BluRay suppound sound or Media PC

[BoredBloke]

We have just had our garage converted into an extra room and I want to stick a big telly in it and was wondering if a media PC would be a better option than a general surround sound system. What do you lot think? I'd be building the PC, so I can pick and choose the bits that go into it

[Paddy]

We have just had our garage converted into an extra room and I want to stick a big telly in it and was wondering if a media PC would be a better option than a general surround sound system. What do you lot think? I'd be building the PC, so I can pick and choose the bits that go into it

Unimpressed.

My friend bought a lathe, and turned his garage into a high tech workshop for media equipment. He is not bored.

[chef]

Yes definitely. I use a media center as the center of my main home tv/blu ray/sound system.

[IR35 Avoider]

I don't think the two are really alternatives.

Assuming the sound in the flat screen (if it has any) is not up to the job, then you need an amplifier and speakers to do the sound. This could be a system generally intended as a PC sound system, or a home theatre receiver with speakers, but either way, it will have one or more inputs that will take the sound output that goes with whatever pictures are on your screen.

Whether you have a PC or not depends on whether that is a source you want/need for whatever pictures and sounds you are going to have. Other options would be satellite or freeview receivers, games machines, standalone DVD or Bluray players.

The last time I looked into this, quite a while ago, I think a Sony playstation was considered the best way to get blu-ray.

I do actually have a HTPC in my living room (in addition to Sky box and built-in Freeview tuner in the TV) but I'm not actually interested in having blu-ray, the disks cost a lot and in my experience I don't want to watch even good movies much more than once, so I'd rather watch them when they are on TV in HD.

The HTPC is connect to a home theatre receiver via optical cable. It's actually a nettop with special graphics processor to support HDTV, and sits in a bracket on the back of the flat screen, so the only way you know it is there is because of the USB DVD drive and IR mouse for the remote control which are perched on top op the centre speaker.

[IR35 Avoider]

If you do go for a home theatre receiver, one thing I will look out for next time I buy is one that has separate audio delays settable for each input.

Audio delay is so you can synchronise the sound perfectly with the pictures.

I have three sources for sound, Sky, HTPC and Freeview built into TV. The Sky box and the TV have settings that allow sound output via optical (or coax) to be delayed by between 0 and 200ms. It appears that sound from the Sky box needs to be delayed by 100ms, from the TV by 20ms, from the Windows 7 HTPC by more than 100ms, however the PC gives me no control over sound delay. (There's almost certainly some free software somewhere that will do it, but I haven't yet found a source I trust.) Note that if a PC is your only source, and you don't have a proper home theatre receiver as part of your sounds system, your options for getting sounds synchronised may be limited.

(Actually the HTPC is a bit variable, most of the time I don't have a problem watching Freeview live or or recorded from its own Freeview tuner, however with video streamed off the internet there is sometimes very poor synchronisation. So it may actually be some sort of software issue rather than a general issue with the PC. I think DVD's are also fine with the default 100ms delay imposed by the amplifier.)

(Incidentally, the way I synch sound is to temporarily feed it to both the built-in speakers and the amplifier, and tune the delay to minimise echo.)

[vetran]

media centre +Home theatre.
XBMC or Win 7 MCE.

if Linux check the tuner card compatibility before you buy!

Blueray playback is an issue not core in either so budget £100 for software.

you will need an external amp for sound and quickly playing DVDs (takes a while for the MCE to boot unless you go SSD and tuning) also you will be playing with the MCE a lot. plenty of home theatre standalone solutions out there in the £200 - £500 range. I have a panasonic BT200 not the best but great for blueray movies.


This looks like it might fit, will try it when I get a chance

http://www.daansystems.com/radiodelay/

[Troll]

Unimpressed.

My friend bought a lathe, and turned his garage into a high tech workshop for media equipment. He is not bored.

Ohhh I'm looking to buy a lathe for the garage
One of these

Also looking to buy something like this

Truth is I don't really need either but with quite a chunk of money in the company I figure I could get them both through on the books
Just how to sneak them both in without wifey noticing!

[Spacecadet]

Ohhh I'm looking to buy a lathe for the garage
One of these

Also looking to buy something like this

Truth is I don't really need either but with quite a chunk of money in the company I figure I could get them both through on the books
Just how to sneak them both in without wifey noticing!

Assuming your wife's favourite colour is green
Troll: "I'm just ordering a digger Do you like the colour green?"
MrsTroll: "Yes"
Troll:"Thanks"

Then order the digger in green.

[doodab]

takes a while for the MCE to boot unless you go SSD and tuning also you will be playing with the MCE a lot.

Actually if you set it up to use sleep and hibernate it's fairly quick even with a mechanical hard disk. Mine kicks the arse of my panasonic DVD recorder thing which actually takes ages to get going.

I don't play with it too much, probably once a month I go through and delete all the tulip the other half has recorded to make some space. I can do it from the office without her even noticing.

[Moscow Mule]

I have a server un the cupboard under the stairs & an AppleTV box.

Works quite well with iTunes home sharing, I can get media from any of the machines in the house running iTunes, and indeed, throw video to the AppleTV from any i-device.

I think there's a few more of these media extenders coming out now which work with windows setups, so there isn't much need to have a pc under the telly.

Definitely go with a proper amp / 5.1 / 7.1.