Connection Diagram
Home Theater Network
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Home Theater Network
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HOME THEATER PC (HTPC)
Video UpscalingDVDs are encoded in a 480i, standard definition format. When played back on a 1080i or 720p HDTV, the low resolution/frame-rate of DVDs or any standard definition video can cause comments such as “Why is it so blurry?” An HTPC with video upscaling software can sharpen DVD video and help stop the“blurry” comments. Video upscaling takes video and processes it to increase its resolution and frame rate. Hence, upscaling the video. The process of taking 640x480 pixels at 30 frames/second video and converting it to1920x1080 pixels at 30 frames/second video is very hardware and software dependent. How well the software can interpret where each pixel should be as well as how many calculations per second the hardware can handle will determine the upscaled video quality. Today, you’ll find video upscaling being done in DVD players, cable/satellite boxes, HDTVs, receivers, and of course, the HTPC. Codecs, Filters, and Viewing SoftwareIf you are using your HTPC to watch DVDs or any video, you will need the following:
Video CodecsVideo codecs are used to read and decipher information from a video source such as a DVD. The video data on a DVD is compressed with MPEG-2 format. Codecs are used to uncompress the MPEG-2 video or other formats like DivX. Not all codecs are equal! Some decompress video better than others. Some example of codecs used to decipher DVDs are:
PowerDVD and WinDVD use proprietary codecs that come embedded with their viewing software. NVIDIA’s PureVideo decoder is sold separately from their PureVideo video cards, and works with Window’s Media Player as well as TheaterTek. Lastly, Dscaler5 is an open source project that is available for free. Upscaling Filters – ffdshowA free plug-in for your DVD viewing software is available that will arguably upscale and sharpen video better than any $500 DVD player on the market. This plug-in is called ffdshow and it has almost too many options to mention. Some of them are listed below.
All these numerous options makes it difficult to recommend ffdshow settings. You can go to the AVS Forum to access multiple user’s opinions. Remember that your choices will be limited to your HTPC’s CPU processing power, video card processing power, the amount of RAM installed, and other hardware components. If your HTPC can handle it, one general recommendation is to resize your video to 2.0 times the original size, and then run through the other filters such as blur reduction and sharpening. DVD Viewing SoftwareTheaterTek – is designed to be very easy to use and to simulate a standalone DVD player. It comes with the excellent NVIDIA PureVideo codec, which some say is good enough to make the ffdshow filter unnecessary. TheaterTek works with ffdshow, and makes its installation and setup fairly simple. Zoom Player – is designed to the tweeker’s delight. It has tons of options and adjustable settings. The many options also makes it not as user friendly as TheaterTek. Zoom Player does not come with any video codecs, and requires a few more steps to install and setup ffdshow. WinDVD – is one of the most popular DVD viewing software out there, but does not work with ffdshow. InterVideo’s WinDVD uses their own proprietary codecs with the latest version including Trimension technology. Trimension is an upscaling technology used to reduce motion blur. PowerDVD – is another popular DVD viewing software. Cyberlink’s PowerDVD uses its own proprietary codec, and does not work with ffdshow. PowerDVD version 7 and higher is one of the few viewing players that can reliably play Blu-ray movies. Media Player Classic – is the older version of Windows Media Player. It uses codecs installed on your computer by other viewing software. Media Player Classic does allow the installation of ffdshow by going to View > Options > Filters > Overrides > Add Filter. Blu-ray Playback for HTPCMovie studios have made it difficult for the average consumer to play Blu-ray or HD DVDs movies on their computer. Both Blu-ray and HD DVD require HDCP encryption technology in video cards, viewing software, and disk drives. These three requirements forces the early adopters to purchase the latest video cards and software along with purchasing the HD DVD or Blu-ray drives. Luckily, the rumors of a requirement for HDCP equipped monitors are not completely true. Playback to an analog VGA port or a digital DVI port (both don’t include HDCP) will be allowed as long as the video card is HDCP compatible. The analog VGA playback capability will only work till 2010 where it will be phased out. It is also important to note that both HD DVD and Blu-ray contain the technology (called ICT, Image Constraint Token) to allow high definition video to be reduced to standard definition for analog outputs. This would mean that your HDTV would only see 480i or 540p if it is connected via a component or VGA interconnect. With the expected popularity of HDMI (which includes HDCP) to skyrocket, there is hope that regular law-abiding consumers will be able to watch Blu-ray movies without too much hassle. Determined early adopters will be rewarded with 1080p video playback and digital surround sound audio. 
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