A Budget Home Theater & PC Setup: 4K, HDR, UHD Blu-ray, and More
by Ganesh T S on December 26, 2017 8:30 AM ESTConfiguring a UHD Blu-ray Playback System
The rise in popularity of OTT streaming has coincided with a decline in the popularity of physical media formats such as Blu-rays. Irrespective of the market statistics, it is indisputable that the bitrates possible with the latter simply can't translated to OTT services. Bitrates usually directly correlate with video quality, though, beyond a certain point, it becomes very difficult to distinguish. HD audio formats such as Dolby Atmos, DTS-HD MA, Dolby TrueHD etc. are also yet to be widely adopted by OTT streaming services. On top of all these, Blu-rays are often treated as collectibles by some consumers.
UltraHD (UHD) Blu-rays (with their 4K resolution videos encoded in HEVC) were a bit slow to take off. On the PC front, the number of licensed software Blu-ray player vendors has come down from 3 (ArcSoft, Corel, and CyberLink) to just CyberLink alone. PowerDVD 17, with UHD Blu-ray support, was released in April 2017. The hardware requirements were quite specific, and we decided to pass up on a hands-on review at that time.
While reviewing the Intel NUC7i7BNH, I realized that it came with support for SGX, one of the primary requirements for PowerDVD 17 to play back UHD Blu-rays. I also remembered that the BIOS of the ASRock Beebox-S 7200U had a SGX option. Both of these systems also had a LSPCon on board to support HDMI 2.0 with HDCP 2.2 capability. Pioneer launched the BDR-211UBK in March, but, had specifically indicated that KBL-U was incompatible. However, based on our discussions with both CyberLink and Intel, we decided to give the drive a try by connecting the internal SATA ODD using a compact SATA-USB bridge.
The Pioneer BDR-211UBK and the UGREEN SATA-USB Adapter Combine to Make the Intel NUC7i7BNH a UHD Blu-ray Player
We looked up Amazon for a compact bridge and chanced upon a versatile UGREEN adapter. In addition to supporting the SATA drive, it also had a couple of USB 3.0 Type-A extension ports and a microSD reader. This made sure that the optical drive would not completely take over the USB port in the host system.
Using an Internal Drive without an Enclosure is not an Issue if the Setup is Tucked Out-of-Sight
After setting up the hardware and configuring the BIOS appropriately in the two systems, we installed the Management Engine components. The next step was to confirm that the system and allied components were correctly set up for UHD Blu-ray playback with HDR. CyerbLink provides the Ultra HD Blu-ray Advisor tool for this purpose. It also helpfully points out missing ME components or mis-configured BIOS options. Even though we were aware that the Zotac ZBOX MAGNUS EN1080K doesn't pass the requirements check (no SGX, iGPU inactive), we did try out the tool on it also.
The CyberLink Ultra HD Blu-ray Advisor (L: ASRock Beebox-S 7200U, R: Zotac ZBOX MAGNUS EN1080K)
Even though it is possible that the Zotac EN1080K might enable SGX in a future BIOS release, the use of the Intel GPU is probably disabled at the board level. This means that there is no protected audio/video path for secure decoding of the UHD Blu-ray streams. Given that there is no talk of UHD Blu-ray support from NVIDIA Pascal, consumers shouldn't keep their hopes up regarding the possibility of UHD Blu-rays getting played back on NVIDIA Pascal-equipped systems. Coming back to the results of the UHD BD Advisor tool, we find that the two KBL-U systems pass all the checks. We purchased a retail copy of the Planet Earth II UHD Blu-ray for testing out our setup.
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Galid - Sunday, December 31, 2017 - link
I would really much like to listen to your setup, sincerely. I know I would be in awe, never said what you put up on the internet is pure crap, all I wanted to hear from you is that there's stuff out there even if it's overpriced, includes DRM, seems like pure mockery that can still be liked by someone even if it seems impossible to you.But you are such a supreme being with no space around it for tolerance of imperfections in the current world
Bullwinkle-J-Moose - Sunday, December 31, 2017 - link
"Sennheiser HD-800 and Hifiman HE-560 running into a burson conductor SL1793 and I know how a recording should sound. My stereo setup consist of Rega Elex-R and ATC SCM 19 v2."--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You poor guy
You've never actually heard a great set of speakers
Even your headphones begin combing over 10Khz with a sine sweep
My Speakers have zero combing or image shifting at any usable frequency
Image is stable at ALL usable frequencies! and the sweet spot covers the entire room unlike your ATC SCM 19 v2
Phase coherent hybrid crossovers and full omni-directional imaging would probably scare the crap out of your after being stuck with your Low End setup for so long
You have my sympathy
Galid - Sunday, December 31, 2017 - link
Well happy to you if you got the most neutral stereo system in the world, never said mine was perfect but it's still good enough to know how a record should sound even if it still has coloration. I was already informed about the bump in frequency on my headphones, the frequency graphs came with the headphones.Who do you freaking think you are, I just said I've seen people liking lower end system than higher end ones. What you want in the end, it is not nature with it's imperfection, you want the perfection humans have created, you wanna hear mathematics perfectly aligned, let's kill all those unbalanced beings and create a planet where everything is robotized, controlled, calculated.
I like imperfections and you seem to believe no one should, I never said you can'T like what you do. I'm trying to have you understand someone else might very much like what you find disgusting. You have yet to understand that.
Galid - Sunday, December 31, 2017 - link
''You've never actually heard a great set of speakers''How condescending you can be, I went to many audio shows including Montreal audio fest, again I guess every set of speakers there was really bad, everything is to you yet you recommend stuff like JBL powered speakers which by the way must sound uber crappy. I'm not trying to win a contest here, you already won the internet sir. You own the very best the planet has to offer and yet you can'T accept people can like stuff even if there's better out there.
Galid - Sunday, December 31, 2017 - link
My crap low end system, let's then not consider 99.9% of speakers ever produced amplifiers and so on because they're all crappy colored and unworthy.Those JBL speakers you recommended are crap btw you just said it. No one can like them. That behringer 2496 can't be loved either, it's crap by your standards because you own better, everything below what you own is crap and then should not even be discussed on the internet.
I never tried to show you I own better than you, I just wanted you to aknowledge someone might like what you dislike, audio is not science, it goes through someone's ear and then is interpreted by their ears. A neutral sound set of speakers will make some recordings unlistenable. If those records are 90% of what they listen to, they will hate your super neutral sound system.
Galid - Sunday, December 31, 2017 - link
Forgive them for they know not what they do.I'm sorry, I forgive you, let's hope you will be able to do so with me.
we - Monday, January 1, 2018 - link
"My Speakers have zero combing or image shifting at any usable frequency"You are talking about the JBL LSR305? Even if that were true (which I doubt), there are many many other significant aspects of loudspeaker design. Some simply cannot be properly addressed at the price point of the LSR305. For example, it can be assumed that the drivers of the ATC SCM 19 v2 will have significantly better distortion / linearity specifications that the cheap drivers in the JBLs. And although powered speaker can be very good, I wonder to what extent JBL addressed vibrational effects on the internal amps and crosover considering the available budget (All amps and even crossovers are microphonic to an extent). So much more could be said.
I have heard neither the JBLs nor the ATCs, but logic dictates that if the JBLs are even remotely comparable to the ATC in sound quality, then JBL truly pulled off a miracle!
Bullwinkle-J-Moose - Tuesday, January 2, 2018 - link
"You are talking about the JBL LSR305? Even if that were true (which I doubt), there are many many other significant aspects of loudspeaker design. Some simply cannot be properly addressed at the price point of the LSR305."----------------------------------------------
Oh HELL NO!
I am definitely NOT talking about the "BUDGET" JBL LSR305 Home Theater setup
I was referring to the 3-channel "Reference Standard" speakers I created over 30 years ago
Additive/Subtractive frequency interference is easy enough to eliminate with a 3-channel system when done right, but cannot be eliminated in a 2 channel stereo system regardless of cost
You will get ALWAYS get combing whenever you send the same signal to 2 or more speakers simultaneously
Even the most expensive dynamic headphones exhibit image shifting at higher frequencies
It is much less noticeable with planar magnetics, but still there
You can easily test this combing effect by runnin a mono sine sweep into your headphones at a low level to protect your hearing
The sweep (Starting at the bass end) will remain dead center of your headphones until it reaches a certain frequency which could be 6-8 Khz on pure crap headphones / 8-12Khz on most midrange headphones and above 12Khz on the best available headphones
Ideally, you do not want the stereo image to shift left or right as frequency changes as the stereo image wanders and muddies up the acoustical image you are trying to create
rapster - Sunday, December 31, 2017 - link
Hahahaha! Someone skipped a dose?FreckledTrout - Sunday, December 31, 2017 - link
@ddriver, this is very low end for me, so I have no issue with it being called budget. The Jamo sub is utter crap probably not even worth $100 if sold alone. If this build had say a SVS PB-1000 as the sub I might be onboard on the sound side. The in ceiling speakers are at least middle of the road. The other tips were nice but as far as the speakers go it couldn't be any more low end. I ahve the Denon AVR x3300 the prior year version of the one here and it is a lovely receiver mostly because of the Audyssey xt32.