http://www.abxzone.com/forums/ From basic DVD players to surround sound systems-discuss it here. en Fri, 20 Nov 2009 22:22:56 GMT vBulletin 1 http://www.abxzone.com/forums/images/element/misc/rss.jpg http://www.abxzone.com/forums/ http://www.abxzone.com/forums/f162/need-help-i-want-watch-espn-119637.html Sun, 15 Nov 2009 20:46:35 GMT AV guys----I need help and suggestions!!

A little background first:

I LOVE Nebraska Football! Born there, grew up there, played there, (well, all of three weeks on the Freshmen team) but I digress---I love the Huskers and I live and die Nebraska Football every Fall Saturday much to the amusement of my Southern Belle wife who just doesn't "get it".

Football to a Nebraskan is MORE than football-----it's just a way of life...

Anyway----I live in VIRGINIA now----and trying to stay up with the Huskers on Saturdays out here on the East Coast is tough.

Well----along comes the miracle of ESPN 360 on the internet and virtually every Nebraska game this year has been available on it. So me being the family "Techie"-----I hooked a laptop with VGA out to the VGA in of my HP MediaSmart 42 inch High Def (1080p) TV.

The laptop had a Turion Z-80 dual core processor----4 gigs of RAM and Radeon 3200 onboard video----so I believed it had plenty of horsepower to run the 1080i TV (the laptop did NOT have DVI out or HDMI out. (The laptop rates at 4.4 on the Windows 7 user scale)

I also ran a network cable to a gigabit switch and disabled the wireless on the laptop....

Results----it was better than NOTHING----but I thought it was really dissappointing.

Loss of frames
some bad pixelation at times
jumpy
sometimes it would freeze

The sound came through beautifully---never any problem there----and the problems seemd to only appear when I ran it in full screen mode.

I ran the same game simultaneously off of ESPN 360 in my garage on my 22 inch monitor and my i7 machine in full screen mode and it was quite good the whole time.

What could be my issue and can you make some suggestions to make this a more watchable experience???

Is the processor not powerful enough?
Is it Internet bandwidth issues?-----seems unlikely as this same gigabit switch sends a internet to my Roku box that feeds to my HDTV for Netflix and Amazon Video On Demand----and looks gorgeous on it!
Is the Radeon HD 3200 Onboad Graphics not powerful enough to run the 1080i big screen??
Is the analog VGA hookup not nearly as capable??? Would digital HDMI be MUCH better??
Is it the Screen refresh rate of the HDTV? My specs say it is 6ms on the Hi Def TV

Don't care about gaming----just want to have a watchable TV experience off of ESPN 360

For $300 I can build a great little HTPC box with an AMD Callisto 550, DualCore, 4 gigs of RAM and HD 4200 Onboard Graphics with an additional 128 Sideport memory soldered in. The board would have HDMI out. For $150 more I could even go an i5 route with a dedicated fanless HD 4670 (but I suspect this is way overkill)

Help or suggestions appreciated.

John ]]> johnrr6 http://www.abxzone.com/forums/f162/need-help-i-want-watch-espn-119637.html http://www.abxzone.com/forums/f162/suggestion-119625.html Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:58:24 GMT Think Imma replace my X-540 with Z-5500.. Any ideas on that? Well I was concidering Creative too since I have a X-Fi SB.. but think logitech has better speakers Think Imma replace my X-540 with Z-5500..
Any ideas on that?
Well I was concidering Creative too since I have a X-Fi SB.. but think logitech has better speakers ]]> WolfSoul http://www.abxzone.com/forums/f162/suggestion-119625.html http://www.abxzone.com/forums/f162/corsair-labs-htpc-build-log-october-119586.html Mon, 02 Nov 2009 17:20:37 GMT We did an HTPC build back in 2007 that was a lot of fun. We've revisited the subject and used some great new products including our H50 CPU cooler, X64SSD, CX400 PSU, and 2 different memory kits.

Take a look here:2009 HTPC Build Log

]]> specmike http://www.abxzone.com/forums/f162/corsair-labs-htpc-build-log-october-119586.html http://www.abxzone.com/forums/f162/audio-problem-after-windows-7-install-119581.html Sat, 31 Oct 2009 15:48:08 GMT Greetings to all. I am not sure if I am posting in the right place. If not, I apologize. I have an Audio Problem: After doing the things recommended by Microsoft before replacing XP with the 64 bit version of Windows 7, I did a custom install on my HP a1440n desk top computer. There were no device, driver or program application compatibility issues afterwards except for one: no audio makes it from the computer to my speakers. When I checked the speaker Icon on the desktop, it showed bar movement in both mixer and volume meters The audio was working prior to the Windows 7 install while XP was still operating in the computer. Even though I had not touched my external receiver or any equipment other than the keyboard and DVD tray, I then checked the cabling from the computer to my Denon AVR-4800 Home Theater Receiver and all of the speaker wires from both the Denon and each of my six speakers. All were properly inserted and secure. The function buttons on the receiver were also checked to insure that they were mated to receiving signals from the computer. I also ran a check using device Windows 7 device manager and sound troubleshooter. Each showed that my HT Omega Striker 7.1 sound card and software were both working properly with no issues present. To insure that I had not missed anything, I again did the entire process of checking the components and software. At present, no sound reaches the speakers. What have I missed? Any Suggestions? Lastly, I was running XP as 32 bit on my computer. I am now running 64 bit Windows 7. Is there a incompatibility issue between 64 bit processed in the computer connected to the Denon receiver which I bought in 2000? Greetings to all.

I am not sure if I am posting in the right place. If not, I apologize. I have an Audio Problem:

After doing the things recommended by Microsoft before replacing XP with the 64 bit version of Windows 7, I did a custom install on my HP a1440n desk top computer.

There were no device, driver or program application compatibility issues afterwards except for one: no audio makes it from the computer to my speakers. When I checked the speaker Icon on the desktop, it showed bar movement in both mixer and volume meters

The audio was working prior to the Windows 7 install while XP was still operating in the computer. Even though I had not touched my external receiver or any equipment other than the keyboard and DVD tray, I then checked the cabling from the computer to my Denon AVR-4800 Home Theater Receiver and all of the speaker wires from both the Denon and each of my six speakers. All were properly inserted and secure. The function buttons on the receiver were also checked to insure that they were mated to receiving signals from the computer.

I also ran a check using device Windows 7 device manager and sound troubleshooter. Each showed that my HT Omega Striker 7.1 sound card and software were both working properly with no issues present.

To insure that I had not missed anything, I again did the entire process of checking the components and software.

At present, no sound reaches the speakers.

What have I missed? Any Suggestions?

Lastly, I was running XP as 32 bit on my computer. I am now running 64 bit Windows 7. Is there a incompatibility issue between 64 bit processed in the computer connected to the Denon receiver which I bought in 2000? ]]> carbuff http://www.abxzone.com/forums/f162/audio-problem-after-windows-7-install-119581.html http://www.abxzone.com/forums/f162/sound-card-win-7-a-115554.html Thu, 08 Oct 2009 23:12:13 GMT Hi all, I have been using the included X-Fi riser card that comes with the ASUS RE-II. Now that I have loaded the comercial version of Win 7 I am actually going to put this rig to work. I want to upgrade the sound card. In the opinion of this august group what is the best sound card for this Mobo considering in the following order: 1. Quality of sound 2. Being able to fit 3. Compatability with the RE-II and Win 7 I am looking at the ASUS Xonar series, anyone have any experience with them? Hi all,
I have been using the included X-Fi riser card that comes with the ASUS RE-II. Now that I have loaded the comercial version of Win 7 I am actually going to put this rig to work. I want to upgrade the sound card. In the opinion of this august group what is the best sound card for this Mobo considering in the following order:
1. Quality of sound
2. Being able to fit
3. Compatability with the RE-II and Win 7

I am looking at the ASUS Xonar series, anyone have any experience with them? ]]> Dan-Baer http://www.abxzone.com/forums/f162/sound-card-win-7-a-115554.html