The Home Theater thread

NetfreakBombay · 29th December 2010, 00:49

Even though TVs have USB ports and can read NTFS, they can't play any HD files. Playback is limited to SD DivX in most cases.

jassi · 29th December 2010, 00:53

^^ buddy maybe thats with older TVs - most new HDTVs can play 1080p HD files in any container (mkv, ts, m2ts, divxHD, etc) and put my PS3 to shame :-) Infact they can even output dolby 5.1 from files off usb via the optical out if connected to an HT!

NetfreakBombay · 29th December 2010, 01:02

Can you give me a few examples?

jassi · 29th December 2010, 01:24

sure thing look at page 27 on user guide of the samsung 5 series plasma PS50s550
http://downloadcenter.samsung.com/co...00Eng-0218.pdf
I just bought this tv so am talking from personal experience
There is also the samsung 4 series plasma 42c450 and 50c450 which can do the same stuff. Look at page 21 here
http://downloadcenter.samsung.com/co...00Eng-0302.pdf

These are the lowest end models and they offer this feature. You can search for other models here Support SAMSUNG

I am sure other manufacturers are offering similar features on not only plasmas, but LCDs and LED LCDs as well.

EDIT - pasting here incase the pdf is taking too long to load. Sorry the table in the pdf does not come up here though!

Supported Video Formats
File Extension Container Video Codec Resolution
Frame rate
(fps)
Bit rate
(Mbsp)
Audio Codec
*.avi
*.mkv
AVI
MKV
Divx 3.11 / 4.x / 5.1 / 6.0 1920x1080 6 ~ 30 8
MP3 / AC3 / LPCM /
ADPCM / DTS Core
XviD 1920x1080 6 ~ 30 8
H.264 BP / MP / HP 1920x1080 6 ~ 30 25
MPEG4 SP / ASP 1920x1080 6 ~ 30 8
*.asf ASF
Divx 3.11 / 4.x / 5.1 / 6.0 1920x1080 6 ~ 30 8
MP3 / AC3 / LPCM /
ADPCM / WMA
XviD 1920x1080 6 ~ 30 8
H.264 BP / MP / HP 1920x1080 6 ~ 30 25
MPEG4 SP / ASP 1920x1080 6 ~ 30 8
*.wmv ASF Window Media Video v9 1920x1080 6 ~ 30 25 WMA
*.mp4 MP4
H.264 BP / MP / HP 1920x1080 6 ~ 30 25
MPEG4 SP / ASP 1920x1080 6 ~ 30 8 MP3 / ADPCM / AAC
XVID 1920x1080 6 ~ 30 8
*.3gp 3GPP
H.264 BP / MP / HP 1920x1080 6 ~ 30 25
ADPCM / AAC / HE-AAC
MPEG4 SP / ASP 1920x1080 6 ~ 30 8
*.vro
VRO
VOB
MPEG1 1920x1080 24 / 25 / 30 30
AC3 / MPEG / LPCM
MPEG2 1920x1080 24 / 25 / 30 30
*.mpg
*.mpeg
PS
MPEG1 1920x1080 24 / 25 / 30 30
MPEG2 1920x1080 24 / 25 / 30 30 AC3 / MPEG / LPCM / AAC
H.264 1920x1080 6 ~ 30 25
*.ts
*.tp
*.trp
TS
MPEG2 1920x1080 24 / 25 / 30 30
AC3 / AAC / MP3 / DD+ /
HE-AAC
H.264 1920x1080 6 ~ 30 25
VC1 1920x1080 6 ~ 30 25

NetfreakBombay · 29th December 2010, 10:55

In this TV, playback is limited to low-quality files. E.g. MKV files more than 8 or 25 mbps would not work on this TV.

For example if you buy blu ray titles and keep a copy on your PC for playing back easily, those wont work on this TV because of limitation on bitrate.

You can check that easily by downloading few sample files (100% Legal) from:

High Definition Trailers (HD) - Demo World

Examples are "Orchestra (Long) (Lossless)" and "Amazing Life (Lossless)"

jassi · 29th December 2010, 11:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by NetfreakBombay

In this TV, playback is limited to low-quality files. E.g. MKV files more than 8 or 25 mbps would not work on this TV.

For example if you buy blu ray titles and keep a copy on your PC for playing back easily, those wont work on this TV because of limitation on bitrate.

You can check that easily by downloading few sample files (100% Legal) from:

High Definition Trailers (HD) - Demo World

Examples are "Orchestra (Long) (Lossless)" and "Amazing Life (Lossless)"

Nice! let me try those - why are the lossless ones 1080i? Is it lossless audio and hence the bigger size? Lets see if my tv can handle these, will try with dts, dolby 5.1 and dolby 7.1 via optical out to 7.1 HT

By the way, fwiw, i have 4TBs of personal blurays backed up as ts files mostly and they all work fine on the tv so far!

NetfreakBombay · 29th December 2010, 11:39

Did Bly Ray menus work on this TV? As per specs it does not support ISO for Blu Ray or DVD.

jassi · 29th December 2010, 11:45

nopes they weren't ISO files - like I said, i had them saved as 10-40gb TS, m2ts files.
Haven't tried ISOs - and even if they did work, I am sure the menus won't. Besides it does not take much to take out the actual ts file from the iso and play that instead of the whole ISO. I am not a menus enthusiast, just like high quality AV files ;-)

jassi · 29th December 2010, 20:06

@netfreakbombay - update for you - i tried those files and many more from my own collection. Yes the files take a few seconds to load, but they worked just fine. Have tried 1080/24p, 1080/60p, with 5.1 and 7.1 (dolby/dts) - some of them were clips like yours, some movies and some concerts, everything worked great.
Only issues I have had is with some HD WMV files where the audio codec does not always work (WMA certain versions). But otherwise all good :-)
So if someone has a new HDTV which already handles these formats over usb or an hdmi capable laptop, WD Live TV is not really needed - just get big fat regular WD harddisks and connect em to TV (or laptop with xbmc) :-)

Edit - correction - DTS 7.1 does not always pass through optical out correctly. A tiny hindrance but no biggie imho :-)

musicmanaman · 29th December 2010, 20:18

I don't know much about home theater systems, however I had bought an iball Taraang after seeing some magzine add, stating wood makes all the difference, and it costed me some Rs 1400/-, for that price it has mindblowing sound, very very nice, and I have connected the same with Phillips DVD player which I bought along with my Panasonic Vierra 32 inch, altogether a very good mix these three make to watch concerts. My brother also like the speakers and ended buying a pair for himself too.

NetfreakBombay · 29th December 2010, 21:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by jassi

Edit - correction - DTS 7.1 does not always pass through optical out correctly. A tiny hindrance but no biggie imho :-)

None of the HD audio codecs will work with Optical cable due to limited bandwidth.

TV can send audio to AVR via HDMI. HDMI 1.4 has option of "Audio return channel". With that the same cable that brings Audio+Video from AVR can take Audio from TV to AVR

jassi · 29th December 2010, 22:10

^^ yep i guess that was the problem - 5.1 dolby and 5.1 dts was working perfectly fine from tv to home theatre over optical passthrough, but 7.1 was a hit and miss.
Afaik my PS3 can send 7.1 from Bluray discs to home theatre over optical just fine!!

Edit - sorry just rechecked thats dolby ex not dolby trueHD over optical :-)

naj · 30th December 2010, 01:09

Hi!

All these days I have been enjoying the Marantz AVR with Polk TSI 500 floor standers.
I would say that the Polks are complete VFM for the price .Infact have found them to be better than many other floor standers.

Also I have been looking for a good sub .I had zeroed on the Klipsch reference sub 12,Velodyne impact 10,a 8 incher by svs and Polk DSW pro 600.
All retailing about 35k.

When I inquired about the Polks ,I was told that the DSW series has been revamped and new models have replaced the existing line up.After much research and review's study finally purchased the Polk DSW pro mini 1000 .
sub ,cost 29k with B&W.audio research RCA cable- 2k for 5 m.

This completes my 2.1 setup now.I have yet to rig up the sub.Will keep you posted with the results of the same.

Total cost 120k so far.

cheers,
naj

P.S- Special thanks to netfreak for advising me to buy the marantz AVR.
The extra analog inputs are great.

Visaster · 6th January 2011, 16:13

My setup from my school days
P2 computer with 2 logitech speakers

UG college days
P4 computer with creative 5.1 surround
14'' AIWA TV
Local amplifier (SP road Bangalore)
Custom speaker settings on a box (self made)
( it used to bring the roof down with RAW noise... :-) )

PG days
DELL inspiron laptop
same creative speaker, custom amp + speaker setting
Philips DVD player with USB support
Philips 5.1 1000W (with inbuilt FM)

Now
Got myself a HT rack custom made
Wall mounted my SONY 40EX400
Philips DVD player
Philips 5.1
Tatasky

What i need now is HELP on deciding

Hard disc ( company, capacity, cost range )
HDD player with WIFI capability
How does PS3 double as a HDD player and networking (internet browsing)

AV receiver and speakers after 6 months for sure.

VW2010 · 10th January 2011, 13:05

Quote:

In this TV, playback is limited to low-quality files. E.g. MKV files more than 8 or 25 mbps would not work on this TV.

For example if you buy blu ray titles and keep a copy on your PC for playing back easily, those wont work on this TV because of limitation on bitrate.

One way to play those files is you convert them using MVKMERGE and saving the file as .AVI. While converting change the options under compression to None. The conversion for a 8GB file will take around 2 minutes and the AVI is easilly played in any TV.

@Visaster - I keep reading your name as Vashishtar

. Anyway when you are planning to get an hard disk go for the slim, micro USB(Single USB cable) one. Get probably 2 500Gigs instead of one 1TB. Just to avoid single HD failure causing too much of stress. The DVD player should play your files.

PS3 brings with it the Blue ray player plus hard disk plus games. I almost wonder why I have not bought it yet. Beats me!!.

29th December 2010, 00:49	#1231
NetfreakBombay Senior - BHPian Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Bombay Posts: 1,466 Thanked: 1,021 Times	re: The Home Theater thread Even though TVs have USB ports and can read NTFS, they can't play any HD files. Playback is limited to SD DivX in most cases.
	() Thanks

29th December 2010, 00:53	#1232
jassi BHPian Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Melbourne Posts: 980 Thanked: 11 Times View My Garage	re: The Home Theater thread ^^ buddy maybe thats with older TVs - most new HDTVs can play 1080p HD files in any container (mkv, ts, m2ts, divxHD, etc) and put my PS3 to shame :-) Infact they can even output dolby 5.1 from files off usb via the optical out if connected to an HT!
	() Thanks

29th December 2010, 01:02	#1233
NetfreakBombay Senior - BHPian Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Bombay Posts: 1,466 Thanked: 1,021 Times	re: The Home Theater thread Can you give me a few examples?
	() Thanks

29th December 2010, 01:24	#1234
jassi BHPian Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Melbourne Posts: 980 Thanked: 11 Times View My Garage	re: The Home Theater thread sure thing look at page 27 on user guide of the samsung 5 series plasma PS50s550 http://downloadcenter.samsung.com/co...00Eng-0218.pdf I just bought this tv so am talking from personal experience There is also the samsung 4 series plasma 42c450 and 50c450 which can do the same stuff. Look at page 21 here http://downloadcenter.samsung.com/co...00Eng-0302.pdf These are the lowest end models and they offer this feature. You can search for other models here Support SAMSUNG I am sure other manufacturers are offering similar features on not only plasmas, but LCDs and LED LCDs as well. EDIT - pasting here incase the pdf is taking too long to load. Sorry the table in the pdf does not come up here though! Supported Video Formats File Extension Container Video Codec Resolution Frame rate (fps) Bit rate (Mbsp) Audio Codec .avi .mkv AVI MKV Divx 3.11 / 4.x / 5.1 / 6.0 1920x1080 6 ~ 30 8 MP3 / AC3 / LPCM / ADPCM / DTS Core XviD 1920x1080 6 ~ 30 8 H.264 BP / MP / HP 1920x1080 6 ~ 30 25 MPEG4 SP / ASP 1920x1080 6 ~ 30 8 .asf ASF Divx 3.11 / 4.x / 5.1 / 6.0 1920x1080 6 ~ 30 8 MP3 / AC3 / LPCM / ADPCM / WMA XviD 1920x1080 6 ~ 30 8 H.264 BP / MP / HP 1920x1080 6 ~ 30 25 MPEG4 SP / ASP 1920x1080 6 ~ 30 8 .wmv ASF Window Media Video v9 1920x1080 6 ~ 30 25 WMA .mp4 MP4 H.264 BP / MP / HP 1920x1080 6 ~ 30 25 MPEG4 SP / ASP 1920x1080 6 ~ 30 8 MP3 / ADPCM / AAC XVID 1920x1080 6 ~ 30 8 .3gp 3GPP H.264 BP / MP / HP 1920x1080 6 ~ 30 25 ADPCM / AAC / HE-AAC MPEG4 SP / ASP 1920x1080 6 ~ 30 8 .vro VRO VOB MPEG1 1920x1080 24 / 25 / 30 30 AC3 / MPEG / LPCM MPEG2 1920x1080 24 / 25 / 30 30 .mpg .mpeg PS MPEG1 1920x1080 24 / 25 / 30 30 MPEG2 1920x1080 24 / 25 / 30 30 AC3 / MPEG / LPCM / AAC H.264 1920x1080 6 ~ 30 25 .ts .tp .trp TS MPEG2 1920x1080 24 / 25 / 30 30 AC3 / AAC / MP3 / DD+ / HE-AAC H.264 1920x1080 6 ~ 30 25 VC1 1920x1080 6 ~ 30 25 Last edited by jassi : 29th December 2010 at 01:32.
	() Thanks

29th December 2010, 10:55	#1235
NetfreakBombay Senior - BHPian Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Bombay Posts: 1,466 Thanked: 1,021 Times	re: The Home Theater thread In this TV, playback is limited to low-quality files. E.g. MKV files more than 8 or 25 mbps would not work on this TV. For example if you buy blu ray titles and keep a copy on your PC for playing back easily, those wont work on this TV because of limitation on bitrate. You can check that easily by downloading few sample files (100% Legal) from: High Definition Trailers (HD) - Demo World Examples are "Orchestra (Long) (Lossless)" and "Amazing Life (Lossless)"
	() Thanks

29th December 2010, 11:39	#1237
NetfreakBombay Senior - BHPian Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Bombay Posts: 1,466 Thanked: 1,021 Times	re: The Home Theater thread Did Bly Ray menus work on this TV? As per specs it does not support ISO for Blu Ray or DVD.
	() Thanks

29th December 2010, 11:45	#1238
jassi BHPian Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Melbourne Posts: 980 Thanked: 11 Times View My Garage	re: The Home Theater thread nopes they weren't ISO files - like I said, i had them saved as 10-40gb TS, m2ts files. Haven't tried ISOs - and even if they did work, I am sure the menus won't. Besides it does not take much to take out the actual ts file from the iso and play that instead of the whole ISO. I am not a menus enthusiast, just like high quality AV files ;-)
	() Thanks

29th December 2010, 20:06	#1239
jassi BHPian Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Melbourne Posts: 980 Thanked: 11 Times View My Garage	re: The Home Theater thread @netfreakbombay - update for you - i tried those files and many more from my own collection. Yes the files take a few seconds to load, but they worked just fine. Have tried 1080/24p, 1080/60p, with 5.1 and 7.1 (dolby/dts) - some of them were clips like yours, some movies and some concerts, everything worked great. Only issues I have had is with some HD WMV files where the audio codec does not always work (WMA certain versions). But otherwise all good :-) So if someone has a new HDTV which already handles these formats over usb or an hdmi capable laptop, WD Live TV is not really needed - just get big fat regular WD harddisks and connect em to TV (or laptop with xbmc) :-) Edit - correction - DTS 7.1 does not always pass through optical out correctly. A tiny hindrance but no biggie imho :-) Last edited by jassi : 29th December 2010 at 20:14.
	() Thanks

29th December 2010, 20:18	#1240
musicmanaman BHPian Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: kolkata Posts: 927 Thanked: 25 Times	re: The Home Theater thread I don't know much about home theater systems, however I had bought an iball Taraang after seeing some magzine add, stating wood makes all the difference, and it costed me some Rs 1400/-, for that price it has mindblowing sound, very very nice, and I have connected the same with Phillips DVD player which I bought along with my Panasonic Vierra 32 inch, altogether a very good mix these three make to watch concerts. My brother also like the speakers and ended buying a pair for himself too.
	() Thanks

29th December 2010, 22:10	#1242
jassi BHPian Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Melbourne Posts: 980 Thanked: 11 Times View My Garage	re: The Home Theater thread ^^ yep i guess that was the problem - 5.1 dolby and 5.1 dts was working perfectly fine from tv to home theatre over optical passthrough, but 7.1 was a hit and miss. Afaik my PS3 can send 7.1 from Bluray discs to home theatre over optical just fine!! Edit - sorry just rechecked thats dolby ex not dolby trueHD over optical :-) Last edited by jassi : 29th December 2010 at 22:17.
	() Thanks

30th December 2010, 01:09	#1243
naj BHPian Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: N Israel/ Pune Posts: 201 Thanked: 172 Times	re: The Home Theater thread Hi! All these days I have been enjoying the Marantz AVR with Polk TSI 500 floor standers. I would say that the Polks are complete VFM for the price .Infact have found them to be better than many other floor standers. Also I have been looking for a good sub .I had zeroed on the Klipsch reference sub 12,Velodyne impact 10,a 8 incher by svs and Polk DSW pro 600. All retailing about 35k. When I inquired about the Polks ,I was told that the DSW series has been revamped and new models have replaced the existing line up.After much research and review's study finally purchased the Polk DSW pro mini 1000 . sub ,cost 29k with B&W.audio research RCA cable- 2k for 5 m. This completes my 2.1 setup now.I have yet to rig up the sub.Will keep you posted with the results of the same. Total cost 120k so far. cheers, naj P.S- Special thanks to netfreak for advising me to buy the marantz AVR. The extra analog inputs are great. Last edited by naj : 30th December 2010 at 01:11.
	() Thanks

6th January 2011, 16:13	#1244
Visaster BHPian Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Chennai Posts: 605 Thanked: 261 Times	re: The Home Theater thread My setup from my school days P2 computer with 2 logitech speakers UG college days P4 computer with creative 5.1 surround 14'' AIWA TV Local amplifier (SP road Bangalore) Custom speaker settings on a box (self made) ( it used to bring the roof down with RAW noise... :-) ) PG days DELL inspiron laptop same creative speaker, custom amp + speaker setting Philips DVD player with USB support Philips 5.1 1000W (with inbuilt FM) Now Got myself a HT rack custom made Wall mounted my SONY 40EX400 Philips DVD player Philips 5.1 Tatasky What i need now is HELP on deciding Hard disc ( company, capacity, cost range ) HDD player with WIFI capability How does PS3 double as a HDD player and networking (internet browsing) AV receiver and speakers after 6 months for sure.
	() Thanks