Floppyhead – Digital Media and Streaming

With Cyberlink’s PowerDVD Ultra no longer playing hard drive based HD movies from ripped HD-DVDs and Blu-ray discs, the only way to watch such movies is to “mount” an ISO image of the disc and then watch it using PowerDVD. Not an easy thing to do while in Vista Media Center. MyMounter, brought to you by the makers of MyTV, is a plugin designed to streamline the ISO process with VMC.

In order to use MyMounter, you need the following programs: Daemon Tools, AnyDVD HD, and Cyberlink PowerDVD Ultra. Those programs let you rip, mount an image, and watch the movie. Basically, MyMounter scans your files looking for ISO images. Through VMC, you decide which one you want to load. As has always been the case, PowerDVD will be loaded outside of VMC, returning to the VMC interface once the movie is done.

Mounting ISO images has always been popular for gamers, allowing someone to play a game without an actual disc. I would love to see a MyMovies equivalent for video games using MyMounter.
I have not had time to test out this plugin. Once I have, I will post my thoughts.

Dolby has announced a new certification for the home theater pc, called “Dolby Home Theater,” which includes Dolby Pro Logic II decoding to produce 7.1-, 6.1-, or 5.1-channel audio from a two-channel source. The certification also supports Dolby Digital Live, which converts any analog audio signal, as from a PC or game console, into Dolby Digital for connection to a DD-equipped home theater system.

The Home Theater designation includes the following features as part of its specifications:

• Sound Space Expander is a sound stage enhancer that produces a wide stereo image and in the process improves the separation of instruments without diminishing the center of the mix.
• Natural Bass is a bass enhancement system for speaker and headphones that provides up to an octave of downward extension in the bass response of most speakers.
• Dolby Pro Logic(R) IIx creates a vivid 7.1-channel surround sound experience from any stereo (two-channel), 5.1, or 6.1 movie, music, TV, or game audio source.
• Dolby Digital Live converts any audio signal from a PC or game console into Dolby Digital for easy connection to home theater systems through a single digital cable.
• Dolby Headphone technology creates a personal surround sound experience using any set of headphones and makes listeners feel like the action is happening all around them.

Hopefully, Dolby can infuse some excitement into the audio portion of the home theater pc. Besides DRM, audio processing is one of the weakest areas of an HTPC. One coherent certification can help simplify the market for the average HTPC enthusiast.

Vista Service Pack 1 fixes several items in Media Center. This Service Pack is more an incremental step in the evolution of Media Center and not the next leap in features. Besides a roll-up of hot fixes, SPI adds the following features:

• Adds support to enable new types of Windows Media Center Extenders, such as digital televisions and networked DVD players, to connect to Windows Media Center PCs.
• Enhances the MPEG-2 decoder to support content protection across a user accessible bus on Media Center systems configured with Digital Cable Tuner hardware. This also effectively enables higher levels of hardware decoder acceleration for commercial DVD playback on some hardware.

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A couple of weeks ago, I helped my cousin install a home theater projector in his basement. It actually took longer than I thought to set it up. After several hours, it still was not quite perfect. The picture looked great, albeit just crooked.

He had a 110″ screen that almost was too big, if there is such a thing. We watched the Duke-Maryland basketball game, which looked fantastic. Sports are suited for such a large screen. Commercials though were almost painful to watch. I am not sure that projectors make good everyday viewing. Channel surfing on a 100″ screen is not actually all that appealing. Movies and sporting events look fantastic and benefit from the larger viewing area.
Here are some tips I learned that afternoon:

1. The screen will actually be lower than you think. The top was almost at my eye level. This is basically a function of how far the projector is from the screen.
2. Horizontal lens shift is a very useful feature. We were just a couple of inches off in our installation. Unfortunately, his projector did not have lens shift. Very frustrating.
3. Ceiling joists, and therefore screens hanging from those joists, sometimes are not level 🙂
4. Make sure the projector lens is exactly perpendicular to the screen. Such a big picture makes image distortions very obvious.

Seeing the projector in action though did make me want one in my basement. After hanging the projector from the ceiling and seeing the results of our handy work, I realized professional installation may not be a bad thing.

Over the last year, the clear leader in Blu-ray and HD-DVD playback on a computer has been Cyberlink’s PowerDVD Ultra. Finally, this month someone else has thrown their hat into the HD realm: Arcsoft with their release of TotalMedia Theatre. According to Arcsoft, TotalMedia Theatre supports Blu-ray discs, AVCHDs, CDs, VCDs, and a variety of multimedia files, including QuickTime, RealPlayer, DVR-MS, WMV HD, and H.264 HD formats.

While the Vista Media Center still does not offer native Blu-ray and HD-DVD support, TotalMedia Theatre does include a plug-in that integrates into Media Center. From Arcsoft’s website:

The program comes with a Windows Media Center Edition plug-in built right in! The plug-in provides a “10 foot” user experience: big buttons and compatibility with your remote control mean you can use TotalMedia Theatre to watch your HD DVD and Blu-ray movies from the comfort of your couch.

The plug-in allows users to launch movies from the MCE interface, though it does launch a non-Media Center video player.

A quick look over at AVSForums indicates that TotalMedia Theatre has potential but is still a work in progress. Here are some of the issues identified:

• Lack of BD+ support
• High CPU usage
• Audio issues with X-Fi based sound cards

TotalMedia Theatre is something you should keep an eye on if you are looking for Blu-ray and HD-DVD playback. However, you might want to wait for some of its kinks to be worked out.

One of the more interesting CES press releases that flew under the radar was Auzentech’s announcement of the HDMI X-Tension. Sound cards have always been the weak link in an HTPC set-up, especially with the lack of HDMI 1.3 and Dolby True HD/DTS HD support. The HDMI X-Tension will be the first commerical product to support both. Basically this means you will be able to connect your computer directly to a receiver with one cable and get Dolby True HD. Other features include:

• A single HDMI cable can be connected with External devices like Digital TV or Receiver
• High compatibility with various external/internal devices by multi-Input selection (4 input).
• Compatibility with Desktop/HTPC/Slim PC (with Standard/LP bracket)
• Supports the next generation of Audio format (Dolby True HD/DTS HD)
• Swift and stable hardware installation without any installation of related software.
• Wide connectivity using the SPDIF Combo Output port.*
• Support for HDMI 1.3 and earlier receivers

The HDMI X-Tension is expected to be released in the first half of 2008 and might actually be a compelling reason not to use a media center extender in your home theater.

I recently purchased a HDHomerun (about $170) to watch and record unencrypted television shows from my cable provider. My cable modem is right next to my computer so I just added a splitter and connected a coaxial cable to the HDHomerun and cable modem.

Setting up the HDHomerun requires two steps: 1) find unencrypted channels and 2) map those to channels so that the program guide is correct. Being a longtime user of BeyondTV, I initially looked to that program to use in conjunction with my new network tuner. I soon realized that using BeyondTV and a HDHomerun together requires a work around to properly map the channels to allow downloading of the relevant program guide information. While the steps are outlined at Silicondust’s website, I still had some issues, mainly with my Snapstream.net account, which is used in the work around.

I had an extra copy of SageTV sitting around (thanks Dave!) that I had been meaning to write a review about. I figured now would be a good time to jump into the world of SageTV, which has buillt-in support for Clear QAM and does not require any hacks. Setting up SageTV for Clear QAM was much easier than BeyondTV. Both steps outlined above can be handled by SageTV. Re-mapping a channel is as easy as clicking the channel shown in the set-up dialog. One tip: you should set-up the HDHomerun as an “antenna.”

The HDHomerun is a great product that is a worthy addition to any HTPC. The main drawback is the lack of software. Sure you can use VLC (which is free), but the interface is awkward. To get the most out of the HDHomerun, you need a program like SageTV or BeyondTV. If you are planning on making the jump into the Clear QAM world and already do not have DVR software, consider buying SageTV instead of BeyondTV. While Sage’s interface is not as nice, the streamlined set-up process is well worth it.

Sony announced the replacement to the VGX-XL3 media center pc, which is the dual CableCard TP25. The VGX-Xl3 was a sleek machine that looked like a high-end A/V component. It’s main flaws were the lack of an adequate video card and having only one digital cable tuner, instead of the expected two.

The TP25, based off of the VGX-TP1, has added that extra digital cable tuner but has lost the sleek form factor. It would look out of place in any home theater set-up. The awkward design is made worse by the fact that the the digital cable tuners are external units. I have no idea why you would design a minimalist computer and then pair it with external tuners. Makes no sense.

I can’t see the TP25 as being successful, especially at a price point of $3,000. The Dell XPS 420 trumps it on price and quite frankly, I would rather have a black Dell box than a TP-25 sitting in my living room.