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fingersdlp · 02-21-2008, 09:01 PM

I believe currently there are some limitations to the PC solution:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...lossless+audio

Lossess audio is not there yet on the pc. The current version of Power DVD Ultra downsamples all lossless audio. It has been improved with the most recent version but from what I understand still downsamples the audio.

If you want to use HDMI for both audio and video out of the pc you will most likely have to live with 2 channel audio as the cards I am aware of only output 2 channel audio. EDIT: see post above - seems like 5.1 may be possible

I think there is a new Intel G45 chipset that can support hdmi and bitstream of the audio. That is not out yet afaik.

Power DVD Ultra is in my opinion a poor player. It still uses overlay for video output and not the newer VMR9 or the EVO (or whatever it is called) that Vista uses.

Power DVD Ultra claims to be profile 1.1 but I have found several cases where they do not play the PIP content correctly (Sunshine for example).

So until there is better playback software you are at the mercy of Power DVD.

If you want true 1080p24 output you have to make sure your video card can support it. The 1080p24 offerings from NVidia are 23 or 24 and not the 23.976 that is really wanted. The ATI cards are much easier to setup for 1080p24 since they allow powerstrip support and you can dial in the exact timing your display device wants. I heard the most recent drivers from NVidia may allow custom timings again in Vista but I have not verified this.

I have a PS3 and a very nice HTPC that can play blue ray (without skips by the way

). I use the PS3 for all my playback for the above mentioned reasons. YMMV

I have a hope that some day I can get lossless audio and a true profile 2.0 player out of my PC that works properly but it is not there yet.

02-21-2008, 09:01 PM	#10
fingersdlp Active Member Member since:Apr 2007 Trading Score:1	I believe currently there are some limitations to the PC solution: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...lossless+audio Lossess audio is not there yet on the pc. The current version of Power DVD Ultra downsamples all lossless audio. It has been improved with the most recent version but from what I understand still downsamples the audio. If you want to use HDMI for both audio and video out of the pc you will most likely have to live with 2 channel audio as the cards I am aware of only output 2 channel audio. EDIT: see post above - seems like 5.1 may be possible I think there is a new Intel G45 chipset that can support hdmi and bitstream of the audio. That is not out yet afaik. Power DVD Ultra is in my opinion a poor player. It still uses overlay for video output and not the newer VMR9 or the EVO (or whatever it is called) that Vista uses. Power DVD Ultra claims to be profile 1.1 but I have found several cases where they do not play the PIP content correctly (Sunshine for example). So until there is better playback software you are at the mercy of Power DVD. If you want true 1080p24 output you have to make sure your video card can support it. The 1080p24 offerings from NVidia are 23 or 24 and not the 23.976 that is really wanted. The ATI cards are much easier to setup for 1080p24 since they allow powerstrip support and you can dial in the exact timing your display device wants. I heard the most recent drivers from NVidia may allow custom timings again in Vista but I have not verified this. I have a PS3 and a very nice HTPC that can play blue ray (without skips by the way ). I use the PS3 for all my playback for the above mentioned reasons. YMMV I have a hope that some day I can get lossless audio and a true profile 2.0 player out of my PC that works properly but it is not there yet. Last edited by fingersdlp; 02-21-2008 at 09:05 PM.