Floppyhead – Digital Media and Streaming

AnyDVD HD finally has added the ability to rip a movie directly to an ISO image. Before this latest version of the software, you had to use third party tools to make such an image. Adding a feature like ISO ripping to AnyDVD HD without an extra cost is a smart move by Slysoft and reinforces that AnyDVD HD is a valuable tool to anyone with a media center computer.

Here are the updates made in version AnyDVD HD 6.4.6.2:

* New: Added ISO/UDF image file creation to AnyDVD ripper
* New (Blu-ray & HD DVD): ISO/UDF images can be created with or without copy protection. Images can be mounted with Virtual CloneDrive(tm), available at http://www.slysoft.com
* New (Blu-ray & HD DVD): Improved speed of AnyDVD ripper
* Fix (Blu-ray): Bug in BD+ removal, if more than one title on a disc is protected, e.g. “Prison Break Season 3″, US
* Fix (Blu-ray): Bug in “Remove UOPs” with some titles, e.g. “AVP2″ Region B, (UK, Germany)
* Fix (DVD): AI scanner made a mistake with “The Eye”, Region 2, DK
* Some minor fixes and improvements
* Updated languages

ISO creation has been in strong demand since Cyberlink’s PowerDVD Ultra stopped playing Blu-ray movies saved in a “folder.” ISO images can be “loaded” virtually to trick PowerDVD into playing the disc.

Corel is finally catching up to PowerDVD Ultra and Total Media Theater with the release of their “Update” pack for WinDVD 9. The following features are added as a reult of this update:

* Resolve “Enable S/PDIF Out” issue
* Resolve “HDMI output to speaker” issue
* Modify All2HD setting selection to enhance stability
* Expand list of compatible commercial titles
* Enhance compatibility for the following hardware:
VGA Chipset support for Blu-ray Disc® playback on Windows Vista® and XP OS

I have not had time to download this update and check it out but will do so shortly. I am glad to see Corel improving WinDVD 9 to make it a more viable Blu-ray player. Software-based players have come a long way in the last 6 months and hopefully this is another step.

Watching HD programming from your cable provider requires a digital cable tuner for your computer. Unfortunately, certain digital rights management restrictions do not allow you to buy such a tuner off the shelf and plug it into an existing computer. You have to buy a new computer from the likes of Dell or HP.

There are three main options to buy a Vista media center computer with a digital cable tuner: Dell, HP, and Velocity Micro PC (other vendors offer cable tuners but are ridiculously expensive). Dell by far has sold the most. Velocity Micro offers the best looking though most expensive solution. HP has been the forgotten one, mainly because of their decision to allow consumers to only buy one tuner and not two, a deal breaker for most. Sony, however, allows you to buy refurbished tuners for $199, which makes HP much more attractive.

Every now and then HP offers “$400 off desktop” coupons. For those looking for a HTPC, that is a great deal and worth waiting for when buying a new machine. Using this coupon (code DT3325), you can buy a m9300t for $699 from HP that comes with one tuner, an Intel Quad Core processor, 3 GB of RAM, a 320 GB hard drive, and a GeForce 9500 GS. Slickdeals.net is a good website to see when HP is offering a coupon or just sign-up for HP’s newsletter. Dell alos offers the occasional deals but rarely discounts their XPS systems.

The main drawback of that system is the hard drive size and having only one tuner. For an extra $199, you can buy a refurbished tuner from Sony, bringing the system up to $899. Adding another hard drive is easy and can be done anytime.

This system is cheaper than if you built one yourself. The quad core processor is about $200 by itself, the hard drive is about $70, a copy of Vista Home Premium OEM is about $100, and one refurbished digital tuner is $199. This leaves about $130 for a case, a video card, and RAM.

With the release of Vista and its media center software, a new era of high definition content was supposed to have been ushered in with the introduction of digital cable tuners. These tuners were supposed to turn your computer into a high-powered Tivo. Reality did not live up to the hype. The initial wave of digital cable tuners were expensive and not well supported by manufacturers.

Something interesting has happened over the last 6 months though, especially with the release of SP1. Vista has become a good operating system inspite of the perceived notion that it is a failure. Vista MCE also has become more stable along with the digital tuners. Sure there are still issues but they pale in comparison to the initial release of cable tuners. Most recent articles written about Vista’s media center and CableCards are for the most part positive. These include:

1. Ben Drawbaugh at his personal website
2. Andres at My Network Project.
3. CableCard thread at Avsforum. Reading all 57 (and growing) pages is interesting as it shows the progression of digital cable tuners.

Media centers are still not ready to be a mainstream product but they certainly fill a niche. With prices dropping to around $1,000 for a well equiped computer and two tuners, price is becoming less and less of a deterrent.

Is it me or does Auzentech appear to be the most innovative sound card manufacturer around? It seems like they are up to their old tricks again by announcing the Auzen X-Fi HomeTheater 7.1, which will support HDMI 1.3, HD-audio codecs, and EAX 5.0. Finally, one card to rule them all.

From the press release:

The Auzen X-Fi HomeTheater 7.1 accepts video from either an internal or external connection, mixes it with digital audio, and outputs the combined video and lossless multichannel audio via a single HDMIâ„¢ 1.3 port. Moreover, the internal connection will exclusively support upcoming NVIDIA products, to create the ultimate in audio and visual entertainment

Basically, you will be able to connect your video card to your sound card and have one cable going to your receiver that will support everything you could possibly need for a HTPC. No price has been announced and do not expect it to be cheap. The release date is September 2008, which might be a little late to the party, considering that Asus should be releasing a similar sound card shortly.

I am thinking of renovating my basement, preferably with a HD projector and a media center. I would love to add some home automation items, especially since it would be a good time to switch out electrical boxes. I have started doing research into which protocol I would want to use in terms of home automation.

Over the last couple of weeks, mControl has made a lot of noise in the home automation market, namely iPhone support and translucent menus in Vista media center. These items are starting to mControl appear to be the leader in cheap home automation.

mControl is a perfect example of the power of a media center versus a Tivo or cable DVR. The plugin architecture for Vista Media Center allows for integrated applications for a wide range of things, home automation and commercial skip among them. You could never do home automation with a Tivo.

I have been looking for a way to prioritize my tuners in Vista Media Center. Why do I want dictate which tuner is used as the default? Mainly to avoid digital rights management. I currently use the HDHomerun as a QAM tuner to receive unencrypted HD channels on my computer. This tuner allows me to record HD channels with digital rights management.

I ultimately want to get a digital cable tuner (I mean buy a new machine that supports DCTs). Ideally, I want to incorporate the HDHomerun into that system. Digital cable tuners incorporate copy protection into anything they record. The HDHomerun does not. I want the HDHomerun to be the default tuner.

Luckily, there is a small application that sets priorities for you: Media Center Tuner Priority. This app basically shows you a list of your tuners and you set which one should be used first.

This week, Auzentech updated their X-FI Prelude drivers for improved Dolby Digital Live support. Why is this important? This proves that Auzentech is a company that is willing to increase the performance of their product through timely release of driver updates, something Creative is notoriously bad at doing.

While somewhat pricey, the X-Fi Prelude appears to be the best audio solution right now for home theater PCs. From the Auzentech website:

With Dolby Digital Live, your PC or game console can be hooked up to your Dolby Digital-equipped audio/video receiver or digital speaker system via a single digital connection, eliminating the confusion of multiple cables and ensuring the integrity of the audio signal.

Basically this means you can pass 5.1 sounds to a receiver from you computer using a digital connection. Look for a HDMI extension board soon.

Sony made a splash in the media center world a couple of months ago being the first OEM to sell individual digital cable tuners, which are used to watch HD programming on premium cable channels. While you still need to have a computer with the special version of Vista that supported digital cable tuners, Sony offers their customers the ability to increase the number of digital cable tuners in their media center. While nice to see, the price was high for an individual tuner: $300.

I recently was on the SonyStyle website and noticed that Sony is now selling refurbished digital cable tuners for $199, a $100 discount. That certainly is more palatable. Digital cable tuners are known for having a high failure rate right out of the box so buying a refurbished unit may actually be better than buying a new one. I assume a refurbished unit would actually be tested before being sent out. Plus, who cares if you have a refurbished tuner? It either works or it doesn’t. These tuners are ugly and should be hidden anyway.

HP right now is selling the cheapest media centers that support digital cable tuners. Their main drawback is that they only you to purchase one tuner with your system. This makes no sense. Sony helps solve that issue. Currently, the cheapest way to have two tuners, which is almost essential so that you can record and watch TV at the same time, is to buy an HP computer and then buy a refurbished unit from Sony.

Bigger is better, right? People buying shiny new TVs always struggle as to how big a TV you should buy. With the prices of HDTVs falling, people can afford to buy bigger and bigger TVs.

To help everyone find the right size TV, THX has developed a quick process for calculating the optimum viewing distance for 1080p HDTVs.

• Step 1: Measure the diagonal screen size
• Step 2: Divide by .84

Basically, the methodology revolves around preserving a 40 degree viewing angle between where you sit and the width of your TV. I personally think this is kind of crazy. Take a 42″ TV. Dividing 42 by 0.84 gives you 50 inches. The optimum viewing distance is just over 4 feet! Talk about going blind.

To watch a movie 10 feet away from the screen, you would need over a 100 inch screen according to the good folks a THX. Wow. I suddenly feel very inadequate.