one solution hdmi out to tv/reciever

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keriboi

269 posts

Ultimate Geek

#51565 29-Nov-2009 12:52

I need a one card soloution for my pc. I graphics card that will to HDMI 1.3 and Dolby HD sound output. Havent been able to find much. Currently running a NV 880Gt with dvi-hdmi but no sound :(

1gkar

722 posts

Ultimate Geek

#277965 30-Nov-2009 17:01

You'll be struggling to find an all-in-one option. To my knowledge, the only soundcard that has DolbyHD output is the Asus Xonar HDAV1.3. Even this has limitations due to the movie industry constraints with using blu-ray via (HT)PC.

The obivous option, seeing as you don't state your current PC config, is to upgrade your mobo to passthrough the sound to an AV receiver via integrated SPDif. Of course, this is not HD. But is your sound system of top-notch quality? If not, you may not benefit from utilising HD sound.

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elkano

160 posts

Master Geek

#278119 1-Dec-2009 01:30

1gkar: You'll be struggling to find an all-in-one option. To my knowledge, the only soundcard that has DolbyHD output is the Asus Xonar HDAV1.3. Even this has limitations due to the movie industry constraints with using blu-ray via (HT)PC.

The obivous option, seeing as you don't state your current PC config, is to upgrade your mobo to passthrough the sound to an AV receiver via integrated SPDif. Of course, this is not HD. But is your sound system of top-notch quality? If not, you may not benefit from utilising HD sound.

Some updates for you: The Auzentech Hometheatre HD card also bitstreams but only with PowerDVD9 and its expensive (~$350).

Far more interesting is that the new ATI 5XXX video cards will support bitstreaming with powerDVD9 (and apparently WinDVD too). The latest with this is they have just released an update for PowerDVD9 users that allows this. However it does seem buggy (much like the xonars when they first came out).

Check out:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1179134

I will hang out for a 56XX fanless option which will hopefully be out first quarter of next year. Once the drivers are mature we could have a very viable 1 card solution although as it's ATI the drivers could be an issue

keriboi

269 posts

Ultimate Geek

#278157 1-Dec-2009 08:56

so the graphics card decodes the sound as well so no need of a soundcard? this is bit streaming?

elkano

160 posts

Master Geek

#278199 1-Dec-2009 10:56

keriboi: so the graphics card decodes the sound as well so no need of a soundcard? this is bit streaming?

Yes to graphics card doing the sound, but graphics crads have been able to do that for a while-Both Nvidia and ATI. The limit being that software has limited the output to downsampled sound (not as good as the original) because of movie company restrictions. Basically the movie companies want PAP implemented (PAP is "Protected Audio Path") which is a way to guarantee that the audio is not changed or played with.

As for bitstreaming: Basically there is currently 3 versions of "perfect" sound stored on blurays now, these are basically the audio sounding as it is intended and mixed in the studio with no downsampling.

They are Lossless PCM (or LPCM) which is the original uncompressed sound. The other two are Dolby TrueHD and DTS-MA (DTS Master Audio) which are LPCM that is compressed (with no sound loss) using fancy formulas so they don't take as much room. Once the DTS-MA or trueHD is decoded you essentially get LPCM, the question is where to do the decoding?
You can either do the decoding in the player (software on PC or blu-ray standalone player) and send the sound out from the player to your receiver as LPCM. While this is generally fine on standalone players, software has its issues as not all companies decode things properly and theres no way of knowing if it's done correctly. So many people like bitstreaming, which is basically sending the still compressed True-HD or DTS-MA to the receiver where a hardware decoder does the decoding.

To bitstream on the PC you need:

1) A receiver capable of decoding the bitstream formats (DTS-MA and TrueHD).

2) HDMI 1.3 on the video/sound card you are sending from.

3) a compatible software player on the PC that supports bitstreaming.

4) Hardware on your PC that supports PAP for the bitstreaming.

As I said earlier, up until now there have been 2 solutions which require a seperate sound card. These are the asus xonar slim or HDAV1.3 cards being used with Totalmedia Theatre (TMT) software. The other option is Auzentech hometheatre HD card and PowerDVD9 software.
Note: these software/hardware combinations are not switchable, PowerDVD9 won't work with xonar and TMT3 won't work with Hometheatre HD.

Recently ATI released their 5XXX series cards (5770, 5870, 5850 etc) which have support for PAP (the 4XXX series can do audio, just not bitstreaming) and can bitstream. It currently works with PowerDVD9 (although there are many bugs) and winDVD are trying to get it working with their player (with less success). Many people are excited about this as it offers a one-card solution (once the drivers are working correctly), although not all software players can use it of course as they need to support PAP.

However another company called slysoft (famous for their AnyDVD program) are working on a free PC software program called slyplayer which will supposedly allow bitstreaming for any audio/video card with HDMI1.3 sound. Please note: the 4XXX series from ATI and many Nvidia cards are fully capable of passing uncompressed sound, but because they don't support PAP the sound is donwsampled by the software players on the PC. You can get around this by converting all your files to MKV (and other formats) and play LPCM with your 4XXX but this can be time consuming.

No idea when slyplayer is due sorry..

1gkar

722 posts

Ultimate Geek

#278498 1-Dec-2009 21:25

I guess one will be stuck with Cyberlink's PowerDVD naf proprietary player as they have crippled their useage with the later versions so apps like Mediaportal can't use the codecs for playback. Or has that been rescinded by the company or a hack around circumventing their limitations?

elkano

160 posts

Master Geek

#278504 1-Dec-2009 21:38

1gkar: I guess one will be stuck with Cyberlink's PowerDVD naf proprietary player as they have crippled their useage with the later versions so apps like Mediaportal can't use the codecs for playback. Or has that been rescinded by the company or a hack around circumventing their limitations?

I'm not a fan of powerdvd either, hopefully TMT or another player will also implement bitstreaming for the 5XXX cards. We also have to hope ATI keep the ball rolling with drivers too.

As for other programs using cyberlinks codec's, I just have an older version of PowerDVD8 installed that I never update. Certainly a rigmarole to get things running. Maybe theres a hack but I only use the codec for hardware accelerated TV so no need for a change for now.

1gkar

722 posts

Ultimate Geek

#278832 2-Dec-2009 19:08

elkano:
1gkar: I guess one will be stuck with Cyberlink's PowerDVD naf proprietary player as they have crippled their useage with the later versions so apps like Mediaportal can't use the codecs for playback. Or has that been rescinded by the company or a hack around circumventing their limitations?

..As for other programs using cyberlinks codec's, I just have an older version of PowerDVD8 installed that I never update...

Ditto, except for me its 7.3 ultra.