Building HTPC...Need Advice on Audio Card

[BLU_Until_The_End]

HI:
I hope this thread is in the right place. If not, Mods please feel free to move it, I am building an HTPC and I would like to get an audio card that decdes HD audio (i.e. HD-Master Audio, Dolby TrueHD, but I'm sure you already knew what I meant ).

Any siggestions? Also, what do these cards usually cost? Thanks in advance!

[prerich]

Originally Posted by BLU_Until_The_End

HI:
I hope this thread is in the right place. If not, Mods please feel free to move it, I am building an HTPC and I would like to get an audio card that decdes HD audio (i.e. HD-Master Audio, Dolby TrueHD, but I'm sure you already knew what I meant ).

Any siggestions? Also, what do these cards usually cost? Thanks in advance!

Ok are you looking for a card that Bitstreams to a receiver, or are you looking for decoding to be done in the PC because that's handled via software.

[BLU_Until_The_End]

Originally Posted by prerich

Ok are you looking for a card that Bitstreams to a receiver, or are you looking for decoding to be done in the PC because that's handled via software.

I will be using PDVD13 as the software player so I know it can handle doing the decoding in the PC. What I am confused on is how do I get HD Audio? With my current setup I am only getting Dolby Digital....do I need to use HDMI audio from my graphics card?

[prerich]

Originally Posted by BLU_Until_The_End

I will be using PDVD13 as the software player so I know it can handle doing the decoding in the PC. What I am confused on is how do I get HD Audio? With my current setup I am only getting Dolby Digital....do I need to use HDMI audio from my graphics card?

HD audio ...set you PDVD13 to bitstream hdmi output in your setup and go hdmi out to your receiver. That should do it for you

[everysight]

Yes PowerDVD must be set to bitstream output as mentioned above. You could also try XBMC which also bitstreams, and if your receiver can't decode XBMC will decode for you.

[BLU_Until_The_End]

Awesome!! Thanks for the replies guys. You all have been a lot of help.

[lucv13]

In this day and age if you are building an HTPC for audio/video output and no gaming then you don't need a video card or audio card - both Intel and AMD have motherboards with HDMI and both are efficient enough to play all your audio/video files. Just set up a good base system - I use an i5 and have never had any problem outputting audio/video with the HDMI and it's HD2000 graphics. The processor is powerful enough that if I find a PC game that interests me it's very simple to just add a video card and will be good to go - Specs to my HTPC linked in my sig...

[pentatonic]

That's what I would also do if starting from scratch. Right now I'm using my old media server (C2D E6600, 4GBs, with my 2 1.5 TB greens and 1x 2TB green). I just replaced both 1.5 under warranty, I believe they had a few bad batches of these from what I read, so Luc run the WD Data Lifeguard Diagnostics for Windows once in a while, it did let me know in time to back up everything and in a matter of days it died.

So back to the HTPC, I upgraded my main PC's video card to a HD 7850 2GB and am using my old HD 5770. I still can't figure how to fix the fact that my 5770 sees my Denon avr as only capable of 96/24 when I can accept all up to 192/24. Got the little K400 keyboard and think it's great and a backup BD player to boot.

[lucv13]

Originally Posted by pentatonic

That's what I would also do if starting from scratch. Right now I'm using my old media server (C2D E6600, 4GBs, with my 2 1.5 TB greens and 1x 2TB green). I just replaced both 1.5 under warranty, I believe they had a few bad batches of these from what I read, so Luc run the WD Data Lifeguard Diagnostics for Windows once in a while, it did let me know in time to back up everything and in a matter of days it died.

So back to the HTPC, I upgraded my main PC's video card to a HD 7850 2GB and am using my old HD 5770. I still can't figure how to fix the fact that my 5770 sees my Denon avr as only capable of 96/24 when I can accept all up to 192/24. Got the little K400 keyboard and think it's great and a backup BD player to boot.

Hey Pat, thanks for the info on the "WD Data Lifeguard Diagnostics for Windows" will give that a run through this weekend as some of my drives are getting a little old.

Don't know what to tell you about the audio issue as I haven't used a video card since my HIS 3850 - I almost upgraded, bought a XFX 5830 but there just wasn't enough of a difference so I sold it. The HD3850 lasted until I went with the i5 Sandybridge cpu and it's integrated hd 2000 graphics...

[Goat1]

I just built a HTPC a few weeks ago myself. No video card. I threw in an ivy bridge with the 4000 HD. Haven't had any issues. It runs everything I throw at it. The chip has HD sound also,so I pass it thru my onkyo 818,hello DTS Master Audio/Dolby True HD

[v_squared123]

How would a htpc compare to a standalone blu ray player? Namely a CPU and mobo only combo. I'm assuming a high end sound card and video card add nothing to the processing and its all done through the media software?

[prerich]

Originally Posted by v_squared123

How would a htpc compare to a standalone blu ray player? Namely a CPU and mobo only combo. I'm assuming a high end sound card and video card add nothing to the processing and its all done through the media software?

Very favorably!!!! I've been running a setup like this since 2007 and it keeps getting better! And now there are several apps that allow you to control media software with an iPhone or Droid.