micro atx with hdmi... is it able to playback bluray movies?

[maxmcleod]

I've been noticing a lot of micro atx motherboards coming with HDMI output on the back panel... Does anyone know if any of these boards are capable of handling bluray playback with the onboard graphics?

They all mention they support playback of hd-dvd and bluray content

http://www.xtsit.com/browse/product_...s.php?id=11777
http://www.afterhours.co.uk/asus-m2n...id-p-3938.html
http://www.eworldsale.com/asus-m3a78...744_21052.html
http://www.altex.com/Asus-AM2-AM2-AM...I-P146986.aspx
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131237

i want to use my bluray drive, and make a small standalone bluray player, for the bedroom...
just wondering how well these may perform

[rick medlocke]

There are a 3 main chipset platforms that will definately support bluray playback with onboard graphics. They are:

780G - This is an AMD platform and will only use AMD CPU'S.

GeForce 8200/8300 - This is nVidias version of the 780G slightly better onboard graphics than 780G at stock but the onboard 780G graphics overclock to around double its speed so there isnt much difference.

Intel G45 - Intel platform with slighlty inferior graphics and higher power usage than the other 2 boards but has the big plus of using intel cpu's.

All of these boards come in micro ATX versions and all will play Blurays.

You can't go wrong with a 780G or a GeForce 8300 IMO.

Hope this helped you out

If you have any more questions feel free to PM me.

[Toptube]

We aren't looking at graphics performance here, rather features and ability to decode video.

In that respect, AMD/ATI has the hands down win right now. But, there aren't any intel boards with ATI chips in em. So its kind of limiting. Nvidia's solution isn't bad, just not the full featured kitchen sink that ATI has right now, Including native audio over HDMI.

[blitz6speed]

Asus P5Q-EM is the board to go for. Its not out yet, should hit anytime now. Its the only G45 board with PAP/PVP so far (Protected Audio/Video Path) so you can now BITSTREAM TrueHD/DTS HD MA via the built in HDMI 1.3a connector. That requires a special version of PowerDVD but it does work. The other G45 boards do not do that. It also offloads MPEG2/VC-1/AVC and BD-J 1.1 to the GPU instead of the CPU, so little cpu usage for any blu-ray movie and feature. It also does 7.1 PCM Audio as well. Its what i am waiting for personally.

[saljr]

Originally Posted by Toptube

We aren't looking at graphics performance here, rather features and ability to decode video.

In that respect, AMD/ATI has the hands down win right now. But, there aren't any intel boards with ATI chips in em. So its kind of limiting. Nvidia's solution isn't bad, just not the full featured kitchen sink that ATI has right now, Including native audio over HDMI.

I agree but no one mention about the new chip 790GX its 33% faster then 780G in 3D. SidePort memory(128MB DDR3 1333 or Use main memory from the system)on board for on board VGA. No need to buy a video card. It has enough power. Next board will have the 790GX.

[maxmcleod]

exactly what i needed to know...

it looks like you can order the Asus P5Q-EM at
http://www.anitec.ca/product/11626/a...5_motherboard/

says special order, but doesn't say anything about it taking more than 2 days to ship