Aaron Ledger

[Aaron Ledger]

…which is why I like the lazy route of BDMV or ISO rips. Storage is (was and will be again) cheap (unless you are Michael and have to expand a RAID array to get a new controller ).

[Aaron Ledger]

I use AnyDVD HD to store all of my BDs on my server.

[Aaron Ledger]

Theoretically, there should not be a difference where the audio decoding takes place. In some cases, it may be better to let the AVR handle because some may possibly disable some of the room correction (as an example) if fed PCM vs. letting it decode. To be on the safe side, let the AVR do the decoding unless there is some other reason not to.

[Aaron Ledger]

Shouldn’t be a problem.

[Aaron Ledger]

As mentioned, a possible solution that does fix problems like this for good is to purchase the HDMI Detective made by Gefen. Basically, it tells your video card that the TV is on and keeps it set at the proper resolution. I know…nobody truly wants to resort to paying $80 to fix a problem that shouldn’t be there in the first place, but plenty of people will tell you how glad they are to have purchased the device to eliminate silly headaches like you’ve encountered.

[Aaron Ledger]

It depends on what you want. If it were me, I would put in another HTPC and use it to playback the BDs as digitally stored files on my server. This would also grant the benefit of TV content and anything else I might desire. This is the more costly approach though.

[Aaron Ledger]

I’m not leaving the house to save $5 on a BD on today of all days 

I did pick up Jackie Brown ($4), Inception ($5) and Matrix ($5) BDs from Amazon though. Having Prime is awesome 🙂

[Aaron Ledger]

Samsung’s playback is workable (DLNA or local USB media) if it supports all of the file types in use, you just have to read the manual and make sure before purchase. 

[Aaron Ledger]

I missed out on the Pulp Fiction BD from Amazon for $4 🙁

[Aaron Ledger]

Does the SNR fluctuate much? Can you correlate a bad video event with a drop in SNR?

Have you viewed the channel with the Comcast receiver and not seen an issue?

Regarding whether an event could happen to just one channel, it is not uncommon. The RF frequencies used in cable systems span a wide range. Different frequencies may be susceptible to interference or quality of the entire chain of infrastructure that brings the cable to your tuner.

[Aaron Ledger]

Generally, you should only lose the series recordings when resetting or wiping out the WMC database somehow. This is not typically something that will be done without some intent. Perhaps there has been some disk corruption or something else and the WMC database file was an unlucky victim. A prior backup or system restore should bring things back to normal.

[Aaron Ledger]

You can host the Ceton InfiniTV in WHS2011 if that is what you want. Check out our guide.

You can also host movies on the server and perform the commercial skip analysis on the server, if that is what you want. You would probably want to do something like archive the recording to the WHS and set up DVRMSToolbox to process the archive directory on the WHS. You’ll need to configure the client to look for the commercial skip files on the server.

[Aaron Ledger]

At least for “Flat Panel,” WMC will “overscan” the picture by zooming in about 5% or so which not only shows less picture, but the PQ is also damaged due to the extra scaling.

[Aaron Ledger]

There’s no harm. For gaming, you may even need the extra power. Consider an SSD as well for your system drive and some game installs. It will load up your games much quicker in addition to being silent and quicker for the OS and HTPC use.

[Aaron Ledger]

Case choice is very much one of personal preference. I personally wouldn’t touch a big case with a touchscreen on it. Is there any reason in particular you want a bigger case? There are a lot of cases more modern than the Antec that are slim and quiet. Definitely consider all your options with cases and if it is within your budget, get a quality case as it will last you many builds and you’ll  have to look at it for a long time to come.

Here’s a guide for building your HTPC and here’s one for assembling it.

[Author]

Posts