Yes! Built the new system! (Question about...)

[c0dehunter]

Hello all,

OK, just built a new box with these specifications:

ATi RADEON HD 3450 PCI-E
Intel Dual Core E5200 (2.5GHz)
Intel DG45ID MoBo
2GB 800 DDR2
400W PSU

As you can see, I was on a tight budget, buy hey, it is FAR betten that the old POS that I had!

OK, Questions for you:

I am going to use this system STRICKLY for home-theater purpose (no gaming, or Encoding), just watching DVD, BluRay and HD-DVD rips (.MKV, etc.), as a result I need to know:

1) What OS to choose? Vista32 or Vista64 or XP Pro?

2) Under what OS, decoding and watching H. 264 files faster less choppier?

3) I have purchased and downloaded the latest version of CoreAVC (Professional Edition v1.8.5.0) - Do I just need to install this one?

4) What about CCCP packs?

5) What Player do you recommend? (Zoom, WMP Classic, etc.)

6) With my new RADEO HD 3450, would it just decode these HD streams out of the box, or do I need to tweak some settings in the codecs (CoreAVC?) or ATi drivers?


I really appreciate your help!

[Ranguvar]

1.) None of the above. Linux. Well, since you bought an AMD video card, driver support is suckish right now (binary driver is bad, open source driver is now supported by AMD and is in rapid development, but not yet ready for 3D). Wait... you don't need 3D, lol :p Yeah, I'd say Linux then. Light, fast, and _stable_.

2.) One that isn't a pig. In the Windows world, Go for XP, 2000, or the Windows 7 beta. In the Linux world, there's lots of options... I love Arch (MPlayer in framebuffer, system using less )than 256MB of RAM :D Can also be done with a minimal GUI like Xfce, Openbox, LXDE...), but for a newer user, Puppy, Mythbuntu, Ubuntu... Linux is lacking on videocard decoding acceleration right now, especially for AMD. Your dual-core should be fine for *most* everything, though, and I bet XvMC will come to AMD later this year or early next by way of the open source driver. Most everything meaning stay away from original Blu-ray and HD-DVD video, otherwise you're gold (YMMV).

3.) Moot if you're using Linux, but even on Windows CoreAVC isn't a big deal anymore. ffdshow-mt and DivX 7 are just fine / better.

4) Again moot, but the CCCP is the only good codec pack, basically a wrapper of ffdshow.

5) On Linux, MPlayer and its GUIs and VLC. On Windows, VLC and Media Player Classic.

6.) Read above for Linux, not sure about Windows so I'll let others answer better.[/QUOTE]

[Sagekilla]

CoreAVC supports GPU acceleration through CUDA. So nvidia cards only, unfortunately. I'm pretty sure you can get GPU acceleration on any modern card if you enable it in MPC-HC on windows though. I downloaded MPC-HC, ticked a few settings and it worked perfectly for my laptop and desktop.

[_DW_]

Hardware wise everything you have there is fine for a HTPC.


1) Use ether Vista 32 or XP Pro. Don't bother with the 64bit OS yet. Some drivers are missing and some codecs are not ready for 64 bit yet.

2) Unless you just plan to need some of the crap that comes with Vista I would just use WinXP. I really can't think of anything that Vista does that XP won't get you.

3) If you have have purchased CoreAVC that should be all you need in the h.264 department. You might have to scare up a mpeg2 codec and audio codecs.

4) Don't bother with CCCP packs. Some of them have outdated codecs or stolen codecs.

5) I personally use media player classic but you should look around to find what you like. VLC is another good one. You might want to go one step farther and check out Media Portal or some other HTPC software.

6) The Radeon will do just fine with drivers and CoreAVC.

[Snowknight26]

1) Use ether Vista 32 or XP Pro. Don't bother with the 64bit OS yet. Some drivers are missing and some codecs are not ready for 64 bit yet.

That's bad advice. Nothing wrong with using 32-bit codecs on a 64-bit OS. And the drivers? If your hardware manufacturer doesn't offer 64-bit drivers, they aren't worth your time.

2) Unless you just plan to need some of the crap that comes with Vista I would just use WinXP. I really can't think of anything that Vista does that XP won't get you.
My my, opinionated. Vista is much better than XP when it comes to A/V. Heck, the inclusion of EVR alone should be reason enough.

[Ranguvar]

EVR is in WinXP.

Oh, and I forgot to mention http://www.mythtv.org/ and http://xbmc.org/ . The latter works on Windoze too.

[Snowknight26]

EVR is in WinXP.

Not natively, of course.

[video_magic]

....
My my, opinionated. Vista is much better than XP when it comes to A/V. ....

I would dispute that. Are you claiming that audio 'sounds better' or that video 'looks better' in Vista?

From a resources usage point of view, which is quite important when it comes to playing back something like high definition content or h.264 , wouldn't he be better using a cleanly setup XP Pro with just the codecs and player he needs, rather than Vista, assuming his hardware has the drivers just as well for XP?

[burfadel]

If you install NET Framework 3.0 (at least) on XP, you have full EVR support. Preferably you'd install NET Framework 3.5 SP1 then install the 3 updates they recently brought out to keep your bases covered.

Remember to install Directx, the base Directx is still 9 and 10.1 for Vista SP1, but you have extra features available in the ever couple of months release of Directx, the last being November 2008. This will let you use the pixel shaders in MPC Homecinema in conjuction with the EVR custom presenter (as well as VMR and normal EVR). It has nice 'sharpen complex' filter in it!

If the licence costs the same the choice is purely up to you whether you go XP or Vista, both are good. Vista x64 is my preferred, and x64 is undoubtedly better then x86 and also on tests slightly faster. If you already have a spare licence for one of these, just use that, the extra cost woudn't justify changing!

[wata]

for media player use KMPlayer, nothing else is better than this :)

[carnage_pl]

what about Media Player Classic Home Cinema and it's DXVA if He buy that radeon? ;)

[JEEB]

4) Don't bother with CCCP packs. Some of them have outdated codecs or stolen codecs.

Wut, I would like you to have some chit-chat with the CCCP developers about that and hear out what they have to say about those accusations >_> . It's not like CCCP is just another package made by anonymous idiots who you have no way of getting in touch with for support etc. Also, IIRC there was and is only one CCCP package, if you're talking about "codec packs" in general you should be cutting the "CCCP" from the sentence. Other codec packs might be what you say, but I surely don't see CCCP as a ffdshow setup package that "steals" something.

So far I see the CCCP as the best way of easily getting ffdshow etc. for playback "well-set". Also, newer builds are there, but they might just not be stable nor good for basic usage (after all, they are labeled as beta builds for testing).

Of course, nothing bad with getting these components independently either - or building them yourself if you have the knowledge.

for media player use KMPlayer, nothing else is better than this

KMPlayer sure was quick when I last tested it, but with all the ruckus regarding GPL and ffmpeg's Hall of Shame make me kind of wavery should I be considering this as a player to recommend to someone - also the large amount of filters inside the player itself is a kind of thing to be careful about: Article on the CCCP wiki about The KMPlayer (http://www.cccp-project.net/wiki/index.php?title=Media_Players#The_KMPlayer_.28Acceptable_Player.29) (relating mainly to directshow/vfw usage)

As for the original topic, I basically agree with everything Ranguvar has recommended, although the selection of win32/linux should be made depending on your knowledge level (and if you don't want to even consider linux - I agree on burfadel's thoughts on licenses).

And if you don't have any special needs made by hardware components, such as digital / analog tv receivers, the choice of the OS should be up to you, otherwise you'd have to go for the OS that supports your hardware better.


3) I have purchased and downloaded the latest version of CoreAVC (Professional Edition v1.8.5.0) - Do I just need to install this one?
Basically I do it by:

Installing ffdshow/Haali etc. (CCCP in my case).
Installing CoreAVC without Haali.
Setting the H.264 decoding off in ffdshow settings to let the CoreAVC decoder do the job.
(remember to get the newest CoreAVC from the site, it's 1.9 nowadays)

[Atak_Snajpera]

4) Don't bother with CCCP packs. Some of them have outdated codecs or stolen codecs.
Once I saw full CoreAVC in K-LITE codec pack. Very bad ;)

[Ryokurin]

EVR is in WinXP.

Oh, and I forgot to mention http://www.mythtv.org/ and http://xbmc.org/ . The latter works on Windoze too.

its not hardware accelerated however. You are better off sticking with VMR9 in XP.

[_DW_]

Hello all,



I really appreciate your help!

Well it looks like you got your answer. Ask 10 different video geeks and you get 11 different answers. :cool:

All the advice above it good, even though we don't agree. Look through it and pick what is the best for you. You might just decide we are all a bunch of freaking nuts and come up with something better.

[_DW_]

That's bad advice. Nothing wrong with using 32-bit codecs on a 64-bit OS. And the drivers? If your hardware manufacturer doesn't offer 64-bit drivers, they aren't worth your time.




Nothing wrong with using 32 bit codecs in 64 bit OS. I do it all the time but if you player is 64 bit then your codec has to be 64 bit. Not all codecs are 64bit yet. CoreAVC pure 64bit codec will be out real soon now.

There are still some small manufactures out there that do not support 64 bit OS yet. And realistically when it comes to a video playing machine or htpc there is nothing that 64bit will get you over what 32 bits does.