Anyone use this HDMI out motherboard?

[fishpick]

I am gathering parts and pieces for a PVR and like this motherboard - http://www.abit-usa.com/modt/il-90mv.htm - since it has HDMI out for video right to the plasma tv...

I know ABit is a good mobo company - but I don't know how Snapstram software runs on a Viiv compliant PC.

Question is - has anyone put Beyond TV on this setup and how's it working for ya?

Thoughts and feelings welcome.

[ClamsTheCat]

Nope, but it is not as much a SnapStream issue as an issue between the onboard video and your TV. Since TVs do not auto adjust like monitors, you have to manually adjust the overscaning and underscanning in your drivers. I am not sure if the video on board is intel intigrated video how easy tht would be. ATI and NVidia cars make it simple to adjust.

I have a DVI->HDMI converter going from my PC into one of the HDMI ports on my TV. After adjusting the overscanning, it works great with BTV.

So to make a long story short, it has little to do with SnapStream and more to do with the video chipset that is intigrated on the board. I think you will generally want to go with a video card (non-intigrated) for performance reasons anyways.

[fishpick]

My thinking has always been non-integrated video for the same reason... but - the questions around that are:
1 - does it matter for a dedicated system?
2 - does a DVI to HDMI cable "loose" resolution or have noticeable signal degradation compared to HDMI - or is HDMI really just DVI + audio?
3 - does the VIIV moniker on a PC mean diddly when it comes to BeyondTV systems?

[jennyfur]

If you're gathering parts and pieces yourself, then why are you asking about Viiv systems? It sounds like you'd be building your own machine, and that won't be Viiv since they are prebuilt OEMs. The closest you could come is just having a machine with specs that match Viiv hardware requirements. But either way, it wouldn't effect the software you put on it.

As for that particular Abit motherboard, personally I'd wait until nVidia or ATI have a built-in video solution with HDMI before I'd go with Intel based graphics like that Abit board.

This thread over at AVS may be helpful:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=707292

[fishpick]

I guess it's not so much about the need for HDMI as it's convenient to have it all bundled together and ready to go - and the fact the whole rig would be Viiv compliant - so for future HTPC things - I'd be set.
The main function of the BeyondTV thing will be OTA HD recordings at 1080 - for playback... so I want to make sure whatever gets put together - it can handle that as the focus.
One concern I have is the SATA on that board is only 1.5GB/s not the newer 3.0GB/sec...

What should I be looking at for a system that will be doing 2 HD streams recording (DVICO USB's) - and perhaps playing back a 3rd HD stream to the plasma?

[jennyfur]

Originally Posted by fishpick

I guess it's not so much about the need for HDMI as it's convenient to have it all bundled together and ready to go - and the fact the whole rig would be Viiv compliant - so for future HTPC things - I'd be set.

I'm still talking about having it all bundled together when I say wait for an ATI or nVidia solution. You can be sure that one of them will make an on-board video solution that fits your needs, the question is just how soon. And it will definitely be better than anything Intel has graphics wise. nVidia and ATI already have plenty of onboard graphics solutions (such as the GeForce 6150), they just don't have an HDMI one yet. Considering all newer nVidia cards are HDCP compliant, and the 8800 series is already HDMI capable, it's only a matter of time in my opinion. I haven't been keeping up with ATI's stuff as much lately, but I'm sure they're just as close. And when they make an HDMI solution, they're going to know that its main focus and use will be for media PCs, so it would have to be able to handle typical HD resolutions and such easily.

But if you don't want to wait until then, I'd say you're going to need a standalone video card to do the job best. And for all that HD you're also probably going to want a dual core CPU.

[ClamsTheCat]

Originally Posted by fishpick

My thinking has always been non-integrated video for the same reason... but - the questions around that are:
1 - does it matter for a dedicated system?

Y-E-S! Decoding/Deinterlacing MPEG2 is (or can be) done with he video hardware. In the case of NVidia or ATI, many of these functions are handled on the video card. So when you ask if it matters, I would say absolutely. Not just for gaming, but even for HD video.

Originally Posted by fishpick

2 - does a DVI to HDMI cable "loose" resolution or have noticeable signal degradation compared to HDMI - or is HDMI really just DVI + audio?

HDMI is DVI-D (digital) plus 7.1 digital audio all on the same cable. I don't put audio into my cable via a splitter becaue I just put my audio out into my reciever via an optical cable. The whole problem for me when it comes to HDMI is that no person who has high end equipment would want to put 7.1 audio staight into a television with 2 speakers.

Originally Posted by fishpick

3 - does the VIIV moniker on a PC mean diddly when it comes to BeyondTV systems?

Yes, it means diddly. They just use it as another little marketing tool to get your money. Another thing to keep in mind here is that if i recall the web page said that the onboard video only goes up to 1600x1200 which does you no good! If it ca't even do 1920x1080 (1080i or 1080p) then it defeats the purpose of HDMI in the first place.

At this time HDMI has a ways to go for full support fom anyone. on both audio AND video. When they get recievers that can take in the aud/vid signals and then send just the video out to the TV via HDMI, it is a little pointless. Unless you are ok with 2 channel audio.

[jennyfur]

Originally Posted by ClamsTheCat

When they get recievers that can take in the aud/vid signals and then send just the video out to the TV via HDMI, it is a little pointless.

Huh? From my experience, this is already the case. When the receiver my ex and I bought about a year ago recently broke, circuit city gave store credit because they couldn't fix it and no longer sold that model. My ex got a new receiver with HDMI since there was an HDMI connection on the DirecTV box. So now there's an HDMI cable from the box, to the receiver, to the TV. And when you choose that channel on the receiver, you get the surround sound as expected. Not 2 channel audio from the TV. If you were only going to get 2 channel audio out of it, it would completely defeat the purpose of having HDMI in your receiver to begin with (which comes at a cost premium as it is).

[ClamsTheCat]

Originally Posted by jennyfur

Huh? From my experience, this is already the case. When the receiver my ex and I bought about a year ago recently broke, circuit city gave store credit because they couldn't fix it and no longer sold that model. My ex got a new receiver with HDMI since there was an HDMI connection on the DirecTV box. So now there's an HDMI cable from the box, to the receiver, to the TV. And when you choose that channel on the receiver, you get the surround sound as expected. Not 2 channel audio from the TV. If you were only going to get 2 channel audio out of it, it would completely defeat the purpose of having HDMI in your receiver to begin with (which comes at a cost premium as it is).

I didn't know they had them yet! I got mine a few years ago and they didn't exist yet. Mine just has opticals. I use and optical from the PC to my reciever, and the video from my DVI to the HDMI on my new TV.

Then again, I guess we are assuming he has a reciever with HDMI in/out

[sgriffin]

Do you already have the plasma TV? A new LCD, like the Sony 40V2500 has two HDMI inputs and an optical output, so you run the HDMI connection (with sound) to the TV, and then the Sony feeds the optical audio to your receiver. You do the switching in the TV, not the receiver, and you should get the full digital sound.

[jennyfur]

Well that's pretty interesting. They definitely didn't have a feature like that a year ago when I bought my DLP. It will be interesting to see which way becomes the preferred way of doing things once HDMI becomes so popular that it's the norm.

[mikem]

Asus have a 7600GT card with an HDMI interface on it. I intend to get one and link the sound out from my X-Mystique DTS card into the TV, via HDMI.

Whilst not passive cooling I figure I can get an aftermarket cooler that will be much quieter.

I looked at the motherboard and was concerned that the graphics not upto the job of doing HiDef output.

[zergling]

mikem,
I see you are using Asus A8N/CSM.
Are you having any video issues?

Mine just won't do Hardware Deinterlace.
I Returned the first, thinking it is faulty. But the 2nd is the same.
GIG-e network is not working either... I not a happy camper while using the nforce 430.

-zerg

[Cornbuds]

I don't see HDCP support anywhere on Abit's site. HDMI without HDCP isn't worth two beans. Also note that board is using HDMI 1.2, not 1.3 - you won't be able to pass Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD (uncompressed HD audio) over 1.2.

[mikem]

Originally Posted by zergling

mikem,
I see you are using Asus A8N/CSM.
Are you having any video issues?

Mine just won't do Hardware Deinterlace.
I Returned the first, thinking it is faulty. But the 2nd is the same.
GIG-e network is not working either... I not a happy camper while using the nforce 430.

-zerg

I'm not but then I am not using Snapstream with it. I have it with MCE2005 fully patched and latest drivers, and nvidia purevideo, works great.