Which MATX mobo's support 1366 x 768 (or 1360 x 768).

[dvdnoddy]

I've got a HTPC based on ASUS M2A-VM HDMI which I have unfortunately found out doesn't support 1366 x 768 via either VGA or HDMI.

I'm planning on a 2nd HTPC but this time need to make sure this one will support 1366 x 768 (or 1360 x 768).

Ideally I would want Sata / Firewire / HDMI and it could be either AM2 or Core 2 Duo.

I know I could just add a graphics card but I want to keep heat (and therefore cooling) to a minimum.

Any Ideas?

[davejm]

I just bought the Abit Fatal1ty F-190HD motherboard for my Dad's HTPC build.

It has onboard HDMI, and will output at 1360x768 - which is the exact resolution that my Dad is using on his Samsung 32" R87 LCD.

That said, there are reported issues with the board. It seems to have really flakey RAM support, and it didn't support the OCZ RAM I bought for my Dad at all. I had to replace it with my Crucial Ballistix RAM, but it works OK now. I'm also having trouble updating the BIOS (the BIOS update utility just freezes on me).

All in all it seems decent. The onboard HDMI is handy, and it has optical audio out too.

[yeancheant]

i have the f-190hd and I had problem getting it to display at 1366x768 via the HDMI. The motherboard works perfect with the VGA connector but it forces the TV to display at 1280x720 when connected via HDMI. The next resolution is 1080p i think and there is no option to choose custom resolution

[Wo0zy]

Intel IGP boards can support up to 5 custom timings of your choice. If 1360x768 isn't available by default you can create a DTD for it.

Wo0zy

[igor123]

Originally Posted by Wo0zy

Intel IGP boards can support up to 5 custom timings of your choice. If 1360x768 isn't available by default you can create a DTD for it.

Sorry for being a noob, but I too am interested in this.

I was looking at Gigabyte G33M-S2H. Onboard graphic is Intel GMA 3100 chipset. Do you think this board would be able to use custom resolutions as well?

[Wo0zy]

Originally Posted by igor123

Sorry for being a noob, but I too am interested in this.

I was looking at Gigabyte G33M-S2H. Onboard graphic is Intel GMA 3100 chipset. Do you think this board would be able to use custom resolutions as well?

Yes it can.

However, it only has basic deinterlacing capabilities. This means that the video playback quality for TV is very average (visible combing/feathering etc) but progressive sources (DVD's etc) look very nice.

If you plan on using the system for TV/PVR functions I would suggest you consider a G35-based MoBo instead.

By the way, many TV's won't accept 13060x768 (even if it is the native res). If in doubt, decode the EDID information. It may be necessary to use 1280x720 and adjust using DTD Calculator to eliminate the overscan.

Check out http://softwarecommunity.intel.com/i.../30244730.aspx and http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=947830 for more information about Intel Graphics and custom resolutions. Archibael is THE source of knowledge on this topic.

Hope this helps.

Wo0zy.

[igor123]

Thanks for your help. This whole "connect your HTPC to tv" thing is becoming more complicated than I thought.

Originally Posted by Wo0zy

However, it only has basic deinterlacing capabilities. This means that the video playback quality for TV is very average (visible combing/feathering etc) but progressive sources (DVD's etc) look very nice.

I always thought that tv tuner card would be responsible for video playback quality... so actually the chipset in my mobo is a factor too?

What about just playing some HD movies from my hard drive? Will the quality be anyhow affected depending on motherboard (assuming the processor will do all h264 decoding)?

Originally Posted by Wo0zy

If you plan on using the system for TV/PVR functions I would suggest you consider a G35-based MoBo instead.

Yeah, I was planning that. I actually did look for Asus P5E-VM HDMI board, but it's yet nowhere to be found in a retail store in my country.

[Wo0zy]

Originally Posted by igor123

I always thought that tv tuner card would be responsible for video playback quality... so actually the chipset in my mobo is a factor too?

The extent to which your tuner card effects PQ depends on the type of TV service. If it's an analogue service the tuner card can is very responsible for PQ. If it's DVB-T (Freeview) then strictly speaking the tuner is only passing the MPEG2 stream virtually untouched. The final output quality depends on a few factors, but the two key things IMO are the decoder quality and the post processing capabilites of your Graphics Card/ IGP (also the interaction between the two). Broadcast TV is interlaced so your graphics card/decoder needs to deinterlace the image before outputting it. It gets complicated here and various solutions/combo's offer different options. However, using VMC for example (with the built in MS decoder) and an Intel IGP you have no control over the deinterlacing method used so if you don't like the results you're stuck. G33 has standard "adaptive deinterlacing" whereas G35 has advanced deinterlacing features. I'm speaking to a contact at Intel to try and find out the exact details but the image quality is significantly better with the advanced capabilities of the G35 solution.

There's a lot more to this but I don't want to ramble on too much.

Originally Posted by igor123

What about just playing some HD movies from my hard drive? Will the quality be anyhow affected depending on motherboard (assuming the processor will do all h264 decoding)?

From the testing I've done I see no significant difference in PQ between G33 and G35 when viewing Progressive content such as most DVD's and HD DVD/BR (others may argue differently). You are correct that both will rely on the CPU for decoding. If we're talking H.264 then an E6600 is the minimum I would recommend without overclocking the hell out of the system. Also 2GB RAM should be the minimum (PowerDVD using 1.2GB (ish) when playing back most of the HD Discs I tried). Obviously an ATI 2600 or NVIDIA 8600 system is a different matter altogether.

Also, if you're talking about commerical discs be aware that Cyberlink recently "disabled" the "playback from HDD" feature for HD content. Very frustrating but there's no sign of them enabling it again at present (AACS LA put A LOT of pressure on them). However I'm hopeful a suitable workaround will appear soon.

Originally Posted by igor123

Yeah, I was planning that. I actually did look for Asus P5E-VM HDMI board, but it's yet nowhere to be found in a retail store in my country.

Good board! Where are you? I'm in the UK and a few have trickled in so far. Overclockers had some last week and Scan are expecting a delivery within the next week or so.

Hope this helps rather than complicates things. If I can help further please let me know.

Good luck.

Wo0zy

[igor123]

Your reply actually sheds some light on the matter

I'm in Croatia (that's somewhere far south-east) and compared to the rest of Europe our retailers usually lack behind a month or two. Nothing I can do about it, I guess

Well, I'm not in a hurry to build my HTPC, so I'll wait a little longer. Besides, looking around for best possible solution and learning new stuff is fun too.

Regards.