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The Official PC building thread - 4th Edition
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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21. June 2011 @ 13:46 |
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Internet-based TV/film is encoded, in much the same way (albeit using different code) as music is. Music on a CD is 700MB for a 70-80 minute album, yet in MP3 form, you can fit 10 hours plus at a modest bitrate in the same size. It works the same way for video, including high-def. When you have a bluray, it'll be 20-50GB in size for 1.5-3.5 hours of video, but a 1080p rip of the film need only be 7-20GB in size, and that's good quality. 720p is obviously half that size. If you're making a proper bluray from one of these rips, even though it gains you nothing in terms of image quality, the file size will increase again, similarly to burning a CD-player-compatible Audio CD from some small MP3s.
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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21. June 2011 @ 13:47 |
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By the way Fred, such things do sort of already exist. They're maybe not instant plug-and-play but devices like the popcorn hour allow the insertion of your disk drives, and play the content from them straight to a TV like a DVD player would, without a PC being needed.
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Moderator
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21. June 2011 @ 13:49 |
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Fred - I personally have a separate, external hard drive (some are bare drives as they are only accessed in a SATA docking station, some are in their own caddies) for each internal hard drive as i'm not into RAID protection. Yes hard drives are mechanical and can fail (especially when knocked!) but i far prefer that method now over literally many 1000 separate optical discs. (Each to their own though!). So to watch a movie or documentary, TV show or whatever, the main PC has to be on as that's where all the 'content' lives. Then to watch anything there's a PC and old type xbox in the other bedroom (as one bedroom is my computer room) and another PC and old type xbox in the lounge. Of course there's wireless thru the whole place but i find wired connections more stable personally (for anything more than general surfing, but that's just me).
And that's it really, if we're watching standard definition, we flick on an old type xbox (as they can handle up to 480p), for anything more we just flick on a PC or laptop/netbook. It's just a very simple way to access/watch anything. But each to their own :)
Main PC ~ Intel C2Q Q6600 (G0 Stepping)/Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3/2GB Crucial Ballistix PC2-8500/Zalman CNPS9700/Antec 900/Corsair HX 620W
Network ~ DD-WRT ~ 2node WDS-WPA2/AES ~ Buffalo WHR-G54S. 3node WPA2/AES ~ WRT54GS v6 (inc. WEP BSSID), WRT54G v2, WRT54G2 v1. *** Forum Rules ***This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 21. June 2011 @ 13:51
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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21. June 2011 @ 13:53 |
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Exactly the same method I use, I've seen too many mishaps with RAID for me to ever rely on it. 'Hillbilly RAID' as its known, isolates the drives from:
-Bad luck (more than 1/2 drives failing in the same period)
-Batch faults (where several drives fail together due to a bad batch of drives)
-Power surges / Machine power faults (where multiple drives get zapped by a bad PSU or mains power surge)
-Theft/Damage (where the entire PC could potentially be stolen or dropped/damaged)
It's one step away from offsite backup, which should always be used if your data is absolutely mission-critical.
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Senior Member
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21. June 2011 @ 14:14 |
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LOL, I love this particular forum, even though I do not understand everything you guys explain I do get some of it, and getting just some is still fine with me, like this raid stuff lol, way over my head, we all have our why's on using dvd's and HDD storage, and all still are good points, even though I can't disagree with HDD storage, I do think it's great, I would love to eliminate all my dvd's cause truth is I am getting run over by them, soon the tv show the hoarders will have to come over and help me lol, but we need them for the convience as I explained many times before.
Of course my only two quirps on HDD movie storage is the one not be able to go from romm to room, and second the life span, can you imagine loosing like 500 movies at one shot cause one of your 2 or 3 tb externals went south, after all that work I would need a diaper, and yes I know this issue is still not solved, but I still think in the near future it will. If I had the smarts and the bucks, I'll be damed if I wouldn't give it a shot.
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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21. June 2011 @ 14:18 |
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Well, that's what backups and networking are for, solves both problems :)
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Moderator
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21. June 2011 @ 14:18 |
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Fred - re room to room, everything is accessible thru every room as everything's on the same network, wired and wirelessly. So we can have movies watched in every room if need be, all from the same main PC.
As to hard drives, you rightly point out that it would be a killer to lose the contents from a huge hard drive, i try to offset that risk by having two, separate hard drives for each movie/TV series or whatever. I'd like to have a 3rd hard drive for each internal hard drive but it's too expensive for now.
edit- ..what Sam said :)
Main PC ~ Intel C2Q Q6600 (G0 Stepping)/Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3/2GB Crucial Ballistix PC2-8500/Zalman CNPS9700/Antec 900/Corsair HX 620W
Network ~ DD-WRT ~ 2node WDS-WPA2/AES ~ Buffalo WHR-G54S. 3node WPA2/AES ~ WRT54GS v6 (inc. WEP BSSID), WRT54G v2, WRT54G2 v1. *** Forum Rules ***
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 21. June 2011 @ 14:19
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Senior Member
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21. June 2011 @ 14:23 |
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Fred, When you see a BD ripped to a DVD or CD size it is normally stripped and compressed but with compression you lose quality (detail). So a 30GB movie compressed to 1 GB wouldn't be the greatest in my mind, even though it is done all the time. If I'm watching that movie on my iWhatever or any small hand held devices I'll probably not notice the poor quality, but who would want to do that unless it was your only option. Remember transistor radios? We are in the transistor radio age of people who think they are in to quality and Hi-Fidelity but are really into poor quality and low fidelity.
I personally don't like compressing below BD25 although I have done BD9's and if the movie starts out around 17GB it not bad but I wouldn't do it for a 40GB movie even as Movie Only.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 21. June 2011 @ 14:24
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Moderator
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21. June 2011 @ 14:25 |
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I don't want to turn this thread further into movies but BR and BD Rips of DVD-size and less can and do have fantastic quality. I'll leave Sam to write a more techie description if he wants but that's as easy as i can explain it. 480p and 720p BR/BD Rips when properly encoded can be very crisp indeed.
Main PC ~ Intel C2Q Q6600 (G0 Stepping)/Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3/2GB Crucial Ballistix PC2-8500/Zalman CNPS9700/Antec 900/Corsair HX 620W
Network ~ DD-WRT ~ 2node WDS-WPA2/AES ~ Buffalo WHR-G54S. 3node WPA2/AES ~ WRT54GS v6 (inc. WEP BSSID), WRT54G v2, WRT54G2 v1. *** Forum Rules ***
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 21. June 2011 @ 14:27
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Senior Member
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21. June 2011 @ 14:26 |
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Oh I forgot to mention, sammy said something about this popcorn hour thingy, no pc needed, I need to check that out.
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Senior Member
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21. June 2011 @ 14:31 |
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I do remember you guys mentioning, back up your HDD's, if you have 25 2tb hdd's, than need another 25 to back that up? that's pushing it don't you guys think?
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Moderator
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21. June 2011 @ 14:37 |
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It would be, but as hard drives keep increasing in size it's still less drives to have to have a copy of. But yeah, at some point it gets silly. It's a good way to store data for now, but what i can tell you for sure is that i'm not falling for any of that 'Cloud' nonsense, where big corporations store all your data for you so that you don't have to. I wouldn't want that for my own data nor for a company's data. So for now big hard drives for me are the best method, but in future, who knows what we'll do as the big coporations want all of our data to be theirs.
Main PC ~ Intel C2Q Q6600 (G0 Stepping)/Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3/2GB Crucial Ballistix PC2-8500/Zalman CNPS9700/Antec 900/Corsair HX 620W
Network ~ DD-WRT ~ 2node WDS-WPA2/AES ~ Buffalo WHR-G54S. 3node WPA2/AES ~ WRT54GS v6 (inc. WEP BSSID), WRT54G v2, WRT54G2 v1. *** Forum Rules ***
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 21. June 2011 @ 14:39
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AfterDawn Addict
7 product reviews
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21. June 2011 @ 14:44 |
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We'll see how those compressed HD flicks look on a projector! I prefer to keep BD backups, not DVD-9. But I don't have a projector, YET! So I can't prove if they lose enough quality, when blown up to say 100Ft wide. I'd sure like to see BD projected to huge sizes like that ;)
To delete, or not to delete. THAT is the question! |
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21. June 2011 @ 14:46 |
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I can't speak for projectors, but on large LCD TV's they are crisp enough. But i get your point
Main PC ~ Intel C2Q Q6600 (G0 Stepping)/Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3/2GB Crucial Ballistix PC2-8500/Zalman CNPS9700/Antec 900/Corsair HX 620W
Network ~ DD-WRT ~ 2node WDS-WPA2/AES ~ Buffalo WHR-G54S. 3node WPA2/AES ~ WRT54GS v6 (inc. WEP BSSID), WRT54G v2, WRT54G2 v1. *** Forum Rules ***
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Senior Member
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21. June 2011 @ 14:48 |
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Originally posted by creaky:
I don't want to turn this thread further into movies but BR and BD Rips of DVD-size and less can and do have fantastic quality. I'll leave Sam to write a more techie description if he wants but that's as easy as i can explain it. 480p and 720p BR/BD Rips when properly encoded can be very crisp indeed.
See I told you the transistor radio age is back and in full rore.
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Moderator
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21. June 2011 @ 14:52 |
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Nothing wrong with older tech or older methods, my main linux box is a lowly Athlon 2800, and a good portion of my thinking/ways and tech are olde worlde. I only go modern in things i need to, i'm a firm believer in "if it still works, keep using it" :)
Main PC ~ Intel C2Q Q6600 (G0 Stepping)/Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3/2GB Crucial Ballistix PC2-8500/Zalman CNPS9700/Antec 900/Corsair HX 620W
Network ~ DD-WRT ~ 2node WDS-WPA2/AES ~ Buffalo WHR-G54S. 3node WPA2/AES ~ WRT54GS v6 (inc. WEP BSSID), WRT54G v2, WRT54G2 v1. *** Forum Rules ***
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Senior Member
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21. June 2011 @ 15:21 |
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Nothing wrong with that Creaky I have a friend that causes himself nothing but headaches as he is always tinkering with his stuff instead of getting it working and leaving it alone. So what happens is through his tinkering he screws thing up and then starts blaming MS and all other manufactures when in fact he screwed it up. I just sit back and laugh, shame on me, but it is too funny and I try to instill in him that it would be better not to mess around always but he can't keep his fingers out. As you love to say "To each his own".
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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21. June 2011 @ 17:00 |
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Originally posted by creaky:
Mine hasn't, but that's fine as i'm not a fan of eSATA, i dislike it quite a bit truth be told.
eSATA is the least reliable interface of all, it's true. It's just quick. Having to replace the hardware and the cables every few months is a real pain.
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AfterDawn Addict
7 product reviews
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21. June 2011 @ 17:02 |
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I haven't had any trouble with my eSATA card, or dock. The front eSATA port on my HAF932 and the front port on my brothers card reader is obviously cheaply made. Disconnections happen :( Otherwise I love the interface. Excellent transfer speeds externally. Manufacturers simply need to make them better!
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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21. June 2011 @ 17:06 |
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I'm using an external port on my P55A-UD4, and the front port on my NZXT Whisper, since the front panel of the HAF doesn't work. I've had to replace a couple of cables, the first dock still works, the second one seems a bit dodgy.
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AfterDawn Addict
7 product reviews
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21. June 2011 @ 17:12 |
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Since my cable and dock work well on the eSATA card (virtually zero hiccups), I'm forced to believe that the ports of the ones I mentioned are faulty. I don't take coincidences lightly ;) I sure hope my dock doesn't go bad :S I love it.
I suppose it is possible, that the port on my brothers card reader simply doesn't like my cable. In which I could attempt to find one that fits more snug ;)
To delete, or not to delete. THAT is the question! |
AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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21. June 2011 @ 17:18 |
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Given I have to replace internal S-ATA cables monthly or so, external ones I assume are the same.
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AfterDawn Addict
7 product reviews
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21. June 2011 @ 17:22 |
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I've only ever replaced one s-ata cable. and that was in my brothers machine :p
Who knows though. A current bug I have may be attributed to a bad cable :S
To delete, or not to delete. THAT is the question! This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 21. June 2011 @ 17:23
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Senior Member
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21. June 2011 @ 17:27 |
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Originally posted by sammorris:
Given I have to replace internal S-ATA cables monthly or so, external ones I assume are the same.
sammy, why would you have to replace those cables that often?
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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21. June 2011 @ 17:32 |
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That's about how often they fail... :S
By which I mean I have to replace one a month, not every cable every month, but still it's annoying.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 21. June 2011 @ 17:32
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