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loady · 2011-09-10, 08:53

are there advantages with win7/xbmc over live ?...reading live it states..

ATI Radeon R420 (X800) or newer supported, ATI Radeon R700 (HD 4000) or newer recommended.

Maybe i should start a new thread for this topic..just looking for my starting point..i want the FASTEST slickest skins and i want it to run like a out the box media player and if needed be able to browse the internet

eskro · 2011-09-10, 08:57

i told you numerous times,,,
dont mix Linux and ATI
if you wanna go Linux, buy a Nvidia GT430....

loady · (This post was last modified: 2011-09-10, 09:51 by loady.)

Yes i understand that..so any reference to live is linux only..end of, no option to have live without linux being involved..??

EDIT:...apolagies for not reading further...

XBMC Live 'Dharma' (10.1) is currently based on the Ubuntu 10.04.2 LTS, that is, it is Linux based.

Kirky99 · (This post was last modified: 2011-09-10, 15:14 by Kirky99.)

Aye = OpenELEC and Live are Linux based...

I think if you want to browse the Internet, then you probably want to look at Windows. Kylo is a pretty sweet browser and integrates nicely with XBMC via Advanced Launcher. If someone knows of a Linux browser that can do the same, please educate me. I've love to be able to browse from my OpenELEC machines.

bluray · 2011-09-10, 15:15

loady Wrote:Im not quite an audiophile yet..what is bitstreaming..will i notice it or is it one of those things that sound good on paper but the ear cant distinguish

bitstreaming is the process where the original audio stream is transmitted digitally in its original format to avr for decoding. your onkyo is capable of decoding hd dts-hd/truehd. no it isn't just sound good on paper. with proper hardware, software and configuration, it'll sound very good on your surround sound system. with your new htpc and 7mce/xbmc, you should be able to bitstream hd audio!

EndiSky · 2011-09-10, 20:10

Bottom line is if you want standard PC capabilities, use windows + XBMC.
If you want strictly media playback, use XBMC live WITH an NVidea card.

The way my system is set up is that I have windows 7 installed but the system is NORMALLY in XBMC and it just sleeps like a standard windows pc sleeps. This allows easy remote power on as opposed to actual power button pressing on my machine.

As for Dharma, yeah that is 10.1 release and (pre)Eden builds are 11.0 I believe. I would suggest starting off with the Dharma builds so that you don't have to be one of the ones finding issues in (pre)Eden builds which is still in Beta stages. The Dharma build is the current Stable release.

bluray · (This post was last modified: 2011-09-11, 00:27 by bluray.)

EndiSky Wrote:Bottom line is if you want standard PC capabilities, use windows + XBMC.

what do you mean by standard pc capabilities, use windows+xbmc? there is nothing standard about my w7 htpc's. it can playback bd 1080p with dts-hd/truehd and it can stream hd (netflix, vudu, youtube, hulu, etc) with both xbmc and 7mce. i'm guessing that w7 qualify to be media playback too!

EndiSky · 2011-09-10, 23:31

As in browsing the XBMC forums, shopping for htpc parts, commenting on the XBMC facebook page vs just using ACTUAL xbmc!

bluray · 2011-09-11, 00:42

EndiSky Wrote:As in browsing the XBMC forums, shopping for htpc parts, commenting on the XBMC facebook page vs just using ACTUAL xbmc!

no, i don't do any of that on htpc in my home entertainment center. i preferred do all of that on my desktop pc with smaller 27" hdtv with regular mouse and keyboard. the htpc is strictly for xbmc/7mce media to playback [bd (iso/m2ts/mkv) with dts-hd and addon (netflix, youtube, vudu, directv2pc, photos, music, etc). the reason for having windows because i can easily bitstream hd audio. all other stuffs are disabled in windows!

loady · 2011-09-11, 13:14

With regard to the bitstreaming... does that happen through the hdmi ? think i may have a problem. when i bought the mobo it said HD audio but it does not have coax digital or spdif out. there is a HD front panel header only.. the gpu only has hdmi, no audio out...im changing the card for for the 6750 that might have a digital out...should i be looking to change the mobo to ?

**lloydsmart** · 2011-09-11, 13:29

No, it happens through HDMI. Coax and optical don't have enough bandwidth to do it.

loady · 2011-09-11, 16:10

Your kidding ? I thought that lovely red beam was the best you could get...so all this time i have used the opticals on my media players in to my onkyo i would have go better if i enabled sound through hdmi ??

**lloydsmart** · (This post was last modified: 2011-09-11, 17:10 by lloydsmart.)

No, HDMI is technically more capable. This doesn't mean there's anything wrong with optical, though, and depending on the source device optical may be delivering the maximum potential anyway.

Allow me to explain...

HDMI is capable of transporting any stream that optical can - and it will be exactly the same. Whatever data travelled over the optical cable will travel over the HDMI cable and be exactly the same when it gets to the amp. The place HDMI can make a positive difference is with Bluray (and HDDVD, if you had one of those) and HD movie files on a HTPC. This is because HDMI is the only standard capable of transporting the new HD audio formats. Optical can't cope with them.

The only time optical will actually be better than HDMI is if the source device somehow cripples it's HDMI output. This is the case with Sky HD satellite boxes in the UK. They are capable of transmitting a full Dolby Digital 5.1 sound track (which you usually get on movie channels) via their optical output, but not via HDMI. The HDMI output is limited to stereo. This, however, is not a fault with HDMI itself, but with Sky's boxes. Hence, you'll see many people connecting both the HDMI and Optical cables from their Sky box to their amp, in order to get the best picture (HDMI) and best sound (optical).

But that's really beside the point and a bit offtopic here (sorry!). Basically, when it comes to HTPCs, HDMI is the way to go! It can carry everything optical could, plus the new HD codecs, plus unencoded 7.1 LPCM. Cool

bluray · 2011-09-11, 17:46

loady Wrote:With regard to the bitstreaming... does that happen through the hdmi ? think i may have a problem. when i bought the mobo it said HD audio but it does not have coax digital or spdif out. there is a HD front panel header only.. the gpu only has hdmi, no audio out...im changing the card for for the 6750 that might have a digital out...should i be looking to change the mobo to ?

the only way to bitstream hd audio is through hdmi cable, and there is no other way. here are guides to playback hd audio- blu-ray in 1080p with dts-hd and truehd. radeon hd 6570 is one of my favorite graphic card, especially this version- Radeon HD 6570 2GB DDR3 .

loady · 2011-09-11, 19:12

lloydsmart Wrote:No, HDMI is technically more capable. This doesn't mean there's anything wrong with optical, though, and depending on the source device optical may be delivering the maximum potential anyway.

Allow me to explain...

HDMI is capable of transporting any stream that optical can - and it will be exactly the same. Whatever data travelled over the optical cable will travel over the HDMI cable and be exactly the same when it gets to the amp. The place HDMI can make a positive difference is with Bluray (and HDDVD, if you had one of those) and HD movie files on a HTPC. This is because HDMI is the only standard capable of transporting the new HD audio formats. Optical can't cope with them.

The only time optical will actually be better than HDMI is if the source device somehow cripples it's HDMI output. This is the case with Sky HD satellite boxes in the UK. They are capable of transmitting a full Dolby Digital 5.1 sound track (which you usually get on movie channels) via their optical output, but not via HDMI. The HDMI output is limited to stereo. This, however, is not a fault with HDMI itself, but with Sky's boxes. Hence, you'll see many people connecting both the HDMI and Optical cables from their Sky box to their amp, in order to get the best picture (HDMI) and best sound (optical).

But that's really beside the point and a bit offtopic here (sorry!). Basically, when it comes to HTPCs, HDMI is the way to go! It can carry everything optical could, plus the new HD codecs, plus unencoded 7.1 LPCM.

Thats well explained..thanks. So what of my Dual DVD-S2 HD card....i assume the audio will travel via the HDMI on GPU card thus giving me the better sound ??