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[jrdiandrea]

I am not handy at all with building computers and worst, I do not have a good understanding of what makes a top end high performing video card, super fast and accurate processing etc necessary to stream HD video and soon possibly 4k video to my Datasat Processor and my Projector via HDMI. There are so many to choose from and I just don't know the difference. I also want to be able to stream hi-res music files from my NAS via HDMI to the Datasat and via usb to my DAC. All using JRiver.

I currently have a CAPS Zuma built by Small green computer and has served me well but since installing my new Datasat processor I have come t the conclusion it may be time to upgrade the computer device, too.

But I look on line for off the shelf solutions ....trying to find a high performing device with the best possible video and processing capabilities and it quickly becomes a maze of stats, data & performance claims I simply don't understand. Frustrating.

Would really appreciate some pre built suggest/solutions or, if anyone can suggest a source for custom pieces. I just need to find some solid reliable advice or where to get it! Thankks.

[pepar]

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[jrdiandrea]

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If your post was meant as a response to my inquiry I don't understand....

[pepar]

If your post was meant as a response to my inquiry I don't understand....

Your question is of interest to me.  My post subscribes me to the thread so that I will receive email notifications when a reply is posted.

I *am* handy with building computers but I don't know why a blazing video card is needed to stream HD video either.  I did post a thread titles JRiver For Dummies asking the same question.

Jeff

[jrdiandrea]

Thanks for claification Pepar.

Maybe at some point we should talk. Regarding video card, I simply want the best capabilities to decode and stream video at the best possible resolution and result that i can get regardless of how big the resolution of the source material may be. I know in the past, as an example, I tried selecting the high performance (forget what its actually called) in the video section of JRive but my system wasn't capable of using it. At least it didn't do well with that setting as i recall. There's even a disclaimer that says something like your system or video card must be capable or robust enough to tun it that way.

[pepar]

As I have been reading (here - http://lifehacker.com/how-to-get-better-picture-quality-from-your-home-theate-1700412363), a PC is more complicated than a simple streaming appliance, so more processing power can be good.  With only bitstreaming, I don't need a full blown, hotrod HTPC.  So there will be a limit to what more power can do.  It is that - How much power do I need for what I want to do? - that I need answered.

Jeff

[jrdiandrea]

Makes sense. I hope to see some replies.....

[jmone]

Lets see if I get any of this wrong on the Video Front (as I too am currently building a new Theater Room with 4k AVR, PJ 7.2.4 Dolby Atmos etc).  I've got all the AV and PJ equipment but still considering the best approach for the HTPC and Video Sources.
- Decoding a video is relatively straight forward and (unless there are bugs) the results are the same between SW and HW decoders and different devices.  They will either support the format or not.
- Scaling the video to fit the resolution of the output device is another beast.  There is the requirement to scale the Luma or Image (B&W) part of the image when the source image is not the same as the display (eg say 1080p to 4K).  Then there is also the requirement to upsample the Chroma (Colour) part of the image to match the Luma, and as the Colour compentent are normally "sub-sampled" so they are at a lower resolution than the Luma.  Finally there is the conversion to RGB to send to the display devices.  There are may different algorithms that can be used to scale both the Luma and Chroma.  All have different pros and cons as none of them can accurately create the missing information, and they will take different amounts of computational effort (and it needs to be all done in under the frame rate of the content you are watching, eg 1/24th, 1/50th, 1/60th of a second).
- HW Scalers you are stuck with the algorithms and performance the device has
- SW Scalers (eg PC) are more flexible.  You can use your CPU to do these tasks and/or the GPU.  Given the GPU are very powerful for image manipulation, we find the the likes of renders such as madVR (used by Red October HQ) allow users to use a wide variety of algorithms to to do the video rendering tasks.  The more powerful/faster the GPU the more intensive algorithms you can use.

The hard bit is working out setup gets the output you want.  More computational power gives you more choices but if you are happy with the quality from Red October (Std) then any modern PC should be fine.  From here you need to add a dedicated GPU to play with higher end settings.

I've for many years built my main HTPC on Shuttle XPC Barebones as they are smallish, quiet but take a full sized GPU and ODD.  You can also just upgrade the GPU if needing more power for the renderer.  I've also had pretty good success (but have not tried 4K) with the diminutive Intel NUCs on moderate settings.

I am also trying to balance the (potential) option of playing UtraHD Blu-Rays from a HTPC, but these have very specific requirements for the CPU, Motherboard, ODD, and SW Player (only Cyberlink PDVD at this stage) in an attempt to prevent piracy.   I'm not sure if the Shuttle or NUC will work.  Other option is to use a separate UltraHD Player for now (even and X-Box One S).

[pepar]

Well, that answered my questions! Thank you.

To boil it down a bit, the most basic function of a networked streaming device, in the case of movies, is to read the file from the storage unpacking the container/transport stream and separating 1080p video from the audio, and then passing both to the downstream component(s). To keep the function of the device at its most basic, it is assumed that the downstream display accepts 1080p and downstream audio processor accepts bitstreaming of the audio codecs.  IOW, no upscaling or downsampling of the video nor any conversion of the audio codecs is needed.  For this, we can use Pi or some similar sippy little pipsqueak.

Where more computational power is needed is if any resolution conversion is needed and/or the user plans on using the computer as an HTPC.  At its fullest realization, the HTPC is actually a workstation where the user does movie ripping, SACD/DVD-A ripping, library scraping and maintenance.

Thanks again for the explanation.

Jeff

[pepar]

I am also trying to balance the (potential) option of playing UtraHD Blu-Rays from a HTPC, but these have very specific requirements for the CPU, Motherboard, ODD, and SW Player (only Cyberlink PDVD at this stage) in an attempt to prevent piracy.   I'm not sure if the Shuttle or NUC will work. 

As a 1:1 streamer (a new term? ), rather than beef up a computer only to play UHD Blu-rays, I would be content with a standalone player.  It could be years (to never?) before you/we can stream 4k movies. Your/our best hope to do that is for 'Fab or 'Fox to reverse engineer a solution.

Jeff

[jmone]

Jeff, The Device the is "Playing" the file is rendering the Video so it must have enough computational power to:
- Decode the Video, then
- Render the Video and hence (as needed) scale the image, upsample the Chroma, and convert colour space pending on your monitor, input video, and preferences, at which point
- It outputs the Video over a connection (eg HDMI) to the display to show

You can do these tasks or a "streamer" (eg say a DNLA based device) to connect to a MC based "server".  Typically, these DLNA devices are not great with either the flexibility of format support or particular well powered, so MC Server will convert these to a compatible format prior to streaming to the DLNA device.  You will not get 1:1 when this happens.  I only use these sort of end devices for casual setups, instead using a real HTPC with MC on it for any permanent setup.