Question about Dolby trueHD audio

[BootlegUsher]

Hello, I currently have a blue ray drive in my PC as well as a decent sound system and I would like to have the best audio that blue ray provides. I see on the ATI website that 5000 series cards support:

Integrated HD audio controller

• Output protected high bit rate 7.1 channel surround sound over HDMI with no additional cables required
• Supports AC-3, AAC, Dolby TrueHD and DTS Master Audio formats

Now I have a Radeon 5850 right now so this interests me. My question is, what kind of soundcard do you need to go with this? I read some reviews for the ASUS Xonar HDAV1.3 and they said that the hardware itself has nothing to do with it, its just about getting around the movie industries encyption. Now that the Radeon 5000 series has this ability to process TrueHD, would it be a waste to buy an expensive soundcard? It sounds to me like all you need to do is plug an HDMI cable into your 5000 card and the other end to your TV, then a digital audio cable from your TV to your audio reciever and you are good to go. Is this correct?

[lowfat]

You do not need a soundcard at all. And to get TrueHD you would need to connect the HDMI cable directly to a receiver capable of decoding TrueHD. Then another HDMI cable from the output on the receiver to the TV.

[BootlegUsher]

Ok, thanks for that info. It is very hard to keep track of everything when it comes to audio technology.

To keep it simple:

I have a 2.1 system with a receiver that takes either analog or optical audio. What is the best I can do for audio quality? Analog from a sound card, optical from a sound card, or HDMI from video card and then optical from TV to receiver?

[Mook06]

it depends on the reciever quality, your onboard pc digital to analog convertion wont be all that great, if you send the reciever digital(optical or hdmi) then you will skip the pc doing the conversion and such and let the receiver do it on its own

HDMI is likely to be the best as it can send 1:1 audio from blurays, id recommend trying all 3 and sticking to what you think sounds best

[Robscix]

You can get all the formats support without the extra receiver if you bought the right soundcard. Bot the HDA 1.3 and the HTHD 7.1 allow full support for Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HDMA over normal analog outputs, you also have the option to go with HDMI later if you decide to buy a receiver.

[SKYMTL]

Just remember though: when it comes to using HD audio through a computer, the PLAYBACK SOFTWARE also plays a huge part in the options available. I am not sure about the newer versions but my HTPC has issues with DTHD and MA tracks due to PowerDVD 9. Some play properly and some don't. I'm not sure if PowerDVD 10 fixed the problems but you should do some research into software that:

- Has proper support for UVD2 and GPU acceleration of HD video
- Supports MA and DTHD natively without having to install work-arounds, etc.

[Robscix]

Yes, in the case of soundcards anyway, the two are tightly tied together for working with the Protected Audio Path (PAP). I used PDVD 9 with the HTHD7.1 and had no issue with it whatsoever when watching BD movies. The audio was also full resolution output through normal analog outputs.

What hardware is running in your HTPC?

[SKYMTL]

Originally Posted by Robscix

What hardware is running in your HTPC?

Intel Q9550S, HD 5450 w/HDMI output to an Onkyo SR-507. Also using WMC as a front end linked directly to the Power DVD software.

Supposedly there are compatibility issues with Power DVD 9 and ATI's HD audio passthrough but I have no issues using standard DTS anyways.

[Robscix]

Originally Posted by SKYMTL

Intel Q9550S, HD 5450 w/HDMI output to an Onkyo SR-507. Also using WMC as a front end linked directly to the Power DVD software.

Supposedly there are compatibility issues with Power DVD 9 and ATI's HD audio passthrough but I have no issues using standard DTS anyways.

Well as you know I am not really a GFX guy, more into audio. Is that one of the newer GFX cards that allows true HD audio or just S/Pdif formats through HDMI cable?

[turtletrax]

Originally Posted by SKYMTL

Intel Q9550S, HD 5450 w/HDMI output to an Onkyo SR-507. Also using WMC as a front end linked directly to the Power DVD software.

Supposedly there are compatibility issues with Power DVD 9 and ATI's HD audio passthrough but I have no issues using standard DTS anyways.

Been using that combo for about 4 months with no issue on my Pioneer SC-05. Seems to be there are issues with Yamaha and Onkyo without EIDE overrides.

I have been more than happy with this solution ;)