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Hello, i'm new to the forum, but kept up with LTT for several years. i didn't see any posts on my exact question, so i thought i'd make one ..... Well, i've been using an old computer for my HTPC for years, but it's just too old and there's no expandability with the motherboard that's in there and most importantly for me, it doesn't have HDMI output for my HD sound. So i was thinking about how far computers have come and i might just run an SBC for my HTPC. i saw the UDOO bolt v8 looks very nice great, it's small, and might be nice for heat/noise. It's very tempting, but high on the cost for an SBC, but probably less than i would spend on an actual computer. i was wondering what would be the best SBC for an HTPC would be without going overkill on it, lol. i'm not trying to run games on it, but if i do, it might just be some retro game. i mainly want it for HD movies, music, & pictures. i want to send the HD audio to my Denon HD receiver, but the motherboard i have now doesn't have HDMI output, which is why i'm looking for an upgrade without breaking the bank. i already have a single 8TB hard disk drive in there with an SSD running the O.S. and already have a NAS on my network, too. Thanks for reading all this and what do you think?

I'm currently building a home theater that will be used to host a Plex server. It's a budget built so I'm trying to not spend to much money if it's not necessary. I Have an existing motherboard in the form of the Gigabyte GA-H110-D3A (https://www.gigabyte.com/ca/Motherboard/GA-H110-D3A-rev-10#kf) it's a mining bord but I have it already and it fits the i5-7500 I have on hand. I am going to add some networking cards and a GTX 750 TI to it as well. I'm just curious if this board is a good choice or if I should look for a new board Thanks for the feedback!

Does anyone know of any game in Windows that supports Dolby Atmos for Home Theater or height channels? If you look at the Dolby website, there are tons of games showing that support Dolby Atmos audio, but when I try those same games in Windows, I only get 8-channel PCM. It appears Dolby Atmos support is only available for Xbox, but I'm not sure. It's possibly Dolby Atmos or height channels can only be activated from UWP games on the Microsoft Store. I don't own any games on the Microsoft Store, so I have no way to verify. tl;dr Windows does not natively support height channels. If you output a Dolby Atmos signal directly, you will get dedicated height-channels, but that completely bypasses Windows (video player apps use this). Dolby Atmos has native support in Windows, but I've never seen it output height-channels. Read for more info. Dolby Atmos is 2 technologies There are two completely separate technologies called "Dolby Atmos": Dolby Atmos for Headphones (spatial audio for 2 channels) Dolby Atmos for Home Theater (spatial audio for many speakers) These are two completely different technologies that have nothing to do with each other. It's extremely confusing to know which is which when everyone just says "Dolby Atmos". The Dolby Atmos app for Windows enables "Dolby Atmos for Home Theater" for free, and you can unlock "Dolby Atmos for Headphones" by paying a fee. What is Dolby Atmos for Headphones? "Dolby Atmos for Headphones" is a similar technology to "Windows Sonic" and sounds awful on a dedicated home theater setup (I've tried). It's designed for binaural audio, something that's only possible with headphones because sounds in the right ear can't be heard from the left. With a home theater, both ears can hear all sounds from every channel. Windows Spatial Audio API Unless a game natively supports the Windows Spatial Audio API, such as Final Fantasy XV, it's probably not going to support Dolby Atmos for Home Theater. Just like with HDR, where you sometimes have to enable HDR in Windows before the game will notice you have an HDR-capable display, you have to also enable Spatial Audio before loading a game that supports it. I did try the demo for Final Fantasy XV, but Atmos heights were not active even after enabling the Spatial Audio setting. My receiver shows me which channels are active and the volume of each, but height channels didn't even show up. Windows is 8-channel PCM only Your height channels aren't available in Windows. The most you can do in Windows is 8-channel PCM audio: Front Center Surround (pointed 90 degrees from you) Surround Back (behind you) LFE (dedicated subwoofer) Pro Tip: It's best to enable every setting and check every box in Windows for whichever configuration you select and let your receiver or DAC do the work of splitting up the signal for your speakers; otherwise, you'll be missing out on audio you should be hearing. Activating height channels The only way I've found to activate height channels in Windows is by sending a Dolby Atmos signal directly to my receiver. To do this, I needed to be using HDMI out from my GPU and using a video player app with a video file that supported Dolby Atmos audio: Windows Movies & TV ➡ It "just works" with no special configuration. Media Player HomeCinema ➡ Required special configuration; otherwise, Windows would downmix to 8-channel PCM. VLC ➡ Required special configuration; otherwise, Windows would downmix to 8-channel PCM. The Dolby Atmos app doesn't need to be installed in this case. Can't remember if you need it for the Windows Movies & TV app though. Even if I configured 7.1 audio in Windows, if I played a video file that had Dolby Atmos audio, then it would switch to Dolby Atmos on my receiver. That also meant the audio volume would only be controlled by my receiver; not Windows. Pretty annoying.

Less of a log... More like.... a bunch of pictures. Currently reprinting the PC side as the stock cooler wasn't cutting it.

Hi, I have a old laptop of i3 Gen 1 and Ram 3gb. I want to make my led tv smart by connecting it to the laptop directly. I want a kodi or a plex like experience, but don't want to install windows 7 or other os and run the Plex on top. (Note: I don't want a server to host the file, my tv doesn't support network access, it has only VGA and USB input) The new OS should directly boot and start like an android tv. My use case is mostly to open local movies from pendrive and occasionally use prime video either through browser or if an app is available it's fine. This is for my Parent's house, so please suggest an OS so that no tinkering is required after installation and will be easy to use for them.

Hi, I have a old laptop of i3 Gen 1 and Ram 3gb. I want to make my led tv smart by connecting it to the laptop directly. I want a kodi or a plex like experience, but don't want to install windows 7 or other os and run the plex on top. (Note: I don't want a server to host the file, my tv doesn't support network access, it has only VGA and USB input) The new OS should directly boot and start like an android tv. My use case is mostly to open local movies from pendrive and occasioanlly use primevideo either through browser or if an app is available it's fine. This is for my Parent's house, so please suggest an OS so that no tinkering is required after installation and will be easy to use for them.

Right now I have an old receiver that doesn't support the newer formats (DD+, TrueHD, AAC, etc). What I do have however, is a HTPC that is capable of sending PCM audio through HDMI (GPU) to the receiver. Everywhere I have read, the consensus is "it doesn't matter where the audio gets decoded, it's going to sound the same". It usually refers to a blu ray player or something that decodes DD/DTS and then sends the resulting PCM signal. They claim doing this should be similar to bitstreaming. If this is so, then decoding the newer formats (ex. dolby digital plus) on my PC and then sending the PCM signal should make up for me having an older receiver, right? Does PC decoding give the same result as receiver decoding? Because I have found this to not be the case for my HTPC. With PCM mode, I get 5.1 audio but it sounds.. just lacking. The bass for some scenes is minimal while others it's there but just sounds off. Dialogue sounds far away and effects can be muddy. I used to think this is a normal 5.1 sounds like and was somewhat satisfied until I learned of the bitstreaming feature in fddshow. After enabling it there was a huge difference! Everything sounded right. There as a thump to combat, highs were perfect and the dialogue felt ... I can't quite describe it.I was using the same AC3 test files for these tests. I also compared other formats (e-ac3, aac, dts etc). Nothing came close to bitstreaming ac3/dts Could this be a limitation due to some of my hardware? Or is it software related? I have tested MPC with ffdshow codec and LAV, also with ac3filters. They all gave somewhat similar results. Ac3 filter was kind of wacky. PotPlayer sounded the best, I'm guessing it was because of wasapi? I have also tried VLC with mixed results. MPC/VLC didn't come close to bitstreaming. Potplayer wasn't either but it was closer than the former players. With DD+ taking off I was hoping to get similar results to bitstreaming without dropping $$$ on a new setup. Is what I want possible? Thanks for your time. Specs: Receiver: Yamaha HTR-6090 HTPC: Intel 970/12gb ram/AMD HD6870 GPU. Using realtek amd hdmi drivers for audio. Windows 7

Hello, I'm relatively new to the forum and this is my first post, so please forgive me for anything that I might be doing wrong in this post. I was wondering what my best option for a graphics card would be for a home theater pc. I currently have a 1080p TV, but I plan to upgrade to 4K soon, so I will need something adequate to drive the display. I also have a 5.1 Surround setup which is soon to be upgraded to 7.1, so a sound card would be nice too. I won't be doing any gaming on it, just watching movies, other 4K content and browsing the web on it. I know that since I won't be playing any games on it, I won't need anything super crazy. If anyone has a good build plan for a home theater pc that would be fitting for my situation, please let me know. Also, I would prefer to keep the budget under $450. Thanks