ckolchak

well, i just found out my pj DOESN"T synch to PAL progressive in component, so if i want progressive, an htpc is going to have to be the way to go.
having no pc knowledge at all (been using a mac since i started), i'm not looking forward to 'the initiation time'.
it would have been great if the Malata or a moded JVC would have done the trick, but looks like its not to be.

i realize the malata will transcode to NTSC, but it seems like all this downconverting-format scaling would degrade the picture to a point where the 'pal quality upgrade' would just be rendered moot.

so now i'm looking at a $1200-$1400 purchase in the future-not to mention all the windows headaches i expect.

all this because f$#@*%ing MGM did me dirty on Jean DeFlorette & Manon.

Yellow Hammer

whacha talking bout, Willis?

Furious

Ah nothing to fear here. Believe it or not getting setup with a HTPC in the windows environment isn't too bad. Win2k or 98/Millenium are pretty solid choices with the more matured hardware/driver support. Windows OS's offer a bit of a challenge at first but can be mastered within a few days with a bit of FAQ reading and such.

As you've found out over at Avsforum it won't cost you nearly as much as you think. For instance I'm simply running an older p3-500 which more than suffices in combination with my Electrohome CRT. And your definitely right, VGA support makes the Pal/NTSC/Progressive scan issue a nonissue, offering the most superior solution to date for such a low cost without any of the issues that the Malata and similiar players face. As an added bonus you are not going to get any of the horrible chroma bugs that plauge many progressive scan players. The only thing you are missing out on is the deinterlacing performance that a Sage based progressive scan player would offer. A minor trade off given that video sourced material is going to be the biggest culprit for interlacing problems rather than film based sources.

Throw in applications like dscaler, yxy, powerstrip, and the like and you are laughing. It's unfortunate that equivalent Mac software doesn't exist, I wouldn't mind having a silent cube hooked up to the projector to at least kill one of these noise makers....

axolotls return

damn.. more acronyms to remember. pj=projector

ckolchak

Furious,
that $1200-1400 figure was from a local computer dealer i called yesterday. For built to order.
of course, since i don't know this OS/HW system at all, i'm at the mercy of his recommendations.
this was for a pentium 4, etc, etc...
by the time i have it built (which won't be at least until spring), i should have a better idea of what i can get away with and won't be taken to the cleaners.
i still realive that $1200 is either at or below what AVS wants for a turn-key system, but i'd like to get by for under $800.

benedict

<small>Someone tell me if this should be on the "PC Hardware" or the "Home Theater" forums!</small>

Furious

Unfortunately this thread could go in anyone of three forums, PC, DVD/Hometheater, or International. Unfortunately for most international dvd users a HTPC is one of the least utilized methods for watching multiregional/standard releases. A shame really....