)

TheLetterD said:


> I know the performance is almost the same, but what about the power consumption? And Temp.?



Since power consumption was one of your valid concern hence I put up my post and an alternative that addresses power consumption to a large extent.




TheLetterD said:


> I am no Video-phile but I thought re-purposing my old PC would be better than getting a new HD media player+Blu Ray player! And I cant stand the pathetic video-quality from my old DVD player and the Intergrated Graphic chip on my PC. ANND as far as my power consumption goes using many Power calculators even at LOAD the power consumption is roughly *250w*. And If i get a good efficient PSU like a Corsair VS450 , lets say it will consume 250w all the time. (I know the actual power consumption is higher but then again it wont be on 100% load all the time). And say I use it 10 hours a week, *40 hours a month*(one hour every week day and 1.5 on Saturday and Sunday) and in *4 hours it consumes 1 Unit* of electricity which lets say will cost me *5 rs*. So *Rs. 50 a month*? And that is *600 a year*. So if I use a media player for 10 years I may be able to buy a blu ray player. LOL
> No offence bro but I made the decision AFTER thinking a lot about it! DW!  And I needed something to play games on for 5-6 months before I get a good PC! Ill upgrade it to an A4 and Crossfire the 6450/or if I get a 6570 Ill get a AMD A6 when my motherboard stops working. And btw the Video Quality on those TVs which can play Videos from a USB drive, is pathetic.





You use your PC 10 Hrs a WEEK .....!!! You should upgrade and get a HTPC immediately. Forget all the advice I ever gave you.LOL.Actually I went by your Rs 300 or some more calculations of electricity.
Nevermind mate,Get a reliable PSU  and add a little bit more money and get a worthy GPU since you are gonna play games in the HTPC !
And about USB playback quality by TVs a lot has changed.Carry an USB with HD material to a store and you will know.But if you playback non HD material on an HD device yes the results would be more than pathetic.


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## whitestar_999 (Nov 10, 2012)

The Incinerator said:


> A videophile even in wildest of dreams wont buy a HTPC he would rather buy something like  Lumagen Radiance XE-3D and a transport or Ill put it simply, something like  a Denon DVD-2500BT/Oppo BDP-95EU.An HTPC is laughable when you compare the picture quality with these mentioned. A videophile with respect to the term will never ever use a compressed format to begin with. I think you mixed up the term Videophile.
> Videophile - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


i guess you are not familiar with madvr:
madVR - high quality video renderer (GPU assisted) - Page 513 - Doom9's Forum


> I've also had a Lumagen Radiance XE (overpriced junk) and iScan Duo, neither of which has stayed in my system too long either.


when it comes to picture quality nothing can match madvr.as you can see some of the people posting in that thread have knowledge about video processing/rendering which can put to shame many so-called professionals/experts.i suggest some light reading only though.


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## The Incinerator (Nov 11, 2012)

Seriously you are comparing madVR at this stage to Hi End Blu Ray players picture quality. I would say get your fact together about the issues being faced by "still under development" madVR. It is a plain upscaler mate.Why go so ga ga about it.It faces driver issues and is a hassale for normal user.Are you aware of it 60FPS issues?


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## whitestar_999 (Nov 11, 2012)

i am aware & its upscaling ability is what makes it the best.remember not everyone watch full HD videos by buying original blu-rays not to mention that not everything is available in blu-ray(not including the horrible/shoddy upscaled 1080p jobs which are quite a few).for more than 90% of the content usually found on people PC madvr is the best solution(& in case of 10bit H264 only solution).my intention was simply to let you know that people having far more knowledge than most about video processing & rendering & who can post statements like "lumagen is overpriced junk"(link in my previous post where poster had extensively discussed about tweaking LUT's with 10bit output manually) support & appreciate madvr then that means something.of course it also means that "average user" will face issues with madvr but then isn't this true for any area where user has to learn to get the best performance.also as far as drivers are concerned every gamer worth his or her salt knows about this & since madvr also uses graphics card capabilities so it is not madvr's fault & just like gamers there are ways around for such issues in most cases.60fps is not as prevalent as of now & even then most such issues with madvr & 60fps relates to interlaced material & incorrect/improper telecine.again ati scores a bit better than nvidia(6xxx series at least) for most cases.


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## The Incinerator (Nov 11, 2012)

Before making irresponsible half baked comments which will for sure mislead people get your facts together...read this *www.hometheaterhifi.com/video-proc...s/lumagen-radiance-xs-3d-video-processor.html


If you call Lumagen junk and a under development buggy Upscaling software great then seriously....on that note....... peace out.

We are getting offtopic rather lets help the OP.


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## whitestar_999 (Nov 11, 2012)

i guess you are one of those people who simply don't possess a broad outlook.*i gave you link to a post posted by someone who has at least 10 times more knowledge than you regarding video processing & you instead posted a link to article likes of which are dime a dozen on net.just stick with giving advice on audio equipments which i agree you are good at & come back and argue about madvr after you read & understood essentials of video processing like these persons & then perhaps i will take you seriously.*



> madVR - high quality video renderer (GPU assisted) - Page 488 - Doom9's Forum
> *i.imgur.com/LekAc.png





> madVR - high quality video renderer (GPU assisted) - Page 572 - Doom9's Forum



and i am helping op by letting him expand his knowledge so that next time he knows how to differentiate between useful knowledgeable advice from just plain copy paste dime-a-dozen article links.


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## The Incinerator (Nov 11, 2012)

Even you posted a link right or did you create it yourself? Did you develop madVR? No. So you too learnt it from those dime a dozen links right. And please refrain from making posts like what I should stick to and what not. It none of your business mate.Lets not fight like kids who knows 10 times more and act like agents as to whose link is better.What is surprising for me is that you are so up in arms for a a mere software based chroma upscaler which is around since 2010 and has  issues if you look around the web. That dosnt demean it rather cause it is still a work in progress. Be a bit more responsible fir what you say. Your statements look like as if the Holy Grail of Video world is madVR and hardwares are second rung.Its not the case..... even for madVR to run you need a proper GPU ,and not mere onboard to really shine. Tell me how many user will actually go in and care to check their  deinterlacing, noise reduction, edge enhancement and other post processing steps,since madVr dosnt do it on its own. Before madVR starts rendering these need to be done.Its a replacement for EVR and not a revolution,the way you are projecting it.Do I Find it good? Subtly yes over EVR but only on my Sony NX series LED otherwise ,NO if you dont have a capable display you wont even notice the difference,it looks the same on my Samsung Plasma indistinguishable whether its EVR or madVR.But when its compared to even a Denon 29,900 UD player playing a downlaoded film in terms of picture quality even in DIVX it will fall flat and die.Go to ProFX and check the Denon or a Pioneer which takes in even more formats and recognizes HDDs and upscales with even better chips and algorithms which are stable. madVR is a deinterlacer /"upscaler"/renderer and they are flawed in the term itself,even for non purists.

Do I like EVR ,haali, madVR  yes , will sell my kidney for madVR, hell no!


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## whitestar_999 (Nov 11, 2012)

my issue is not with proving superiority of madvr over hardware but *your "my way or highway" tone*.this kind of tone befits only those who have the necessary qualifications which both you & i know neither of us possess(assuming you don't have a Phd in electronics from MIT).*i am more than willing to change my point of view if you can prove your points in madvr thread discussing it with "professionals/experts" who use $2500 calorimeters to attain perfect color accuracy using madvr but until then refrain from making statements like "even in DIVX it will fall flat and die"(btw which person here uses $3000 denon i am really interested to know).*i don't have any problem with your preference for hardware upscaling & as long as you present your statement as your personal view i will not contradict you.


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## The Incinerator (Nov 11, 2012)

Okay mate see...

Is madVR good when set up properly with MPC-HC and LAV filters and Haali splitter and cuda extensions to the lavs ,yes definitely.Its way better than the VLC or the likes renders.The blacks are deep, the Colors are not washed out, the picture is sharp (little artifacts)...I myself use that set up.....but trust me when you use a mid end UD player the Blacks get even better ,the colors more solid and the artifacts gone. Im not saying madVR is bad mate, but you completely junking out Hi/Mid End UD (starts from as low as *Rs 29900* and not $3000 [Theta Compli Blu come for that kind of money!!!] ) players and External Processors are of Concern to me. Why do you think its my way or the hiway..who the hell am I? Its my two cents that HTPC are over better get good UD players and add HDDs or simply media streamers. You think if I come across an advanced user I wont tell him to go the madVR way,when Im myself using it at times. I did have some driver issues with it everybody has it,its still a work in progress and it has to work in the areas of artifacts a bit. A good HDMI cable did solve it to some extents but then the sharpness was subdued too. Thats a trade off I would say. If a day to day user can set up madVR great.And yes you need a capable display to bring about the goodness of madVR and atleast an entry level GPU.

EDIT: You making shallow statements like "who uses a $ 3000 Denon here" is like undervaluing the others and thecountry itself .Just because you and I cant afford dosnt mean people dont have it. Youll be amazed to know how people buy Hi End Audio/Videogear in India. Its  not for no reason that Companies like  Mc Intosh ,Theta , MBL , Krell , Wilson To Focal (have you heard about the Grande Utopia 3) let alone lesser Denons and Pioneers, have dealers in India,the scene here is better than middle east and south east asia!!! India has come a long way. Now for the who,I a lesser mortal here have a Rs 60,500 (Im not American and I dont care about its Dollar valuation) *CD/SACD* player.I believe there are plenty in the forum who has better.People in this forum buy headphones for 7K to Rs 15K and above!!!Thats a lot of money for a pair of cans,even by International Standards.Thats a small example ,I hope now you can gauge. So better leave that part who can do what and has what.Better see what can be done best for a specific interest.


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## TheLetterD (Nov 11, 2012)

Ok, Umm well this is awkward lol. Sorry to interrupt but can someone just let me know if the HD6450 has better video quality than an HD5570. And will it be able to play Videos at higher resolutions than 1080p whenever movies are made in that resolution? And no Im not going to set up 'madVR' or anything. All Im going to do is use Media Player Classic and XMBC. :/
Thanks in Advance. And btw I do not understand anything you both have said in these last 4-5 posts.


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## whitestar_999 (Nov 11, 2012)

ok then let's consider this argument settled with conclusion that for an advanced user with not much money madvr is best & for an average user with budget hardware AVR is best(standard here being likes of Denon not WD Live).of course for average user with Rs.5000 budget WD Live types are only options.

btw that $3000 statement was not intended to make any point.of course there are many in India which can afford hi-end equipments but i was talking about a combination of (money+advance technical knowledge+regular forum member) something like yourself.i already know/guessed you use some expensive audio equipments & i know that there are people who have better but i only know about you here(got my point!).

@TheLetterD,no problem  there is no difference in picture quality between different graphics card assuming no post processing like in your case so you can get either card but i suggest 5570.6450 is not such a good card for its price & even nvidia GT 610 is faster than it.of course 5570 is faster than both.


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## TheLetterD (Nov 12, 2012)

Hahah ok Thankyou Whitstar_999! I read your The Incinerator 's and discussion last night and I understood most of it!



I had a few questions! Will the quality of my Videos increase and be better than my Integrated Graphic Chip NVidia 7050/630 ? Cuz when I watch regular SD content on my DELL 17 inch monitor its perfectly fine but when I watch HD content there is so much noise in the Video. So, will it change if I get a HD6450? Or is it cuz my Monitor is a very basic one thats why this is happening? Ill either hook this HTPC up to a Samsung/Sony 46 inch LED TV or A Phillips 27 inch monitor!


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## whitestar_999 (Nov 12, 2012)

the monitor you are using is TN panel which has inherent banding issues not to mention the resolution mismatch between monitor & your HD videos.for noise reduction you have to use some post-processing using ffdshow(which i recommend for banding issues too & easier to learn/use than madvr).it will take quite some time to learn about all this & if you don't feel comfortable then next best option is using a good TV or monitor(LCD/LED TV's from sony,samsung,LG costing ~32000 or above or good IPS panel monitors from dell costing ~9000 & above.

P.S.i have no ideas about quality of other brands but as far as i know besides sony,samsung & LG no other brand gives you your money worth in LCD/LED TV segment.panasonic has probably the best plasma TV range though.for monitors best option as of now is latest S series IPS panel monitor from Dell which someone here said that it is available for ~9500.other brand in monitors is ASUS but it is priced at ~16000.besides these 2 again i haven't read much appreciation/good reviews for other brands.


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## The Incinerator (Nov 12, 2012)

TheLetterD said:


> Hahah ok Thankyou Whitstar_999! I read your The Incinerator 's and discussion last night and I understood most of it!
> View attachment 7634
> 
> I had a few questions! Will the quality of my Videos increase and be better than my Integrated Graphic Chip NVidia 7050/630 ? Cuz when I watch regular SD content on my DELL 17 inch monitor its perfectly fine but when I watch HD content there is so much noise in the Video. So, will it change if I get a HD6450? Or is it cuz my Monitor is a very basic one thats why this is happening? Ill either hook this HTPC up to a Samsung/Sony 46 inch LED TV or A Phillips 27 inch monitor!



Noise is one of the main reasons where standalone universal disc players scores over HTPC. The PC has a lot more electrical paths and those paths has to be covered till the picture reaches your screen. The PCs electrical paths are infested with lot of electrical noise. The shorter and shielded the path  the better the video or audio.For e.g this is one of the very main reason to get a shielded audio card to get proper sound out of a PC and the Video Noise part is already known to you and to address that , as whitestar mentioned post processing is an option to reduce the noise. But then the Picture noise reduction better be good or it will kill details along with it too. A good cable between the source and the display plays a lot to keep the image noise free in a better way. A lot of TVs come with NR feature built in and so does DvD/Bluray players. The main devil lies in the compressed videos that we play.Any compression will lead to some kind of loss no matter what.Since you are going to get a good and bigger screen ....the problem will get slightly more visible.Bigger high quality screens need good material to shine.


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## whitestar_999 (Nov 12, 2012)

@letterD,remember about what @incinerator said about quality of source material.i forgot to mention it but now here are some of the points to keep in mind.always prefer h264 codec over xvid/divx for same size files & possibly even a bit smaller h264 video files since h264 compression is more efficient.for a hollywood action/special effects movie ideal size for a 720p encode is ~4.5gb minimum so don't bother with those 1-2gb 720p files.bitrate matters more so prefer a higher bitrate but lower resolution file over higher resolution but lower bitrate files.with sufficient bitrate & some upscaling post-processing by ffdshow/player in-built filters it should be good for most videos(remember the bitrate point) to view full screen on a full HD display.


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## TheLetterD (Nov 14, 2012)

Hmmm. See When I played The Adventures of Tintin 



Spoiler



Format                           : Matroska
Format version                   : Version 2
File size                        : 4.36 GiB
Duration                         : 1h 46mn
Overall bit rate                 : 5 846 Kbps
Writing application              : mkvmerge v4.1.1 ('Bouncin' Back') built on Jul  3 2010 22:54:08
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Video
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Format                           : AVC
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Codec ID                         : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration                         : 1h 46mn
Bit rate                         : 4 335 Kbps
Width                            : 1 280 pixels
Height                           : 544 pixels
Display aspect ratio             : 2.35:1
Frame rate                       : 23.976 fps
Color space                      : YUV
Chroma subsampling               : 4:2:0
Bit depth                        : 8 bits
Scan type                        : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)               : 0.260
Stream size                      : 3.15 GiB (72%)
Writing library                  : x264 core 120 r2146 bcd41db
Encoding settings                : cabac=1 / ref=5 / deblock=1:0:0 / analyse=0x3:0x113 / me=umh / subme=7 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.15 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=1 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=0 / chroma_qp_offset=-3 / threads=12 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=1 / b_bias=0 / direct=1 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=250 / keyint_min=23 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=40 / rc=2pass / mbtree=1 / bitrate=4335 / ratetol=1.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=69 / qpstep=4 / cplxblur=20.0 / qblur=0.5 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00
Language                         : English


 *No Noticeable Noise on my Monitor*

The Avengers(Ripped from a Blu-Ray disc I got as a gift. Ripped it on my Uncle's XPS 17 laptop.) 1080p 



Spoiler



Format                           : MPEG-4
Format profile                   : Base Media
Codec ID                         : isom
File size                        : 2.20 GiB
Duration                         : 2h 22mn
Overall bit rate                 : 2 200 Kbps


Video
ID                               : 1
Format                           : AVC
Format/Info                      : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile                   : High@L4.0
Format settings, CABAC           : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames        : 4 frames
Codec ID                         : avc1
Codec ID/Info                    : Advanced Video Coding
Duration                         : 2h 22mn
Bit rate                         : 2 104 Kbps
Maximum bit rate                 : 13.1 Mbps
Width                            : 1 920 pixels
Height                           : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio             : 16:9
Frame rate mode                  : Constant
Frame rate                       : 23.976 fps
Color space                      : YUV
Chroma subsampling               : 4:2:0
Bit depth                        : 8 bits
Scan type                        : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)               : 0.042
Stream size                      : 2.10 GiB (96%)
Writing library                  : x264 core 125 r2200 999b753
Encoding settings                : cabac=1 / ref=4 / deblock=1:0:0 / analyse=0x3:0x113 / me=umh / subme=8 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.15 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=1 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=1 / chroma_qp_offset=-3 / threads=12 / lookahead_threads=2 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=2 / b_bias=0 / direct=3 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=240 / keyint_min=23 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=50 / rc=2pass / mbtree=1 / bitrate=2104 / ratetol=1.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=10 / qpmax=51 / qpstep=4 / cplxblur=20.0 / qblur=0.5 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00
Encoded date                     : UTC 2012-08-21 16:52:50
Tagged date                      : UTC 2012-08-21 16:53:37



*No Noticeable Noise on my Monitor, Best video quality out of all clips tested.*

The Walking Dead Season 2 Last Episode


Spoiler



Format                           : Matroska
Format version                   : Version 2
File size                        : 1.39 GiB
Duration                         : 43mn 17s
Overall bit rate                 : 4 600 Kbps

Writing application              : mkvmerge v5.8.0 ('No Sleep / Pillow') built on Sep  2 2012 15:37:04
Writing library                  : libebml v1.2.3 + libmatroska v1.3.0

Video
ID                               : 1
Format                           : AVC
Format/Info                      : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile                   : High@L4.1
Format settings, CABAC           : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames        : 5 frames
Codec ID                         : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration                         : 43mn 17s
Bit rate                         : 4 124 Kbps
Width                            : 1 280 pixels
Height                           : 720 pixels
Display aspect ratio             : 16:9
Frame rate                       : 23.976 fps
Color space                      : YUV
Chroma subsampling               : 4:2:0
Bit depth                        : 8 bits
Scan type                        : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)               : 0.187
Stream size                      : 1.25 GiB (90%)
Writing library                  : x264 core 128 r2216 198a7ea
Encoding settings                : cabac=1 / ref=5 / deblock=1:0:0 / analyse=0x3:0x113 / me=umh / subme=8 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.00 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=1 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=1 / chroma_qp_offset=-2 / threads=12 / lookahead_threads=2 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=2 / b_bias=0 / direct=3 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=250 / keyint_min=23 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=50 / rc=crf / mbtree=1 / crf=19.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=69 / qpstep=4 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00
Language                         : English
Matrix coefficients              : BT.709-5, BT.1361, IEC 61966-2-4 709, SMPTE RP177



*LOTS of noise, horrible video quality, ruined the season finale for me  *

The Walking Dead Season 2 Episode 12 


Spoiler



ormat                           : MPEG-4
Format profile                   : Base Media
Codec ID                         : isom
File size                        : 339 MiB
Duration                         : 43mn 17s
Overall bit rate                 : 1 095 Kbps


Video
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Format                           : AVC
Format/Info                      : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile                   : High@L3.1
Format settings, CABAC           : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames        : 5 frames
Codec ID                         : avc1
Codec ID/Info                    : Advanced Video Coding
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Bit rate                         : 948 Kbps
Width                            : 720 pixels
Height                           : 404 pixels
Display aspect ratio             : 16:9
Original display aspect ratio    : 16:9
Frame rate mode                  : Constant
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Scan type                        : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)               : 0.136
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Encoding settings                : cabac=1 / ref=5 / deblock=1:0:0 / analyse=0x3:0x113 / me=umh / subme=8 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.00 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=1 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=1 / chroma_qp_offset=-2 / threads=18 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=2 / b_bias=0 / direct=3 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=250 / keyint_min=23 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=50 / rc=crf / mbtree=1 / crf=21.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=69 / qpstep=4 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00
Encoded date                     : UTC 2011-09-08 11:43:25
Tagged date                      : UTC 2011-09-08 11:43:25
Matrix coefficients              : BT.709-5, BT.1361, IEC 61966-2-4 709, SMPTE RP177


 *SOME noticeable noise, average video quality.*




*ALSO* I tried playing all these Videos from a friend's laptop (Pentium Dual Core (2nd Generation) - B960 (2.2Ghz) Mobile Intel HM65 Express Intel HD Graphics) on my old LG 32 inch TV too. The results were almost the same, the Walking Dead 720p video had slightly less noise and was kind-of-watchable. 


Now I hope you got SOMETHING from this, cuz I dont think its the same issue The Incinerator said about those electrical signals. Cuz some Videos play well, some dont. So if you do know the problem, can you please tell me whats the solution? Getting a graphic card + New Monitor/TV? Or ditching the whole Idea and getting an HD media player(I dont want to do that!  ) Or something else?


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## TheLetterD (Nov 15, 2012)

BUMP!
Help please?


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## TheLetterD (Nov 17, 2012)

Hello? :/


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