Using a PC as main CD/DVD/BD source

[stillearning]

Hi all!

I have a HTPC that i currently use as my main source (except for my Vinyl of course ) and was wondering if there would be any improvement in switching to a separate?

IIRC my optical drive is an LG ch-08, the GFX card is a Sapphire 4890 vaporX and the sound card is an Asus Xonar HDAV 1.3

Anyone know if Emotiva is planning to release a multi player or they just sticking to CD/HDCD/MP3?

Cheer's! ;D

[jlafrenz]

I don't think there are any plans to produce a universal player. The licensing cost is too much.

[dreadpiratemarc]

I have almost the exact same setup, and have had it since blu-rays were $1000. And I just recently bought a Panny blu-ray player on sale. There was no noticeable difference in picture or audio quality. The reason I got it was for the convenience of avoiding the Vista boot-cycle to watch a DVD and because my PC was beginning to experience annoying momentary freezes during blu-ray playback. Probably due to normal software inefficiencies that creep in over time that could have been solved with a re-format. But, it was only 150 bucks, so I went with the dedicated box. I still use the PC for Netflix streaming and as a music/movie server. And on one occasion it played a rented blu-ray disc that the Panny didn't like, but I can't remember what that was, now.

[stillearning]

Bummer that there is nothing in the work's but great to hear that i would only be wasting cash by purchasing a separate

dreadpiratemarc Did you do frequent disk defrag's and maintain the drive's regularly? Like deleting all temp file's and cookie's on regular basis etc... etc...

Could also be software conflict, did you ever try to upgrade your player? I'm using arcsoft right now and it has been fine knock on wood

[dreadpiratemarc]

I didn't do all that regular maintenance on the HTPC, but I should and I expect it would help. And I would if dedicated boxes were still too expensive. But it was always intended to be a temporary solution while blu-rays were way too much. I knew that by the time the UMC-1 came out, I wanted to be able to bitstream audio over HDMI. (I have the first generation Asus Xonar DX card because that's all that was out at the time I built it, outputting 5.1 analog) So it's performance issues were just the trigger to go to a more permanent solution. And the Panny is cheaper than a new HDMI-capable soundcard, so the choice was clear. My plan now is to get the upcoming Emotiva external DAC and use the PC as an audiophile high-res digital music server as well as an internet video streamer.

I use PowerDVD. In fact, the only stuff on that computer is Vista, PowerDVD, and iTunes.

[stillearning]

Then i think it would be safe to say that you experienced those issues due to lack of disk management because i can really tell when i need to do a cleanup/defrag on my PC's....

I use the PC for gaming and surfing as well not just BluRay playback so i guess it fit's my purpose better

I don't like console's

[Nemesis.ie]

The other advantage of the HTPC (especially with something like a 4890, I have one too) is you can use things like MPC:HC and use various shaders to improve/change the output.

For example there is one to convert the output range from 16 - 235 to 0 to 255 - it truly is "like a veil has been lifted" feeding my HC5000. Much more depth, clarity and smoothness to the picture.

I wonder will the processing in the UMC/XMC do this kind of range expansion?

[vincedog3]

Hmm, at least with the UMC-1 I didn't see a mention of the any range expansion. Maybe someone could enlighten on us perhaps who knows?

[hemster]

I'm not sure I understand this "range expansion". I have a few questions I'm hoping someone can help me with:

1. Is there really that much of a difference expanding the range from 16 - 235 to 0 - 255?

2. How can inserting something in the original range that wasn't there have greater sound clarity? Sorry, I'm not negating the concept of range expansion, I just need to understand it better. I mean, if it wasn't there to begin with, then can interpolating bits sound as good as if it had been recorded full range in the first place?

3. Does the expanded range lead to an "artificial" sound?

Thanks in advance..

[scottl]

There are advantages to a separate player, but they're not necessarily big ones.

When you want to carve a ham, a good carving knife is substantially better than a swiss army knife. That's almost what it used to be like with computers & A/V - PC's were extremely noisy and had lousy interfaces for playing a movie or CD. Now, a good HTPC can be excellent in many regards, especially if you're using digital outputs (the analog output of most PC's is still compromised by noise from the power supply & hard drive, among other things). With the right software, it can also be as user-friendly as a standalone.

However, disc players do not all sound or look the same out of their digital outputs, even if connected to an identical system. We're usually talking about a serious case of diminishing returns here, but there is room for improvement.

A $150 Panasonic won't make a meaningful difference - hell, your Sapphire & Asus are both worth more than that! An Oppo BDP-83 very well might show you more. Since they have a 30-day return policy, you could try one and see for yourself.

[dreadpiratemarc]

The range expansion that we're talking about here is video, not audio. 0=black and 255=bright. So expanding video range is supposed to increase contrast. I couldn't tell you how effective it is, I've never done an A-B comparison.

I do have something called a Dynamic Range Expander made by Phase Linear back in the 70's that I used to have hooked up to my turntable. I understand that is referring to the peak volume for transients. It's in the garage now. It didn't really do a whole lot that I could tell at the time, but that was before I got into serious hi-fi. Now I'm too much of a purist to add things into the signal path unnecessarily.

[Nemesis.ie]

Yes, for video. And the difference is very obvious on my HC5000 projector (as it seems to crush the blacks) but is much less obvious (or perhaps not visible/helpful at all) on my Dell 3008WFP LCD. It is nice to have these things available though, as depending on your personal taste and output device it may or may not be useful/needed "better" or whatever.

[stillearning]

Oct 31, 2009 8:13:51 GMT -5 Nemesis.ie said:

The other advantage of the HTPC (especially with something like a 4890, I have one too) is you can use things like MPC:HC and use various shaders to improve/change the output.

For example there is one to convert the output range from 16 - 235 to 0 to 255 - it truly is "like a veil has been lifted" feeding my HC5000. Much more depth, clarity and smoothness to the picture.

I wonder will the processing in the UMC/XMC do this kind of range expansion?

Can you elaborate on this? I'm OK/good with the hardware but TOTALY lost on the software side

If it make's a difference my monitor is a Sharp lc37d64u

[Nemesis.ie]

It expands the range of displayed levels, mostly useful for SD material where the black is overly bright. I don't really use it for HD as it appears to remove detail in dark areas. If you have an HTPC, just install the k-lite codec pack from codeguide.com and play with the settings/options/shaders etc. within MPC:HC.