CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

pancakes · Joined: 07 Jul 2012 Posts: 4 Location: bay area, ca

i currently have a g90 with an analog signal from my windows computer. i have a custom ATI video card from mike parker that has BNC connectors. i use powerstrip (software) to set the resolution to 1440x960 at 72hz.

it's time to add a digital input to my g90. i want to buy whatever parts will give me the best picture quality. my biggest fear is HDCP problems that i've run in other systems.

for the projector, do i want a IFB-FULLHD v3 plug in card, HDFury4, or something else?

for my windows computer, which video card should i get? looks like my primary choice is between ATI radeon and nvidia geforce. i assume i'll be using 1920x1080p at 72hz for everything. do either of these cards have better support that resolution, or have better controls for a more accurate calibration? will i still need to use powerstrip?

thanks

gjaky · Joined: 05 Jun 2010 Posts: 2802 Location: Budapest, Hungary

For the video card definately go to nVidia, because it supports customizeable resolutions from it's own driver -unlike AMD(ATI)

Spanky Ham · Joined: 22 Mar 2006 Posts: 5643 Location: Comedy Central

I am not sure what you are asking. Every new digital will have a HDMI input. For video, AMD or Nvidia is a preference thing.

ecrabb · Posted: Sat Jul 07, 2012 6:44 pm Post subject:

Spanky, he wants to upgrade his source/input chain to digital (keep the G90).

Depends how much money you want to spend, I think. Seems like everybody with G90's that wants a high-end input chain is using the new Moome IFB and a Radiance XE. You can do active area scanning even with a set-top box (Oppo) and get rid of the HTPC if you want to.

Craig will be along any time to give you the options.

Cheers,
SC

CIR Engineering · Posted: Sat Jul 07, 2012 7:03 pm Post subject:

Spanky Ham · Joined: 22 Mar 2006 Posts: 5643 Location: Comedy Central

CIR Engineering · Posted: Sat Jul 07, 2012 10:15 pm Post subject:

A Dune is not a streamer, it's for playback of video files off of a HD or network connection (usually a local NAS). You can do some very limited streaming with a Dune, but it's not the primary function. Dune also supports cover art and a full media wall with 3rd party software (freeware or pay). I use yaDIS for my media management and it is free.

The Dune players are more akin to a Kaleidescape. Difference is that a Dune is less than $500 and you don't need to have a physical copy of the media to watch it. The Dune supports unencrypted BD and DVD rips to the local storage.

craigr

Spanky Ham · Joined: 22 Mar 2006 Posts: 5643 Location: Comedy Central

A Roku XS plays MKV and MP4 files.

jask · Joined: 17 Mar 2006 Posts: 10187 Location: kamloops BC

Craig is there a specific Dune box you use? have you compared it to the Roku XS? I was looking at the Roku but would be interested in your opinion.

edit sp Rolling Eyes

jatelo · Joined: 04 Feb 2008 Posts: 46 Location: mass USA

does the roku xs play back HD audio ?cannot find any info on that

CIR Engineering · Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2012 1:17 am Post subject:

I don't know much about Roku other than that it streams.

The Dune players have become very well refined; not quite as good as an Oppo BD player, but better than many stand alone BD players. The Dune players support BD and DVD ISO with full menu and navigation (just like a physical disc), every kind of video file that you throw at it, 1:1 pixel mapping, HD-Audio as bitstream or LPCM, correct color decoding, correct color space in HD and SD (Rec 709 and Rec 601), output through HDMI at YCbCr 444 and RGB, auto switching between (source direct) 60Hz/50Hz and 24Hz, video wall with full cover art, and about everything else you can think of in a high end media player. The players are also very reliable as I have had zero fail for myself or any of my clients who own them.

Anything above the 3.0 series can support HD audio and do the above, so I would look at that or newer. My favorite unit was the Base 3.0 but that is now out of production. I suggest avoiding models that include a BD drive because they may not support BD ISO on future firmwares due to copy protection and licensing issues. Units that do not have a BD drive will not be affected by the new license issues.

I also have used the newer offerings from Popcorn hour and they performer well too. However, I had three Popcorn hour units here and all three died in less than one week. I don't think the build quality is nearly as good on the popbox as on the Dune units. Picture quality was good on the new Popcorn hours though.

...but I don't think this thread was started to discuss media players Wink

Check out this site for really good media player info:
http://www.mpcclub.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=6

craigr