CoreAVC discount and HTPC v1.0
Are you eyes hurting when you have to watch low definition crap too?
At least mine are and as I’m watching HD stuff since many moons ago, I guess I’ve tried every codec pack out there.
A little bit over one year ago I found the best one: CoreAVC
Until January 17, 2010 you can get the new released version 2.0 with complete Windows 7 support and 64bit codec for $12.95 / €7,04.
Just head over to their page and enter “CES” (without apostrophes) into the discount field.
I’m actually wondering why I didn’t mention CoreAVC anywhere on my blog yet. Since back then
So what’s so great about CoreAVC?
Well, it’s the fastest software based codec to decode H.264/MPEG-4 AVC content.
But the really important and cool feature is that it supports Nvidias CUDA. (The geeks among you can stop reading here I guess.)
Why should you use you CPU to decode HD material when your GPU is way more suited for it? A cheap Geforce 8/9 pawns a 1000€ CPU with such tasks after all.
If you have chosen wisely and got an Nvidia card from Geforce series 8 upwards your CPU can rest while you are watching 1080p stuff. Cool eh?
So why are you still messing around with CCCP and such? Get CoreAVC!
Some facts about the codec below:
- Supports Windows 7
- 32/64 bit Support
- NVIDIA CUDA GPU support
- Supports up to 16 CPU Cores
- QuadHD Resolution Support <– holy sh.. rori!
- Full Interlaced support
- Uses Directshow for MKV
- Includes the Haali Media Splitter
After installing the codec it would work out of the box with Windows Media Player for example. But who would use that?
Instead you are most probably using Media Player Classic Home Cinema right? If not get it here.
Inside Media Player Classic go to Options>External Filters. Click on “Add Filter” and navigate to the install directory of the codec.
Usually you should find it in C:\Program Files (x86)\CoreCodec\CoreAVC Professional Edition.
Be sure to check “Prefer” on the right side of the options dialog.
Now it should decode your HD stuffs and you should see a green ball in your system tray whenever CoreAVC is in use. (Blue if you don’t have a Nvidia graphics card or CUDA not enabled.)
You can also enable AVI and TS support and tweak a couple of things in the CoreAVC settings of course.
Try to watch some 1080p material, fire up your task manager and take a look at the CPU graph. Should be pretty flat and at the bottom now. Hehe \o/
As we all (besides Guy) agree that GPU accelerated animu is better (and as I still can’t watch 1080p animu on the “living room TV” cause the settop box won’t allow it) it’s time to get a HTPC.
I could just get an ASUS Eee box or the ACER 3610 REVO.
Or I could just put some random system together, slam it into a small case and I’d be ready to go, drain much energy and generate some heat.
Maybe even get an overpriced Apple mini without an HDMI port and without a BluRay drive for 800€?
Unfortunately I don’t have that much money to burn. So why shouldn’t I just get the cheapest solution?
An ITX motherboard with Nvidia IGP sounds good to start of, don’t you think?
So for now I guess I will use this one: the ZOTAC ION ITX-A-E:
- Intel Atom N330 (dual-core) (1.6 GHz) with HT, 8W TDP
- up to 4GB DDR2 6400
- GeForce 9400 IGP, DX10, max. 512MB shared memory, CUDA capable
- Wifi 802.11b/g/n
- 90W power supply
- external: 1x VGA, 1x DVI, 1x HDMI, 6x USB 2.0, 1x Gb LAN, 1x eSATA, 5.1 Audio, 1x PS/2
- internal: 4x USB 2.0, 3x SATA II RAID 0/1/0+1, 1x PCIe Mini Card
Pretty sweet, huh? The Dual Core Atom CPU isn’t a powerful processor, but it hasn’t to be one. The video decoding is done by the popular Geforce 9400, the same chip you will find in Mac minis or MacBooks for example. (To bad they don’t support CUDA there, eh? ^_^ )
If you would like to build a more powerful system you can get ION boards with socket 775 but that’s not really necessary for a HTPC in my opinion.
The rest of the system should contain of the following components:
- Kingston HyperX DIMM Kit 2GB PC2-6400U (don’t need more for that purpose)
- Lian Li PC-Q07B, Mini-ITX, aluminium black (there are cheaper ones but this one is top notch, with anti vibration drive bay and what not)
- LiteOn iHOS104, SATA Blueray drive
- Western Digital Caviar Green 750GB, 32MB Cache, 5400rpm-7200rpm (WD7500AADS)
Total cost: €335€ / $485. Not that bad. The whole system should only use around 60W while playing 1080p content.
What do you guys think? Feel free to share your thought below. Let me know if you are able to come up with a better solution.
For those wondering what’s going on with my second Samsung monitor: Still at the repair center, they are waiting for some spare parts from Korea…
As we discussed today, I think you still need to get some sort of software to decode BDs. Most drives come with PowerDVD (which I’m not a huge fan of). MPC will play BDs images if ripped to the HD, or straight from the disk if you have something like AnyDVDHD installed to take care of the copy protection. Like with all software, every so often it’ll be out of date and a new release movie may not play (a problem that happens with BD, unfortunately).
One of the better commercial solutions for BD playback is still ArcSoft Total Media Theatre 3, and I really like the integration with Windows Media Center. I use WMC exclusively for content playback on both of my MPCs, either through Media Browser (which is great for browsing DVD and TV content) or the plain WMC interface. The only downside with Media Browser is that a lot of the data is grabbed from thetvdb and themoviedb, which doesn’t always contain metadata for our animu…
As for the power concerns of an Ion based solution vs a standard PC, it’ll take you a little while to recoup the difference between that and a standard PC. My media PCs are drawing almost no power most of the time since they’re asleep. So assume same usage on a 60w vs. 120w (full load). At 2hrs a day for 365 days, you’re using 66kwh. Now, take into account for the cost of electricity (not sure how much it is for you). On my last bill, I paid about $0.10/kwh. So, over the course of the year, the lower powered solution would have saved me $6.30. Considering the difference in price for the machine, it’d take a whole lot more time to make up the cost difference.
Heat, on the other hand, is a different story. If you’re putting it in an ultra small case, power is definitely a concern. If it’s going to sit in a place that has good ventilation, then not as much.
You mentioned me the wrong way
If you’re building a home office media box, and trying to do it on a budget, or if all you care for is watching TV and movies on your computer, sure, get the CoreAVC Decoder (I also didn’t know it was this cheap, I figured it was a $200 program like many interesting CUDA ones
), but sometimes, you don’t need it.
Better is not always better, it’s certainly not always necessary. If someone is shot in the head, they’re dead. If someone is shot in the head three times, they’re not three times as dead.
Likewise, if I have a gaming rig, and my CPU is 20 times as strong as it needs be to watch HD, then what do I need a decoder that’d be 100 times as strong as is needed to run what I’m watching?
Simple answer: I don’t. Sure, there’s a geekgasm at the capabilities, but it’s not like my computer has any issues with running whatever it is I’m putting into it right now (QuadCore 2.4), and by the time it does, I’ll probably have Core i7, or something
But if your goal is not to play video games, or just to do it the cheapest you can, then sure, go for this. It is also cheaper, yes.
Guy´s last blog ..Figure Friday Feedback Edition.
Ich machs einfacher – ich kauf ne Blu-Ray, schiebe sie in den Player und gut ist. Fast wie Pizza backen. Dann interessiert mich auch kein High-Tech Ofen oder was auch immer.
Well if you’re looking for an HTPC solution based on the Ion platform and want to combine it with CoreAVC to get the GPU doing all the work then this is an ideal solution indeed.
But I said ‘if’ because as all things computer and geek go, not everyone has the same set of goals what they want their system to do nor do they have the same ideas or preferences.
Currently I’m satisfied with using CCCP to play media on both my rigs as neither has an Nvidia GPU and both also have other functions than playing media.
Next to Ion the new integrated video solution of Intel’s new Core i5/i3 Clarkdale & Arrandale is looking mighty interesting for HTPC use too.
Smithy´s last blog ..Omamori Himari
@Asian Ed
Well I’ll take a look at PowerDVD as it supports CUDA too, let’s see how it performs. Might look into ArcSofts Media Center too, thx for the hint.
As for the price. I tried to put together a µATX system with the cheapest components I could find but it would cost not much less.
And yah, I’m only concerned about energy consumption because of the heat. And with a cheap µATX system I would need some fans for sure. And if I want it to be noiseless/quite those would cost some money too.
@Guy
Yah, sry. You will be mentioned otherwise in an upcoming post. ^^;
And yes, you don’t need it with modern dual/quad/six-core CPUs. I have to admit that I would like to see a power/heat comparison between a Core i7 system decoding 1080p stuff with on the GPU and on the CPU. Would be interesting IMO.
@Melonpan
Ach ja, und wie guckst du auf deinem BluRay player mkvs, zB fansubs? (Angenommen du hättest keinen Laptop?)
Ich will kein one-purpose Teil mit dem ich früher oder später wieder etwas nicht abspielen kann.
@Smithy
Yah, if I would like to do some heavy gaming or other CPU intensive stuff on it I would prefer a 6 core i7 CPU too. As it isn’t my main system it can be just standard. Some surfing or Office work would work too, flash streams in HD too as Flashplayer 10.1 beta uses CUDA too.
Hm, all of my rigs have, or should have a Nvidia GPU. Yah, AMD has the first Dx11 GPu, it’s more power efficient and what not. It’s hard to be not tempted by the Radeon 5970 But where are the AMD GPU computing apps? Where are flawless drivers?
Good point about the new Intel CPUs. But guess they would be too expensive. More interesting for a HTPC are the already available new Pineview Atom CPUs with integrated GMA 3150 (available as mini ITX too, for example from ZOTAC for ~100€). But acording to some reviews the ION pulverises those atm.
I don’t need something like that. With my codec pack everything works fine for years! So why should I change from something free to something expensive?
Maybe it will be nice, if you want watch HD and play High-Res Game at the same time. But… who does that actually?
GREW´s last blog ..Those free days are over
The CoreAVC is nice for people with PCs/Notebooks/Netbooks wich are older or not very powerfull, like Netbooks. My PC also isn some years old and not really fast… For such people is the CoreAVC a good opinionen, it is also without the CUDA support faster than ffdshow.
Cause I have no Nvidia card, I can´t use the CPU acceleration. (Don´t plan to buy a Nvidia card
) But I had buy the new CoreAVC also, 10$ isn´t much and the deinterlacing in win 7 function now.
Like Guy said. With a up to date dual/quad core, the graphic card acceleration is more a question when you want to save money with lower electricity consumption. (Ok, depending on the CPU and GPU(s) you are using.
A HTPC is something nice to have, had the Idea also sometimes, ITX really doesn’t need much place but at the moment I don´t need it. A 10m HDMI cable is enough^^
@JimmPantsu
Oh noes, ATI fanboy?^^
And yes it’s not necessary but works fine so why not? Without CoreAVC my CPU runs @ 3GHZ and uses up to 50% of its power while with CUDA it’s around a few percent and clocking itself down. Less power consumption and heat (which is nice for a CPU with 125W TDP using around 165W at 100% workload.)
Must be great to have the TV nearby, the cable is a “little bit” cheaper after all.