[mixminusmedia]

Hello Everyone

My very first post here so I was hoping you can help me.

I have a number of HDD's with Movies, Music etc on it that I have been viewing on my TV via the Western Digital
TV Live box.

While this has worked OK with video and audio and a simple HDMI output into my AMP, its a pain having the HDD;s everywhere, and Boxes etc.

What I want to do is build a Home Theater PC, so I can have all my HDD's inside it, with Windows 7 on it and be able to do lots more than what a WD box can do.

I tried plugging my PC into the AMP as my mainbaord had HDMI output on it, but all I got out of it was Stereo and not Dolby Digital, DTS etc.

Also, the video quality was pretty average.

So, lets build a new PC just for this without spending thousands.

So, can anyone suggest a Video card that had audio decoding built into it that will bitstream DTS-HD and Dolby TrueHD etc ?

I have seen this one, but it ONLY does HDMI 1.3 not 1.4 which I want.

https://www.asus.com/Sound_Cards_and_Dig...AV13_Slim/

If there is no new card on the market that does this, does it mean I need to get a Video card and a sound card ? But make sure the vidoe card is HDCP (High Definition Copy Protection) compliant ? and a audio card that will bitstream DTS-HD and Dolby TrueHD ?

Again any suggestions would be great ?

Also, any other suggestions for computer case, hardware etc you have would be welcome as again I am new to this.

I was thinking of having the opp system on a SSD drive and then 3 or 4 3.5 Inch HDDs and a blu ray drive.

I am located in Sydney, Australia.

Thanks

Michael.

[eskro]

video cards for bitstreaming HD audio.

- GT430
- GT520
- GT610
- HD6450

those 4 also do full 3d 1080p

[Dougie Fresh]

You don't need a dedicated video card to bitstream HD audio or support full 3D 1080p over HDMI. Any of the last 4 generations Intel processors (except 1st generation G6950 or 'P' processors since they don't have a GPU) or the FM1/FM2 AMD processors (except A4-5300) will do it. Unless your gaming, there's no need for a dedicated video card.

[Sayuuk]

Just jumping in:

So the A4-5300 definitely does not support bitstreaming?


I have one here and can't get it to work. I'd like to be pretty positive that the just slightly more expensive A6-5400K will do it, before I go out and send my A4 back.

Thanks in advance
Stefan

[Dougie Fresh]

A4-5300 will do HD audio bitstreaming in Windows but no full 3D video. It also won't do HD audio in Linux, like all AMD.

[Sayuuk]

A4-5300 will do HD audio bitstreaming in Windows but no full 3D video. It also won't do HD audio in Linux, like all AMD.

Great... so "it's not the A4, it's me" then.

I know this isn't the right thread to ask, but if it is a short answer, can you still post it here or send me a PM?


I have installed:
- A4-5300
- Windows 7 x64 Pro SP1
- Catalyst 13.4 (also tried 13.6b2 and per suggestion 12.1, but that doesn't support my APU yet)
- XBMX 12.2 (output switched to WASAPI)
- Arcsoft Total Media Theatre 3


Whenever I enable the passthrough for DTS-HD and DD-TrueHD in XBMC, the BluRay Rips (not transcoded, simply ripped with MakeMKV) turn into a slideshow.
If I switch to the DTS track it resumes normal playback, switch back to HD and it stutters again.
In TMT3, it simply plays DTS with no obvious way to switch to HD (but I just found these release notes, which suggest TMT3 simply didn't support my APU yet), BUT I downloaded TMT6 and it still doesn't work.


I have also unsuccesfully tried:
- latest XBMC 13 nightly
- SAF 6
- MPC-HC
- MPC-HC + FFDshow
- MPC-HC + LAV Filters


This is all on a 2 day old Windows installation that hasn't been messed with yet.
Do I have to set anything specific on a fresh installation to get this to work?


Thanks in advance
Stefan

[teeedubb]

A EDID issue maybe?

[Sayuuk]

A EDID issue maybe?

Not familiar with it, but from a glance I can tell that in the Sound Settings in Windows, it shows 8 channels supported and all the sound formats I need for my receiver.

Screenshot


Also tried switching to DirectSound, didn't work either.
It's a bit weird that TMT6 doesn't work as well, because it really should...

[Sayuuk]

I've also swapped out both HDMI cables with no change.

[Sayuuk]

Okay, it seems I've found the culprit.

The TV my AVR is hooked up to right now has an aspect ratio of 16:10, meaning a resolution of 1920x1200.
In one of the EDID threads someone mentioned that having a non-standard HD resolution could lead to problems.

I've swapped the TV for my FullHD PC Monitor for testing and it works perfectly now.

No special filters, no special settings - WASAPI + the formats I want enabled in the settings - and the DTS-HD MSTR is lighting up on the receiver for the first time.


Thanks for the hint about EDID, would have never tried this solution otherwise ;-)



Just one more question:
The A6 does 3D? - I don't have a 3D capable TV yet, but I might just spend the 10€ more now instead of a bit more later...