Bluray capable PC build help.

[silentxzero]

Hey guys,

So I am taking the dive and building my first PC, I am currently researching and looking around for the best parts and such. What I want is sort of a one stop media center for all my entertainment needs. And since I want bluray capability to be one of the main focuses I thought what better place to get some good feedback and recommendations. Bear with me though, I am new at this so I'll just tell you about what I hope to get out of this build and what I want to use it for.

So I'm not a heavy gamer, I won't be over clocking and maxing out my components or anything like that, unless I really have to. I mean some occasional gaming every now and then, maybe at least some CoD:MW or GTA4 as far as the newest games I'd run. So as long as I can run those I guess I'm good on the gaming end.
But what's important to me is HD playback, Bluray, TV, Music. Music is a piece of cake, but I'd like some suggestions on getting the best out of HD and Bluray playback on my machine. I will be doing this on a Panasonic Viera S1 model plasma TV, 1080p of course.

So to break it down I want some suggestions on Bluray Drives, CPU, Motherboard, Power Supply, Video Cards, Tuner Cards.
And to be more exact I want to be able to plug my machine into my TV via HDMI and get all the lossless audio and 1080p playback bluray offers. Also I want to watch TV off the computer too so that I can record shows and pause/rewind football games, preferably in HD if possible, and play that back whenever I want. As far as any other activities; internet surfing of course, Youtube and Netflix as well, watching HD .mkv files, viewing/editing pics and again maybe some gaming, though nothing heavy mostly just the two games I mentioned above.
For everything else I have my laptop, such as word processing and all that good stuff.


I want the PC to be the core of my home theater entertainment system basically. I have a budget of $1000, someone told me I wouldn't need to spend that much for what I want, but maybe this will allow me to get the best parts and components or max out my hard drive space. Of course another thing would be any suggestions for the best wireless mouse and keyboard, best software for bluray playback, best software for TV recording and viewing, and a popcorn maker, not microwave.

I'd greatly appreciate any help, tips, suggestions, words of wisdom, warnings.

BTW two things I've looked at so far is an AMD Phenom II X4 and a Samsung Bluray Drive.

[mj3k]

I have all the parts listed...most important compatibility......no really if you need help just private message me and I'll answer all your ?'s

[James in MN]

I recently built a new system, consisting of:
- ASUS M4A88TD-V EVO/USB3 motherboard
- AMD Phenom II X2 555 black edition processor
- Corsair 2x 2Gb XMS3 DDR3 1600MHz memory
- Gigabyte HD 5770 1Gb GDDR5 video card
- LG 10x OEM blu ray player / DVD writer
- Windows 7 Pro

I have this connected via HDMI to my Vizio 42" 1080p 120Hz TV, model E420VL.

To watch blu-ray or DVD movies, I've been using the software that came with my OEM player, CyberLink PowerDVD8. This software has two audio settings for HDMI output: PCM output, or AC3/DTS pass-through.

If I have my audio output set to PCM output, because I'm using the speakers on my TV, the sound quality is terrible. Sound effects are extra loud, and dialogue gets very quiet. There's a constant fluctuation in sound quality that makes it impossible to watch a movie. So, I set it to AC3/DTS pass-through, and everything seemed to work out fine, until yesterday. Now, for some reason, I've lost all sound when set to AC3/DTS. It could have been a recent Windows 7 patch, or perhaps a setting by CyberLink to shut down parts of their software until they successfully bilk a customer of more money (as if I didn't pay enough for the blu-ray player as it is).

I tried to use Windows restore to go back before the Windows patches that loaded yesterday (in case that was the culprit), but it wouldn't allow me. It claimed that my anti-virus got in the way, so I shut that down and tried again, to no avail. I'm not sure that I can continue to explore that option.

Should I look to get a different software package? I'm reluctant to pay for CyberLink since it looks like there is no phone tech support (all email) and I haven't heard the best reviews of their tech support staff.

Any insight would be appreciated.

[swoon]

What is your size requirement? From what you've listed, it sounds to me like a micro-atx size will suit you. Also, due to the gaming requirement, I'd recommend checking out either an ATI 5770 or Nvidia GTX 460 solution. These cards though mean you will need to choose a full height micro-atx case at minimum.

What are your TV sources and how many tuners are required?

For your requirements, I think you might be better off going with an Intel Core i3 as it is more efficient than the AMD offering.

How much storage are you looking for? This will also factor into your case selection. I'd recommend you get a minimum of one 2TB drive for media and a smaller 7200 RPM drive for the OS or an SSD.

You can get by with 2GB of RAM, but 4GB will give a little boost in speed. Go with x64 Win7 Home Premium or better to be able to take advantage of 4GB of RAM.

What about remote control capability?

[kpkelley]

Originally Posted by swoon

What are your TV sources and how many tuners are required?

This may be the ultimate question. Blu-ray playback is straightforward enough(video card with some sort of cpu optimization[most any nowadays], and good processor, ample memory, and playback software), but HDTV tuners are dependant upon your cable provider. If you have a terrestrial cable provider who offers CableCards, then you can get a CableCard tuner(Win7 has native support). Otherwise, you are limited to OTA hd cable.

Originally Posted by swoon

You can get by with 2GB of RAM, but 4GB will give a little boost in speed. Go with x64 Win7 Home Premium or better to be able to take advantage of 4GB of RAM.

Agreed.


James. I've used PowerDVD and haven't had too many issues, but their customer service is terrible. You are more likely to find answers from web searches. My audio is through an Asus Xonar HDAV audio card, so I haven't had any issues in that department.

[brettallica]

I've been doing a lot of research on this topic lately because I may be needing something like this in the near future. There are companies out there that specialize in pre-fab HTPCs with built-in everything you mentioned, and they come with warranties and support and are guaranteed to work, so that's cool.

Here are just a couple links:

http://www.pugetsystems.com/desktop.php?sys_id=55

http://www.avadirect.com/product_det...asp?PRID=15146

If you're really into building your own, there's so much stuff to take into consideration; specifically which hardware will work with which hardware, and which of those combinations will work with the target OS. Cons of the DIY HTPC include compatibilty issues, support challenges (different vendors for all your components could mean LOTS of phone calls/e-mails), and possibly troubleshooting when something goes wrong (in that because you have so many different components, it could be very hard to trace back to a source of a problem due to your configuration being so unique). This as opposed to a pre-fab, which (hopefully) has all those kinks ironed out because it's a finished and tested product/configuration.

Definitely look for a video card with HDMI output that supports audio over the HDMI such as the ATI Radeon 4000 series (http://www.amd.com/us/products/deskt...00-series.aspx). I would say 4GB RAM minimum, but others tend to think you'll be fine with 2GB. My philosophy on that is RAM is so cheap that you might as well go nuts. The flip-side to that argument is that since it's so cheap anyway, you can just start small and assess the performance, then add as necessary — which is perfectly sound reasoning.

I'm no advocate for pre-fab, mind you. I'm simply giving you some of what I know and have found out through my research. Ideally I'll make my own custom build because that's just how I am, but at the same time I'm staying real and open to the fact that a pre-fab MAY be a better option.

[James in MN]

James. I've used PowerDVD and haven't had too many issues, but their customer service is terrible. You are more likely to find answers from web searches. My audio is through an Asus Xonar HDAV audio card, so I haven't had any issues in that department.

I ended up uninstalling PowerDVD in favor of VLC media player. That seems to work OK.

[silentxzero]

Originally Posted by swoon

What is your size requirement? From what you've listed, it sounds to me like a micro-atx size will suit you. Also, due to the gaming requirement, I'd recommend checking out either an ATI 5770 or Nvidia GTX 460 solution. These cards though mean you will need to choose a full height micro-atx case at minimum.

I don't have any requirements as far as size so I'll probably just choose a full height case so I can install a graphics card for the gaming.

Originally Posted by swoon

What are your TV sources and how many tuners are required?

I have Cox Cable, not sure if they offer cable cards, but it's fiber optic cable.

Originally Posted by swoon

How much storage are you looking for? This will also factor into your case selection. I'd recommend you get a minimum of one 2TB drive for media and a smaller 7200 RPM drive for the OS or an SSD.

You can get by with 2GB of RAM, but 4GB will give a little boost in speed. Go with x64 Win7 Home Premium or better to be able to take advantage of 4GB of RAM.

I was planning on going with at least 4GB's of RAM, so x64 Home Premium was most likely going to my choice as far as OS.

As far as storage I was going to get at least 1TB to start with, but 2 does sound a lot better, and I like the idea of setting up the OS on a separate smaller drive.

Originally Posted by swoon

Definitely look for a video card with HDMI output that supports audio over the HDMI such as the ATI Radeon 4000 series (http://www.amd.com/us/products/deskt...00-series.aspx).

Yeah a lot of people have told me to go with an ATI card, and I think I will since it outputs audio through HDMI.

[swoon]

Originally Posted by silentxzero

I don't have any requirements as far as size so I'll probably just choose a full height case so I can install a graphics card for the gaming.

I have Cox Cable, not sure if they offer cable cards, but it's fiber optic cable.

I was planning on going with at least 4GB's of RAM, so x64 Home Premium was most likely going to my choice as far as OS.

As far as storage I was going to get at least 1TB to start with, but 2 does sound a lot better, and I like the idea of setting up the OS on a separate smaller drive.

Yeah a lot of people have told me to go with an ATI card, and I think I will since it outputs audio through HDMI.

Cox Cable must support CableCARD as this is an FCC mandate. You will want to purchase the Ceton 4-tuner PCIe CableCARD tuner. It is currently the only tuner on the market and in quite high demand right now as they just started shipping product.

For your video card, I would go with ATI 5770 OR Nvidia GTX460. The new Nvidia card will also bitstream audio just like the 5770. The GTX460 is a bit more expensive than the 5770, but also more powerful than the 5770.

You will want to make a decision between micro-ATX and standard ATX. If space or aesthetics are not concerns, go with standard ATX as the system will be more expandable and will hold more storage and have better airflow.

[silentxzero]

Thanks for all the info guys, I think i got a better idea of everything now, I'll post my config as soon as I get it all sorted out. But so far looks like I'll go the route of the Ceton CableCARD tuner, the ATI 5770 or better, a standard ATX board, and an Intel i3 Processor.

[jeremy84ponting]

Thanks for the information !

E8400 or E8500 or Q6600 or Q9450 processor (dual core E = Q = quad) Asus motherboard with the security I use the Asus P5Q Pro. The budget is a concert 4850 or 4870, four of RAM is good then the rest of the preference..