Hi, so this section of the forum seemed to have the most broad knowledge. Here goes: I have an old, out of date PC, I was going to upgrade most of it and wanted it to be able to play hi-def 1080p movies, or even blueray discs. It is hooked in to my 1080p tv via a dvi --- hdmi cable. I have tried to read up on what I need to do but it is a little beyond me. I also have a Mac mini PowerPac G4 which wont play Hi-def at this time either - I have just ordered more Ram for this to take it from 1.25 to 1gb. I have considered buying a PS3 just for the blueray capabilities, but I watch the majority of my movies off of my pc / mac and often watch tv from either. So at this time I don't buy movies in. What I want to know is: Would I be able to play flawless Hi-def from the hard-drive (not off a disc) through dvi-hdmi and if so what graphics card etc would be recommended, and is it possible to upgrade the Mac to play too? I appreciate you may want the specs of my PC, but thought I would ask theoretically first. From reading off the net it seems I would want a graphics card which dealt with all of the decoding itself, is that correct? Also if the best option is a blueray reader it would want to be a burner too, but I', assuming that the graphics card would still need to be upgraded anyway, on something like a NVIDA GEforce 5600 (that's roughly right). Thanks for your time and knowledge. Ben
1.) Most remotely modern hard drives are faster than Blu-Ray speed, so playing them off the hard drive would not be a big problem to the hard drive. 2.) Are you sure you want 1080i? 1080P is much better, and even 720P is better in most cases. 3.) Most any vide card being sold with 512MB memory should do the task just fine. I know the ATI HD3870 card I am using laughs at such small tasks as 1080P. 4.) Of course, you will need a decent CPU, memory, etc...just about any 64-bit CPU should be enough, but you want dual or quad-core if you intend on watching movies while doing other stuff at the same time. 5.) LG makes a very nice blu-ray reader/burner drive...it is $200 on newegg. 6.) The PS3 was once a good value Blu-Ray player (at release, it costed less than a Blu-Ray Burner), but the prices for the rest of the industry have fallen off big time. Unless you want to use it as a game system, it is not worth it. 7.) Don't know about the MAC, but I would not expect much expandability from such a small box...My video card is longer than that micro-box.
Killer, Thanks for such a quick reply. I may have mistakenly said 1080i, but I believe I meant 1080p..that's what my tv is. Here is a copy of the computer system I have. Now I know my friend has made improvements for me, added Ram etc, would that show here? If so then this is correct as to what I have. Now I know he has more up to date parts waiting for me, but unfortunately he is one of those people who will get around to it eventually (I've been waiting two years for the upgrade). So I need to sort it myself. I think the parts include a motherboard with the better type of processor and another part which is good...(technical knowledge at its best there!). Windows XP Version 2002 Service pack 3 Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4CPU 3.00GHz 1.50 GHz, 2.00GB of RAM Nvidia GeFORCE FX5600 erm...I don't know what else to add really. If you think a Blue-ray reader/writer would be better then that's what I'll go for. I am assuming that I'd be able to plug it in to the tv through the Mac or if not run it through the PC to the TV via HDMI? Ben
A Blue ray reader/writer will not be an improvement over the hard drive; I was just thinking 'How is he going to get the videos onto the hard drive?'. The unit I mentioned is an internal drive that WILL NOT work with you mini-mac. The CPU & memory should be just enough to to 1080P video. (Just barely; maybe you can get the parts from your friend and do the upgrade yourself?) XP is good for this; you do not have enough power to be waisting on vista. The video card is the only question...I never tested any of the cards from that series and do not know what it is capable of.
A P4 will not play HD videos, atleast my old P4 wouldnt. You would need atleast a Core2DUo for 1080p i would think.
I'm pretty doubtful about a P4 being able to play fullHD stuff as well. As far as the PS3 goes it's a great machine, but only as a blu-ray player it is painful for most people as it can't use IR remotes, nor will it work with your all-in-one remote, and the bluetooth PS3 remote does not have a power button on it either. If you're just looking to watch movies you probably won't enjoy the hassle.
