2 Parts Fusion Model DMS 501 HTPC Review (1 Viewer)

[Harris_C]

Keith,

Yes, we are going to address that as soon as possible with the page formatting.

 

[Jim DiJoseph]

Gentlemen, Parker's review has certainly piqued my interest. However, I'm in love with my DirecTiVo. While only focusing on the DVR aspect of the offerings by 2 Parts Fusion, what are the advantages to switching to a DMS? I realize all the various functions aside from DVR, but I guess my main question has to do with what will I sacrifice by giving up my DirecTiVo?

 

[Parker Clack]

Jim:

You wouldn't have to sacrifice anything. The DMS will allow you to continue to use the DirecTiVo and at the same time allow you to archive your CD collection, surf the web and give you a piece of equipment that is now upgradeable to grow with any changes.

Parker

 

[Matt Wright]

Parker pretty much said it for me

The DMS can control just about any common cable box or satellite receiver with its' IR blasters (IR emitter in TiVo-speak). So you could infact just leave the DirecTiVo in place or elimnate it and go back to a standard DirectTV receiver. But do know that you do need two DirecTV receivers for dual-tuner functionality, one to feed each tuner on the DMS.

Benefits? well again as Parker said you can do tons of things with your DMS beyond PVR use. And the PVR feature of the DMS has no monthy fees for guide data.

 

[Parker Clack]

Matt:

I wish someone would come out with a PCI card that would allow you to get DirecTV or Dish. That and a card for XFM and Sirius.

Parker

 

[Matt Wright]

Yeah don't get me started ... even the cable industry which was finally forced into an access card standard (CableCARD) won't trust the PC currently to have pure digital access to conent.

 

[TimmyH]

I'm new to the HTPC idea, but was impressed with the review of the 2 Parts Fusion unit. I'm still trying to grasp the real world usage of an HTPC, coming from a CD, DVD,and PVR as separate components. I wouldn't want to turn on my big screen TV to select and play a CD, is using the Uneed x15 (2 Parts Fusion 702) the only case option to diplay cover art, artist, song titles, etc.? (I'm used to flipping through my collection of CD's to decide what I want to hear, often I'll change my mind after seeing a particular CD I haven't listened to in a while, so I don't always know ahead of time what I want to listen to). Can I have 5-7.1 sound decoding for DVD on the motherboard and a separate 2 channel soundcard for optimal CD playback? I would like to use my receiver and amp, I assume hooking up to them is not a problem? Can I use a universal remote (like a Harmony 880) with WMC 2005 and the rest of my electronics? Would I want to? (would the Microsoft remote function as well as the Harmony?) Thanks in advance for any light you can shed.

 

[Harris_C]

Timmy,

One of the attractive features of a Digital Media Server is it's ability, not only to replace many of the items presently located on an A/V rack(save shelf space), but to improve on them as well. A DMS server can save you money and many technical headaches. To explain this better, let's look at the big picture and practical uses of a DMS Server from the perspective of putting together a nice living room suite that also includes Internet.

In many cases, typical set of components may include--

Audio/Video
HDTV/SDTV
DVD Player
CD Player
Pre-Amp
Amp
Speakers
Set-top Box

Optional
TIVO or ReplayTV
DVD Jukebox
Home Theater in a Box
CD Library

Internet/Home Network
LCD/CRT Monitor
Computer or Laptop
Cable modem or ADSL device
Regular/Wireless Router

And alot of cables...

On average you will have around 7-8 devices around the typical networked home, if not more.

With the DMS-702 and few add-ons such as our HDA sound card(see below) and the Fusion5 HDTV/ATSC tuner, plus with the PCI Wireless Access Point you can eliminate many of these components and have a more centralized way of managing
the overall network. This will make things easier for you in a variety of ways...

-Playback DVD's and home movies at 480p, 720p or 1080i-No need for a DVD player.
-Playback and store you CD's-No CD player
-Watch and record live TV- No more TIVO/ReplayTV so you lose the monthly fee and the box(note: You cannot record HDTV using a STB, only OTA)
-Watch and record OTA HDTV
-Almost 300GB of total storage space(record alot and often)
-Use the system as a Pre-Amp and go directly into your receiver/amp
- Use the system as your router and firewall for the internet connection, no need for a linksys or netgear style router.(still will need a switch if you need to share to multiple computers via ethernet).
-Use the system as a Wireless Access point.

Furthermore, the HDTV acts as your monitor, and is now your gateway the internet. And lets not forget the HA(Home Automation) side which I did not even delve into.

Hopefully, I was on point with what you were looking for,and that this helps!!

To answer your questions.



You can use a Logitech 680 remote

Features of the Logitech Harmony 680
-Pre-configured for Media Center PCs
-Set up the remote quickly and simply with the online Web wizard
-Use the 3 one-touch graphical activity buttons with Smart -State Technology® to watch movies, listen to music, or enjoy your favorite TV shows.
-Integrate up to 15 devices: TVs, DVD or CD players, VCRs, PVRs, cable or satellite boxes, speaker systems, and more.
-Control all aspects of your home entertainment system… anything that uses infrared commands.
-No macro programming required.

Cheers,
Harris Coltrain

 

[TimmyH]

Hi Harris- Thanks for the very informative reply, I appreciate you taking the time to respond. Regarding a 2 channel soundcard, I ran across an M-Audio "Audiophile 192" card, do you have experince with this and could this be substituted (with price adjust) in a build? Also, just so I'm clear, the 702 unit you offer is the way to go if I DON'T want to use my TV for CD selection (the screen would display album art and info)? Thanks again-- Tim.

 

[Harris_C]

Tim,

Personally, I have not used that specific M-Audio sound card, although I do use a different M-Audio model at home and have been very pleased with the overall sound quality. If you need a custom build with a different sound card, we can surely accommodate.

For the front display on the 702 the screen is used as a desktop extender. It will display anything that you put on your computer desktop, but does not display in the screen the CD info, track playing, pictures etc, unless you tell it to do so via Windows Media Player.

I think I have a pretty good idea of what you want to happen with the front screen when music is playing, and it can do that, but you have to tell it to do via another program, such as WMP. So for instance, if you listening to a song stored on your Hard Drive, you could play WMP full screen and that would frame in all your info via the WMP interface.

 

[Harris_C]

Also, we have a forum that answers support and pre-sales questions located at

http://www.2partsfusion.com/forums/

Thanks,
Harris C

 

[Mike Frezon]

Hi Harris & Parker:

Still intrigued by this idea. Just a clarification on this. I understand the ability to store all music on the HD. But you are not storing the DVDs, right? When you say there's no need for a player, are you are referring to a DVD drive built into the unit?

Also, this upconverting idea is something new to me. I've got an HD monitor and didn't realize I could improve the PQ on standard-def DVDs.

I hope you guys don't mind answering questions from ignorant consumers like me. I feel rather foolish as I read about some of these technologies which I just haven't been keeping up on.

 

[Parker Clack]

Mike:

I am still new to this too so you aren't alone.

Basically you still have a DVD player in the unit just like you have a DVD-R in your computer (if you have one) that will playback DVDs, CDs, etc. Same thing. It is also a recorder so you can archive your favorite home movies, CDs, etc. to DVD.

As far as the resolution goes it depends on what you set the DMS for. Let's say you set up the resolution on the video card to 1920 x 1080 then everything that you output to your HD monitor will be upscaled to 1080i. In my case my RPTV has a native res of 1280 x 720 and I set the resolution on the video card in the DMS to 1280 x 720 to fit my native resolution (you can go higher or lower it really is up to you to determine what gives you the best picture) and all my video information is displayed on my RPTV at 720p. Now I have a DLP RPTV with an HDMI input so it will handle what ever I feed into it. If you are limited to component inputs you will be able to upscale everything except DVD which through the component breakout cable you are limited to the native res of a DVD at 480p.

Computers do a very very good job of scaling video. So an upscaled DVD to 720p or 1080i looks fantastic. That is one of the major advantages that a DVD on a computer has over a standand alone unit.

That is my take on it anyway. I am sure that Harris or Matt will step in here to correct anything that I haven't got down just yet.

 

[Mike Frezon]

So...the best I can do with my HDTV with component inputs is 480p? So, upscaling wouldn't do anything for me?

**EDIT**

This is what Samsung says about my HDTV:

-- Digital TV High Definition Monitor 1080i Capable Display
-- Progressive Scan 480p DVD Compatible

--Input connections 2 sets 1080i/480p/480i(Y/Pb/Pr)

 

[Matt Wright]

well... yes officially 480p is the limit when using an analog output due to CSS copy protection on commercial DVDs. While I really can't point you to a solution (aside from using DVI or HDMI) I am sure you can put two and two together... maybe even a google search or two... ;-)

 

[Harris_C]

Matt,

For your HDTV via a DMS Server you can play DVD's at 480, 720p or 1080i. So, what Matt was referring to, is that if you have component input, and not DVI or HDMI you will be limited to analog output in which case the Macrovision protection will not allow you to play DVD's at anything higher than 480 on the TV. The good news, is if you have a DVI or HDMI inputs on your HDTV then you can play at any resolution you like.

 

[Parker Clack]

Mike:

Do you have DVI or HDMI inputs on your Samsung? What model Samsung do you have?

Parker

 

[Mike Frezon]

No, Parker...just component inputs.

THIS is the set I have. Its HDTV...but barebones. I feel very good about the picture I see...especially given the bargain price. I picked it up for about $550 bucks at Sears a couple of Black Fridays ago. With the small CRT screen, I probably don't even need to think about upscaling a DVD picture.

 

[Matt Wright]

I use a 27" CRT based HDTV and I can tell HD upscaled (720p, 1080i, 1080p whichever is the native resolution of your TV) vs progressive (480p).

A good quality DVD looks just amazing upscaled to 1080i. Likewise an older DVD or a poorly mastered DVD is immediately noticeable when scaled up.
For exmaple: the original editon of Star Trek First Contact looks just awful. I was very glad when the Collector's Edition was released with a much better transfer.

The last two Matrix movies look great (the first looks pretty darn good but you can tell it was mastered in the early 2000s before the movie studios got really good at DVD transfers) I hear the new Ultimate Matrix boxed set has a new transfer of the first film. But I digress... All the Star Wars DVDs look excellent. Episode II especially since it was shot digitally in the first place.

 

[Parker Clack]

Matt:

If you are using the progressive outputs off the DMS then how do you play back DVD at 720p, etc. on your set?

Parker