HDMI connection to amp

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Shoppers

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Geek

#33813 12-May-2009 12:19

Hello

Have upgraded my amp to the highly rated Onkyo 606, have a nice HTPC case on its way, so now need a mobo. Is there one available with a HDMI output that does both video and audio? Or do i have to go for seperate cards?

Any input would be greatly appreciated

Cheers

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#214335 12-May-2009 12:32

Onboard graphics tend to struggle with HD video so you may want to consider a graphics card with an integrated hdmi out. Normally they can pass digital audio via the same hdmi out although you may have to connect the spdif header on the mobo to the card make it work. That is how my setup works.

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Shoppers

16 posts

Geek

#214349 12-May-2009 13:28

So the mobo needs to have some form of HDMI compatability or will any graphics card with HDMI just plug and play?

Dingbatt

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#214581 13-May-2009 11:24

Shoppers: So the mobo needs to have some form of HDMI compatability or will any graphics card with HDMI just plug and play?

As far as I know the mobo doesn't have to have hdmi capability if the graphics card does. Because all you are doing is combining a DVI video signal with a spdif audio signal and sending it through the hdmi port. As it happened the mobo I bought had hdmi but I had to disable it in bios when I installed the hdmi graphics card.

I hope your nice htpc case is an ATX one and not a micro-ATX like mine, because there just isn't enough space.

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Shoppers

16 posts

Geek

#214587 13-May-2009 11:38

Yeah, i think i am confusing myself with this HDMI connection. The amp has sorted the DVD via video out and the freeview box via component video so will have no trouble with a HDMI from the pc.

Went for a micro case, as i have no desire to record TV so save alot of internal space right there. Altho now that the amp has a second zone, can always use the micro case as a music jukebox and upgrade the main case

borgia

101 posts

Master Geek
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#214894 14-May-2009 18:59

Do you really want to do it this way? It is very unlikely your amp will do a decent job of video processing/upscaling compared with yout htpc and graphics card. Would you not be better connecting the DVI/Hdmi to the screen and s/pdif to the amp? This post has some interesting thoughts on the sound issue. http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid=67&threadid=2277788 You won't be getting TrueHD any way.

borgia

Dingbatt

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#214904 14-May-2009 20:29

I was under the impression that Shoppers was going to use HTPC -- Amp -- Display all using hdmi cables. So no need for any video conversion by the amp.

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borgia

101 posts

Master Geek
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#214905 14-May-2009 20:32

As long as the amp offers a video pass-through, of course that would be cool. :)

Shoppers

16 posts

Geek

#215543 18-May-2009 10:15

Amp should only upscale as necessary, unless i have missed a setting.

If i use a seperate HDMI for video and a s/pdif for sound, can i use a DVI to HDMI cable? Seems to be a good cable option and can use a graphics card that only has DVI

1gkar

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Ultimate Geek

#215661 18-May-2009 18:12

Shoppers: Amp should only upscale as necessary, unless i have missed a setting.

If i use a seperate HDMI for video and a s/pdif for sound, can i use a DVI to HDMI cable? Seems to be a good cable option and can use a graphics card that only has DVI

Been a while since I looked at amps: can they upscale video, these days? With my HTPC I use ffdshow to upscale my SD videos.

Anyway, regarding your query on cabling; that is what some to most use, DVI>HDMI with separate SPDIF option. As stated, you can only get DTS-ES audio at most with this option. No TureHD or DTS-HD MA audio. I also get 1:1 pixel mapping to my LCDTV. And, as you said, you have more cards to select from.

Silverstone LC14 HTPC Case/Intel E4600 CPU/GA-EP35-DS3 MOBO/Asus EN9500GT graphics/2GB RAM/total 2TB HDD space/HVR-2200 & 2X 150MCE tuner cards/LG GGC-H20L BD Drive/MCE2005/Mediaportal/TVServer 1.1.0Final/LG 55"3D LED-TV/Denon AVR-1803 receiver/X1 projector

borgia

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#215673 18-May-2009 18:45

I use DVI -> HDMI and it works fine. HDCP and all. @1gkar yes, almost all Home theatre amps offer upscaling, but it varies considerably in quality. Read this review for the amp in question http://reviews.cnet.com/av-receivers/onkyo-tx-sr606-black/4505-6466_7-32956253.html Generally your HTPC has much more grunt and user defined controls for tweaking.

Shoppers

16 posts

Geek

#215939 19-May-2009 14:47

Have gone over alot of old topics and am amazed that a $100 dvd player can sort out HDMI for both video and sound yet you need hundreds of dollars to sort it via a pc. Maybe a grizzle for another thread :)

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sbiddle

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#215947 19-May-2009 14:54

Shoppers: Have gone over alot of old topics and am amazed that a $100 dvd player can sort out HDMI for both video and sound yet you need hundreds of dollars to sort it via a pc. Maybe a grizzle for another thread :)

No you don't.

Virtually every card these days including the sub $100 low end NVidia's that a lot of people use for HTPC's output audio via HDMI with no issues.

Most video cards include a cable that plugs into the SPDIF output on your motherboard and then onto the video card to do this.

Shoppers

16 posts

Geek

#215975 19-May-2009 15:41

sbiddle:
Shoppers: Have gone over alot of old topics and am amazed that a $100 dvd player can sort out HDMI for both video and sound yet you need hundreds of dollars to sort it via a pc. Maybe a grizzle for another thread :)

No you don't.

Virtually every card these days including the sub $100 low end NVidia's that a lot of people use for HTPC's output audio via HDMI with no issues.

Most video cards include a cable that plugs into the SPDIF output on your motherboard and then onto the video card to do this.

Thats what i want to hear :)

I gather all motherboards have this output? What graphics card do you prefer? I see alot of people quote their chipset, is the brand so important?

Cheers

borgia

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#215990 19-May-2009 16:44

Remember your $100 dvd player won't do the million other things your htpc will.!

hamisht

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#216009 19-May-2009 17:26

my brother in law has the 606, and we we try hooking up my laptop (DV51009tx) via HDMI out, we can never get 7.1, only stereo, even though i can get 7.1 automatically on my 605.

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