Hd Dvd/blu Ray Combo Drive And Hd Audio Ouput From A Pc.

[doshim]

Hi all
Just wondering if i went for the LG GGWH10N BLU RAY/HD DVD DRIVE For a PC
and went for a Graphics card with HDMI Output. Are there any sound cards out there that have the ability to decode Dolby TRUE HD AUDIO, DTS HD AUDIO?
ANY TAKERS ON THIS ONE?
thanks in advance

 

[jaymz]

The only way i aware of decindg TruHD etc is to using 6 analogue RCA to 3.5mm jacks from your PC to your AMP. This can be done with basic onboard audio.

There are a number of reasons for this;

1. SPDIF apparently does not have the bandwidth to transport TruHd etc.
2. HDMI requires v1.3 to have the bandwidth and needs an AMP capable of decoing TruHD etc.
3. Not many AMPs available at present to deocde TruHD etc.

 

[Shakey21]

I'm also interested in this functionality from a HTPC, so if you had a motherboard/soudcard with 6.1/7.1 outputs you could output to an amp and output pictures via DVI into HDMI either directly into the screen or via the amp for switching purposes and acieve TRUEHD/whatever the DTS one is?

 

[jaymz]

I'm also interested in this functionality from a HTPC, so if you had a motherboard/soudcard with 6.1/7.1 outputs you could output to an amp and output pictures via DVI into HDMI either directly into the screen or via the amp for switching purposes and acieve TRUEHD/whatever the DTS one is?

Yes - althought i have not actually done it yet, its on my list of things to do hopefuly this bank holiday weekend.

 

[pjclark1]

Hi all
Just wondering if i went for the LG GGWH10N BLU RAY/HD DVD DRIVE For a PC
and went for a Graphics card with HDMI Output. Are there any sound cards out there that have the ability to decode Dolby TRUE HD AUDIO, DTS HD AUDIO?
ANY TAKERS ON THIS ONE?
thanks in advance

Cyberlink support claim PowerDVD downsamples all HD audio it encounters in order to comply with the AACS "protected digital stream" guidelines. If this is true then you are totally out of luck. Sound over an HDMI output is definitely downsampled as the current video cards merely route the SPDIF signal into the HDMI chain.

 

[Trancerii]

I'm also interested in this functionality from a HTPC, so if you had a motherboard/soudcard with 6.1/7.1 outputs you could output to an amp and output pictures via DVI into HDMI either directly into the screen or via the amp for switching purposes and acieve TRUEHD/whatever the DTS one is?

Thats correct. You would use PowerDVD to decode the HD sound, and output via the analogue outputs. However, unfortunately its a little more complicated. As you can see Here, it appears PowerDVD has to downsample High-def Audio to 48 kHz before sending to driver.

 

[Synchro]

Do you have a link for such a cable? You say you need 6?

 

[jjhunter]

2. HDMI requires v1.3 to have the bandwidth.

Not true. HDMI 1.2 has enough bandwidth to pass decoded (i.e. PCM) TrueHD audio.

HDMI1.3 is needed to support encoded TrueHD (i.e. passing through what's on the Disc). You're correct when you say that if you went this route you'd need an amp with TrueHD decoding to get the signal. There are some about, but not many - the denon AVR4308Ci is an example of one which does, i believe.

GFX cards with HDMI audio support onboard (as opposed to re-routed spdif) are also pretty thin on the ground. i think the radeon 2x000 series are the only ones which do it at the moment, but even they will only support 5.1 dolby/aac (spdif).

cyberlink powerdvd will decode trueHD to 192Khz analog, but onboard mobo sound will not do this justice, imo.

go for an auzentech (one of these - http://www.auzentech.com/site/products/x-meridian.php).

this will give you 5.1 or 7.1 (most HD discs still only have 5.1 soundtracks) very clean, high quality and loud analog sound which can go to your amp in analog.

the holy grail afaik is 7.1 lpcm carried on the same hdmi as the video, but there's no products i'm aware of which will do this straight from your PC.

 

[jjhunter]

As you can see Here, it appears PowerDVD has to downsample High-def Audio to 48 kHz before sending to driver.

Not if you use analog outputs. Using an analog soundcard, such as the Intel HD or Mystique, PowerDVD decodes the TrueHD stream (similar to FLAC), generates full LPCM quality streams and this then gets converted to analog.

As long as your soundcard's DACs are good, you'll get full TrueHD audio experience (as your amp would need to do this digi->analog conversion anyway, you're not losing any quality doing it in the soundcard - cable-induced signal-degradation notwithstanding - I assume you'll use good cabling ).

PowerDVD DOES downsample the TrueHD stream if you're outputting the audio through SPDIF.

The only downside with the analog route is that you'll probably not be able to use your amp's full audio processing toolkit as this is usually performed 'in-silica' on digital signals only and can't be applied to analog signals coming in

again, as with so many of these things, it all depends on your kit combo.

 

[medicmanonet]

sorry to butt in.... and I am probably off topic

Don't modern motherboards have build in HD sound outputed via optical?

I am probably wrong (and ignore me in needed) !

I have a motherboard with Realtek ALC889A high definition audio codec 7.1 chanel with support for DTS so is this the same as what you are after? or do I have the wrong end of the stick. It has both coax and optical outs - Does that make any differance?

Am I (wrongly) assuming that this means True HD audio DTS is available on this motherboard?

Just starting to learn about the HDPC lark.


I am interested (in another board) to make a HTPC with Blue-ray or HD player instead of a purchased one so I thought this thread might help me also.

cheers

 

[jjhunter]

Don't modern motherboards have build in HD sound outputed via optical?

Depends what you mean by HD sound. TrueHD (one of the main codecs used on the next gen HD formats HD-DVD and Blueray) and it's competitors (DTS HD MD, for example) cannot be passed over optical as there's nowhere near enough bandwidth.

DTS support on your motherboard will give you (potentially) up to 7.1, but the bitrate (and therefore quality) is quite low and the compression used to fit those channels into the bandwidth of your optical output is lossy (i.e. you lose some of the data from the origin - Like MP3)

HD Sound is more about the quality of the sound signal encoded to disk, rather than the number of channels. TrueHD encoded discs will have an audio quality as near as damn-it to the studio master audio track as your ears are likely to notice (i.e. 24bit 192 Khz) as the bitrate is much, much higher and the encoding is done in a lossless way (like ZIP).

 

[sapper]

Currently my HTPC is connected to my AV amp (Denon) via Digital SPDIF.

The sound from HD and Blu-Ray is pretty awesome. However since my HTPC cannot play SACD, I still need to have my universal DVD palyer connected to my AV amp via the 6 analogue connections, otherwise I would consider upgrading the HTPC to true Dolby HD sound...

Unoesss anyone knows of a cheap and practical way of connecting two sets of audio leads to my amp....

Adrian

 

[SeanT]

Is there a USB soundcard which will do True HD 7.1? As my MCPC is in the living room, and my amp is upstairs in a cupboard, and the only spare cable I have between is a spare Cat5 (although I may just be able to free up 3 stereo pairs but not 4 without cutting the front speakers off!) - USB over cat 5 is cheap enough, but multiplexed audio isn't!