DTS-HD streaming mini pc advice please. Please be gentle!

[DrGekko]

Hi folks.

Warning! IT/PC novice here!!!!

I'm going down the NAS & PC client route... my main PC and NAS will be in a study and I'll be using CAT6 data cable to link to my home theatre on the other side of the house. I wanted to use a small client PC in that room, running My Movies to access my library and watch whatever. From my little research, whilst quite a few devices will provide HD video, I can't find any "mini" client PC which will stream DTS-HD codecs.... I've come across the following devices and unless I'm mistaken, none of them will do this:

WD Live TV
Asus Eeebox
Acer Revo

So is anyone familiar with another branded device which performs well? Or will I have to end up asking an expert to build a client PC instead?

Thanks!!!

 

[wolvers]

For TrueHD and DTS-HD bitstreaming you'll need an AMD 5 or 6xxx series GPU, Nvidia 4 or 5xx series GPU (not all so check each one) or an Asus HDAV sound card or Auzentech one (can't remember the name!).

 

[Stephen Neal]

Another solution for DTS HD MA/HR or Dolby True HD bitstreaming is a Clarkdale i3/i5/i7 CPU and a motherboard designed for the on-die GPU they have. There are issues with 23.976Hz content - but you get HD bitstreaming.

This is (or was the last time I looked) the only integrated solution for HD audio bitstreaming - and you can get mini-ITX motherboards for this solution. Otherwise you're in the realms of putting in an ATI 5xxx (or 6xxx?) GPU into a PCI-E 16x slot - and not a huge number of mini-ITX motherboards have these.

Alternatively you can go for HD audio decoded to PCM 5.1/7.1 which many more solutions support (and the audio difference is not huge for all sources - certainly not the same magnitude as the difference between DD/DTS core audio and PCM 5.1/7.1 decoded HD audio)

 

[DrGekko]

Thanks both of you. Although I didn't really understand much of the jargon, my impression is that you have to build a PC with the correct spec, including a decent sound card... so it won't cost less than around £300 I guess. Hmmm... may stick with the WD Live TV for £70 until things get cheaper (or until licensing issues with DTS are sorted out).


EDIT 30th Nov 1.35pm.

I've found it!!! This is what I want!!!

http://www.xtreamer.net/

 

[Stephen Neal]

Thanks both of you. Although I didn't really understand much of the jargon, my impression is that you have to build a PC with the correct spec, including a decent sound card... so it won't cost less than around £300 I guess. Hmmm... may stick with the WD Live TV for £70 until things get cheaper (or until licensing issues with DTS are sorted out).


EDIT 30th Nov 1.35pm.

I've found it!!! This is what I want!!!

Xtreamer.Net - Home

Yep - though it isn't actually a sound card you usually need. HDMI audio is, these days, the province of graphics cards. The ATI 5450 is about £40 and comes in a low-profile, passively-cooled (i.e. no fan) version and will do full video hardware acceleration and DTS HD/Dolby True HD bitstreamed audio with PowerDVD or similar.

However there are also a number of hardware streamers that will bitstream True HD and DTS HD. The upside of streamers like the xtreamer and the PCH range is that they are robust, will often auto-sync frame rates etc. The downside is that their main CPUs are quite limited, and their UIs can be very basic, and don't compare to things like MyMovies, XBMC etc.