Community Newsletter: Q&A: Integrating my computer as part of the entertainment center
- 8/1/08 3:04 PM
Integrating my computer as part of the entertainment center
by Lee Koo (ADMIN) - 8/1/08 3:04 PM
Question:
I have been noticing a lot of people attaching their PC to their television now. Most people that I know are only using it as a monitor for their computer, but I know the technology is farther along than that. Having all my media on the hard drive seems like a great way to clear the shelves of the tacky CD & DVD cases, as well as a way to easily access media files. I would like to know how far along it is. Is using my PC as a component to my media center a viable option? Is it really expensive? What are some of the things that I’m not even aware of? Any info you can provide would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
--Submitted by Phil G.
Here are some answers from our members to get you started, but please read through all the submission within this discussion thread for more helpful advice and information.
Media centers of the future... --Submitted by Wolfie2k5
http://forums.cnet.com/5208-10149_102-0.html?forumID=7&threadID=301619&messageID=2814693#2814693
Lots of possibilities --Submitted by bluemist9999
http://forums.cnet.com/5208-10149_102-0.html?forumID=7&threadID=301619&messageID=2816817#2816817
Been using my PC as my "Entertainment Center" since 2004 --Submitted by Bubba_Gump
http://forums.cnet.com/5208-10149_102-0.html?forumID=7&threadID=301619&messageID=2815009#2815009
All-in-one --Submitted by Impreza WRX
http://forums.cnet.com/5208-10149_102-0.html?forumID=7&threadID=301619&messageID=2816149#2816149
If you have any additional advice or recommendations for for Phil, please click the reply link and submit your answer. Please be as detailed as possible when providing a solution or recommendation. Thank you!
TV & PC
by XSYLUS - 7/18/08 7:40 PM In reply to: Integrating my computer as part of the entertainment center by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Since the introduction of High-Definition televisions, the bridge between the personal computer and the living room entertainment system has been forged. Microsoft released their Media Center edition of XP to help users get the most out of this frontier. Personally I've been watching movies on my computer for a long time since it's relatively cheaper to get a surround sound expansion card than it is to get a surround sound entertainment center. Just recently, since the news about analog television being outmoded broke, I got a usb hdtv tuner for use with either my desktop pc or my laptop. Since I have a 24" widescreen monitor it seems more practical for me to use it to watch hd channels rather than spending money I don't have on a plasma, LCD, or LED television, besides I can pause live TV and record tv shows like a DVR unit straight to my computer.
The PC for the most part has been the pioneer of all technology. High definition has been around for a long time in the world of computers and while the televisions of today can get roughly 1024 to 1280 resolutions at the highest, computer monitors can reach resolutions higher than 1920. Ultimately having your computer and TV combined is a great way to have an all-in-one media entertainment center.
As you mentioned, storing videos on the hard drive does reduce clutter, however, I caution you that having the original movie or music on DVD or CD is less vulnerable. Overtime hard drives wear out and it is possible to loose data that is stored on a hard drive if it is not backed up to another hard drive or to some form of media like DVD-R or Blu-Ray discs or even flash memory drives or memory cards like Secure Digital.
Personally I am expecting the next wave of entertainment medium to be memory cards; little computer chips that store movies at high-definition quality. When this day comes, anyone who has a DVD player or a Blu-Ray player will once again have to fork out more dough on a new player that can support the new medium. Whereas anyone using a computer will either already have the ability to play this media or will be able to support it with a firmware, software, or inexpensive hardware upgrade.
Quality Issues
by Winchester257 - 7/26/08 9:24 PM In reply to: TV & PC by XSYLUSThis is what it comes down to.Quality or sacrificing some of it to gain space.
For audio there are quite a few different formats that you can choose from : MP 3 / AAC / WMA / OGG / FLAC / WMA Lossless / WAV. 128 kbps MP 3's are heavily compressed and it would cost you quality versus a CD or lossless formats such as FLAC and WAV.OGG is somewhere in between.The degree to which this will be noticed will depend on the grade of your system > good speakers,bad speakers > high or low or mid-end a/v receiver etc..
For video,you could replace your DVD's with the digital data stored on large hard drives without losing much quality if you don't want to.Again,it depends on how much anf if at all you compress things.
Blu-Rays Discs are not replaceable if you consider the sheer amount of space that you would need to replace them.Also,you can forget digital downloads in the same quality as a 1920 x 1080 Blu-Ray Disc as Japan is just about the only country with enough bandwidth to make that a possibility.It would take you four days in the U.S. to download a two hour movie in that quality.
As far as SD type cards taking over as the physical media for HD movies goes,that is a possibility for 15 to 20 years down the road but don't forget that there are many DVD and Blu-Ray disc players right now with camera card,SD card,and USB slots that can be upgraded with firmware updates.
Also,I'm wary about sending wireless signals all over my house.You might as well stick your head in a microwave.I don't neccessarily want a computer in my living room either.
Thank you
by adonnaru - 7/27/08 12:05 PM In reply to: Quality Issues by Winchester257for your suggestions. In my case, I am very clear - Quality. I am not concerned about harddisk space. I am not interested in, nor am I trying to compress things here. I am sure I will use either FLAC or AAC or WAV. Thanks once again. Sri
Reply/Question to XSYLUS re DVD/CD reliability
by beatem - 7/29/08 4:42 AM In reply to: TV & PC by XSYLUSAs you mentioned, "... I caution you that having the original movie or music on DVD or CD is less vulnerable. Overtime hard drives wear out and it is possible to loose data that is stored on a hard drive if it is not backed up to another hard drive or to some form of media like DVD-R or Blu-Ray discs or even flash memory drives or memory cards like Secure Digital."
Well, last week I played some older CDs ... and was horrified: sound is altered, bumpy and scratchy, and when looking at the CD against the light, there are actual holes in the silverish coating of the CD.
Now, I wonder what will happen overtime to all my burnt CDs and DVDs of photos and all the films I bought on DVD.
I had just thought it was good to store everything on a hard drive, but your post quite shocked me.
S.O.S. what else can one do to prevent such a desaster???
PC as media center
by theexbrit - 7/18/08 7:44 PM In reply to: Integrating my computer as part of the entertainment center by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
It's a great way to go Phil. I have an old Athlon 4800+ based pc that I use as a media center. It has 2gb's of DDR400 ram, a 7800GTX as the video card & I can connect it to my 42" plasma. I bought 2 Western Digital 750gb sata hard drives for storage & use a 75gb Raptor as the system drive. I transferred all my DVD's (aboput 250 or so) to the hard drives & freed up a lot of space in the room. I also put all my Cd's on the storage drives too & I can stream the video or music to any PC on my home network. The computer desktop doesn't look great on the plasma, but it's ok & I can still navigate around in Windows XP with my wireless keyboard (no mouse as the keyboard has a built in "joystick" instead). I had a few issues getting the resolution set up, I had to buy an adapter from Radioshack to connect the 7800 to the HDMI cable on the tv as the 7800GTX doesn't have an HD output. With a little effort & research a lot of old PC's can be used in this way instead of recycling them. The PC also has an old Audigy 2 sound card connected to my home theater receiver, so everything sounds pretty good too.
how to transfer dvds
by phillip24fan - 7/25/08 7:56 PM In reply to: PC as media center by theexbriti was wondering how you transfered the dvds onto the hard drive. i have been wanting to do this but wasn't sure how. do you use a dvd ripper? if its software, is it free or whats the cost. is it easy to use.
Transfer dvds
by oldstuff - 7/25/08 9:55 PM In reply to: how to transfer dvds by phillip24fanIf you are using a mac you can transfer dvds to the hard drive, using hand brake or mac the ripper. Easy to use and free on the net.
thank you
by phillip24fan - 7/26/08 7:04 AM In reply to: Transfer dvds by oldstuffthanks alot. i am actually going to buy a mac today hahaha so i wil get handbrake and start ripping like crazy! thank you so much
Tranferring DVDs to harddrive
by Yeoville - 7/25/08 11:11 PM In reply to: how to transfer dvds by phillip24fanWhat I have done is simply copy the files to the hard drive. A DVD contains two folders, AUDIO_TS and VIDEO_TS. AUDIO_TS appears to be empty. After copying everything to hard drive, I use InterVideo WinDVD 4 (from InterVideo Inc) to run one of the files in VIDEO_TS. Mind you, this does not always work. It has worked with most DVDs, but I have been unable to run one of them from the hard drive, and can't explain why. I resorted to this mainly because my DVD drive makes too much noise. I understand there are other programs available that do it differently and possible better (the Australian PC User magazine has a program that uses ISO files) but I have not had time to experiment. I also copy CDs to my hard drive to listen to them because of the same noisy drive problem.
BTW, InterVideo WinDVD is a great program. It can run videos in 16:9 format as well as 4:3.
Dvd shrink
by ianmccully - 7/26/08 4:50 AM In reply to: Tranferring DVDs to harddrive by YeovilleAlso you can use dvd shrink which is pretty good for this too as sometimes the dvd is too big but this porgram shrinks it too the size you will need but i second what the other person says i use handbrake to transfer my dvd's onto my archos 605 wifi as i could never find a decent program to do this but handbrake is excellent imho
cheers
ian
DVD Shrink doesn't *require* compression
by SparTodd - 7/29/08 5:22 AM In reply to: Dvd shrink by ianmccullyIf you're simply wanting to transfer the image from the DVD to a HD there is no requirement for you to compress the file. You can do a full file backup using DVD Shrink. If you do, you will only receive a cautionary warning that the full file will be too large to burn it to a DVD. At that point, who cares, if the goal is to get the DVD's off the shelf and store the program on your hard drive. The big advantage to DVD Shrink in this case is simply the decryption algorithm.
Hi...
by santoshmadigela - 7/18/08 8:09 PM In reply to: Integrating my computer as part of the entertainment center by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
you can connect your PC to latest LCD tv directly.. if your tv is CRT, then you must add some extra hardware to your CPU which gives out VIDEO O/P AUDIO O/P through which you can connect your CPU to TV. and coming to hard disk, just buy EXT HDD of high definition with maximum space you required like 500gb 800gb..etc. which you can connect to your PC using USB and you can store as much data in its limit. expensive means, i dont think so.. if you are rich then cool.. else buy according to your budget.. i think i solved your doubts. if have any keep asking..
apple tv
by puma - 7/25/08 11:26 PM In reply to: Hi... by santoshmadigelaa sweet solution is apple tv. its a networked digital media receiver thats designed to play digital content originating from any mac os x or windows pc device onto an enhanced-definition or high-definition widescreen television. apple tv can also function as either a home theater-connected ipod or other digital media receiver. worth checking it out for the newbie or hardcore digital enthusiast
Use PS3 as a network Media Player - with WMP11 on Vista
by klugey1 - 8/5/08 2:08 PM In reply to: apple tv by pumaJust started using WMP11 which is integrated into Vista as a Media Server & my PS3 (hooked up to a 63 inch plasma) will play almost all the movies, show all the pics & play all the songs that I throw into the Windows Media Player 11 Library. It will play all AVI's (RAW & DIVX)& MPEGs natively, but you have to add a couple of video codecs (FFDSHOW & Haali Media Splitter) to get it to see and play standard MP4 movies.
Both HandBrake and Nero Recode both have an MP4 - PS3 output template making it a snap to rip your collection to your hard drive.
--The only issue--
I also have a number of videos that we are able to play using the AppleTV box, and even though the video file extension is MP4, it looks like they use an almost proprietary codec called 3IVX which I guess QuickTime uses. The PS3 simply does not play these video files.
Transcoding solution-- There are two Vista-based Media Servers that will actually take any video and "transcode" it on the fly while streaming to a PS3 playable format: TVersity & FUPPES
problems setting up the transcoding of these MP4 - 3IVX in FUPPES and TVersity - If anyone has step by step instructions on this - I would really appreciate it.
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