Must be great to have the TV nearby, the cable is a “little bit” cheaper after all.

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^^

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

@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.

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

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.

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.