Motherboard suggestion for 4K video + audio

S

Silverking

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Jan 30, 2014
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I recently got a Seiki 4k 55" TV. I know not the best but I got it for $600 and I had been using a Sylvania 32" 720p up until now. Anyways I have played some 4k media content from my desktop (4770k + 2 290x) and am happy with the quality of native content and upscaled content. However I am not moving my pc back and forth every time we want to watch 4k content so I am looking to build a HTPC for the downstairs. Right now I use the PS3 to play BD with audio passed through optical out to a Samsung 5.1 HT-520Z surround sound. I am looking to replace the PS3 with a thin mini-itx system. I have seen the new H8x systems from Asus, Gigabyte, etc but none of them seem to have an optical out. Plus they use ALC 668 and I am worried about the sound being bad from those Codecs. I understand the sound coming out of a boxed surround sound is probably not the best either but I don't want to degrade the sound.

Can anyone fill me in on whether it matters and if there is another motherboard option?

Should I get a sound card with optical out to pass audio to a reciever?

Thank you

P.S. I have a WHS 2011 with Plex server on it connected to an Asus AC68R with a D-link bridge w/ 4 1Ge ports on the 5ghz N network which will connect to the htpc. I will most likely put windows on the system but I am open to front-end suggestions. I currently have DirecTV but I will be moving soon so if I could cut the cord I would like to as long as I can get children's programs from somewhere because the wife stays home with 2 small children and she would go crazy just watching the same videos over and over.
 
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When you say H8x, do you mean S1150 H81/H87 chipsets? If so, then you have a decent amount of ITX boards to choose from that have SPDIF (they all seem to be ALC 898 or higher):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...0009028 600008996&IsNodeId=1&name=1 x Optical (of course use HoverHound to buy from Amazon and get [H] commission :p)

Since you mention you're just passing the audio through, I don't think you have to worry about limitations on the Realtek chip since your receiver will be decoding - so I wouldn't bother with a discrete sound card.

Your biggest limitation will be from using SPDIF since you'll only have the standard lossy 5.1 codec support and 2.0 PCM. After the HTPC, your next upgrade should be a nice 4k receiver :D.

If you're cutting the cord to cable, most people will probably suggest moving to XBMC as the front-end. WMC should only be a serious option if you're going to use live TV with a cable card. Unfortunately I've never used XBMC outside of Plex Home Theater so I can't elaborate much. I'm a fan of Plex Home Theater, but other than playing content from your media server, it's fairly limited (not a lot of channel/streaming options).
 
sKiDmArK, yes I am talking about the H81/H87 boards but when I mean thin I mean thin. I am looking at the boards that take 204-pin memory as I will be using an akasa galileo case. The problem is that none of those boards have a SPDIF out. I may be able to fit a sound card in there as well with a riser but I don't know the actual measurement of the board height + standoffs. Also that would defeat the thin aspect. I may just have to get the receiver sooner than I thought. But then Im still concerned if the HDMI standard can pass all of that data without loss considering it is 4k video as well. I will also be recording live TV to the file server so I will stream with a slight delay to the htpc.
 
Zangmonkey said:
Is there a reason you don't want to use HDMI for sound?
Click to expand...

His current receiver is older won't support 4k video, so he couldn't use HDMI directly from the HTPC to receiver.

Silverking said:
sKiDmArK, yes I am talking about the H81/H87 boards but when I mean thin I mean thin. I am looking at the boards that take 204-pin memory as I will be using an akasa galileo case. The problem is that none of those boards have a SPDIF out. I may be able to fit a sound card in there as well with a riser but I don't know the actual measurement of the board height + standoffs. Also that would defeat the thin aspect. I may just have to get the receiver sooner than I thought. But then Im still concerned if the HDMI standard can pass all of that data without loss considering it is 4k video as well. I will also be recording live TV to the file server so I will stream with a slight delay to the htpc.
Click to expand...

Ohhhh, opps! I missed the key 'thin' requirement there - my mistake. Yeah, I haven't seen any thin ITX boards with SPDIF; even on older chipsets from what I recall.

I don't have any hands on with 4k yet, but everything I've read says Haswell iGPU's are plenty capable with 4kp24/30 outside of madVR. However, the Haswell iGPU review on Anad did state that there were issues with Seiki displays - so I would look into that.

HDMI 1.4 and above is plenty capable for 4k24/30p with audio bitstreaming - the bandwidth is there in the standard. 4k60p is a completely different story (I've never seen a Seiki 4k60p TV, so I'm assuming this isn't relevant).
 
sKiDmArK said:
His current receiver is older won't support 4k video, so he couldn't use HDMI directly from the HTPC to receiver.



Ohhhh, opps! I missed the key 'thin' requirement there - my mistake. Yeah, I haven't seen any thin ITX boards with SPDIF; even on older chipsets from what I recall.

I don't have any hands on with 4k yet, but everything I've read says Haswell iGPU's are plenty capable with 4kp24/30 outside of madVR. However, the Haswell iGPU review on Anad did state that there were issues with Seiki displays - so I would look into that.

HDMI 1.4 and above is plenty capable for 4k24/30p with audio bitstreaming - the bandwidth is there in the standard. 4k60p is a completely different story (I've never seen a Seiki 4k60p TV, so I'm assuming this isn't relevant).
Click to expand...

And FWIW, HDMI 2.0 still doesn't have sufficient bandwidth for 4k60p @ 4:4:4
 
Thanks everyone.

@sKiDmArK, its alright about missing that req. I am seeing that it is very rare to find a MB that is really geared directly to HTPC. It seems to be more of a concession on the consumers part that we get close enough to what we want. I understand that there is more profit in selling embedded systems to Roku, Amazon, Apple, etc. for the little players but I like to have a system that I can change as I see fit. And thanks for the heads up about the Seiki problem. I am on Anandtech quite often but I either missed that one or skimmed over that problem.

@ Pinski, I did see that the 2.0 was enough but just wasn't sure about the 1.4 spec. I probably will have a much better panel later on but by then the specs should be enough for HDMI to push all the data or more tvs will come with DP. I wonder if TVs start integrating DP more often then MB manufacturers will add more digital audio outputs?

All, I was looking at receivers and saw the Yamaha VX675 that seems to support most DTS and Dolby audio streams along with 4K passthrough. Is this a good receiver in your opinion or is there something else I should be looking at? I will spend about $1000 for speakers and reciever.
 
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