Windows 7 64 bit HD Media Center (on DELL Zino HD)

[TheQL]

Hi there,

sorry if this has already been asked, but after reading through zillions of texts, blog posts and threads I am confused.

As I understand Windows 7 has support for h264, DivX and XviD out of the box. So if I want my Media Center PC to playback HD and XviD content, wouldn't all I need by the Haali Media Splitter (new version claims to have 64-bit support) for .mkv support and I'm set and ready to go?

What I definitely need is DXVA support which the MS codec seems to have, so ffdshow is not an option here, at least not for h264 content.

Media Player HC seems to be an alternative, but do I need it? Anyway especially on 64 bit systems adding external codecs seems to be rather painful.

So are there any suggestions on how getting a system with low CPU power getting up and running as a HD capable Media Center on Windows 7 64 bit? I'm thinking about getting the DELL Zino HD for the job, which I hope works fine as I don't need 5.1 audio, although I'm still hoping there is a way to just output the audio datastream via HDMI and maybe decode it externally in the future.

Thanks for any insight, since until now I'm unfamiliar with Windows 7.

[Blue_MiSfit]

The new decoders in Windows 7 x64 do indeed support DXVA for ASP, AVC, VC1, and MPEG-2 IIRC (definitely at least AVC and VC1).

So, if you are using Windows Media Player (or actually Media Player Classic HC in its default configuration) you will get DXVA when available.

The Zino HD would be a nice little media center. I'm not sure if its HDMI port can send 5.1 / 7.1ch LPCM, or if it can bitstream BluRay audio formats, though software to make the latter happen on hardware that supports it in conjunction with MPC-HC and ffdshow is underway with mixed success.

~MiSfit

[TheQL]

Well thanks... Will try setting up a Zino HD Box with stock codecs and see if it suits me.

[squid_80]

The new decoders in Windows 7 x64 do indeed support DXVA for ASP, AVC, VC1, and MPEG-2 IIRC (definitely at least AVC and VC1).
There's DXVA profiles for ASP now?

[porfitron]

What I definitely need is DXVA support which the MS codec seems to have, so ffdshow is not an option here, at least not for h264 content.

Have you tried the DivX Plus Tech Preview - MKV on Windows 7 yet? It's included in the DivX 7 bundle and free to download here:
http://www.divx.com/en/windows-7

Once it's installed, the DivX demux enables explorer to display thumbnails and some metadata for .mkv files, and more importantly, let's you play them using Microsoft's decoder via MediaFoundation, so you'll get the DXVA support you're looking for in Windows Media Player and Windows Media Center... people are even using it to stream MKVs to their Xbox 360 via media center extender. Again, there are no codecs included in the Tech Preview... it's just enabling MKV/H.264 decoding via MediaFoundation.

It's still in preview phase, but you can participate in the thread (http://labs.divx.com/forum/290) on DivX Labs and see how people are getting it to work with their various setups.

[TheQL]

No, haven't tried that yet since I didn't yet set up the Media Center. Sounds interesting.

Just wondering though, in which way is this different from installing a mkv media splitter like Haali? Doesn't Windows use the built-in MediaFoundation codecs with them as well?