Would this HTPC play dvds better than a bravo d1?

[Ruiner]

Assume a htpc configured this way:

MicroATX nforce2, Soundstorm, Barton 3200, 1gb ram
6600gt agp card, NV decoder
winMCE

DVI output to Samsung HLI 61" DLP in either case.

At the very least, the HTPC would make a nice music/movie jukebox, and a pvr as well (with a tuner card).

[mpgxsvcd]

NO the HTPC would not play DVDs better than a Bravo D1! Assuming that the Bravo D1 actually works(Most D1s had major manufacturing defects, like they wouldn’t load DVDs) then the HTPC would have the Black Crush issue with DVI. The Bravo line does not have this problem. You can not totally eliminate the black crush problem from an HTPC with straight DVI. Instead you would have to use the ATI DVI to component adapter. Then yes the HTPC would look better than a working D1.

[bigjohns1997SS]

what about htpc vs. denon 2910 ? my buddy has a 2910 and watches through the dvi onto his mitsu 65413, and you can see a lot of artifacts around edges, is this config problem or that way Faroudja does the processing?

[Tinker]

Originally posted by bigjohns1997SS
what about htpc vs. denon 2910 ? my buddy has a 2910 and watches through the dvi onto his mitsu 65413, and you can see a lot of artifacts around edges, is this config problem or that way Faroudja does the processing?

Funny I just got rid of my 2910. Since I built my HTPC I never use the 2910 any more. Yes my current HTPC is better then any upscaling DVD that seen or demo'd imo. I have no black crush using DVI. U just need to do the adjustments and tinker a lot.:D

[GrantMeThePower]

Is this true? you will always have black crush on an HTPC????

[mpgxsvcd]

Originally posted by Tinker
Funny I just got rid of my 2910. Since I built my HTPC I never use the 2910 any more. Yes my current HTPC is better then any upscaling DVD that seen or demo'd imo. I have no black crush using DVI. U just need to do the adjustments and tinker a lot.:D

Yes you can eliminate Black Crush for DVDs with ffdshow but how did you eliminate it for your desktop or for apps that don't use ffdshow like the ATI HDTV wonder. Once you eliminate Black Crush totally from the HTPC DVI connection then it will look better than any standalone DVD player. However, I have not seen anyone do that yet.

[Tinker]

Originally posted by mpgxsvcd
Yes you can eliminate Black Crush for DVDs with ffdshow but how did you eliminate it for your desktop or for apps that don't use ffdshow like the ATI HDTV wonder. Once you eliminate Black Crush totally from the HTPC DVI connection then it will look better than any standalone DVD player. However, I have not seen anyone do that yet.

OK, I do it with FFDShow on DVD's. I dont really notice the black crush on the desktop since I only surf the web with my HTPC. I have a gaming rig to play games so I dont really experience the black crush. But the question was about DVD playback. And using FFDshow the black crush can be eliminated form DVD playback.:cool: My HiDef comes via component over a SA 8300HD PVR so Its not use DVI. When they activate the HDMI here, it will be intresting to see what that does.

[GrantMeThePower]

WHat if you're running MCE 2K5, hence unable to use FFDShow? Is black crush there for all DVI connections for DVD's?

[mpgxsvcd]

Well Black Crush becomes a huge issue when you try to view other video files like wmvs and since those are currently the only HD DVDs I think it does apply. Anyway you are right for standard DVDs it can be eliminated. I have not actually played any games with my HTPC. Do your games suffer from black crush on the HTPC? Have you tried the component adapter and DVI to compare the two with games. I bet you are missing a lot of detail with the DVI. Just a thought. You are lucky that you have the 8300HD. I have the 8000HD. The DVI is not active on it either(They say that the DVI connection allows all channels to come through even ones you haven't paid for). When they correct the problem I too will be interested in seeing how it looks.

[bionicjay]

Originally posted by GrantMeThePower
WHat if you're running MCE 2K5, hence unable to use FFDShow? Is black crush there for all DVI connections for DVD's?

i'm using ffdshow on mce2005 with no problems

[GrantMeThePower]

Originally posted by bionicjay
i'm using ffdshow on mce2005 with no problems

I was under the impression that you couldn't do that. The way I understood it was that on an MCE machine you had to leave MCE and run a DVD player seperatly in XP, as you would on a regular machine, but that playing DVD's through MCE wouldn't work with FFDSHow. How did you do it?

[barhoram]

I assume he is doing it the way you imply....as I don't think there is ffdshow integration with MCE playback yet. (Hopefully someone will tell me this has changed and I am wrong).

[Tinker]

Originally posted by mpgxsvcd
Well Black Crush becomes a huge issue when you try to view other video files like wmvs and since those are currently the only HD DVDs I think it does apply. Anyway you are right for standard DVDs it can be eliminated. I have not actually played any games with my HTPC. Do your games suffer from black crush on the HTPC? Have you tried the component adapter and DVI to compare the two with games. I bet you are missing a lot of detail with the DVI. Just a thought. You are lucky that you have the 8300HD. I have the 8000HD. The DVI is not active on it either(They say that the DVI connection allows all channels to come through even ones you haven't paid for). When they correct the problem I too will be interested in seeing how it looks.

Actually I been playing HL2 on my HPL6163 and I dont notice any PQ diff from when I played on my game rig. I am using a ATI X800XT PE on the HTPC. The only probm with playing HL2 on the large display is the refresh rate at 60hz makes me get motion sick after about an hour. No motion sickness on the gaming rig using a BFG 6800Ultra OC on a 20" crt monitor at 85hz. Too bad I get motion sick cause HL2 looks great on a 61" set.

[bionicjay]

Originally posted by GrantMeThePower
I was under the impression that you couldn't do that. The way I understood it was that on an MCE machine you had to leave MCE and run a DVD player seperatly in XP, as you would on a regular machine, but that playing DVD's through MCE wouldn't work with FFDSHow. How did you do it?

i added theatertek to my more programs group in mce2005, it's fairly seemless and i can do the entire process with my remote. it switches to play dvd then when i exit tt it re-open mce