Audio, and HDMI - whats the deal?

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kevinnem

Weaksauce
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Sep 2, 2010
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Okay, I have read there are issues with teh audio, and HDMI on HTPC's

I was hopeing soemoen oculd tell me what works, what doesn't, what limitations there are, and what concoulstions we draw form this.

For example. When useing a i3, and H55 chipset, I think you can stream HDMI video all the way up to 1080p, but can you do audio as well? .. if so what level? 2.1, 5.1, 7.1 ???

What about if I add a video card, and if so what video card?

I was just hopeing that someone could lay out all the "issues" surrounding audio and HDMI and HTPC's.

Kev.
 
AVS Forums has ton of information on this topic...too much to post. Audio limitations via motherboards/video cards and HDMI are all related to licensing protections built into hardware.
 
Yea, I that is where I got all confused, I Was hoping that there was a quick "here is the deal" sysnopisis of the situation for me.

Failing that, how about a recomended set of gear (CPU chipset/ and GPU?) that is "the best we can do at the moment" and maybe the limitation of what this "best cureent combo" is?

Kev.
 
Well out of the box HDMI audio from my ION based motherboard was set a stereo only when I plugged it straight into the TV, meaning if had anything with 5.1 audio like a DVD it wouldn't play at all. You can install AC3 filter and that'll correct it.

Or you can use a receiver that can decode the signals. Once I plugged the computer into that, and then the HDMI from the receiver to the computer all was golden without the need for software. I could play stereo, 5.1, (and I'd assume 7.1).
 
I have an asus mb with hdmi and regular stereo audio from my tv and it works perfectly. I am waiting for my optical cable to come from mono price, the mb has an optical out that should work with my 5.1 system. Hopefully that will work well.
 
I just bought the Lenovo Q150 and was surprised when Audio over the HDMI just worked. I then realized all I was getting was 3.1, no rears... :( Took me about 20 minutes to figure out how to get into the properties for the nvidia sound card. (The machine comes with 2 sound cards) and then boom, set it to 5.1 and golden.

I have read nothing but problems, which is why I went the pre-made ion route. The lenovo also has a pretty decent HTPC keyboard setup as well...

The only thing I can't get working right is full screen hulu, the sound skips. I've played a ton of my ripped movies perfectly, and my wife has streamed youtube full screen no problem as well. CPU usage is under 50% with the ion doing the decode, so I don't know what's going on...
 
kevinnem said:
Yea, I that is where I got all confused, I Was hoping that there was a quick "here is the deal" sysnopisis of the situation for me.

Kev.
Click to expand...

For Audio SPDIF / COAXIAL (RCA) can only handle 5.1 sound (DTS or DD)

There are some AVR will decode 5.1 to 7.1 sound, but it is not DTS-HD or True-HD audio (loose-less)

To get True-HD/DTS-HD you must use HDMI1.3a connection, which will pass through the True-HD/DTS-HD signal to AVR, and the AVR MUST has these audio codec in order to decode these audio streams.

This is why some AVR has DTS-HD/True-HD logo

Hope this help
 
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