[tdansmith]

I'm another of those long time lurkers. This forum has provided loads of useful information (thanks!), and I'm nearly ready to take the plunge. My current set-up is an ATV1 with xbmc + crystal HD. The xbmc GUI is great, and has me hooked, but this set-up won't play all my HD content - and this is all 720p, as 1080p has never worked on this rig - so I want to get a machine that will play anything up to 1080p to stop those embarrassing moments when files won't play properly(!). My initial requirements were just to play 1080p mkvs (10-15GB), but I'm thinking about just ripping my BDs w/o any compression as I have a NAS, and HDD space isn't a massive issue. The info on this forum indicates that an ION based system should fit the bill - currently looking at Revo 3700.

1) Is this correct, will BD rips play, and what format should I rip to?

I was all set to push the button, but then I got thinking about HD audio since I'm now looking at uncompressed BD rips. I've had a root around the forums for info on this, but want to confirm a few things.

2) If I have a BD rip with Dolby TrueHD or DTS-MA audio, what are my options for playing this uncompressed audio. I understand that TrueHD can be converted (losslessly?) to LPCM which my amp should handle - it's a relatively new amp (HDMI 1.3; HD codec support). What about DTS-MA? Will it just play the DTS core.

3) Is full support for either HD audio format likely in the future?

4) What hardware issues am I likely to have on the audio side of things?

Sorry for all the questions, and thanks again!

[poofyhairguy]

1) Is this correct, will BD rips play, and what format should I rip to?

Yes they will play as long as its not an ISO. The best option is to convert to a single MKV file.

2) If I have a BD rip with Dolby TrueHD or DTS-MA audio, what are my options for playing this uncompressed audio. I understand that TrueHD can be converted (losslessly?) to LPCM which my amp should handle - it's a relatively new amp (HDMI 1.3; HD codec support). What about DTS-MA? Will it just play the DTS core.

Yep, True HD converts to 8 channel PCM and DTS-HD just passes along its massive core (which double blind tests show to be indistinguishable from full DTS-HD). DTS-HD lacks an open source decoder.

If you want HD audio in all cases, you need to convert DTS-HD to 8 channel FLAC when you rip the disks. Here is how:

http://www.curtpalme.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=17002

3) Is full support for either HD audio format likely in the future?

HD Audio bitstreaming support will find its way into XBMC Live within a year and a half, but it won't work for that Revo. Initial reports seems like it will work for ION2 hardware, not ION1 hardware.

[tdansmith]

Thanks for the reply.

I guess the best thing to do is keep just the HD track (Dolby or DTS). 'Make do' with the DTS core until DTS-MA is supported. I believe the Revo 3700 is ION2, but I suppose that's no guarantee that it will ever support the HD formats.

Cheers!

[poofyhairguy]

I believe the Revo 3700 is ION2, but I suppose that's no guarantee that it will ever support the HD formats.

I am pretty sure its ION2 too. Newegg says ION1, but that CPU it has is incompatible with ION1. Unfortunately the website for that Revo has no answers.

[>>X<<]

Depending how much you want to spend you might want to look at the Asrock Core systems as they support HD Audio

In theory you should be able to bitstream HD audio using DSPlayer and ffdshow but until anyone with that system actually tries it then its exactly that theory including how well xbmc performs in general on that system