Hi, I’ve had my current htpc for about 4yrs or maybe longer (so have’t paid my attention to new stuff until now) and now find it’s time to upgrade to take advantage of blu ray. I currently have an Unraid server with a couple of TB of drive space and wouldn’t mind copying over some of my blu ray dvd’s.
I’ve been reading through various sites for the last few weeks to see what would make a good htpc for hd but to be honest I still am not quite sure what my hardware needs are. I was thinking if I tell you what my needs are, perhaps I can get some suggestions/advice.
I hope that’s ok?
Here’s what I am looking for.
First off I have a Silverstone LC17 so it can support an ATX motherboard. I am by no means attached to a ATX MB though and can go to mATX if the need is there.
I’d like my new HTPC to be able to obviously play blu ray movies outputted to my TV, Sharp Aquos 1080P (which I alread do with my old trusty Radeon 9600xt) and be able to play all blu ray content, ex picture in picture.
It’s also very important that I be able to also output MPCM 7.1 via HDMI to my receiver. I don’t want any downconverting done, just the full audio stream output via HDMI.
I may also look into trying out ota hd.
I won’t be doing any gaming but I want to make sure that my HTPC is going to be around for awhile without having to upgrade for awhile to take advantage of any new blu ray features. While my receiver does not do any of the new blu ray audio codecs, I may want to eventually upgrade my receiver. So perhaps something that does 7.1 bitstreaming over HDMI might be worth looking into.
That’s about it. I’m looking for advice on a motherboard, cpu and graphics card. Suggestions are welcome!
Thanks!
.
