PDVD8 & TrueHD Audio

[JackBauer006]

The sound isn't better compared with the stand-alone player, but it's nearly the same quality (stand-alone Player for a few hundred Euros will allways be better than an onboard-card) but it sounds thousand times more realistic than the lossy cores you'll get by connecting Computer and Amp with the S/P-DIF. I'm sure there are/will be better solutions than an onboard-card but as I said, I have no expiriences with Auzentech or even X-Fi so I can't compare the quality.

 

[hlkc]

The sound isn't better compared with the stand-alone player, but it's nearly the same quality (stand-alone Player for a few hundred Euros will allways be better than an onboard-card) but it sounds thousand times more realistic than the lossy cores you'll get by connecting Computer and Amp with the S/P-DIF. I'm sure there are/will be better solutions than an onboard-card but as I said, I have no expiriences with Auzentech or even X-Fi so I can't compare the quality.

Jack,

Thanks for your reply. Do you have one of those TrueHD audio receiver now such as Onkyo TsXR605 and above or Pioneer TSX91THX and above? I assume when you are doing your way, 8 analogue mini-jack to the receiver now, it will not light up those TrueHD light in your receiver since it is not detecting the correct flag in the signal, right? But when you compare to a standalone player output to the same receiver, TrueHD light will light up since it will detects the correct flag in the signal, right?

Thanks.

 

[Jong]

Hi. The TrueHD light will not come on with analogue or LPCM input because the amp is not having to decode a TrueHD encoded soundtrack, that is all. It says nothing about the quality. An LPCM soundtrack is equal or even higher in quality - lossless and no chance of any decoder problems - and that will not light the light either. I really would not worry about that.

 

[hlkc]

I see on their website that the only two models they offer have 2 DVI ports. I wonder how the reviewer received the actual pictured card. From the model names, it seems that the model number indeed is for the dual-DVI card, maybe the HDMI card will have another model number. Bad luck I guess, but it seems like a worthwhile card, if it comes out soon enough. You still have some options though. I'd get an nVidia 9600 GT, someone recommended one with HDMI if I'm not mistaken. Do you know if your mobo has an internal S/PDIF out connector? (2-pin in a 3-pin space if I remember correctly).

Andy,

Finally I have the right card in my possession now Order Wed and here today. Will try that this weekend and if you care to know will let u know but I would say it is the same as what I have now. Btw, they have $15 mail-in rate now, net $80, just one day after I ordered Will call and see can I get that $15 back later.

 

[andy o]

Andy,

Finally I have the right card in my possession now Order Wed and here today. Will try that this weekend and if you care to know will let u know but I would say it is the same as what I have now. Btw, they have $15 mail-in rate now, net $80, just one day after I ordered Will call and see can I get that $15 back later.

Thanks, but in the meantime I got myself the Asus P5E-VM HDMI motherboard, and I'm stuck with onboard graphics (though no problems whatsoever with a C2D E8400). I've been thinking of getting a more powerful graphics card for my work PC, right now I have the 8600GTS that I had on my HTPC, which replaced an aging X1900GT. I'm thinking an 8800GT or GTS with an Accelero S1 cooler, but with my luck, the minute I buy it nVidia will come out with a 9800GT. Maybe I'll just wait for the next die shrink.

 

[hlkc]

Thanks, but in the meantime I got myself the Asus P5E-VM HDMI motherboard, and I'm stuck with onboard graphics (though no problems whatsoever with a C2D E8400). I've been thinking of getting a more powerful graphics card for my work PC, right now I have the 8600GTS that I had on my HTPC, which replaced an aging X1900GT. I'm thinking an 8800GT or GTS with an Accelero S1 cooler, but with my luck, the minute I buy it nVidia will come out with a 9800GT. Maybe I'll just wait for the next die shrink.

Nothing wrong with that. I am thinking to build a small PC and thinking to use your Asus P5E-VM HDMI MB too. If not I just go ahead to get one of those Cisco media player and stream the contents from my VMC HTPC...

 

[andy o]

Nothing wrong with that. I am thinking to build a small PC and thinking to use your Asus P5E-VM HDMI MB too. If not I just go ahead to get one of those Cisco media player and stream the contents from my VMC HTPC...

I'm liking this Asus P5E-VM HDMI, but one thing that I didn't anticipate was that as I need to use the onboard graphics, it will eat up 256MB of my RAM. You can choose to use 128MB instead in BIOS, which is what I did, but with everything running for HTPC use (AnyDVD HD, Xonar DX control panel, Comodo Firewall, NOD32, Bluetooth, Logitech panel/drivers), I still get like 740-750 MB RAM usage when everything's settled down at startup in Vista 32. I don't usually use this HTPC for graphics or photography work, so I get by just fine with 2GB of RAM. I don't think 1 GB would cut it though.

 

[hlkc]

I'm liking this Asus P5E-VM HDMI, but one thing that I didn't anticipate was that as I need to use the onboard graphics, it will eat up 256MB of my RAM. You can choose to use 128MB instead in BIOS, which is what I did, but with everything running for HTPC use (AnyDVD HD, Xonar DX control panel, Comodo Firewall, NOD32, Bluetooth, Logitech panel/drivers), I still get like 740-750 MB RAM usage when everything's settled down at startup in Vista 32. I don't usually use this HTPC for graphics or photography work, so I get by just fine with 2GB of RAM. I don't think 1 GB would cut it though.

Thanks for your tips. This is another MB I am thinking about for my miniPC and also thinking this case too.
But ultimately I sure want to re-do what I have to the new G45 as soon as they come out

 

[hlkc]

This afternoon I stopped by one of my local AV retailer and check out Pioneer and Denon TrueHD receivers. I did a lot of A/B testing with these 2 brands and also with the last generation HDMI 1.2 without TrueHD and I have to say that I hear some different but not a big different that most people talked about. I don't mean to blow my own horn... but I have been stereophile for years and own many high end equipments for long time. If it is truth that TrueHD makes such a big different then all I can think of is either someone use a old receiver/pre-amp compare to these receivers or this retail shop setup such as cables, power conditioner or whatever is not performing well...

 

[Jong]

What were you comparing? TrueHD vs s/pdif? (DD? DTS?).

 

[hlkc]

What were you comparing? TrueHD vs s/pdif? (DD? DTS?).

Pioneer standalone BD player HDMI 1.3 to 2 different TrueHD receivers and 1 last generation receiver using DTS SPDIF from same standalone player.

I was particular comparing for clarity for the center and bass for both. But once again, I guess I can't hear much different.

 

[mcnaugha]

Massive complicated topic

This is too massive to work through every post.

I'll just add my thoughts...

I initially got caught up in the marketing hype of TrueHD, etc. thinking I needed a newer receiver for it, not realising my HTPC was already capable of outputting it through its 7.1 analog outputs. I had been using SPDIF and thought I needed to go to HDMI v1.3 output at some point. I then discovered my PC could output the new formats through its multi-channel outputs. My existing receiver actually came with a switch box which let me switch between the receiver going to the 7.1 speakers and the direct output from the PC. Wow, thanks to PowerDVD I suddenly had the ability to playback the HD audio formats. It had all been a confusing mess. I don't need a pricey receiver and HDMI audio output. Perhaps you don't either.

Only thing I quickly discovered was that my onboard HD audio codec was overloading my CPU and I kept getting dropped frames. I have a Core 2 Extreme QX9650... so I was like what-the-fcuk. I bought the Auzentech X-Fi Prelude and now everything HD is great. Having said that, the Auzentech drivers are absolutely sh!t. They're not outputting the right stuff out of the SPDIF and their tech support won't listen. My machine was really unstable for quite a while after installing the drivers. Seems to have settled now. Although I'm about to update with the latest patch.

It was only after further research that I learned that LPCM is actually better (or the same I suppose) and that most HD discs are coming with that anyway.

TrueHD is just a compression format. It's just a way of storing the audio data on the disc. It has no more magic than the LPCM. If a disc has LPCM on it, I don't get why they've bothered with TrueHD as well. Marketing!

Ok technically I'm apparently not getting as high fidelity as those with pricey receivers, but I honestly don't care. The sound is amazing as it is. When I win the lottery I'll buy one of those receivers.

 

[andy o]

This is too massive to work through every post.

I'll just add my thoughts...

I initially got caught up in the marketing hype of TrueHD, etc. thinking I needed a newer receiver for it, not realising my HTPC was already capable of outputting it through its 7.1 analog outputs. I had been using SPDIF and thought I needed to go to HDMI v1.3 output at some point. I then discovered my PC could output the new formats through its multi-channel outputs. My existing receiver actually came with a switch box which let me switch between the receiver going to the 7.1 speakers and the direct output from the PC. Wow, thanks to PowerDVD I suddenly had the ability to playback the HD audio formats. It had all been a confusing mess. I don't need a pricey receiver and HDMI audio output. Perhaps you don't either.

Only thing I quickly discovered was that my onboard HD audio codec was overloading my CPU and I kept getting dropped frames. I have a Core 2 Extreme QX9650... so I was like what-the-fcuk. I bought the Auzentech X-Fi Prelude and now everything HD is great. Having said that, the Auzentech drivers are absolutely sh!t. They're not outputting the right stuff out of the SPDIF and their tech support won't listen. My machine was really unstable for quite a while after installing the drivers. Seems to have settled now. Although I'm about to update with the latest patch.

It was only after further research that I learned that LPCM is actually better (or the same I suppose) and that most HD discs are coming with that anyway.

TrueHD is just a compression format. It's just a way of storing the audio data on the disc. It has no more magic than the LPCM. If a disc has LPCM on it, I don't get why they've bothered with TrueHD as well. Marketing!

Ok technically I'm apparently not getting as high fidelity as those with pricey receivers, but I honestly don't care. The sound is amazing as it is. When I win the lottery I'll buy one of those receivers.

Some people (I don't think I would) would prefer the movie sound to get out unmolested and even undecoded so their receivers can do all the work. They don't trust PowerDVD to decode the stuff, and I guess with reason. PowerDVD downsamples everything to 16-bit/48 kHz audio, and some people (certainly not me) are upset about that, so the ultimate assurance that audio is unperturbed would be bitstreaming.

There are advantages when the audio is decoded by the player though, such as mixing commentary audio and stuff like that. Personally, I don't care about anything but the movie itself, so I don't really care either way.

One true, palpable advantage of having the movie in one of these "HD" formats is of DTS-HD MA, and it seems Dolby dropped the ball with TrueHD in this regard, and that is the "core" DTS track that both DTS-HD and DTS-HD MA have which immediately makes the movie compatible with S/PDIF receivers. Dolby Digital Plus has it, but not TrueHD, which lead to some problems with some movies with TrueHD audio (I think most if not all of them have to have a secondary DD or DD+ track. And of course LPCM can't do this at all, your player will need to encode to DTS or DD to transmit anything over 2 channels through S/PDIF. It also seems TrueHD on blu-ray (not on HD-DVD somehow) requires an inordinate amount (for an audio codec) of CPU power to be decoded. This might be a PowerDVD issue, I don't know. I haven't tested with 8 or with the latest 8 patch though.

 

[kdssrugby]

I was just checking out Toms hardware's preview on the New ATI card and apparently the new 4870 card will support 7.1 audio via HDMI, possibley being 1.3a compliant. Curious if this can do lossless audio (certainly be cheaper than going the Auzentech route).
http://www.tomshardware.com/news/ati-radeon-4800,5375.html

 

[hlkc]

I was just checking out Toms hardware's preview on the New ATI card and apparently the new 4870 card will support 7.1 audio via HDMI, possibley being 1.3a compliant. Curious if this can do lossless audio (certainly be cheaper than going the Auzentech route).
http://www.tomshardware.com/news/ati-radeon-4800,5375.html

"The Radeon 4800 series also includes 7.1 channel-via-HDMI support and color output also got a “significant” boost, our sources said. We were unable to confirm HDMI 1.3 support, but we would not be surprised if that in fact is the case. The Unified Video Decoder is now in generation 2 and is called "UVD2"."

I hope so and if it is the case, I will be the first to line up to get this baby I just picked up the Onkyo version of the Integra pre-amp. With this new addition, I am only down to PDVD not downmix (8.5?), maybe this 4850 card or Auzentech route then I should be able to do lossless audio format

Oh one more note, I like to share with you guys that about the video. I use my DVI/HDMI cable from my HTPC to my plasma for long time. I just replaced the HDMI/HDMI 1.3b cable and the color is better. According to the people who sold the cable to me, he said 1.3b is better than 1.3a and can carry a deeper color. So for whoever looking to upgrade their cable to do this 1.3 game, make sure get the HDMI 1.3b and you will notice the different.

 

[andy o]

Which cable did you get, and which people did you buy it from? Just curious.

 

[hlkc]

Which cable did you get, and which people did you buy it from? Just curious.

Hi andy,

I have been using RAM Electronics older 1.1 DVI/HDMI cable. Since Lenexpro is local to me therefore I pick up 3 HDMI/HDMI cables from them and replace what I have. Btw, my evaluation is not going to Onkyo, just straight from GC and my SAT set-top box to my plasma. Will hook up to Onkyo this weekend.

 

[SoulMan]

Can I play a lossless format on my PC?
Yes and no. Total Media Theater (TMT) currently allows uncompressed audio to be sent via analog or hdmi using an Asus Xonar 1.3 card (which can be used with TMT 3 platinum). If you do not have this card then the audio signal is downgraded (from a lossless track to a lossy track which is not bit for bit identical to the original recording)

Hello,

So, using TMT & an Asus Xonar 1.3, is it possible to output uncompressed audio through ASIO output drivers?

My idea is to reroute them using console (a VST host), dooing active crossover with izotope ozone, and output them to an other soundcard (one or two Audiotrack Prodigy 7.1 HIFI), using one chanel for each speacker.

The console/ozone/prodigy part already works fine, and can work for example when I play HD audio rips with foobar (with a 24/96 samplerate limitation for console).

So, I'm curious to know if it's possible to use this active PC based crossover for BR discs, and this ability (or not) will influence my choices for ly future PCHC investment

thank you for your help.