Win 7 MC, XB360 or PS3 ?

at present im not blue ray capable, have never used PS3 or XB360 although i do have visitors that may want to play while here i have no experience with either !

i do have a couple PC's i could load Win 7 to for MC.

would like your imput on the diff advantages of the above with the intention of being Blue Ray capable for Home Enterainment Viewing on my Panny G15 50" without sinking a ton a funds, also i use OTA antenna for the signal to Panny, no cable available here

thanks in advance.

at present im not blue ray capable, have never used PS3 or XB360 although i do have visitors that may want to play while here i have no experience with either !

i do have a couple PC's i could load Win 7 to for MC.

would like your imput on the diff advantages of the above with the intention of being Blue Ray capable for Home Enterainment Viewing on my Panny G15 50" without sinking a ton a funds, also i use OTA antenna for the signal to Panny, no cable available here

thanks in advance.
FYI, XB360 is not blu-ray capable. Some have said it never will be. Adding a BD drive to a PC might not be a bad idea, but you have to have the drive and the video to handle it. Together that will probably run you about $150-200. But it will do everything that the PS3 can do except play PS3 games. The PS3 is $300. Which honestly isn't a bad deal for what it can do. But it you ONLY intend to watch BD on this, you can find cheaper BD players at Wal-mart for $100-130.

thanks for pointing out the 360 doesnt support BR as i was not aware of that.

i have considered adding a BR player and Video card to my existing PC and just using MC for a HDTV player and Home Movies/Pictures, are there and hic-ups that i could run into that you/anyone may be aware of ?

P4 2.26mhz 800mhz fsb
MSI 865 mb
1 Gb ddr 400
HD's are cheap
AGP Video slot would this be a bottle neck ? HDTV
MC infrared reciever and remote

any input.

the one good thing about an XBox360 is that it will do netflix in HD, if you're into that, where a PS3 won't. If you're not into gaming, I'd go with the HTPC. I'm happier than a pig in chit with Win7 RC 64 bit. Ha, that rhymes! Media Center in Win 7 will play DVD files now (video_ts), which it wouldn't before. It won't play blu rays though, you need a seperate program. Also with a HTPC, you can go online and watch tons of streaming video with hulu or netflix. Here's a link to a website that gives you a browser that puts all the streaming sites together, easy access, http://www.zeevee.com/zinc , works real well. You can find internal bluray players pretty cheap these days, burners are a bit pricey. I have a Hauppauge 1600 TV tuner that works fine in Media Center, I have read that a lot are incompatible, so beware of what you buy!
I have this motherboard, http://www.intel.com/assets/pdf/prodbrief/dg45id_product_brief.pdf . I use the onboard audio and video. If you need something aftermarket, I would recommend something in the ATI 4000 series. Something with onboard HDMI, the cards that come with HDMI adapters don't give you audio through HDMI whereas the ones with onboard usually do.

thanks for pointing out the 360 doesnt support BR as i was not aware of that.

i have considered adding a BR player and Video card to my existing PC and just using MC for a HDTV player and Home Movies/Pictures, are there and hic-ups that i could run into that you/anyone may be aware of ?

P4 2.26mhz 800mhz fsb
MSI 865 mb
1 Gb ddr 400
HD's are cheap
AGP Video slot would this be a bottle neck ? HDTV
MC infrared reciever and remote

any input.

Your computer specs are to light handle BD in smooth fashion. Go with the PS3. If you have pics & vid on your computer, simply dump them to flash and play via USB on your panny.

"Rick355" thanks for the links, the G15 comes with a Network port that i have used to stream movies from Amazon just to test my internet speed and it only buffered twice, only got 6mb service till at&t upgrades the area.

that board has great specs, could it play BR with a software such as Power DVD 9 [ given i had a BD Player ] ? if so that would eliminate the need for a video and sound card.

the tv tuner card i would look for should be a dual digital [OTA] if available and in pci express, are they available ?

"oblioman" i figured it may be light, its why i posted those components, thanks for the info though, i think im gonna lean more towards the HTPC and hope for firmware and bios updates as those can come more easly than what stand alone hardware could bring, the market is changing faster than i can keep up, and a PC based system could be eaiser to upgrade vs throwing out outdated stand alone hardware thats only a year old.

Yes, I have a LiteOn 4x bluray player which i paid about $70 for, works fine. The reason I got that one was that it came with an interchangeable front plate so I could make it silver to match my HTPC. And I use Power DVD. This is the case I use http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129034 , If you keep your eyes open, you can get a lot of stuff on sale or with rebates to keep costs down.

here is a dual tuner card, kinda pricey, $150 at hauppauge. I think I paid about $60 for my 1600 card on sale at staples http://hauppauge.com/site/products/data_hvr2250.html

"Rick355" thanks for the links, the G15 comes with a Network port that i have used to stream movies from Amazon just to test my internet speed and it only buffered twice, only got 6mb service till at&t upgrades the area.

that board has great specs, could it play BR with a software such as Power DVD 9 [ given i had a BD Player ] ? if so that would eliminate the need for a video and sound card.

the tv tuner card i would look for should be a dual digital [OTA] if available and in pci express, are they available ?

"oblioman" i figured it may be light, its why i posted those components, thanks for the info though, i think im gonna lean more towards the HTPC and hope for firmware and bios updates as those can come more easly than what stand alone hardware could bring, the market is changing faster than i can keep up, and a PC based system could be eaiser to upgrade vs throwing out outdated stand alone hardware thats only a year old.

You can kill 2 birds with 1 stone if you want to pick up a motherboard that has the 790GX chipset on it. That board has an ATI HD3300 on-board video (which is basically the HD4350) that will handle BD and take a lot of the processing off the CPU. They typically have HDMI out that will support 7.1 audio as well. I have one. Of course the player has to support AVIVO. But it's a good way to get an HTPC board without having to add a separate video card. I wouldn't use that for gaming much, but if you're just building a media HTPC, it's the way to go.

found a case i think will provide future upgrades, handle full ATX boards and has all the inputs i think i will need on the front, will fit well with what i have now although egg was sold out i got it elsewhere about 2$ more shipped, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811204037

if i can get W7 & MC to play nice [ with network also ] i will upgrade the mobo with HD onboard video and a Tuner Card.

"EQ so far"
the case above, ordered
E3200/2.4 dual core, 775, ordered
Intel D945PVS 775, had this
1gb ddr2 800 dual channel kit, kingston, ordered
Digital Optical SPDIF Audio cable, ordered
W7 32 or 64, which would be better ?
PX6600LE/256mb PCI Express DVI/VGA, had this
DVI to HDMI cable to Panny, had this
i have DVD players/burners

Video Card same as http://www3.dealtime.com/xPF-Jaton-VGA-JATON-Video-PX6600LE-256MB

will add a BD player if all goes well.

thoughts ?

That's a nice case, I was considering that one when I was looking.
You could probably use some more memory. I'm wondering what your motherboard can really handle memory wise. It says 4 gig max, I'm wondering if you could use 2 gig dims in each socket instead of 1 gig in each socket, of 800Mhz.
I'm using Win 7, 64 bit RC with 8 gigs ram. Nowadays it seems like a waste to buy 1 gig dimms. About 2 weeks ago, I bought 4 gigs(2, 2gig dimms, 800) for $35 after rebate, from frys. I've found them to have about the best prices on ram.
Your graphics card is just a bit dated, too bad you don't have something a little better to use for now.

Video card is dead so im looking for a card, i do want HDMI out with DVI, is ATi that much better as i havnt had much luck with ATi ?

what would be a good card in the Nvidia line ?

Video card is dead so im looking for a card, i do want HDMI out with DVI, is ATi that much better as i havnt had much luck with ATi ?

what would be a good card in the Nvidia line ?

ATI currently holds the edge in HD and HTPC applications. for value the HD4750 is about the best card on the market. It hits near top of the line gaming performance at sub-$100 price. And its 40nm which means less power and cooler performance. That means passive cooling possibilities and less noise.

i dont find the HD 4750 anywhere, got a link to a online retailer ?

i dont find the HD 4750 anywhere, got a link to a online retailer ?

My mistake, I hit4750, it's actually the HD4770. And apparently the $10 rebates are done so it's back up to $105-110.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&Description=HD4770&x=0&y=0

Still, for a card that matches the HD4830 in gaming performance and nearly hits HD4850 levels, $110 isn't bad.

All of these are reference boards, so they have coolers. However, you can find relatively inexpensive passive coolers that will make them completely silent.

I just recently bumped my pc up to an HD4670 and have no complaints. I'm not a big gamer though, so I don't need the power machines. I do more home video editing.

My mistake, I hit4750, it's actually the HD4770. And apparently the $10 rebates are done so it's back up to $105-110.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&Description=HD4770&x=0&y=0

Still, for a card that matches the HD4830 in gaming performance and nearly hits HD4850 levels, $110 isn't bad.

All of these are reference boards, so they have coolers. However, you can find relatively inexpensive passive coolers that will make them completely silent.

I just recently bumped my pc up to an HD4670 and have no complaints. I'm not a big gamer though, so I don't need the power machines. I do more home video editing.

Me be looking at going quad core phenom coupled to an msi board with the 790 chipset. Did you do any editing using the on board chip? And if so, was it HD? Using me old dual core, it takes me about 35 minutes to render 3 minutes (canon hf20). Just not acceptable.

Me be looking at going quad core phenom coupled to an msi board with the 790 chipset. Did you do any editing using the on board chip? And if so, was it HD? Using me old dual core, it takes me about 35 minutes to render 3 minutes (canon hf20). Just not acceptable.

I still use the 790 on my pc. Since the 790 offers surround view, I have both the on-board and the 4670 running at the same time. The on-board runs one monitor (pre-view) the 4670 runs 2 monitors. The problem with me answering is that I use Pinnacle studio and it is not AVIVO compatible so it doesn't actually utilize the GPU to render. HOWEVER, when playing back the video I use Nero 9 Showtime which is AVIVO and the difference is obvious. Running the playback on the 790 was my only option before I added the 4670 and it was perfect until I broke the codec (idiot me) and now I'm trying to figure out how to fix that issue. Until I broke the codec, it was doing fine.

As for render, I have an AMD phenom 9850 black and 8GB of OCZ memory. It takes my PC about 2 hours for every hour of video.

And yes this is all HD. AVCHD to be exact. I have a Sony HDR-SR11.

I still use the 790 on my pc. Since the 790 offers surround view, I have both the on-board and the 4670 running at the same time. The on-board runs one monitor (pre-view) the 4670 runs 2 monitors. The problem with me answering is that I use Pinnacle studio and it is not AVIVO compatible so it doesn't actually utilize the GPU to render. HOWEVER, when playing back the video I use Nero 9 Showtime which is AVIVO and the difference is obvious. Running the playback on the 790 was my only option before I added the 4670 and it was perfect until I broke the codec (idiot me) and now I'm trying to figure out how to fix that issue. Until I broke the codec, it was doing fine.

As for render, I have an AMD phenom 9850 black and 8GB of OCZ memory. It takes my PC about 2 hours for every hour of video.

And yes this is all HD. AVCHD to be exact. I have a Sony HDR-SR11.

So as long as me uses the 790, without plugging in a vid card, the only difference is basically no extra 'muscle' to render. me could live with that. Not overly concerned about editing, just rendering. Another question, have you tried or compared Vegas vs pinnacle 12 (me assumes) and if you have,,,what major difference have you seen?

video card wasnt dead, it turned out that the proc wasnt supported by the mobo, picked up a couple locally from a pc shop [ 3.2HT /2.0 DC used but working ] and was able to post and load windows, ordered a Gigabyte ATi HD 4670 512/128 bit for the time being and also a Lite-on 4X Blue ray player, ill update the specs when all the parts are in, going smoothly as of right now.

So as long as me uses the 790, without plugging in a vid card, the only difference is basically no extra 'muscle' to render. me could live with that. Not overly concerned about editing, just rendering. Another question, have you tried or compared Vegas vs pinnacle 12 (me assumes) and if you have,,,what major difference have you seen?

Let me clarify something. The card I upgraded wasn't the 790GX. Previously I had an ATI X1950XT on the same board. So I was using the 790GX (which has an ATI HD3300 on-board) as my HD video card. The 1950 was providing the secondary monitors. Recently I swapped the 1950 for the HD4670 and made it my main. The 790 is now the secondary. But the 790 has the AVIVO instructions built in. In ATI land it's actually the second number that matters. The HD3300 uses the same GPU as the HD4350. It's a pretty decent video card for editing and playback. It has the extra "muscle."

What changes is the software you use to do the editing. Some programs support the AVIVO instructions and speed things up. Some don't. Pinnacle Studio 12 (and I found out positively that 14 will not either) does not support AVIVO so it doesn't even take advantage of the muscle of any GPU. Nero does support AVIVO, so it does use the GPU. I don't know for sure about Vegas, but I thought I had read it does support AVIVO.

Between the 2 I recommend Vegas. Unfortunately I have Pinnacle and I paid for it, so I'm going to use it until I can justify more money. The nice thing about Pinnacle is that you get a LOT of professional level add-ons that you have to pay a TON for with Vegas. Chroma-keying is a rare thing in the consumer editing world, but Pinnacle ultimate has it. (Update: apparently Vegas has added it now) Pinnacle gives you all the top level editing (AVCHD, 5.1 surround, pro-level transitions, etc) for a little less money. But it's a bear to work with and takes a lot of patience to learn. Now that I've used it for a year, I'm starting to feel comfortable and confident.

Personally, I'd probably go with Vegas if I could go back in time. I'd probably go with the platinum pro pack at the least. That's my :2cents.

Let me clarify something. The card I upgraded wasn't the 790GX. Previously I had an ATI X1950XT on the same board. So I was using the 790GX (which has an ATI HD3300 on-board) as my HD video card. The 1950 was providing the secondary monitors. Recently I swapped the 1950 for the HD4670 and made it my main. The 790 is now the secondary. But the 790 has the AVIVO instructions built in. In ATI land it's actually the second number that matters. The HD3300 uses the same GPU as the HD4350. It's a pretty decent video card for editing and playback. It has the extra "muscle."

What changes is the software you use to do the editing. Some programs support the AVIVO instructions and speed things up. Some don't. Pinnacle Studio 12 (and I found out positively that 14 will not either) does not support AVIVO so it doesn't even take advantage of the muscle of any GPU. Nero does support AVIVO, so it does use the GPU. I don't know for sure about Vegas, but I thought I had read it does support AVIVO.

Between the 2 I recommend Vegas. Unfortunately I have Pinnacle and I paid for it, so I'm going to use it until I can justify more money. The nice thing about Pinnacle is that you get a LOT of professional level add-ons that you have to pay a TON for with Vegas. Chroma-keying is a rare thing in the consumer editing world, but Pinnacle ultimate has it. (Update: apparently Vegas has added it now) Pinnacle gives you all the top level editing (AVCHD, 5.1 surround, pro-level transitions, etc) for a little less money. But it's a bear to work with and takes a lot of patience to learn. Now that I've used it for a year, I'm starting to feel comfortable and confident.

Personally, I'd probably go with Vegas if I could go back in time. I'd probably go with the platinum pro pack at the least. That's my :2cents.

Thanks Mob. me mind is made up, basically me has no choice but to bump up to quad core and go with the 790 chipset. Dollar for dollar it certainly beats anything intel offers. me was just concerned about the render performance gain over dc athlon. It looks to be significant so will be placing me order tonight. As for Pinnacle vs Vegas, well it looks like it be Vegas. Hate to make the switch, been using pinnacle for about 5 years and am comfortable with it but have not upgraded since version 8. As for Vegas, been playing with it off and on since it's inception. Now that me be getting serious about it,,,their is a huge learning curve. Got to stay sober for a week or two just to get the basics back in line. Happy editing.

Thanks Mob. me mind is made up, basically me has no choice but to bump up to quad core and go with the 790 chipset. Dollar for dollar it certainly beats anything intel offers. me was just concerned about the render performance gain over dc athlon. It looks to be significant so will be placing me order tonight. As for Pinnacle vs Vegas, well it looks like it be Vegas. Hate to make the switch, been using pinnacle for about 5 years and am comfortable with it but have not upgraded since version 8. As for Vegas, been playing with it off and on since it's inception. Now that me be getting serious about it,,,their is a huge learning curve. Got to stay sober for a week or two just to get the basics back in line. Happy editing.

The only thing that really bugs me bout Pinnacle is the AVIVO thing. I was OK with 12, but when I found out 14 was not going to be AVIVO either, that bugs me. I'd rather spend the money on something that I know is optimized than spend more knowing I'm losing out.

I like the way Pinnacle works now that I understand it, and have nothing bad really to say other than the learning curve is tough.

The learning curve for Pinnacle was certainly not as sharp as Vegas plat pro,,which was conducive to me simple way of thinking. Vegas, now that me be looking under the blankets is certainly more powerful, but not an all in one. In order to burn a simple dvd, it pushes you to use there proprietary DVD architect. Pinnacle does not do that. have not burned any BD's yet, but what me has been getting from dvd's has simply been astounding. Plugged a sampler into me buddies 73" mitsi dlp, playing from a ps3,,,and for a dvd on that size of screen, the color, clarity, everything was there. vegas also gives one the option to render as 5.1 or stereo. To put it simply,,,this shat works. Even as a drunken novice me burned two copies of the same sampler, one in stereo and one in 5.1. It kicked in all 5 plus the sub (a bit to much) but definetly has a lot of potential for anybody in the home authoring department. Not trying to sell Sony software,,,but for the price,,,tough to beat.

seems to play well, purchased BD "CutThroat Island" to watch tonite, will i really need the PDVD 9 upgrade {for another 40$} ? only using 2 channel stereo right now, cpu showing less than 20% and memory less than 40%, cpu temp below 62C, sys temp below 42C.

if PDVD plays both BD and HD media center seems useless.

what services can be turned off
Trying out both Vista and Win7
NMEDIAPC HTPC 6000B Aluminum ATX Case
Enermax 365P-VE PSU
P4 540J/3.2E HT 800mhz/775 / AC Freezer 7 Pro
Intel D945Pvs Media Series 775
WD 160/8mb Sata 7200
2gb Corsair DHX DDR2 800 {PC2 6400} DC Kit
Gigabyte Radeon HD 4670 512/128 bit
Lite-On 4X BD Reader Sata PDVD 8 oem
Ms MC IR & Remote
Panny 50" Plasma G15 HDTV