SageTV - Computer Connected to TV

[davidjames]

I apologize if this is a dumb question but that happens with me sometimes

I currently use SageTV 6.6 with a MediaMVP. As I've been using the MVP for what seems like forever I just assumed when I went HD, I'd get me the new Sage extender.

But now I'm thinking about hooking a computer (laptop or small form PC) directly to my 720P Plasma via HDMI, or possibly to a receiver which would be connected to a TV via HDMI.

Would the picture quality hooked up this way be the same as using the extender?

[Fuzzy]

It would be pretty close. there are more variances in quality among different video card/codec combinations. The HD extender is just simpler. Plug it in, and it would work. Having a receiver gets rid of the most limiting part of the HD extenders (the lack of DTS decoding).

Of course, the HD extenders have been out of stock for months now... so you may have to wait a bit for it.

[Tiki]

Assuming that you get everything working properly with the PC client, the difference in picture quality between it and the extender should be like comparing the picture quality of two HDTVs made by different manufacturers. In other words, some people won't be able to tell the difference, others might notice a slight difference, but won't have a clear opinion about which is better, and a few might have a strong preference for one versus another.

There are several steps involved in getting the picture from the video file out to the TV (demuxing, decoding, de-interlacing, re-scaling, re-interlacing). With an extender, all of this is done in hardware, using some specific set of algorithms that the chipset manufacturer decided were good. There is almost nothing to configure and as long as you have a good network connection, you will get good results.

With a PC client, some of these steps are done in hardware (by the video card) and others are done in software. You have a lot of components from different manufacturer's that must work together - from video card drivers (and control panel settings from nVidia and ATI), to operating system components (like DirectX and EVR), to 3rd party decoders (like Cyberlink), to muxers and splitters (from Sage or Haali). And, it's up to you to make sure you have all the right pieces installed and get them all configured properly.

If you are skilled or lucky and have the proper parts and pieces, you can get picture quality and performance that is just as good or better than an extender. Plus, you get more flexibility if you want to run other software on the computer (open a web browser, check email, play a game, use an alternate media player, etc.). On the other hand, you may need to spend a bunch of time tracking down problems when you can't get certain media types to play (or they play with pauses or stuttering), worrying about conflicts with your other software, etc. An extender is also smaller, quieter, and uses less power than most PCs.

One other point in favor of a PC, is that the current extenders have issues with DTS-HD audio (which is an audio format used on many BlueRay disks). So, if this type of audio is important to you, you may want to keep that in mind.

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by Tiki

One other point in favor of a PC, is that the current extenders have issues with DTS-HD audio (which is an audio format used on many BlueRay disks). So, if this type of audio is important to you, you may want to keep that in mind.

More specifically, they have problem with AND DTS audio,not just DTS-MA on BluRay's. It'll be fine if you are feeding the sound to a receiver, but if not, you won't get sound.