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BORIStheBLADE · 2015-07-12, 21:57

Right now I'm running a ASUS AT5IONT-I Intel Atom D525 mobo in the living room and want to upgrade. It works fine, but last year I bought a new TV which supports CEC and next month I'm buying a new AVR with HD audio support. So I'm looking for options which will let me use CEC, HD audio bitstreaming and I only care about 1080p.

Now I'm open to a mini-itx build since I already have a PC case in the living room. I really haven't seen much announced lately for HTPC mini-itx builds, mostly just barebones mini PC's and Android boxes. I have been running OpenElec for years but open to using Windows if I need to for features.

Thanks

noggin · (This post was last modified: 2015-07-12, 22:36 by noggin.)

You can easily have two of the three :

CEC + 1080p is supported very well by the Raspberry Pi 2. You'll also get lossless HD Audio - but it will be decoded to PCM rather than bitstreamed, and you won't get 192kHz 5.1/7.1 (though unless you have one of a few Blu-rays this won't be an issue)

HD Audio bitstreaming + 1080p is supported very well by pretty much any Intel Celeron Haswell or better chipset. But CEC isn't supported by most x86 solutions. To add CEC you will need to use an external Pulse 8 USB-CEC adaptor which sits in the HDMI cable between the PC and your AVR and handles CEC.

HD Audio + 1080p + CEC is supported by very few solutions. A Haswell Intel NUC with an internal CEC adaptor plugged into the Custom Solutions Header is the best way I suspect?

How important is CEC to you really?

goujam · 2015-07-12, 22:38

Your board already does HD audio bitstreaming you can buy a pulse-eight adaptor to add cec to your existing setup

BORIStheBLADE · 2015-07-12, 23:47

(2015-07-12, 22:38)goujam Wrote: Your board already does HD audio bitstreaming you can buy a pulse-eight adaptor to add cec to your existing setup

I read in the past that Ion 2 doesnt bitstream HD audio. This board is pretty old so I will have to dig through the internet and double check.

BORIStheBLADE · 2015-07-12, 23:49

(2015-07-12, 22:36)noggin Wrote: You can easily have two of the three :

CEC + 1080p is supported very well by the Raspberry Pi 2. You'll also get lossless HD Audio - but it will be decoded to PCM rather than bitstreamed, and you won't get 192kHz 5.1/7.1 (though unless you have one of a few Blu-rays this won't be an issue)

HD Audio bitstreaming + 1080p is supported very well by pretty much any Intel Celeron Haswell or better chipset. But CEC isn't supported by most x86 solutions. To add CEC you will need to use an external Pulse 8 USB-CEC adaptor which sits in the HDMI cable between the PC and your AVR and handles CEC.

HD Audio + 1080p + CEC is supported by very few solutions. A Haswell Intel NUC with an internal CEC adaptor plugged into the Custom Solutions Header is the best way I suspect?

How important is CEC to you really?

CEC is pretty important. Im looking to use it with all my hardware. Once I get the AVR everything I have will support CEC except my htpc.

BORIStheBLADE · (This post was last modified: 2015-07-12, 23:55 by BORIStheBLADE.)

(2015-07-12, 22:36)noggin Wrote: You can easily have two of the three :

CEC + 1080p is supported very well by the Raspberry Pi 2. You'll also get lossless HD Audio - but it will be decoded to PCM rather than bitstreamed, and you won't get 192kHz 5.1/7.1 (though unless you have one of a few Blu-rays this won't be an issue)

HD Audio bitstreaming + 1080p is supported very well by pretty much any Intel Celeron Haswell or better chipset. But CEC isn't supported by most x86 solutions. To add CEC you will need to use an external Pulse 8 USB-CEC adaptor which sits in the HDMI cable between the PC and your AVR and handles CEC.

HD Audio + 1080p + CEC is supported by very few solutions. A Haswell Intel NUC with an internal CEC adaptor plugged into the Custom Solutions Header is the best way I suspect?

How important is CEC to you really?

What do you mean about a couple Blu-rays? Do not all Blu Ray go to 192Khz?

I dont have a problem with using Pulse 8. Is it pretty dependable?

goujam · 2015-07-13, 00:00

I had an ion 2 board and it bitstreamed HD audio fine in openelec. Infact I had the same board as you and bitstreamed HD audio just fine in openelec

decpvr · (This post was last modified: 2015-07-13, 00:01 by decpvr.)

(2015-07-12, 23:47)BORIStheBLADE Wrote: I read in the past that Ion 2 doesnt bitstream HD audio. This board is pretty old so I will have to dig through the internet and double check.

Ion2 definitely does bitstream. I was able to passthrough (bitstream) HD audio to my AVR using an old (Ion2) Zotac Z-box.

Looks like all you need is a CEC adapter! [THUMBS UP SIGN]

noggin · (This post was last modified: 2015-07-13, 00:32 by noggin.)

(2015-07-12, 23:53)BORIStheBLADE Wrote:
(2015-07-12, 22:36)noggin Wrote: You can easily have two of the three :

CEC + 1080p is supported very well by the Raspberry Pi 2. You'll also get lossless HD Audio - but it will be decoded to PCM rather than bitstreamed, and you won't get 192kHz 5.1/7.1 (though unless you have one of a few Blu-rays this won't be an issue)

HD Audio bitstreaming + 1080p is supported very well by pretty much any Intel Celeron Haswell or better chipset. But CEC isn't supported by most x86 solutions. To add CEC you will need to use an external Pulse 8 USB-CEC adaptor which sits in the HDMI cable between the PC and your AVR and handles CEC.

HD Audio + 1080p + CEC is supported by very few solutions. A Haswell Intel NUC with an internal CEC adaptor plugged into the Custom Solutions Header is the best way I suspect?

How important is CEC to you really?
What do you mean about a couple Blu-rays? Do not all Blu Ray go to 192Khz?

No - there are very few 192kHz releases, and even fewer 192kHz 5.1/7/1 ones. There aren't that many 96kHz releases either.

Quite old but there's a list here : http://forum.dvdtalk.com/hd-talk/578983-...lease.html

In my experience a lot of Blu-rays are 48kHz, though with the benefit of lossless compression.

Quote:I dont have a problem with using Pulse 8. Is it pretty dependable?

I don't know - I only use CEC in my Raspberry Pi 2s - and even then I only use to remotely control my AVRs volume control. I don't use CEC for remote control of Kodi because I find the reduced number of keys on the remote control, compared to an MCE, Tivo Slider Pro or PS3 BD remote a bit limiting. My Sony TV CEC remote mode doesn't really have quite enough for shortcuts to sound track selection, subtitle selection, info display, OSD toggle etc. which are all things I do quite a lot.

wesk05 · (This post was last modified: 2015-07-13, 01:23 by wesk05.)

(2015-07-13, 00:31)noggin Wrote: No - there are very few 192kHz releases, and even fewer 192kHz 5.1/7/1 ones. There aren't that many 96kHz releases either.
Quite old but there's a list here : http://forum.dvdtalk.com/hd-talk/578983-...lease.html

The list hasn't changed much since 2010. Now, there are 6 192kHz and 33 96kHz Blu-rays.
For an up-to-date list, you can check this website - http://www.blu-raystats.com/Stats/Stats.php