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HTPC

Software

System

The typical HTPC is practically a specialized for Audio-Video media Personal Computer and has to run some Operating System. At the present time as of creation of this page, the best suitable Operation System is MS Windows 7 x64 or x86. Don't even try to use Windows Vista, if you don't want any troubles with your system. Windows XP doesn't have many modern drivers to support installed newer devices.

On a top of Operating System has to be user friendly control media program to manage all media stored on Hard Drives and Streaming from Internet or Local Home Network. Most popular and wide available is Microsoft Windows Media Center. This is good and easy to use on main big screen TV. For more "hardware based" control of HTPC equipped with touch screen to control, the special software like iMON/iMEDIAN HD by Soundgraph has to be used. This software coming for free with Moneual HTPC Case with LCD touch screen.

Windows Media Center is not supporting many popular video formats like Matroska (.mkv) or audio formats like FLAC/OGG, etc. To be able to play these formats we have to hack the WMC and install missing CODEC's, multimedia drivers properly decoding source media formats. The best source of upgrades of Windows Media Center is a site Hacking Windows 7 Media Center . You can find there many useful solutions for missing CODEC or unsupported file to play problems. The most compact and free CODEC package you can get from Shark007 .

Choosing HD video/audio player

Windows Media Center and iMON/IMEDIAN HD can play High Definition formats pretty good relaying on installed CODEC's. But to be able to play Bluray Discs with highest possible quality we need Cyberlink PowerDVD . This software allows to upscale regular DVD's to almost HD clarity and create 3D picture format from regular Bluray HD movie.

"PowerDVD 11 brings a cinema movie experience to your PC with amazing Blu-ray and DVD playback. Experience the smoothest movie playback with PowerDVD's optimization for leading CPU/GPU technologies including 2nd generation Intel Core processors, AMD and NVIDIA. Leveraging the full power of your graphics hardware results in superb playback quality and reduced loading on your PC’s own system resources."

Another "must have" player is Media Player Classic, simple but very powerful software allowing to watch almost any video format with highest quality and the best of all, it is free.

For music formats like mp3, FLAC, ape, and others Winamp is recommended.

Disc Readers and Recorders

For all kind copy protected discs is very useful have a software enable to play on not only on HTPC compatible devices and copy discs content (for your own use -of course) for your backup copy used in "disc risky" environment like car or travel. There is mentioned before AnyDVD HD by Slysoft . The basic functions of that driver are:

"Features Blu-Ray

  • Same features as regular AnyDVD
  • Removes encryption (AACS) from Blu-ray media.
  • Removes BD+ copy protection from Blu-ray media.
  • Removes region codes from Blu-ray media.
  • Watch movies over digital display connection, without HDCP-compliant graphics card and without HDCP-compliant display.
  • The "must have" utility for the serious home theater enthusiast using a media center / home theater PC.
  • Provides its own Universal Disk Format (UDF) reader, no need to install 3rd party filesystem. Discs which cannot be read by Windows can be copied using the AnyDVD ripper.
  • Playback of discs on the PC with PowerDVD Ultra which otherwise do not run.
  • The "must have" utility for the serious home theater enthusiast using a media center / home theater PC."

If you need to make a DVD or CD exact disc copy, you need disc image burner like ImgBurn . This is very powerful software allowing to copy any disc image and burn your own copy of that disc. It is free to use, but if you like it, you can donate a money for its creator.

The another very useful disc utility software is UltraISO or DAEMON Tools and DVDFab .

 

Recording and Playback

Total Media Extreme by Arcsoft is a version of Total Media Theatre made for PVR allows a recording in HD AVCHD format on Hard Disc, edit and transfer that to DVD or Bluray Disc.

 

 

 

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