Third time lucky!

[TLS Guy]

As some of you will know I have recently built and installed an HTPC in my AV room.



Everything went swimmingly, except finding the right software.

This was my one mistake not researching this item satisfactorily.

I first bought the Corel, WinDVD pro11. That was a total disaster, as there either was no exe file or it would not open. I'm not the only one who ran into that problem by a long shot. They are a dreadful company and wanted to charge me twice as much for online support as the cost of the software. After a lot of pushing and cancelling payment from my credit card, that gave me a complete refund.

So the I loaded up the Cyber suite that came with the Pioneer CD/DVD/BD player burner. That loaded, but is also a disaster. It is glitchy an BD play back could not be more awkward.

So I hate to admit it, but that "other forum", AVS steered me to this software, ArcSoft Total Media Theater 5.

This is excellent. It has a very good 66 page instruction manual you can download and study before purchase. Download and installation went without a hitch. Audio and video set up was a breeze.

It worked perfectly first time. It is actually easier to navigate a BD disc than with my Oppo player. Output is PCM, the software does not allow the HTPC to output bit stream, but that is a minor matter.

This is by far the most expensive software, at just under $100, plus $8 for the back up disc.

I guess you pay for what you get. For anyone planning and HTPC, don't waste your time and money on any other software. This is good software and has excellent instructions. I give it an A+.

I have been under the weather today. I'm pretty sure I have influenza A, despite being immunized this season. This has happened to me before.

Any how I have been in my AV room with the heat turned up, so I have not been hard done by.

I have really been enjoying the BPO Digital Concert Hall.

It is H.264 MPEG4 and audio 320 kbs AAC. So the audio is the same as DVD, but the picture is a lot better than DVD.

These concerts are superbly produced, and the audio is actually very good. I have bought a season ticket and thoroughly recommend this site.

I have for years been skeptical of a picture with the audio for symphonic music, but after purchasing some BD discs, I have had a total change of view and now endorse it enthusiastically. Having the picture really adds to the excitement and makes you feel part of the concert.

Google are trialling fiber with 1 Gig/sec up and down in Kansas city. I suspect it will not be long before this material can be presented in BD quality.

I think there will be more sites like this come on line. Mission and Linn have HTPC type devices for Europe, but they are very expensive. When I add it all up my project was not cheap, but less than half the cost of those offerings.

I'm glad to say I have put together a high quality stable device, miles out of the junk category.

I'm very glad I went to the trouble of putting this unit together. I'm really enjoying it, and I think I will almost certainly use it more and more in the years to come.

I think the classical music lover has more to be gained from this unit than almost any other user. Thoroughly recommended.