Hi Greg,
I am also waiting for a “single card” solution for my HTPC audio. As posted above there are “workaround” cards available now but as far as I know none of them are capable of full HDMI 1.3 audio connectivity. If you haven’t found them already these links might help you or hopefully anyone else looking into this.
First you might want to read this:
http://www.tweaktown.com/articles/1306/2/dts_hd_and_dolby_truehd_on_your_pc/index.htmlRight now it appears that digital rights management has us by the …
Also this post might be helpful on what‘s best for now:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=13460020&highlight=hdmi+1.3#post13460020
Quote:
Originally Posted by cybrsage
Speaking of using Analog, is that the current preferred way of getting the best sound out of a HTPC right now?
Here is how I would rate the methods from best to worst:
1. 6/8 channel HDMI audio for all audio formats (only available from the G35 today).
For DD/DTS:
2. SPDIF (or ATI HDMI audio).
3. 6/8 channel analog (with decent DACs).
For DTS HD, Dolby TrueHD, and 6/8 channel LPCM:
2. 6/8 channel analog (with decent DACs).
3. DTS Connect or DD Live over SPDIF.
Some people will argue that 2 and 3 should be swapped for the HD audio formats because the noise induced in the DACs in the PC environment is worse that the loss caused by the compression using DTS Connect and DD Live.
-Dave
Finally if you’re not already I recommend that for the latest news you monitor this thread:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=794029&highlight=hdmi+soundcardPersonally I am waiting until all-in-one cards that support everything are available. Then I will still probably wait for other people to work out the inevitable bugs. Right now I’m sticking to analogue especially since most of what I’m watching on the HTPC is 2.0 Anime anyway.
Hope this helps someone,
Dean
