[alucard77]

Hi All,

As the post states, I have been under a rock for the last couple of months, and have not checked this site. I was pleasantly surprised that XBMC was released for the PC. Great job everyone involved.

Now for my list of questions. I apologize if these were asked, I searched around, but did not find a lot of info, so I figured I would ask.

1) I have the normal XBMC. So far I love it, the only down part for me is the fact that it does not play HD codecs well. I saw in the FAQ that this cannot play Blu-Ray and HDDVD movies, but nothing about the actual codecs.

So I was wondering, under the current build, what codecs work well? I am mainly interested in the h264 and mkv codecs.

2) Has anyone built a HTPC to use this on? Or are you guys mainly using this with Laptops? I have been debating on building a HTPC for a year now, but my Xbox kept that from happening, with this release I may as well do it now.

3) I was wondering what is the cheapest build I can get away with to build a HTPC that will play the HD Codec well? I have been looking at the http://www.thermaltakeusa.com/Product.aspx?C=1345&ID=1424 for HTPCs, as they look like receivers. But here are some issues I have, that I need some help on:
- My current receiver and TV do not support HDMI.
- My receiver handles optical audio inputs
- My TV and receiver only handle component video inputs
- MY TV is 1080i only

Please don't say update your Home Theater, as I have a child on the way and we just finished doing a bathroom in the house. Also, in a couple of years I am going to build a home theater, so I rather not splurge now on a TV I will not use in 2 or so years. Not to mention, I still get a great picture out of my 50" rear projection screen from 2001.

Now back to my questions.
3a) What Videocard can I get that will support 1080i through component input
3b) What Soundcard could I get that supports Dolby Digital through Optical Inputs

4) Will my build show properly on a 1080i TV with Component Cable? Someone once mentioned to me that it may not with Component.

4) What processor and Chipset would you guys recommend, keeping a low budget in mind.

I am not stating a budget here, because ideally I would like the HTPC to do Movie, Music an Pictures. Besides that, I am not a gamer, so I won't need anything crazy. I also, want to save some money to get a couple of TB drives to throw into this thing.

So any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Freddo]

1) mkv and h264 are both supported, it simply a case of hardware firepower, I actually rip blurays and hd-dvds bit-perfect video wise, transcode the audio to FLAC for future proofing and AC3 (aka dolby digital) for now, XBMC plays em no problems, chapters and all, out of mkv's.

2) I built a HTPC purpose for XBMC.

3) My spec is a gigabyte m-atx mobo with integrated 7100 gfx, intel e8400cpu, 1gb ram, the whole lot inc. case + remote + cables was less than £300 (er, $600 roughly i dunno the exchange rate)

a. no problem
b. no problem
c. no problem
d. no problem.

3a.a nvidia gfx are best supported, lots of their cards include component out with a breakout cable, no need for anything high end an 8500 will do, like i said I only have a 7100 and thats plenty powerful)
3b.b your motherboards integrated sound should be fine, especially if its intel HDA.

4. component should work though i'm not speaking from experience, are you sure you dont have vga in on your tv?

5. Definitly go for an intel processor minimum 3.0ghz dual core, video decoding is all about CPU power and to a lesser extent memory bandwidth so. Try and make sure you have two sticks of ram for dual channel mode and the extra bandwidth it gives. The Intel c2d e8400 is plenty cheap and works just fine. Chipset wise I have an nvidia chipset, works fine though I'm sure plenty of others are just as good, just make sure you have an optical or coaxial digital output (which is easily converted to optical) for audio.

[alucard77]

Hi All,

I was just wondering if anyone uses Component out for 1080i on a TV that only supports Component out?

- If so, what card are you using?
- What do I need to look for on the card?
- How does xbmc work with component out?

On my XBOX, I think it looks fine. However, PC and XBOX are 2 different stories.

Also, any other advice on component out would be appreciated.

I am pretty close to building a HTPC and this is the last answer I think I need before progressing.