# HTPC build



## thewire (Jun 28, 2007)

I'm setting up my laptop for Blu-ray playback and would like suggestions as to what settings will give me the best performance. Some of these may change obviously but if there is any tips or if anything catches your eye let me know. I also need some help with the audio. My HTPC consist of:

Gateway P6860FX
External Soundblaster MP3+ card connected with fiber optic cable
External Blu-ray drive and USB 2.0 enclosure
Wireless mouse
Outlaw 950 with separate amps, Behringer FBQ
BenQ W5000
106" High Power screen

It gets warm so I run it on top of ledge with a large fan blowing onto it.

Any comments on these settings?

Nvidia GeForce 8800M GTS video card settings:
Brightness - 50
Contrast - 50
Hue - 0
Saturation - 46
Gamma - 26

RGB gamma
R - 40%
G - 39%
B - 40%

3D video card settings:

Antisotropic filtering - application controlled
Antialiasing mode - overide any existing application
Antialiasing gamma correction - on
Antialiasing mode overide any existing application
Antialiasing setting - 4X
Antialiasing transparency - off
Conformant texture clamp - use hardware
Error reporting - off
Extention limit - off
Force mipmaps - trilinear
Multi-display/mixed-GPU acceleration - compatability performance mode
Stereo display mode - Use on-board DIN connector
Texture filtering - negative LOD bias - allow
Texture filtering - Quality - High quality
Threaded optimization - auto
Triple buffering - on
Vertical sync - use the 3D application setting

Color mode 32bit RGB 1080P 24Hz (reverts to 23Hz). I'm seeing there is no 48Hz allowed so I may have misread that earlier. It also looks like 4444 was rather YPbr444 unless somehow my configuration has changed. Would YPbr444 be a better option for any reason?

W5000 settings:
0 IRE
Lamp - normal
Iris - 3
Brightness - 48
Contrast - 53
Color - 46
Tint - -10
Sharpness - 3
Gamma - 2.2
Color temp - Warm
Luma transmission - 1
Chroma transmission - 2
Edge enhancement - off
DB - on
BC - off

PowerDVD 8 settings

Enable Hardware acceleration
nVidia purevideo - on
color profile - original
nVidia CUDA - on
Inverse tecline - on

I ordered a new lamp now due to over excessive power loss. I only have 1150 hours on the lamp that are mostly whisper but I could see some very bad dimming each time. There has since been repairs (no issues since) next door so hopefully that will not be a problem in the future.

My soundcard is setup for Dolby output 48K PCM and it will not let me select higher output. Input into my Outlaw I have been using the Neo-6 surround mode but with Blu-ray I am getting skipping sounds in the audio every so often. I think that this must have something to do with the signal being compressed but I would have thought that it would support compressed DTS. I'm not sure if this is a driver related issue in Vista X64 or what is wrong there. I have been using 6 channel output in PowerDVD with no effects. My laptop does not have the S/PDIF output jack.

Is there a different card that will support a higher playback bitrate via my laptops firewire or USB connection? My Outlaw has bass management and 5.1 analog inputs but no USB or HDMI input. I have thought about upgrading the CPU also but I am unsure if this would cause the laptop to become overheated or not. I will continue researching but if there is anyone experienced with this, or have any suggestions they are most welcome.


----------



## thewire (Jun 28, 2007)

Something that I changed in my settings has stopped the skipping in the audio.


----------

