More Digital & HD TV Channels/Content

[yoda313]

OK, thanks -
I guess I've already been doing that to play on my PC -
but can I get it to play on my new HDTV without having a web browser on either the TV or Blu-Ray player?

I currently use my pc with my hdtv as it is. I have a ati all in wonder hd card (pci-e model) that has an hdmi out port. I use a normal hdmi cable and hook it up to my pc (its in the same room about two or three feet away from the tv). This video card can output sound and video at the same time - if I remember right in the early days of hdmi cards some would do video only and you'd have to use fiber optic or plain old rca cables from your soundcard to get the sound to the tv. I'm sure these days all hdmi capable video cards/motherboards would do sound and video together. That is if I remember right about that issue. Could be wrong. Anyway....

I have a wireless mouse and keyboard from logitech - not bluetooth - rf model though not ir, in other words its not really line of sight as a remote control would be but they have bluetooth stuff these days to be sure.

I just use the normal windows desktop for my needs. But there are countless htpc "frontends" available. I can't remember the names off hand but they let you access your media like windows media center does with large easy to read tabs or tiles or whatever you want to call them.

You can easily get a usb ir adapter to use a regular remote controller for the computer so you can click through the media centers like you would on a bluray or game console.

Then you can still use your browser be it firefox or whatever and stream right to your website like always. I have mine hardwired so I don't have to worry about buffering issues (so long as my signal is clean which it usually is - cable internet only a few slow downs occasionally but nothing horrible thankfully).

If you wanted to go super streamline and low profile they have half height boxes designed to be media center pcs. I think they are called nettop boxes. Anyway they look more like bluray players or tivos than they do a traditional desktop tower. You'd use half height pci cards for any additional addons you'd want to throw in like special soundcards or whatnot.

There are whole websites dedicated to this stuff so you can dig around for more specifics.

But you can certainly do it with a basic pc. Though you should have at least a dual core pc and a video card that can do h264 decoding so that you can playback bluray without stuttering (and naturally h264 files). Basically if its not more than three or four years old it probably has everything you need to do a htpc right now.

Check back with more specific questions about my rig setup or htpc in general. I'm sure others here can help with their own experiences.

Also you might look into getting a quieter power supply if yours is particularly noisey since you'd be watching movies with it - unless you only watch loud action movies and rock concerts or only watch with headphones.

Edit - and as you no doubt know you can watch virtually all web video in full screen and it looks just fine on the tv - again assuming the source is clean

[UnknownVT]

I currently use my pc with my hdtv as it is. I have a ati all in wonder hd card (pci-e model) that has an hdmi out port. I use a normal hdmi cable and hook it up to my pc (its in the same room about two or three feet away from the tv). This video card can output sound and video at the same time - if I remember right in the early days of hdmi cards some would do video only and you'd have to use fiber optic or plain old rca cables from your soundcard to get the sound to the tv. I'm sure these days all hdmi capable video cards/motherboards would do sound and video together. That is if I remember right about that issue. Could be wrong.

Thank you so much for all the information -
I will have to read it fully with a bit more time.

My initial thoughts were to connect the HDTV as a pc monitor - in my case DVI on PC via DVI-HDMI converter to HDMI on the TV.

Then I was thinking of a TV tuner card and a Blu-Ray burner drive for the pc -
so basically all media would then be routed through the pc -
of course there are probably a miriad of things I'm not even aware of at this stage.

But having every media routed through the pc would give me real advantages -
like every and anything I can do on the pc can be shown of the TV -
and the ability to record and even edit stuff.

Just to illustrate my current noob'ish level -
I managed to connect YouTube via the "premium" on the LG BP320 Blu-Ray Player
doing a search (awkward because of the remote selection of character via OSD) -
once found I selected one of the videos - and it will continue to play all the subsequent videos in the list treating the selected as the first in the list.

I was very impressed - I realize this is probably pretty commonplace
but it's those little achievements that really make me pleased.

Thanks for continuing to help - very much appreciated.

[yoda313]

My initial thoughts were to connect the HDTV as a pc monitor - in my case DVI on PC via DVI-HDMI converter to HDMI on the TV.

Please note dvi is video information only. You would need a seperate audio connection. You probably know that just want to make sure you know for sure.

Just to illustrate my current noob'ish level -
I managed to connect YouTube via the "premium" on the LG BP320 Blu-Ray Player
doing a search (awkward because of the remote selection of character via OSD) -
once found I selected one of the videos - and it will continue to play all the subsequent videos in the list treating the selected as the first in the list.

I don't have a "smart" bluray player but both my xbox 360 and ps3 do this also. That is pretty nice and addicting if you get into a long session of youtubing stuff.

Then I was thinking of a TV tuner card and a Blu-Ray burner drive for the pc -
so basically all media would then be routed through the pc -
of course there are probably a miriad of things I'm not even aware of at this stage.

But having every media routed through the pc would give me real advantages -
like every and anything I can do on the pc can be shown of the TV -
and the ability to record and even edit stuff.

Thats basically what an htpc is. Just remember its still a computer though so if you have any system crashes or hardware problems you'll have to deal with them along the way.

That is one benefit of "dumbed" down devices that are more dedicated than a pc is. You're basically assured it will do what you tell it all the time. Of course nothing is 100% but it would be more hassle free than a regular pc can be.

Oh and don't forget if this is an "extra" pc you'll need to do more antivirus too. If you have a multi license edition you can just pop in the extra code or you could use a free one like avg.

Thank you so much for all the information -
I will have to read it fully with a bit more time.

Glad to help

[UnknownVT]

Please note dvi is video information only. You would need a seperate audio connection. You probably know that just want to make sure you know for sure.

Thank you I suspected as much but was not sure - thanks for the clarification.

My current pc is pretty good with pretty high clock rate quad-core processor, 6GB RAM, 1TB HDD - ATI Radeon HD 4200 graphics card - but no HDMI connections - that's why the DVI to HDMI

EDIT to ADD: according to the Radeon specs for the HD 4200:

• HDMI® output support
  • Supports all display resolutions up to 1920x10801
  • Integrated HD audio controller with multi-channel (5.1) AC3 support, enabling a plug-and-play cable-less audio solution
• MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DivX, WMV9, VC-1, and H.264/AVC encoding and transcoding

so perhaps I can get a HDMI connector to the Radeon HD 4200 controller?

Thats basically what an htpc is. Just remember its still a computer though so if you have any system crashes or hardware problems you'll have to deal with them along the way.

Yes I thought of the TV just as a big monitor and basically I am just using my pc.

However I do have a very nice IPS 100% sRGB monitor on the pc already - that's why I had not moved and connected my pc.

The Blu-Ray player probably will keep me pleased (and occupied) for now.

Thank you once again

[yoda313]

DIT to ADD: according to the Radeon specs for the HD 4200:

• HDMI® output support
  • Supports all display resolutions up to 1920x10801
  • Integrated HD audio controller with multi-channel (5.1) AC3 support, enabling a plug-and-play cable-less audio solution
• MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DivX, WMV9, VC-1, and H.264/AVC encoding and transcoding

so perhaps I can get a HDMI connector to the Radeon HD 4200 controller?

Well double check the back of the video card. Unplug your current hdmi cable that you are using for the bluray player and look at it closely. If you are not familiar right now with how the connection looks hold it up to the video card. If it has a slot that matches you are good to go. From the sound of it it should have hdmi out.

However there are a million video cards and manufacturers so each model can be slightly different from one another. But if you find a slot that matches your hdmi cable that is all you need to get going.

Good luck and have fun

[UnknownVT]

Well double check the back of the video card. Unplug your current hdmi cable that you are using for the bluray player and look at it closely. If you are not familiar right now with how the connection looks hold it up to the video card. If it has a slot that matches you are good to go. From the sound of it it should have hdmi out.

My pc does not have HDMI - the Radeon HD 4200 controller is an integrated one probably on the motherboard I'm afraid....
that why suggesting trying to get HDMI connector to the controller.

Thank you.

[yoda313]

that why suggesting trying to get HDMI connector to the controller.

Oh now I see you mean internally.

I don't know anything about that. You'd have to check the web and google it up for more info.

Though somebody else here might have some experience they can share.

[UnknownVT]

I don't know anything about that. You'd have to check the web and google it up for more info.
Though somebody else here might have some experience they can share.

Thanks for trying to help -
my motherboard is a FOXCONN 2AB1 (link to specs) I'm not too sure if there is an easy way to link in HDMI to that cramped board - either I'll just have to do DVI to HDMI converter and separate audio or have to put in a separate video card that has HDMI out.

Any recommendations for a video card? - most probably just for future reference.

Thanks

[usually_quiet]

Thanks for trying to help -
my motherboard is a FOXCONN 2AB1 (link to specs) I'm not too sure if there is an easy way to link in HDMI to that cramped board - either I'll just have to do DVI to HDMI converter and separate audio or have to put in a separate video card that has HDMI out.

Any recommendations for a video card? - most probably just for future reference.

Thanks

The onboard graphics you have would be OK for an HTPC (I have 785G onboard graphics myself) except that there is no HDMI on the backplane. Although the 785G chipset supports HDMI with audio, I am doubtful that it would be possible to add HDMI with audio to the motherboard yourself at all, or buy a converter for significantly less than it would cost to buy an inexpensive video card with HDMI

Any of these VGA cards would be fine, and more capable than the onboard graphics that you have now. I think a 400W PSU would provide enough power for them.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127584
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127611
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102942

[UnknownVT]

buy a converter for significantly less than it would cost to buy an inexpensive video card with HDMI

Any of these VGA cards would be fine, and more capable than the onboard graphics that you have now. I think a 400W PSU would provide enough power for them.

Thank you very much for the suggestions-
what are the main disadvantages of using a DVI to HDMI converter and then connecting the audio separately?

I think I need to connect analog audio anyway to my home sound system
and I am probably not doing any processing of audio when using the TV.

If any audio need processing, I'll do it on the PC - as I am doing now.

Thank you very much

[usually_quiet]

buy a converter for significantly less than it would cost to buy an inexpensive video card with HDMI

Any of these VGA cards would be fine, and more capable than the onboard graphics that you have now. I think a 400W PSU would provide enough power for them.

Thank you very much for the suggestions-
what are the main disadvantages of using a DVI to HDMI converter and then connecting the audio separately?

I think I need to connect analog audio anyway to my home sound system
and I am probably not doing any processing of audio when using the TV.

If any audio need processing, I'll do it on the PC - as I am doing now.

Thank you very much

If you intend to use analog audio for your sound system, it makes no sense to buy a DVI to HDMI converter. (DVI to HDMI converters are electronic devices.) All you need is a DVI to HDMI adapter or DVI to HDMI cable.

However, I think analog audio output from a PC may be limited to stereo in some cases, for example playing a copy-protected commercial Blu-ray disc with commercial player software, like Cyberlink PowerDVD.

[UnknownVT]

If you intend to use analog audio for your sound system, it makes no sense to buy a DVI to HDMI converter. (DVI to HDMI converters are electronic devices.) All you need is a DVI to HDMI adapter or DVI to HDMI cable.

Sorry, my bad - I meant adapter
not the more complex electronic converters that combine video and audio.

However, I think analog audio output from a PC may be limited to stereo in some cases, for example playing a copy-protected commercial Blu-ray disc with commercial player software, like Cyberlink PowerDVD.

aren't there 5.1 surround sound speaker systems for PCs?
don't they use analog signals?

I haven't checked the specs in any detail -
but my PC has front, rear, side and sub-woofer (analog) outputs via 3.5mm stereo mini jacks.

[usually_quiet]

However, I think analog audio output from a PC may be limited to stereo in some cases, for example playing a copy-protected commercial Blu-ray disc with commercial player software, like Cyberlink PowerDVD.

aren't there 5.1 surround sound speaker systems for PCs?
don't they use analog signals?

I haven't checked the specs in any detail -
but my PC has front, rear, side and sub-woofer (analog) outputs via 3.5mm stereo mini jacks.

Yes there are 5.1 analog audio connections on some PCs. However, if I remember correctly, down-converting analog audio to stereo is a copy-protection measure required by Blu-Ray's AACS technology license, and I think some commercial software players are compliant.

[UnknownVT]

Yes there are 5.1 analog audio connections on some PCs. However, if I remember correctly, down-converting analog audio to stereo is a copy-protection measure required by Blu-Ray's AACS technology license, and I think some commercial software players are compliant.

OK got you, thanks -
but, if I had a Blu-Ray drive and played a commercial/store bought Blu-Ray disc via Windows Media Player and the like - would it give 5.1 surround sound to the PC speakers - if so encoded?

[usually_quiet]

Yes there are 5.1 analog audio connections on some PCs. However, if I remember correctly, down-converting analog audio to stereo is a copy-protection measure required by Blu-Ray's AACS technology license, and I think some commercial software players are compliant.

OK got you, thanks -
but, if I had a Blu-Ray drive and played a commercial/store bought Blu-Ray disc via Windows Media Player and the like - would it give 5.1 surround sound to the PC speakers - if so encoded?

As far as I know Windows Media Player can't play commercial Blu-Ray discs. Without ripping the disc or installing AnyDVD to disable copy protection, Corel WinDVD, Cyberlink PowerDVD, or Arcsoft TotalMedia Theatre are needed to play commercial discs.

Movie studios are so paranoid about people using analog video and audio connections to copy Blu-Ray movies, that they require crippling them under some circumstances. I only use analog stereo speakers for my PC and have no home sound system so I can't test what happens when audio isn't sent over a protected digital connection. Given my equipment, I didn't pay close attention when I read about analog audio restrictions, but I seem to recall analog 5.1 channel audio on Blu-ray is required to be down-converted under some circumstances.

[UnknownVT]

As far as I know Windows Media Player can't play commercial Blu-Ray discs. Without ripping the disc or installing AnyDVD to disable copy protection, Corel WinDVD, Cyberlink PowerDVD, or Arcsoft TotalMedia Theatre are needed to play commercial discs.

Movie studios are so paranoid about people using analog video and audio connections to copy Blu-Ray movies, that they require crippling them under some circumstances. I only use analog stereo speakers for my PC and have no home sound system so I can't test what happens when audio isn't sent over a protected digital connection. Given my equipment, I didn't pay close attention when I read about analog audio restrictions, but I seem to recall analog 5.1 channel audio on Blu-ray is required to be down-converted under some circumstances.

Thank you - WoW! I didn't know that at all.

I found via LifeHacker website there is a freeware Blu-Ray player s/w -
apparently PotPlayer can play Blu-Ray discs.

Also VLC may be able to play Blu-Ray discs too -
I don't know how reliable (or safe) this is: VLC Blu-Ray

[usually_quiet]

As far as I know Windows Media Player can't play commercial Blu-Ray discs. Without ripping the disc or installing AnyDVD to disable copy protection, Corel WinDVD, Cyberlink PowerDVD, or Arcsoft TotalMedia Theatre are needed to play commercial discs.

Movie studios are so paranoid about people using analog video and audio connections to copy Blu-Ray movies, that they require crippling them under some circumstances. I only use analog stereo speakers for my PC and have no home sound system so I can't test what happens when audio isn't sent over a protected digital connection. Given my equipment, I didn't pay close attention when I read about analog audio restrictions, but I seem to recall analog 5.1 channel audio on Blu-ray is required to be down-converted under some circumstances.

Thank you - WoW! I didn't know that at all.

I found via LifeHacker website there is a freeware Blu-Ray player s/w -
apparently PotPlayer can play Blu-Ray discs.

Also VLC may be able to play Blu-Ray discs too -
I don't know how reliable (or safe) this is: VLC Blu-Ray

Pot Player, VLC, and other free players can't play commercial Blu-Ray discs unless they have been ripped, or AnyDVD or DVDFab Passkey has been installed, or maybe when the the library you linked to is installed. Even so, they won't allow using the Blu-Ray's menus like AnyDVD, PowerDVD, or TotalMedia Theatre do. The free players only let you play the Blu-Ray's m2ts files.

Scans didn't show malware, but I decided I'm not going to install the file you linked to to test it with Pot Player and VLC and risk causing a problem in an otherwise stable system. I received a free copy of PowerDVD 10 with my Blu-Ray drive, and so far it has been good enough.

[jagabo]

There's a big thread here about the AACS decoder for VLC.
https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/343705-VLC-Blu-ray-plugin-Watch-encrypted-Blu-rays-...tly-in-VLC-2-0

[UnknownVT]

Pot Player, VLC, and other free players can't play commercial Blu-Ray discs unless they have been ripped, or AnyDVD or DVDFab Passkey has been installed, or maybe when the the library you linked to is installed. Even so, they won't allow using the Blu-Ray's menus like AnyDVD, PowerDVD, or TotalMedia Theatre do. The free players only let you play the Blu-Ray's m2ts files.

Thank you again for the clarification -
I guess if and when I do buy a Blu-Ray drive for my PC it would probably come with Blu-Ray playing s/w too -
until then really it is just a moot point for me.

Thank you very much for continuing to inform and helping.

There's a big thread here about the AACS decoder for VLC.
https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/343705-VLC-Blu-ray-plugin-Watch-encrypted-Blu-rays-...tly-in-VLC-2-0

Thanks for the link - very interesting discussion.

[UnknownVT]

Just wanted to come back and give a little progress feedback and to thank all the people who had been so helpful.

For now I think I am pretty content with the "smart" Blu-Ray player -
to the point that I don't think I really need to make my pc into a HTPC (yet)

I am currently very happy having the ability to play all sorts of media files via a USB drive including the unexpected ability to play 24-bit 48kHz audio even Flac - that was a real bonus on the LG BP320 (the other player I considered: Samsung BD-E5900 could not)

Ability to network with my pc via DLNA which allowed me to play just about anything stored on my pc via WiFi or wired connection.

I heeded the warning about WiFi connection speed might not be adequate for fullHD (the player also warns of WiFi connections)
- and I thought I saw that by the buffering delays on YouTube -
but then I realized that was probably not a limitation of the WiFi speed, but the limit of my internet broadband connection.......

Even though the wifi gateway/router I am using is only rated to 802.11g and not "n" - however the official rating of "g" is to 54Mb/s and my highest bitrate videos are 16Mb/s - so this is adequate.

Mostly those videos play flawlessly - but occasionally there might be a bit of stutter right at the beginning - but if I back it up to the start - it appears to be fine. Or if I jump forward, again occasional stutter - but if I pause it for a moment - the video will then play just fine.

These occasional lapses are not annoying enough to cause me to want to move the gateway and pc into the same room as my TV/blu-ray player so I can do a wired connection.

Slightly more annoying is the LG BP320 when opening Movies, Music media - takes a little time to recognize that my PC is on the network - that's OK - but when selected sometimes it will seem to scan but does not seem to come out of the scan with any results - BUT if I use Back button of the remote - it will eventually display some folders - sometimes it may seem muddled eg: under Movies it would display my Music folders.

I had been doing what I considered good practice by backing out of each screen to the home screen before switching the player off - and I think that is what may be causing the scan problem - by doing what I consider the sledgehammer/nasty thing of literally switching the player off at whatever point it currently is successfully playing -

Next time on and selecting the same media - would actually drop me back to where I was - it's not quite smart enough to starting playing back where it left off - but it will put me back to one screen back - ie: the list of the media that was being played. This is far better than I had expected - and I really like this - it is about as good as it can get.

Of course doing the DLNA to my pc required some learning curve too -
it was simple enough to set up Windows Media Player to stream then select the folders into the library -
but sometimes those selected folders would not show on the LG player -
then I had to go to the actual folder on my pc and specifically set the share permission of that folder.

There are some media that do not play via the DLNA - the most significant for me was the Flac format - for some reason it cannot play via the pc DLNA link - but will play fine on the USB drive.

Other than that things seem pretty good, for now.

So from a single device I managed to gain a whole lot more content to watch on my new fullHDTV -
the LG BP320 cost me all of $69 shipped as a manufacturer refurbished unit - and for now I am well pleased.

Thanks again to all who very kindly helped me get this far.

[jagabo]

I heeded the warning about WiFi connection speed might not be adequate for fullHD (the player also warns of WiFi connections)
- and I thought I saw that by the buffering delays on YouTube -
but then I realized that was probably not a limitation of the WiFi speed, but the limit of my internet broadband connection.......

Even though the wifi gateway/router I am using is only rated to 802.11g and not "n" - however the official rating of "g" is to 54Mb/s and my highest bitrate videos are 16Mb/s - so this is adequate.

Mostly those videos play flawlessly - but occasionally there might be a bit of stutter right at the beginning - but if I back it up to the start - it appears to be fine. Or if I jump forward, again occasional stutter - but if I pause it for a moment - the video will then play just fine.

These occasional lapses are not annoying enough to cause me to want to move the gateway and pc into the same room as my TV/blu-ray player so I can do a wired connection.

If you ever get any full bitrate Blu-ray rips or ISO files you'll probably have a lot more trouble. You can always try upgrading to 802.11n. Keep in mind that the real throughput of any wireless device is around half the advertised speed, at best. It goes down from there with interference from other devices or just a weak signal.

There are some media that do not play via the DLNA - the most significant for me was the Flac format

When using DLNA it's the server that decides what to expose to the client. Your DLNA server isn't presenting flac files. Some other DLNA servers will.

[UnknownVT]

If you ever get any full bitrate Blu-ray rips or ISO files you'll probably have a lot more trouble. You can always try upgrading to 802.11n. Keep in mind that the real throughput of any wireless device is around half the advertised speed, at best. It goes down from there with interference from other devices or just a weak signal.

Thank you for that - I'll certainly bear that in mind - if and when I get buffering problems I will consider moving my pc and gateway so that a hard wired connection can be made. Thanks

EDIT to ADD -
I didn't realize how inexpensive it would be to have 802.11n WiFi -
a 802.11n WiFi router can be as low as <$15 shipped.
So I could easily do this upgrade if/when I experience buffering delays.

When using DLNA it's the server that decides what to expose to the client. Your DLNA server isn't presenting flac files. Some other DLNA servers will.

In this case it is the Blu-Ray player that set the restriction for its DLNA -
page: 10 of the LG BP320 pdf manual -

Notice that Disc and USB include "flac" -
but DNLA does not.

Thanks for the pointers.