thegreek's HD DVD / Blu-Ray HTPC Project

[NinjaZX6R]

Makes me wonder if an HTPC is the way to go for simple blu-ray/hd dvd playback. Then again, this is the wrong forum to ask such a silly question!

Thanks all.

-Collin-

 

[Mpegger]

Dont be surprised when you goto some of the big HTPC sites that people are saying the same thing, not only for these reasons mentioned here, but others as well.

 

[Jon]

Makes me wonder if an HTPC is the way to go for simple blu-ray/hd dvd playback. Then again, this is the wrong forum to ask such a silly question!

Thanks all.

-Collin-

It's why I don't have one and am in no hurry to get one...even though I am going to bite on the XBOX deal. I'm still months late on it (and probably won't do it until after X-mas, even still).

 

[thegreek]

NCIXUS finally got the LG in stock and shipped it today. I should have it by Friday. I should receive my video card in a a day or two also. I bought the LG drive for $300 but I noticed today the price $275 so I emailed them and they gave me $25 back. +1 for NCIXUS

 

[NinjaZX6R]

NCIXUS finally got the LG in stock and shipped it today. I should have it by Friday. I should receive my video card in a a day or two also. I bought the LG drive for $300 but I noticed today the price $275 so I emailed them and they gave me $25 back. +1 for NCIXUS

Awesome. I am eager to know how this pans out for you. Now you guys have me considering buying a new TV with HDMI and HDCP!!!

-Collin-

 

[james.miller]

there you have it, 203 movies fit on the drive (I still have 3.62GB left, probably can fit another small movie)

931GB (after format) / 203 movies = 4.59GB average per movie (this is including The Godfather Collection - The Godfather II alone is 10GB )

4.59GB per movie x $0.30 per GB = $1.38 per movie

you have a big 1080p display, and masses of space obviously. you said you dont compress them, but how is that possible if they are averaging 4.5gb a movie?:s

 

[thegreek]

movies range from 3-7 GB for the movie only (no menus, extras or additional audio tracks). As you can see from above that Gladiator is 6.7GB while some other movie would only be 3GB. If you have 200 movies it'll average around 5GB or so.

 

[thegreek]

11-29-07 UPDATE:

All hardware received. I will start installing everything when I get home from work. I have HD DVD and Blu-Ray movies coming in from Netflix today also.

 

[thegreek]

just a small update:

I received the drive and popped in 2 blue-ray movies and a HD DVD movie, all of them played excellent with PowerDVD using build 3319a (I didn't download the latest one becuase it removes the option to play from the HD)

here are 2 blu-ray movies, before is the entire size of the disc and after is removing the trailers and extras

Four Brothers
before: 20.8GB
after: 18GB

Saw
before: 20.4GB
after: 19.7GB

when a program like dvd shrink is available for hd dvd's and blu-ray I think the size might go down to around 15GB

more to come...

 

[PLOBBY]

Do you know which frontend you are going to be using yet?

 

[thegreek]

Do you know which frontend you are going to be using yet?

not yet on the frontend, as for players it's either going to be powerdvd or MPC... Zoom Player is waaaay to buggy

I am leaning more towards powerdvd - MPC has no hardware acceleration while powerdvd does but MPC is so small and lite and can be integrated in just about anything.

 

[PLOBBY]

not yet on the frontend, as for players it's either going to be powerdvd or MPC... Zoom Player is waaaay to buggy

I am leaning more towards powerdvd - MPC has no hardware acceleration while powerdvd does but MPC is so small and lite and can be integrated in just about anything.

Hmm, well keep us updated because I want to know how this works out for you to see if it is worth buying the hddvd/blu ray drive.

 

[LandShark]

as for the front end, depends on what you gonna use. at least for me, I can make Meedio to only use PowerDVD to play HD DVD movies from the xbox360 drive. I created an icon in the main menu, when I click it, it will auto load PowerDVD in full screen and start the movie. when click exit, it will close PowerDVD and return back to Meedio. it's as seamless as I can get them to work together right now.

@ thegreek, what or how did you rip the movie to the HDD? just AnyDVD? or DVDFab HD?? I might wanna give it a try and see if I can start to add HD DVD movies into my media server (w/ a new 1TB drive).....

 

[thegreek]

as for the front end, depends on what you gonna use. at least for me, I can make Meedio to only use PowerDVD to play HD DVD movies from the xbox360 drive. I created an icon in the main menu, when I click it, it will auto load PowerDVD in full screen and start the movie. when click exit, it will close PowerDVD and return back to Meedio. it's as seamless as I can get them to work together right now.

I'm going to be talking to you later about this.

@ thegreek, what or how did you rip the movie to the HDD? just AnyDVD? or DVDFab HD?? I might wanna give it a try and see if I can start to add HD DVD movies into my media server (w/ a new 1TB drive).....

I ripped the movies using anydvd and it took a good 20-25 min per movie. I can try DVDFab HD for you and let you know how it works. The reason I use anydvd is because it's constantly being updated.

Also, I am starting to think I will not be saving HD movies because at around 20GB a pop I am looking at only 50 movies on a 1TB drive. IDK yet.

 

[LandShark]

Also, I am starting to think I will not be saving HD movies because at around 20GB a pop I am looking at only 50 movies on a 1TB drive. IDK yet.

yeah, that's the only concern! (btw, have you try to play it from HDD? w/ PowerDVD? or MPC? does it work? what kinda CPU you are using again?)

p.s. btw, got the toshiba a couple days ago! tks again!! (got any heatware account? let me know.)

 

[Neuromancer]

I don't know yet, I still haven't received my LG to try it. Once it arrives I will try MPC, ZP, and PowerDVD and see which will be best for me. I'll let you guys know ASAP.

Convert to matroska and play with whatever player you want. ~6-8GB for 720p

Download CCCP and install it. Installing nero broke it for me though and I have had problems with MKV files since even after uninstalling nero so im assuming it involved some kind of DRM... but it could also be that im running x64 now...

 

[thegreek]

hey guys sorry for the lack of updates, been really busy lately. The reason I haven't posted as much is because I am still tweaking the media player. It looks like I will be using Zoom Player with ffdshow and a few scripts for DVDs and PowerDVD for HDM.

I am still playing around with the ffdshow settings, the picture is starting to actually look much better than what the A3 was putting out.

The pictures of the HTPC will be up as soon as I replace the PCP & Cooling with a Corsair. The PCP&C is way to loud for a HTPC.

 

[Jon]

Player dropped to $270. Ordered mine about a half hour ago. I wanted to hold out, but some titles I've wanted are BD only

 

[LandShark]

Player dropped to $270. Ordered mine about a half hour ago. I wanted to hold out, but some titles I've wanted are BD only

aboard Jon! I knew you can't hold off for long....

 

[Jon]

aboard Jon! I knew you can't hold off for long....

It's on backorder, so it's hard telling how long it'll take to get here. I ordered from NCIXUS and they seem to get them in regularly, so I'm hoping to have it within the next couple of weeks. No hurry...I still need a 2600Pro for my bedroom (x800 isn't going to cut it).

UPDATE:

Contacted NCIX to see how long the expected backorder wait was and was told mine was shipping in 1-2 days, so I guess I either beat it or they got a shipment in same day. Should have it by next week (if the wife doesn't make me wait until Christmas ).