Does upconverting exist on an HTPC?

[morgwon]

I am getting ready to build a conroe based htpc and am wondering what I would need to achieve the same thing as upconverting standalon DVD players. Have lots of DVDs plus Blockbuster Total Access membership and need to put this Samsung DLP to good use in between Sundays (football is the reason HD was created). Anyone have any ideas?

[silent bob]

GO BEARS!!!!!
Its looking like you need to find a vid card that supports HDCP now this was taken from teh BluRay dvd players site

For High Definition BD Playback & Authoring: (Only Windows XP SP2) Pentium D 3.4GHz or faster CUP and 1GB or higher RAM are required. GPU : nVidia GeForce 6600GT / 7600GT / 7800GTX512 / 7900GX2 / 7900GTX / 7950GX2 and ATI X1600 / X1800 / X1900 series are recommended. >60GB HDD available capacity.
HDCP capable graphics card with 256MB RAM, PCI Express x16, 1920x1200 resolution, 32bit color. HDCP capable Monitor or TV for High Definition digital output.

but that was for teh lite-on dvd burner . I too want to get this sucker built and I want it to be outstanding quality but I dont know if I can convince the mrs of 600bux on a dvd player for my computer

this is a search I did at teh egg on HDCP vid cards http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?N=2010380048&Submit=ENE&Subcategory=48&Description=HDCP&Ntk=all

but I noticed only 3 cards have the HDMI plug ins and tehy all seem to be the 1600's

[nd4spdbh2]

if you are running an nvidia card i would HIGLY recommend gettin nvidias purevideo platnium and play dvd's through windows media player... it is BY FAR the best picture i have ever gotten off my htpc...

Im using a 6600gt AGP with dvi to hdmi @ 1080i ... and with purevideo the picture was three times as good as using windvd... and the picture is 10x better than a standalone dvd player... it is expensive but there are ways around that :D (pm me for "help")

http://www.nvidia.com/object/dvd_decoder.html


As for HDMI off the video card... its easy just grab a dvi to hdmi converter and your stylin...

[LandShark]

yes, a PC can something upconvert a DVD or any video even better than the standalone player!! you can use FFDShows to resize (upconvert) the picture and tweak the picture quality (sharpen, deinterlace, etc.). but do keep it mind that you'll need a decent (dual core class) CPU to do that on DVDs w/out drop frame. just imagine you are using photoshop to resize a 720x480 picture to 1280x720, but needs to do it 30 times a sec!! also, remember that IF the bit rate of the video source (aka downloaded videos, etc.) isn't high/good enough, no matter what you do, you just can't get good upconvert result and most of the time, it will get worst picture quality!! 'cos you can magically create something that's no there the first place.

as for the purevideo decoder, IF you are using optical pass thur to output the audio singal to your stereo receiver, then just get the brozne one is good enough!! the only different in all the version is audio decoding. but if you use optical pass thru, mean the PC isn't doing anything regarding the audio, just passing it straight through to the stereo receiver and let the receiver do the decoding, then no need to spend extra $$ to get something that you'll never use!!

[nd4spdbh2]

yes, a PC can something upconvert a DVD or any video even better than the standalone player!! you can use FFDShows to resize (upconvert) the picture and tweak the picture quality (sharpen, deinterlace, etc.). but do keep it mind that you'll need a decent (dual core class) CPU to do that on DVDs w/out drop frame. just imagine you are using photoshop to resize a 720x480 picture to 1280x720, but needs to do it 30 times a sec!! also, remember that IF the bit rate of the video source (aka downloaded videos, etc.) isn't high/good enough, no matter what you do, you just can't get good upconvert result and most of the time, it will get worst picture quality!! 'cos you can magically create something that's no there the first place.

as for the purevideo decoder, IF you are using optical pass thur to output the audio singal to your stereo receiver, then just get the brozne one is good enough!! the only different in all the version is audio decoding. but if you use optical pass thru, mean the PC isn't doing anything regarding the audio, just passing it straight through to the stereo receiver and let the receiver do the decoding, then no need to spend extra $$ to get something that you'll never use!!

Ahhh ok well i got the platnium one for free, with my graphics card :-/ .... right :p