Getting the Best out of an Ivy Bridge HTPC: Windows 8, madVR and More..
by Ganesh T S on January 20, 2013 3:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Home Theater
- Intel
- HTPC
- Ivy Bridge
- Windows 8
- Passive Cooling
Software Interface: XBMC and JRiver Media Center 18
The combination of MPC-HC and LAV Filters enabled us to play back all our media files without issues. However, the user interface is not really amenable to a media center experience. XBMC, undoubtedly, has set the gold standard for the HTPC user interface. It is possible to go through hoops to make XBMC use MPC-HC and LAV filters for media playback, but the XBMC UI is lost during playback.
XBMC's internal playback engine incorporates DXVA capability also. It works very well for most common media files (standard TV broadcast recordings and Blu-ray/DVD re-encodes in MPEG-2 / MPEG-4 / H.264). However, interlaced VC-1 clips pose a challenge even with DXVA disabled.
Interlaced VC-1 Playback in XBMC (non-DXVA Mode)
If you don't particularly care for madVR or don't have any interlaced VC-1 clips in your library (and don't plan to add any), XBMC is a very good choice for the software interface to a Intel-based HTPC like the one we are discussing right now.
If you have already tried XBMC, but still have unmet requirements in terms of technical capabilities, I would definitely recommend taking a look at JRiver MC18. The UI (Theater View) is a couple of notches below XBMC, but it more than makes up for the lack of eye candy and ease of navigation by completely handling the configuration of madVR and various codecs without user intervention. We have covered the Red October initiative before. On our testbed, we were able to get perfect playback of all our clips using the Red October standard profile (which doesn't use madVR).
Interlaced VC-1 Playback in JRiver MC18 (RO Standard)
From our experiments, the combination of LAV Video Decoder (QuickSync) + madVR with default settings should work without issues. A similar profile is used in Red October High Quality (RO HQ) (some of JRiver's own filters are added to the chain), but we had plenty of dropped frames during playback of 720p60 / 1080p60 / 1080i60 streams. I am in touch with JRiver to investigate this issue further and will make it a point to update this section in case the status of RO HQ on the HD 4000 changes.
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philipma1957 - Sunday, January 20, 2013 - link
WELL I don't think that I am obsessed.I record Jay Leno, David Letterman, Jimmy Fallon , Craig Ferguson and I record Saturday Night Live. That is about 21.5 hours of tv a week. Now Sometimes they are repeats and sometimes they are lousy . So I don't watch 21.5 hours each week. They also run at 1130 pm to 130 am and they compete for time.
The bottom line is I need 2 tuners and 2 dvrs to do this. Why is that> I use 100 percent free tv with an antenna. So my cost is that of a pair of mac minis and a pair of eyetv tuners.
Watching these via the net results in poor quality video due to my net connection . No matter what I would pay for a net connection the best is that of optimum online 15 down 2 up speed . Now if I buy the cheapest cablevision for tv my 50 dollar net fee bundles with cable tv basic . I go to 64 plus 6 for each box is 76 plus 6 for each dvd is 88. So to be able to time manage my tv via cable it is 38 a month. vs 0 I have had some type of dvd/vcr for 20 years do the math. more then 9000 saved.
NeBlackCat - Monday, January 21, 2013 - link
You're describing a media server there mate, not an HTPC. We're about at the point now where an HTPC needs to be nothing but a cheap networked ARM box.truprecht - Monday, January 21, 2013 - link
Raspberry Pi? Not quite there yet... maybe next gen.The12pAc - Tuesday, January 22, 2013 - link
Was SOOO close to getting on last weekend, just to mess around with..... Cool idea.Golgatha - Monday, January 21, 2013 - link
Not to mention Cinavia will eventually make your ripped media streaming life a living hell Fx1. Enjoy not being able to tinker with the hardware and software. Also, good luck getting updates for all those apps once Panasonic exits the market. Microsoft and open source programs; not going out of the market anytime soon.Fx1 - Tuesday, January 22, 2013 - link
No Cinavia on Panasonic. I am literally playing Blu rays off a HDD.dcaxax - Monday, January 21, 2013 - link
A) The scaling capabilities of your TV are what they are. I'm sure they're quite OK and I'm sure they don't come close to MadVR, but of course if youre happy that's all that counts.\B) Your TV doesn't manage and play all your media including your m4a's, Flac CD Rips etc, and if it does I'm sure the quality is awful unless iof it bitstreams which is unlikely.
C) It also doesn't play any non-typical audio/video formats. Maybe you don't care about that but others do.
D) Your TV may or may not show you your photos or give you skype or any bunch of other things that an HTPC does.
E) Others have made the point about DVR capabilities better.
F) Regardless of any of the above the UI on your TV doesn't come close to XBMC which itself doesn't come close to MediaBrowser (WMC plug-in)
HTPC's were never about playing pirated content. They are intended to provide a single hub for all digital content.
The fact that you are happy with your TV doing that for you, means that you have no need not bother with articles like this. Or indeed post on them.
Fx1 - Monday, January 21, 2013 - link
The TV has a dual core ARM CPU which seems to get the job done and the best 2D image money can buy. I really only try and use HD content.When i download my content i have enough choice between x264 Divx and other popular formats. If i really need to use an odd format any Phone or laptop or PC can stream directly to the TV via DNLA and realtime encode.
Skype, Youtube Netflix and other stuff is baked right into the TV with even a store to buy games.
My Galaxy S3 can use an app to share video pictures and Web pages direct to the TV and the TV can use these features without the phone too. I can play a HD movie directly off my phone in 2 clicks with the picture being perfectly good as i had used the HDD.
Im sure you can find stuff that i cant do that you can do on a HTPC but lets face it the costs are adding up and for what?
jabber - Monday, January 21, 2013 - link
Kind of agree with you there. I used to know quite a few folks that ran HTPC boxes but over the past few years they have all got rid of them and just switched to off the shelf options instead.I even had a go back in the day but more trouble than it was worth.
This is UK based too.
WeaselITB - Monday, January 21, 2013 - link
How do you watch independent or third-party shows on websites NOT on YouTube or Netflix? PBS documentaries, indy web-original content, etc.You state that you use a phone/laptop/PC to stream via DNLA ... well, then what's the point of your super-TV when you can have a dumb TV and an HTPC and accomplish everything without needing to stream off another box? If a vast majority of the online content you watch is via Netflix/YouTube, then sure, I'll bet that the super-TV works great. If it isn't (as is my case), then a separate HTPC is the better bet.
-Weasel