Ultimate Home Theater Guide

m4gicfour · Jan 21, 2011

For people who plan to use their HTPC with a TV card and need to control a Cable or Satellite box, this may help.

Human_error's USB IR Reciever/remote guide

freaksavior · Aug 14, 2011

Samdbugman said:
freeaksavior i want to thank you for the incredible guide. i now have all my movies installed, but what i did was send each to libraries>videos>my videos and made a new folder for each one, and i dont need the disc now to run any of the movies. however i didnt use any indexing program, i open media player, and the movies are listed alphabeticly. i figure thats good enough for me, i dont want to install an indexing program and possibly mess something up. i had no idea how many dvd's we had until i got finished and dont want to go through that install again. and many thanks!

Yeah, that would work too. You only did DVD though, i'm not sure 7mc will play blu ray without a program so you got half way there.

7mc will index the movies for you if you have them in the right location, so if you ripped the movies correctly, you could essentially skip 90% of my guide.

Jetster · Oct 7, 2011

Just an added suggestion for Media Center software. XBMC is the bomb. Will play anything but BR disks has many options and skins. Will serve media to the whole house. Also has literately hundreds of options for Internet TV. I cant believe its free

TRWOV · Nov 20, 2011

The HD4000 series cards have bitstream audio too, don't they? I'm thinking about getting a blu-ray drive for my HTPC but the HD4670 is the best card I can use.

And ty for the guide

freaksavior · Nov 20, 2011

TRWOV said:
The HD4000 series cards have bitstream audio too, don't they? I'm thinking about getting a blu-ray drive for my HTPC but the HD4670 is the best card I can use.

And ty for the guide

No they do not. 5 + do.

TRWOV · Aug 1, 2012

freaksavior said:
The ATI HD 5 and 6 Series- (Need to purchase Arcsoft)
these cards come with the option of bit streaming your sound, meaning your receiving will decode the audio.

What about nVidia cards? Do they support this? :confused:

Jetster · Aug 1, 2012

TRWOV said:
What about nVidia cards? Do they support this?

Yes NVidia GeForce 210 or newer support bitstreaming audio 5.1

For HD audio bitstreaming requires Nvidia 430 or newer

TRWOV · Dec 10, 2013

Sorry for the necroposting but I don't see the need for creating another thread: how far has the Intel HD Graphics gone in regards to HTPC use?

I'm considering using the next build for an HTPC:

- Gigabyte GA-C1007UN-D, NM70 chipset w/ Celeron Mobile Dual Core 1007U 1.5Ghz (Ivy Bridge)
- Intel HD Graphics (3rd Gen, 6 execution units w/o postprocessing) OCed to ~500Mhz (I think that's as much as the heatsink would allow)
- GA-630 miniITX case: http://www.g-alantic.com.tw/1088/ga630/
It can take a full size PCI card (tuner) and comes with a 120w DC-DC PSU
- 4GB DDR3-1600 CL9

I don't care about blu-ray 3D but I'd like DD/DTS passtrough at the very least. Does HD Graphics deliver in that regard?

Jetster · Dec 10, 2013

TRWOV said:
Sorry for the necroposting but I don't see the need for creating another thread: how far has the Intel HD Graphics gone in regards to HTPC use?

I'm considering using the next build for an HTPC:

- Gigabyte GA-C1007UN-D, NM70 chipset w/ Celeron Mobile Dual Core 1007U 1.5Ghz (Ivy Bridge)
- Intel HD Graphics (3rd Gen, 6 execution units w/o postprocessing) OCed to ~500Mhz (I think that's as much as the heatsink would allow)
- GA-630 miniITX case: http://www.g-alantic.com.tw/1088/ga630/
It can take a full size PCI card (tuner) and comes with a 120w DC-DC PSU
- 4GB DDR3-1600 CL9

I don't care about blu-ray 3D but I'd like DD/DTS passtrough at the very least. Does HD Graphics deliver in that regard?

Intel HD graphics work fine for DTS and DD. Ive built both and actually like the AMD A8 best. Just runs a little cleaner and smother as far a a HTPC. But ether is fine

TRWOV · Dec 10, 2013

Yeah, I was looking into an APU build but all the ITX FM2 boards have a PCIe slot. My tuner is PCI

iI found this Anandtech review of the Intel HD 4000 Graphics but it doesn't offer any information about the regular HD Graphics.

According to this the only HTPC centric stuff missing from HD Graphics compared to HD 2000 is Intel Clear Video (skin tone Enhancement, Total Color Control (tm), and adaptive contrast enhancement)

I guess that I should test it myself. I'll make sure to report back. Thanks.

magibeg · Dec 24, 2014

I feel like this thread needs to be updated. It was an excellent reference but it's looking a bit long in the tooth now.

Processor	Ryzen 7 5800X3D
Motherboard	MSI MAG X570S Tomahawk Max WiFi
Cooling	EK Supremacy EVO Elite + EK D5 + EK 420 Rad, TT Toughfan 140x3, TT Toughfan 120x2, Arctic slim 120
Memory	32GB GSkill DDR4-3600 (F4-3600C16-8GVKC)
Video Card(s)	Gigabyte Radeon RX 7900XTX Gaming OC
Storage	WDBlack SN850X 4TB, Samsung 950Pro 512GB, Samsung 850EVO 500GB, 6TB WDRed, 36TB NAS, 8TB Lancache
Display(s)	Benq XL2730Z (1440P 144Hz, TN, Freesync) & 2x ASUS VE248
Case	Corsair Obsidian 750D
Audio Device(s)	Topping D50S + THX AAA 789, TH-X00 w/ V-Moda Boompro; 7Hz Timeless
Power Supply	Corsair HX1000i
Mouse	Sharkoon Fireglider optical
Keyboard	Corsair K95 RGB
Software	Windows 11 Pro

System Name	ZeroUptime \| M.A.S.S / MM1
Processor	Xeon 2659 v3 / Xeon 2683 v4 / ARM A14
Motherboard	Asus X99-E-10G WS / ASRock x99 usb 3.1 / Apple
Cooling	NZXT Kraken / Noctua NH-L12 / Apple
Memory	16Gb DDR4 / 32Gb DDR4 / 16GB HBLM
Video Card(s)	Powercooler ATI vega 64 / GT 7300 / ARM
Storage	Samsung 970 512 Evo NVMe / A lot. / 256 + 512 External TB3
Display(s)	Acer Predator X34 / Headless / Acer X34 Non predator
Case	NZXT H630 \|Rosewill 8bay 4u server chasiss / MMM1
Audio Device(s)	Onboard / Onboard / Onboard
Power Supply	Corais HX850 \| Corsair TX750 / Internal 250w
Mouse	g502 proteus core / Headless / g502 proteus core
Keyboard	Corsair K95 Cherry Blue / Headless / K65 Cherry Red
Software	Windows 10 / ESXI / Big Sur 11.2.2

System Name	Juliette // HTPC
Processor	Intel i7 9700K // AMD Ryzen 5 5600G
Motherboard	ASUS Prime Z390X-A // ASRock B550 ITX-AC
Cooling	Noctua NH-U12 Black // Stock
Memory	Corsair DDR4 3600 32gb //G.SKILL Trident Z Royal Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 3600
Video Card(s)	ASUS RTX4070 OC// GTX 1650
Storage	Samsung 970 EVO NVMe 1Tb, Intel 665p Series M.2 2280 1TB // Samsung 1Tb SSD
Display(s)	ASUS VP348QGL 34" Quad HD 3440 x 1440 // 55" LG 4K SK8000 Series
Case	Seasonic SYNCRO Q7// Silverstone Granada GD05
Audio Device(s)	Focusrite Scarlett 4i4 // HDMI to Samsung HW-R650 sound bar
Power Supply	Seasonic SYNCRO 750 W // CORSAIR Vengeance 650M
Mouse	Cooler Master MM710 53G
Keyboard	Logitech 920-009300 G512 SE
Software	Windows 10 Pro // Windows 10 Pro

System Name	Dell-y Driver
Processor	Core i5-10400
Motherboard	Asrock H410M-HVS
Cooling	Intel 95w stock cooler
Memory	2x8 A-DATA 2999Mhz DDR4
Video Card(s)	UHD 630
Storage	1TB WD Green M.2 - 4TB Seagate Barracuda
Display(s)	Asus PA248 1920x1200 IPS
Case	Dell Vostro 270S case
Audio Device(s)	Onboard
Power Supply	Dell 220w
Software	Windows 10 64bit

System Name	ZeroUptime \| M.A.S.S / MM1
Processor	Xeon 2659 v3 / Xeon 2683 v4 / ARM A14
Motherboard	Asus X99-E-10G WS / ASRock x99 usb 3.1 / Apple
Cooling	NZXT Kraken / Noctua NH-L12 / Apple
Memory	16Gb DDR4 / 32Gb DDR4 / 16GB HBLM
Video Card(s)	Powercooler ATI vega 64 / GT 7300 / ARM
Storage	Samsung 970 512 Evo NVMe / A lot. / 256 + 512 External TB3
Display(s)	Acer Predator X34 / Headless / Acer X34 Non predator
Case	NZXT H630 \|Rosewill 8bay 4u server chasiss / MMM1
Audio Device(s)	Onboard / Onboard / Onboard
Power Supply	Corais HX850 \| Corsair TX750 / Internal 250w
Mouse	g502 proteus core / Headless / g502 proteus core
Keyboard	Corsair K95 Cherry Blue / Headless / K65 Cherry Red
Software	Windows 10 / ESXI / Big Sur 11.2.2

Ultimate Home Theater Guide

m4gicfour

freaksavior

To infinity ... and beyond!

Jetster

TRWOV

freaksavior

To infinity ... and beyond!

TRWOV

Jetster

TRWOV

Jetster

TRWOV

magibeg

System Name	Not named
Processor	Intel 8700k @ 5Ghz
Motherboard	Asus ROG STRIX Z370-E Gaming
Cooling	DeepCool Assassin II
Memory	16GB DDR4 Corsair LPX 3000mhz CL15
Video Card(s)	Zotac 1080 Ti AMP EXTREME
Storage	Samsung 960 PRO 512GB
Display(s)	24" Dell IPS 1920x1200
Case	Fractal Design R5
Power Supply	Corsair AX760 Watt Fully Modular