Topic: Which Way To Go?

[Clondalkin]

Yep, I meant encoding. I have a bunch of BD and HD-DVD titles and my kids want them ala jukebox style in either the EGreat, NOvatron or the Acer X3200 unit that I got which also has a built-in HDMI.

For PC player, right now I am just using KMPlayer. I wanted to reconfigure it with Windows Media Center though it only comes with licensed Vista Home for now...

Bro, the following link is my "bible" for HD DVD ripping and converting to mkv.   "Bible" meaning I've read and understood it well (or so I thought), but in real life, it's certainly not that convenient to do especially with the time constraints.    The ripping part is quite straightforward and fast using AnyDVD HD.  The conversion part is the headache (or could be the fun part depending on your outlook).   Can be done but DL is much more convenient especially for simultaneous acquisition.   

I havent tried a BD yet because I don't have BD, but it appears to me that BD conversion is even more complicated than that of of HD DVD.  Good luck anyways and have fun.

http://forum.slysoft.com/showthread.php?t=14452

Havent tried Windows Media Center with mkv yet.

Cheers

BTW Bro, any playback problems with some of the 1080ps using your gadgets?  Since I came back to Tokyo, I spent some time "actually watching" and set aside some very problematic 1080ps.  Even my C2D powered PC gumagapang sa bigat somewhere along the 2-hour playback. 

So what I have been doing is replacing those titles with ones that play well (720p nga lang).  For instance, that great 10-part WW2 classic about the 101st Airborne, I have gotten the 45GB "smooth" version because the 50GB+ version that you have is so bloody heavy on my systems.  Pati si Arnold sa Mars, kinuhaan ko na ng watchable version.  Still in the process of finding smooth versions of Keanu extracting hydrogen from water and recently, that movie about a highly placed CIA mole.  　　　

If your NMT(s) can  play all those 1080ps well, then that would be the biggest advantage of an NMT over a PC.  Would really appreciate if you could share your experience with the 1080ps Bro - kung may problem I'll find the alternatives here.  Thanks

[milken]

　　　
If your NMT(s) can  play all those 1080ps well, then that would be the biggest advantage of an NMT over a PC.  Would really appreciate if you could share your experience with the 1080ps Bro - kung may problem I'll find the alternatives here.  Thanks

Have you tried installing CoreAVC as video codec?  It doesn't use as much CPU resources as ffdshow and cyberlink. 

[streetsmart]

BTW Bro, any playback problems with some of the 1080ps using your gadgets?  Since I came back to Tokyo, I spent some time "actually watching" and set aside some very problematic 1080ps.  Even my C2D powered PC gumagapang sa bigat somewhere along the 2-hour playback. 

So what I have been doing is replacing those titles with ones that play well (720p nga lang).  For instance, that great 10-part WW2 classic about the 101st Airborne, I have gotten the 45GB "smooth" version because the 50GB+ version that you have is so bloody heavy on my systems.  Pati si Arnold sa Mars, kinuhaan ko na ng watchable version.  Still in the process of finding smooth versions of Keanu extracting hydrogen from water and recently, that movie about a highly placed CIA mole.  　　　

If your NMT(s) can  play all those 1080ps well, then that would be the biggest advantage of an NMT over a PC.  Would really appreciate if you could share your experience with the 1080ps Bro - kung may problem I'll find the alternatives here.  Thanks

Yesterday, I watched Ironman and Vantage Point on the egreat 31b. Both movies were 1080p and both were excellent! No stutters. No artifacts. No problems... except maybe the need to stop and exit first when you need subtitles. I will keep posting my experience as I watch other 1080p movies. Dami pa. 

[Munskie]

My take:

Kung PC enthusiast ka who knows about tweaking and configuring software, then HTPC is a great bet.

Kung hindi, for the rest, NMTs are pretty convenient to use.   

[Clondalkin]

Have you tried installing CoreAVC as video codec?  It doesn't use as much CPU resources as ffdshow and cyberlink. 

CoreAVC is highly overrated in my experience.  It doesnt solve the problem of out-of-synch or stuttering even in my C2D PC.  In my observation, CPU resource is not necessarily that critical for stutter free playback.  Ive watched titles that consistently pushed CPU usage around 90%, yet played the entire 2 hours just fine.

[Clondalkin]

Let's take the 1080p challenge.

Please watch the following 1080p titles using your NMTs and share your experience.  These titles can turn my C2D PC to a zombie.

1.  3:10 Yuma
2.  Chain Reactions
3.  Elizabeth The Golden Age
4.  Total Recall
5.  The Other Boleyn Girl
6.  Band of Brothers
7.  Breach (BTW, C2D managed to play this but the audio and video are out of synch.   If its any consolation, 780G chipset based PC of my friend is NO GO)

If you dont any of the above, I can let you have them during my next vacation to test your NMTs.

Meron talagang maayos na encodes (or magaling na encoders - those whose MEGUI does not crash during the conversion to mkv), or tolerable yung frequency ng stutters and/or out-of-synch.  Sana ganon lahat.

Mga OK na 1080ps I've watch so far (well Ok for my C2D but not ok for my Pentium D).   Still not perfect for some but tolerable enough to completely watch.

Ironman
Vantage Point
Michael Clayton
Anger Management
John Mayer LA Concert
Batman Begins
Shinobi
Basic Instinct
Street Kings
Mummy 1
Mummy 2
Million Dollar Baby
Xmen 3
The Usual Suspects
Spiderwick Chronicles
The Ruins
The Island
The Bank Job
Star Wars 1 - 6
Sin City
Reign Over Me
Ratatouille
Rambo 1-4
National Treasures 1
National Treasures 2
Matrix 1 - 3
LOTR 1 - 3
Indy Jones 1 - 3
Ice Age 2
Hitch
Heroes Season 2
Gangs Of New York
Fool's Gold
Fantastic 4
Elizabeth
Drillbit Taylor
Catch and Release
Brave One
Blood Diamond
Black Hawk Down
Behind Enemy Lines
Batle Of The Bulge
A Mighty Heart
88 Minutes
50 First Dates
2001 Space Odyssey
12 Monkeys

Again, some  are not as perfect as 720ps in terms of playback but acceptable imperfections.

[streetsmart]

Let's take the 1080p challenge.

Please watch the following 1080p titles using your NMTs and share your experience.  These titles can turn my C2D PC to a zombie.

1.  3:10 Yuma
2.  Chain Reactions
3.  Elizabeth The Golden Age
4.  Total Recall
5.  The Other Boleyn Girl
6.  Band of Brothers
7.  Breach (BTW, C2D managed to play this but the audio and video are out of synch.   If its any consolation, 780G chipset based PC of my friend is NO GO)

If you dont have any of the above, I can let you have them during my next vacation to test your NMTs.

KELAN? KELAN? Santa Claus! 

[iiinas]

Let's take the 1080p challenge.

Please watch the following 1080p titles using your NMTs and share your experience.  These titles can turn my C2D PC to a zombie.

1.  3:10 Yuma
2.  Chain Reactions
3.  Elizabeth The Golden Age
4.  Total Recall
5.  The Other Boleyn Girl
6.  Band of Brothers
7.  Breach (BTW, C2D managed to play this but the audio and video are out of synch.   If its any consolation, 780G chipset based PC of my friend is NO GO)

If you dont any of the above, I can let you have them during my next vacation to test your NMTs.

oo nga sir clondalkin, sabihan mo lang kami, and will like to have the above stuff. 

[streetsmart]

oo nga sir clondalkin, sabihan mo lang kami, and will like to have the above stuff. 

Ito ang da best na Xmas EB! Pasko talaga! 

[Clondalkin]

Ipanalangin nating makakuha ako ng Jan 3,4,5 booking back to Tokyo para sa isang makabuluhang Kapaskuhan.

Otherwise, as Yoda said, there is another one...  

[streetsmart]

Ipanalangin nating makakuha ako ng Jan 3,4,5 booking back to Tokyo para sa isang makabuluhang Kapaskuhan.

Otherwise, as Yoda said, there is another one...  

Hayy ... suspense pa pala.

Pagdating mo sa airport, meron na banner din greeting you at may rondalla, c/o frootloops. 

[Clondalkin]

Hayy ... suspense pa pala.

Pagdating mo sa airport, meron na banner din greeting you at may rondalla, c/o frootloops. 

Uy wag naman mga Bro.  Magtatago ako non.   

Bro Jack Ryan, you're our biggest hope for feedback on 1080p playback of  NMTs right now.     Cheers Bro.

[frootloops]

Ipanalangin nating makakuha ako ng Jan 3,4,5 booking back to Tokyo para sa isang makabuluhang Kapaskuhan.

Otherwise, as Yoda said, there is another one...  

sir, I am just a PM away if you need any help regarding your booking. Just let me know.

Oh sige, wala ng banner, magandang babae na lang to assist you, at ako ang bodyguard.   

[Clondalkin]

@Clondalkin, ayos ah! Ang dami mong 1080p.  I only download 1080p for those movies I want to rewatch again should I get a 1080p pj someday.  CoreAVC works fine for me in 1080p playback.  If you have a dxva complaint video cards (e.g. ATI HD2000, HD3000, HD4000 and NVIDIA 8000 and 9000 video cards), I suggest looking for mkv rips which are encoded in Profile High @ Level 4.1 dxva compliant.  AFAIK, the video card will share in the processing to ensure smooth video playback.  I know EuReKa group encodes 1080p in L4.1 dxva compliant.

I have 8600GTS, HD3870 and HD4850.  Wala talagang epek ang CoreAVC dun sa problematic 1080ps so I felt totally ripped by CoreAVC.     　Tried configuring various software players to use that as external decoder.  It was recognized as working properly pero I couldn't see the effect.  Baka naman peke yung CoreAVC ko ne.   

So even though I have preference for 1080p sana because my displays can show marked improvements over 720p (720ps are comparatively soft ne - quite gentle on the eyes though especially for marathon viewing), I've become selective.  Dati kase kuha lang ng kuha whatever becomes available basta within 8.5GB to 15GB range per title.  Biggest disappointment ko is the 50GB Band of Brothers.  Got that and seeded 10x over for many hours, yun pala hindi ko rin mapanood ng maayos so sayang ang oras and energy spent.  Di ko naman maatim i-delete because I thought I might find a better player someday.  Now, I always check first for Level 4.1 dxva compliant encode.  Dumudugo yung PC kapag nag-play ng Level 5.1 or any kind of exotic encode.   The only time Ive been able to detect significant improvement in handling high def is when I play original HD DVD disks.  Yes, Eureka encodes are quite reliable indeed ne. 

You got the same handle in the Romanian site right?  Question Bro, if a stranger asks for invite, is it safe/advisable to give?

BTW, Iron Man 1080p in DTS is available na no.  Meron kayang difference dun sa first one with AC3 sound stream?

[Clondalkin]

sir, I am just a PM away if you need any help regarding your booking. Just let me know.
Oh sige, wala ng banner, magandang babae na lang to assist you, at ako ang bodyguard.   

Bro Frootloops.  Serious Xmas Xchange gift offer.  A confirmed seat either on Jan 3, 4 (Manila-Tokyo) for a 500GB internal hard drive (kung gusto mo ng totally blank ok lang).

And kung maganda talaga yung babae, could you kindly leave us two alone?     

[jackryan]

Bro, so far I've done Band of Brothers 1080p and I am a happy camper on the NMT 
Is there a particular scene you want me to zero-in on ?

National Treasures 2 was also fantastic on the NMT / Egreat 31B !

Cheers,
-JackRyan

Let's take the 1080p challenge.

Please watch the following 1080p titles using your NMTs and share your experience.  These titles can turn my C2D PC to a zombie.

1.  3:10 Yuma
2.  Chain Reactions
3.  Elizabeth The Golden Age
4.  Total Recall
5.  The Other Boleyn Girl
6.  Band of Brothers
7.  Breach (BTW, C2D managed to play this but the audio and video are out of synch.   If its any consolation, 780G chipset based PC of my friend is NO GO)

If you dont any of the above, I can let you have them during my next vacation to test your NMTs.

Meron talagang maayos na encodes (or magaling na encoders - those whose MEGUI does not crash during the conversion to mkv), or tolerable yung frequency ng stutters and/or out-of-synch.  Sana ganon lahat.

Mga OK na 1080ps I've watch so far (well Ok for my C2D but not ok for my Pentium D).   Still not perfect for some but tolerable enough to completely watch.

Ironman
Vantage Point
Michael Clayton
Anger Management
John Mayer LA Concert
Batman Begins
Shinobi
Anger Management
Basic Instinct
Street Kings
Mummy 1
Mummy 2
Million Dollar Baby
Xmen 3
The Usual Suspects
Spiderwick Chronicles
The Ruins
The Island
The Bank Job
Star Wars 1 - 6
Sin City
Reign Over Me
Ratatouille
Rambo 1-4
National Treasures 1
National Treasures 2
Matrix 1 - 3
LOTR 1 - 3
Indy Jones 1 - 3
Ice Age 2
Hitch
Heroes Season 2
Gangs Of New York
Fool's Gold
Fantastic 4
Elizabeth
Drillbit Taylor
Catch and Release
Brave One
Blood Diamond
Black Hawk Down
Behind Enemy Lines
Batle Of The Bulge
A Mighty Heart
88 Minutes
50 First Dates
2001 Space Odyssey
12 Monkeys

Again, some  are not as perfect as 720ps in terms of playback but acceptable imperfections.

[Clondalkin]

Bro, so far I've done Band of Brothers 1080p and I am a happy camper on the NMT 
Is there a particular scene you want me to zero-in on ?
National Treasures 2 was also fantastic on the NMT / Egreat 31B !
Cheers,
-JackRyan

Holy crap!  So my C2D HTPC is a crap compared to an NMT!  My PC gets a lot of AV out of synch in BOB 1080p sa simula palang while the 101st Airborne were waiting for "go signal" to start the invasion.

Mga kababayan, NMT is the best!!! (Frootloops Bro, you might want to consider this.  A 1080p encode will blow you away on your 42 inch plasma).

Bro, both the Popcorn and the Egreat are able to do that?    What about your new PC?  Thanks Bro!

 

[jackryan]

Holy crap!  So my C2D HTPC is a crap compared to an NMT!  My PC gets a lot of AV out of synch in BOB 1080p sa simula palang while the 101st Airborne were waiting for "go signal" to start the invasion.

Mga kababayan, NMT is the best!!!

Hold your horses... the only thing I've noticed is that in some mkv files the subtitles are not in sync though... :-)

so far my kids are making the best out of the NMT... i have to take out the interesting titles that you and I cherish much hahaha... the 2TB I got from you are really sulit !!! 

can't wait for the next drop... 

[jackryan]

Bro, both the Popcorn and the Egreat are able to do that?    What about your new PC?  Thanks Bro!

Popcorn A100 is a goner... it's no longer with me. I've shifted to the EGreat 31B and Novatron NMT's.

As for the Acer X3200, it's still in the box. I have to find a good time to make it "appear" without the wifey making a big deal about another gadget "kalat"... 

[Clondalkin]

Hold your horses... the only thing I've noticed is that in some mkv files the subtitles are not in sync though... :-)

so far my kids are making the best out of the NMT... i have to take out the interesting titles that you and I cherish much hahaha... the 2TB I got from you are really sulit !!! 

Oh if there's one thing the HTPC is consistently good at is that the subtitles would almost always sync with the audio even though the audio is out of sync with the video      And with an HTPC, it is quite convenient to re-sync the subs and the audio on the fly with a little bit of mental arithmetic.

Maybe Im really getting old but those titles that I used to cherish so much...they all taste the same. Parang 7-pairs of underwear na pareho-pareho lang ang feel kahit anong isuot, basta nakasuot.   So whether it be Teagan or Tara or Jesse Jane or the scary looking ones, parang generic     But I keep on getting them though.   

[milken]

I have 8600GTS, HD3870 and HD4850.  Wala talagang epek ang CoreAVC dun sa problematic 1080ps so I felt totally ripped by CoreAVC.     　Tried configuring various software players to use that as external decoder.  It was recognized as working properly pero I couldn't see the effect.  Baka naman peke yung CoreAVC ko ne.   

So even though I have preference for 1080p sana because my displays can show marked improvements over 720p (720ps are comparatively soft ne - quite gentle on the eyes though especially for marathon viewing), I've become selective.  Dati kase kuha lang ng kuha whatever becomes available basta within 8.5GB to 15GB range per title.  Biggest disappointment ko is the 50GB Band of Brothers.  Got that and seeded 10x over for many hours, yun pala hindi ko rin mapanood ng maayos so sayang ang oras and energy spent.  Di ko naman maatim i-delete because I thought I might find a better player someday.  Now, I always check first for Level 4.1 dxva compliant encode.  Dumudugo yung PC kapag nag-play ng Level 5.1 or any kind of exotic encode.   The only time Ive been able to detect significant improvement in handling high def is when I play original HD DVD disks.  Yes, Eureka encodes are quite reliable indeed ne. 

You got the same handle in the Romanian site right?  Question Bro, if a stranger asks for invite, is it safe/advisable to give?

BTW, Iron Man 1080p in DTS is available na no.  Meron kayang difference dun sa first one with AC3 sound stream?

Hmmm...wait a minute, are you sure you've configured your video codec correctly?  Installing coreavc doesn't automatically make your player use it.  You can check if coreavc is the one being used in media player classic by clicking the "Play" tab then "filter", you must see coveavc instead of the default "ffdshow video decoder" (or cyberlinks in case you've installed powerdvd).  To change it, click "ffdshow" then disable "libavcodec" decoder in "H264.avc" format.  You can now see "coreavc" in the filter tab instead of "ffdshow".  If the playback still stutters, maybe there's something wrong with the source. The latest CoreAVC is 1.800 I think.

Giving out invites to strangers is not really advisable since you might get banned should your invitee cheat using software that increase upload amount or seriously violate the trackers rules.  So I'll be very careful if I like the site very much.  But I do give invites to strangers to non-critical sites, those I don't mind getting banned. 

[milken]

I tried fiddling my egreat and I notice that you can turn on or off the subtitle, change its location, increase the font size, change color and even change the timing of the subtitle so that it will be in sync with the video. I haven't tried it though.

As to syncing audio to video, it's really a pain in the ass.  I have files that are really out of sync (e.g. Ratatouille Septic encode).  In that case, either find a "fix file" which the encoder group would later release or resync it yourself using mkvmerge and tinker with the timing of the audio to sync with the video.  Hassle masyado. 

[penguin230]

I tried fiddling my egreat and I notice that you change the timing of the subtitle so that it will be in sync with the video. I haven't tried it though.

tried this with out of sync subs with my egreat m31a, you can adjust the subtitles up to 0.5 second increments, plus or minus

[frootloops]

Bro Frootloops.  Serious Xmas Xchange gift offer.  A confirmed seat either on Jan 3, 4 (Manila-Tokyo) for a 500GB internal hard drive (kung gusto mo ng totally blank ok lang).

And kung maganda talaga yung babae, could you kindly leave us two alone?    

How about your Tokyo-Manila? Kindly email me (donnel111@yahoo) your info so we can discuss further. Yup, those dates you mentioned is heavy so let's better do it early.

And regarding sa babae, no problem at all, basta isoli mo lang ng buo. 

Mga kababayan, NMT is the best!!! (Frootloops Bro, you might want to consider this.  A 1080p encode will blow you away on your 42 inch plasma).

Yes, the NMT will still be on my wishlist. Anyway, Xmas is just around the corner, have to be good from now on, request ko kay Santa yan. 

Btw, wala pa ba NMT dyan sa Japan? or bawal. I can imagine how easy to DL at your end, when I was at my friends house at Narita, I saw his unbelievable connection speed, parang naawa ako sa 999 plan ko sa PLDT. And when I say unbelievable, meron palang ganun talaga kabilis na connection. 

[streetsmart]

I tried fiddling my egreat and I notice that you can turn on or off the subtitle, change its location, increase the font size, change color and even change the timing of the subtitle so that it will be in sync with the video. I haven't tried it though.

As to syncing audio to video, it's really a pain in the ass.  I have files that are really out of sync (e.g. Ratatouille Septic encode).  In that case, either find a "fix file" which the encoder group would later release or resync it yourself using mkvmerge and tinker with the timing of the audio to sync with the video.  Hassle masyado. 

I didn't know you could manipulate the subtitles that way with egreat. Gotta try it.

With regard to audio-video sync, on many newer AVR's, there is an audio delay function. That should solve the problem -if you use an NMT connected to an AVR-, unless the audio delay is not consistent.

[stickfighter]

brader stickfighter sama ka sa group buy ?

Brader sanmig, sorry sa late reply. My brother came home from the US and had to spend time with him. Now nalang ako naka log-in! Anyway, still have to go to Ehome to audition the Egreat. Di pa ako naka pag-decide!

[Marl☆1]

Brader sanmig, sorry sa late reply. My brother came home from the US and had to spend time with him. Now nalang ako naka log-in! Anyway, still have to go to Ehome to audition the Egreat. Di pa ako naka pag-decide!

Tira na bro!!! Highly recommended. So far the rips I've seen really rival or surpass the output generated by my BD and HDDVD players.  May ilang problematic title pero madali lang naman palitan - very low barrier to entry in this new territory! 

[stickfighter]

Tira na bro!!! Highly recommended. So far the rips I've seen really rival or surpass the output generated by my BD and HDDVD players.  May ilang problematic title pero madali lang naman palitan - very low barrier to entry in this new territory! 

Good evening Sir Marl! So, in your opinion, between BD and Egreat, the later is the better choice, in terms of PQ?

[dyerds]

Good evening Sir Marl! So, in your opinion, between BD and Egreat, the later is the better choice, in terms of PQ?

You know what I noticed after the shoot-out? Parang andaming lumabas na followers ng hd rips. Does the hd rips really exceeded the expectations of many people who where there?

How ironic that htpc lost in votes in this thread but the OP decided to build one.  Sir froot baka kapag nagkaroon na kayo ng htpc magdalawang isip na kayo bumili ng Egreat. 

[stickfighter]

You know what I noticed after the shoot-out? Parang andaming lumabas na followers ng hd rips. Does the hd rips really exceed the expectations of many people who where there?

How ironic that htpc lost in votes in this thread but the OP decided to build one.  Sir froot baka kapag nagkaroon na kayo ng htpc magdalawang isip na kayo bumili ng Egreat. 

I guess the only down side with the Egreat vs the BD is the audio output. Can the Egreat output 5.1 Dolby or DTS Surround Sound?