Short-Media wraps up this five part series by cutting the wires in section five. The last thing that is needed, after the HEPC is secretly stashed in the stereo cabinet, is a long trail of wires leading the the scene of the crime.
I had no idea you were writing a series of articles on HEPC's... Reading now, good stuff. I'm looking to build something along these lines in the next six to eight months.
Heh, now this is getting really funny. I was putting together my own parts list a couple of weeks ago and inadvertantly chose many of the same parts that you did for all of the same reasons. Good choice on motherboards... It really has everything you could possibly need for an HEPC and then some at a very reasonable price.
One last edit... Could you please, PLEASE (:)) include a run-down of achievable image quality when playing back MPEG-Encoded (mpg/avi - DivX, Xvid, etc) video through S-VIDEO/TV-OUT? Is it as bad as desktop image quality, or is it closer to DVD quality playback due to the encoded resolutions.
Also, have you tried experimenting with PowerStrip's ability to set fully customizable desktop resolutions? It strikes me that better desktop performance could be achieved by setting the desktop resolution to exactly that which is supported by the television. Especially if the TV has a built in converter and could properly recognize its natively supported resolution. That's all theory and stuff, but it'd be cool if you tested it out for us.
Thanks MM. Great article, answered a lot of questions of mine which spurred the creation of the "MicroATX - Opinions needed" thread; which was basically about HEPCs.
To answer the playback quality question. The rule is quite simple. Playback quality is going to only be as good as the source. For example if you compress a 2 hour movie down to 10 MB the quality is going to be poor regardless of using a digital flat panel, SVGA, SVIDEO to NTSC or SVGA out to HDTV.
Since a computer monitor can at least handle 1024x768 that just falls a tiny bit short of HDTV quality. (HDTV is moving towards the 1080 standard instead of 720). Therefore if it looks bad on your computer monitor it may look teh same or a tiny bit worse on an HD monitor.
On a SVIDEO out to standard NTSC TV it may be even worse.
I took a 2 hour DVD quality video file and compressed it down to approximately 1 GB using DIVX encoding. I work in a TV station so I have 2 hour video files laying all over the place. I my personal opinion I would say that the quality was 85-90% that of a DVD standalone player. In other words...pretty darn good. A bit higher than SVHS.
This was to a $250 27" JVC cheapo TV.
When running the DVD movie off the DVD Rom the image was clear and crisp but the saturation was a little rich. This varies from DVD software to software. Media player was the most versatile but the worst for saturation. In my personal opinion I'd say the quality was 90% +/- 2 % of DVD standalone player.
In layperson's words...would I say the game content and DVD content is really acceptable? Yes. It isn't AS good as a standalone player but it is really quite good. If I had a better TV it MAY improve. If I had HD...it would be even better as I would be using the SVGA connection instead of converting to SVIDEO.
And there is no way to improve desktop image quality on any STANDARD tv. That's just the way it is unless you go 1080i HD.
But man o man. Gaming in a high end home theatre set up sure wakes up the neighbors and it's kinda fun sitting there on the couch with a wireless joystick. "look ma...no strings!"
Since the front page is currently down I guess I'll be in suspense
a little longer before I get to read the last part of the HEPC saga,
but it's been great so far! I've been waiting a while to finish the
article, and I'm not very patient (short attention span!) so you
know it's really helpful. HEPC has been of interest to me since I
saw the first car stereo HDD players, and decided the concept
needed to be taken much further. I recently picked-up an A-open
desktop and intend to use it for HEPC. Would love to hear from
anyone who has already tried this case.
Please feel free to move this if its not appropriate.
How about getting a laptop (thre are those with great media capabilities) instead of a box? The advantage is the small form factor and the noise issue.
I would see problems with high-end gaming (not that much), but for most other multimedia applications, it should be okay.
Granted, building a box is more gratifying. Just wondering what everyone thought.
maxanon said Please feel free to move this if its not appropriate.
How about getting a laptop (thre are those with great media capabilities) instead of a box? The advantage is the small form factor and the noise issue.
I would see problems with high-end gaming (not that much), but for most other multimedia applications, it should be okay.
Granted, building a box is more gratifying. Just wondering what everyone thought.
You don't have the sound cards available for laptops that are of the same quality as PCI based sound cards for standard PCs. Also...laptops don't have SVIDEO out. You could, however, run the laptop signal through a projector and probably get pretty decent video from DVD or other DVD like video files.
Of course the laptop would be waaaaaay more expensive than actually building the HEPC.
I did a quick look, and there's the Inspiron 8500 that has S-vid out and S/PDIF out as well. I thinks its about 1400USD.
There's probably a better one than that. Maybe Composite out with multichannel outs. It will be pricey. But for flush OOB users, maybe a viable option.
If it was up to me I'd do what you did, build it.
Great articles BTW. I really enjoyed the read. Are you going to post pics of the final set-up?
maxanon said Are you going to post pics of the final set-up?
In the other articles you can see what the two cases look like in the stereo cabinet. It isn't much more obtrusive than that. No wires...looks like a stereo component. It's all happy happy.
I may have a cool tip for you to save on those batterys for the mouse and keyboard. I have that mouse as well and it does eat power thanks to the led. There is a sollution to this though, but not on all mainboards. Does your mainboard have any jumper(s) for wake-up activitys? My board has that for both the ps/2 and usb and i have never used the wake-up utility, and never will. By moving the jumper, the feature goes off and so does my led when the pc isn´t on (rare). Some mainboards might have this in the bios as well. Sorry for crapping the thread.
MediaMan....My new Toshiba Satellite 1130 has S-Video out....which I showed you just the other night....about 3 days after you typed that comment though...
I agree though, you just won't get as good sound quality out of a laptop sound card as you can out of some PCI cards, at least not at the same price. Also, factor in the desire to tinker with and tweak your HEPC....laptops usually have audio and video components onboard the motherboard, so you can't just upgrade the sound card or the video card every couple of months
Actually, laptops sound is VERY upgradeable, thanks to some new products from M-audio (the same guys that make the Revolution Soundcard mediaman used in his article).
Actually, laptops sound is VERY upgradeable, thanks to some new products from M-audio (the same guys that make the Revolution Soundcard mediaman used in his article).
Comments
Heh, now this is getting really funny. I was putting together my own parts list a couple of weeks ago and inadvertantly chose many of the same parts that you did for all of the same reasons. Good choice on motherboards... It really has everything you could possibly need for an HEPC and then some at a very reasonable price.
One last edit... Could you please, PLEASE (:)) include a run-down of achievable image quality when playing back MPEG-Encoded (mpg/avi - DivX, Xvid, etc) video through S-VIDEO/TV-OUT? Is it as bad as desktop image quality, or is it closer to DVD quality playback due to the encoded resolutions.
Also, have you tried experimenting with PowerStrip's ability to set fully customizable desktop resolutions? It strikes me that better desktop performance could be achieved by setting the desktop resolution to exactly that which is supported by the television. Especially if the TV has a built in converter and could properly recognize its natively supported resolution. That's all theory and stuff, but it'd be cool if you tested it out for us.
Thanks MM. Great article, answered a lot of questions of mine which spurred the creation of the "MicroATX - Opinions needed" thread; which was basically about HEPCs.
To answer the playback quality question. The rule is quite simple. Playback quality is going to only be as good as the source. For example if you compress a 2 hour movie down to 10 MB the quality is going to be poor regardless of using a digital flat panel, SVGA, SVIDEO to NTSC or SVGA out to HDTV.
Since a computer monitor can at least handle 1024x768 that just falls a tiny bit short of HDTV quality. (HDTV is moving towards the 1080 standard instead of 720). Therefore if it looks bad on your computer monitor it may look teh same or a tiny bit worse on an HD monitor.
On a SVIDEO out to standard NTSC TV it may be even worse.
I took a 2 hour DVD quality video file and compressed it down to approximately 1 GB using DIVX encoding. I work in a TV station so I have 2 hour video files laying all over the place.
This was to a $250 27" JVC cheapo TV.
When running the DVD movie off the DVD Rom the image was clear and crisp but the saturation was a little rich. This varies from DVD software to software. Media player was the most versatile but the worst for saturation. In my personal opinion I'd say the quality was 90% +/- 2 % of DVD standalone player.
In layperson's words...would I say the game content and DVD content is really acceptable? Yes. It isn't AS good as a standalone player but it is really quite good. If I had a better TV it MAY improve. If I had HD...it would be even better as I would be using the SVGA connection instead of converting to SVIDEO.
And there is no way to improve desktop image quality on any STANDARD tv. That's just the way it is unless you go 1080i HD.
But man o man. Gaming in a high end home theatre set up sure wakes up the neighbors and it's kinda fun sitting there on the couch with a wireless joystick. "look ma...no strings!"
You told me exactly what I needed to know, rock on.
a little longer before I get to read the last part of the HEPC saga,
but it's been great so far! I've been waiting a while to finish the
article, and I'm not very patient (short attention span!) so you
know it's really helpful. HEPC has been of interest to me since I
saw the first car stereo HDD players, and decided the concept
needed to be taken much further. I recently picked-up an A-open
desktop and intend to use it for HEPC. Would love to hear from
anyone who has already tried this case.
How about getting a laptop (thre are those with great media capabilities) instead of a box? The advantage is the small form factor and the noise issue.
I would see problems with high-end gaming (not that much), but for most other multimedia applications, it should be okay.
Granted, building a box is more gratifying. Just wondering what everyone thought.
You don't have the sound cards available for laptops that are of the same quality as PCI based sound cards for standard PCs. Also...laptops don't have SVIDEO out. You could, however, run the laptop signal through a projector and probably get pretty decent video from DVD or other DVD like video files.
Of course the laptop would be waaaaaay more expensive than actually building the HEPC.
There's probably a better one than that. Maybe Composite out with multichannel outs. It will be pricey. But for flush OOB users, maybe a viable option.
If it was up to me I'd do what you did, build it.
Great articles BTW. I really enjoyed the read. Are you going to post pics of the final set-up?
In the other articles you can see what the two cases look like in the stereo cabinet. It isn't much more obtrusive than that. No wires...looks like a stereo component. It's all happy happy.
Look to Part 1.
I may have a cool tip for you to save on those batterys for the mouse and keyboard. I have that mouse as well and it does eat power thanks to the led. There is a sollution to this though, but not on all mainboards. Does your mainboard have any jumper(s) for wake-up activitys? My board has that for both the ps/2 and usb and i have never used the wake-up utility, and never will. By moving the jumper, the feature goes off and so does my led when the pc isn´t on (rare). Some mainboards might have this in the bios as well. Sorry for crapping the thread.
Mac
I'll look into it.
MediaMan....My new Toshiba Satellite 1130 has S-Video out....which I showed you just the other night....about 3 days after you typed that comment though...
I agree though, you just won't get as good sound quality out of a laptop sound card as you can out of some PCI cards, at least not at the same price. Also, factor in the desire to tinker with and tweak your HEPC....laptops usually have audio and video components onboard the motherboard, so you can't just upgrade the sound card or the video card every couple of months
Dexter...
Actually, laptops sound is VERY upgradeable, thanks to some new products from M-audio (the same guys that make the Revolution Soundcard mediaman used in his article).
Check out these cool outboard laptop sound boxes:
http://www.cdmediaworks.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=69
http://www.cdmediaworks.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=71
Cheers,
Spinme
BTW, nice new site ! Good Work!
Actually, laptops sound is VERY upgradeable, thanks to some new products from M-audio (the same guys that make the Revolution Soundcard mediaman used in his article).
Check out these cool outboard laptop sound boxes:
http://www.cdmediaworks.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=69
http://www.cdmediaworks.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=71
Cheers,
Spinme
BTW, nice new site ! Good Work!