How to get lossless audio from the PC? - Blu-ray Forum

Happy_Evil_Dude · 07-22-2011, 01:48 PM

Hey everybody,

I'm going to buy a proper surround sound system to hook up to my PC before sales end on tuesday. Right now, I only have my Panasonic stereo plugged in, so am only getting 2.0 sound, and obviously am looking to get into some of that lossless audio action by buying a system that will deliver Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD MA.

The thing is, I know that when blu-ray was still at its nascent stage and the first PC drives came about, there was basically no way to get lossless audio from a PC, but haven't really been following, so have things evolved since then?

My PC is an HP p6035 with a Core2 Quad CPU running at 2.33 GHz with 4 Gbs of RAM and a NVIDIA GT120 graphics card whose sole HDMI port connects it to my 24" Hyundai W240D monitor. The motherboard has jack ports for a full surround sound system. I'm currently still running on Vista but I have 7, and plan to switch in the near future.

It is my understanding that lossless sound, be it from Dolby, DTS or simple PCM, can only be carried over an HDMI cable. So, could someone help me figure out if I can get HD sound and how? I'd ask the guys at the store, but they're clueless about this sort of thing.

Offender_Mullet · 07-22-2011, 02:11 PM

Not familiar with that video card. I looked at Nvidia's product page and it was very generic (the picture didn't even show the version with the hdmi out).

Your setup should go like this: Video card hdmi to receiver, receiver hdmi cable to monitor. Done.

Happy_Evil_Dude · 07-22-2011, 11:25 PM

^ Oh sweet, I was hoping something like that would work but wasn't sure...many thanks!

Also, I don't know if it's relevant, but I forgot to mention my blu-ray hardware and software. MY BD-RE drive is an LG GGW-H20L and playback is achieved through Cyberlink PowerDVD 7.3 Ultra.

Ray_Rogers · 07-23-2011, 12:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Happy_Evil_Dude

^ Oh sweet, I was hoping something like that would work but wasn't sure...many thanks!

Also, I don't know if it's relevant, but I forgot to mention my blu-ray hardware and software. MY BD-RE drive is an LG GGW-H20L and playback is achieved through Cyberlink PowerDVD 7.3 Ultra.

LG. Sorry that's where you lost. If you had an ASUS or even a Samsung, I would've honestly helped you.
Yes, once I had an LG product and the idiotic thing crapped out on me.

BLindsay · 07-23-2011, 04:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ray_Rogers

LG. Sorry that's where you lost. If you had an ASUS or even a Samsung, I would've honestly helped you.
Yes, once I had an LG product and the idiotic thing crapped out on me.

ive had computer parts crap out for me from every brand, the current blu-ray burner i have is an LG and its fine

Ray_Rogers · 07-23-2011, 07:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BLindsay

ive had computer parts crap out for me from every brand, the current blu-ray burner i have is an LG and its fine

I shall be buying ASUS. I wouldn't recommend Panasonic due to having a faulty multi-disc DVD player ages ago. YMMV

Offender_Mullet · 07-23-2011, 04:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Happy_Evil_Dude

^ Oh sweet, I was hoping something like that would work but wasn't sure...many thanks!

Also, I don't know if it's relevant, but I forgot to mention my blu-ray hardware and software. MY BD-RE drive is an LG GGW-H20L and playback is achieved through Cyberlink PowerDVD 7.3 Ultra.

You're welcome

however I can't help you with PowerDVD (the cable setup is still the same though so it shouldn't matter). I use Arcsoft's TotalMedia Theater.

slimdude · 07-23-2011, 10:01 PM

Why would you want hear lossless audio, through your PC? You won't hear the full dynamics of lossless audio through your computer at all, without using proper high fidelity home theater equipment... If I were you, I would wait until you get your new surround sound, and be done with it, instead of going through hoops, on trying to substitute for the time being.

edgar-pr · 07-23-2011, 11:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ray_Rogers

I shall be buying ASUS. I wouldn't recommend Panasonic due to having a faulty multi-disc DVD player ages ago. YMMV

+1 for ASUS.

If you want to get lossless bitstreaming from your PC this is the way to go. If you look at the spec sheet you can see that it consists of alot of high quality components. From what I read from reviews it offers sound quality on par with some meduim-high range Blu-ray players.

edgar-pr · 07-23-2011, 11:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by slimdude

Why would you want hear lossless audio, through your PC? You won't hear the full dynamics of lossless audio through your computer at all, without using proper high fidelity home theater equipment... If I were you, I would wait until you get your new surround sound, and be done with it, instead of going through hoops, on trying to substitute for the time being.

What are you talking about?! Everything you said couldn't be more wrong..

prerich · 07-24-2011, 12:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by slimdude

Why would you want hear lossless audio, through your PC? You won't hear the full dynamics of lossless audio through your computer at all, without using proper high fidelity home theater equipment... If I were you, I would wait until you get your new surround sound, and be done with it, instead of going through hoops, on trying to substitute for the time being.

He's going to buy a system!!! His pc will serve as his main bluray player ( as it is in my system). OP, get an nvidia 400 series or 500 series card, these will allow you to bitstream to your new receiver, As Mullet advised earlier, pc to receiver to tv/ monitor.

prerich · 07-24-2011, 12:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by edgar-pr

what are you talking about?! Everything you said couldn't be more wrong..

+1!!!

slimdude · 07-24-2011, 12:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by prerich

He's going to buy a system!!! His pc will serve as his main blurry player ( as it is in my system). OP, get an nvidia 400 series or 500 series card, these will allow you to bitstream to your new receiver, As Mullet advised earlier, pc to receiver to tv/ monitor.

I misread it! My bad.

Nightowl2010 · 07-24-2011, 11:18 AM

Some cards can bit-stream (pass through the native DTS-HD/ TrueHD/ LPCM audio format from the Blu-ray to the receiver) and some can't. I'm not very familiar with nVidia cards, but here is what I know about AMD cards ...

AMD 2000, 3000, and 4000 series cards can send both video and audio over HDMI to the receiver. Those series of cards will internally convert DTS-HD and True-HD to LPCM 16-bit/ 48khz uncompressed audio to send to your receiver. They can also send the lossy Dolby Digital and DTS formats natively to the receiver, or convert them to the aforementioned LPCM format.

Additionally, the 2k, 3k, and 4k series can pass through 16-bit LPCM (uncompressed) audio to the receiver. In fact, I just watched Hellboy last night, which has an LPCM 16-bit/ 48khz soundtrack, and it sounded fantastic.

I have an AMD4890 which does all this, and although it is not true bit-streaming with DTS-HD and TrueHD, it does sound great.

AMD's 5000 and 6000 series (the 6000 series are the latest models on the market) can do all of the above plus true bit-streaming of DTS-HD and TrueHD audio. The advantage of this is if the Blu-ray's audio is encoded in 24-bit, which is actually pretty rare, but these cards would be able to pass that through to the receiver without converting it to 16-bit first.

The 24-bit signal, in brief, means more headroom and dynamic range in the audio. This is the quality at which the original audio was recorded at in the studio, and it does sound better IMHO, but you'll want at least a decent speaker system and listening environment to appreciate the difference.

So, if you get an AMD 5k or 6k card you will be able to pass through the native audio from Blu-ray to receiver without any type of internal conversion.

brettallica · 07-24-2011, 02:34 PM

Awesome discussion. This is almost sticky-worthy and is perfect for those who are looking to go the HTPC route and need answers. There's definitely a lot of good info in here.

HyperRealist · 07-24-2011, 04:02 PM

I thought there were only 2 posts in this thread that offered any good advice to the OP. ASUS is no better than anyone else. All you need is a $50 Radeon HD 5450 to bitstream lossless to an AVR, if your power supply is sufficient.

Nightowl2010 · 07-25-2011, 09:40 AM

Some people really get into specific brands, and that's cool with me.

Having said that, I've had great success with Sapphire and HIS cards, and might go with an MSi card next time.

The thing I like about Sapphire and MSi is they both use higher quality capacitors than other brands like VisionTek, Diamond, etc. I don't know if this really matters if you're only watching Blu-rays and not gaming, though.

And I'm not knocking Asus at all. I know they've put out some great AMD cards, as well.

In the end, especially for an HTPC, I think the most important feature would be a card that is quiet (unless your HTPC is in a closet or far away form your listening position). As such, I'd research sites like Newegg and Guru3d.com and check out reviews of fan noise. Or, buy a fanless card.

Nightowl2010 · 07-25-2011, 10:44 AM

Also, I forgot to mention, if you use an HTPC to watch Blu-rays then you can make the system essentially region-free by having two different Blu-ray playing softwares on your system. Just set one to Region A and the other to Region B.

I've got PowerDVD set to A and Total Media Theater set to B, and it works a treat!

Happy_Evil_Dude · 07-25-2011, 11:22 PM

Hey, thanks for all the great advice you guys!

Nightowl, your post about cards was a bit too technical for me to fully grasp

, but as for my system being region-free, I've already taken care of that by using a program that apparently we're not supposed to mention here.

Anyway after checking out the main stores in my area, they don't seem to have any systems on sale

, so I'll be buying one soon, but the urgency is not there anymore. Most of the stores don't even seem to have that much choice for packs

(I don't have the budget for one badass receiver + speakers sold seperately). So after giving a good look around, I've settled my options to 4 potential choices, I'd appreciate if someone could give me their advice

:

The cheapest is the ONKYO AVX-380. Then for about 180 bucks more (US) I can get either the ONKYO AVX-390, the DENON DHT-1311XP or the YAMAHA HT371. According to the specs, all 4 are 3D Ready and the included speakers are all of equivalent power (except the Denon, whose speakers are 110W instead of 100). I've heard good things about Denon and Onkyo, not sure about Yamaha.

I spoke to 2 guys at the store, one who expressed doubt at the thought of a pc-to-receiver/receiver-to-monitor connection working, while the other said it should work, but only if the receiver's hdmi ports were 1.3. Since all those 4 are in 1.4 I guess there should be no problem.

HyperRealist · 07-25-2011, 11:44 PM

Stay away from Onkyo unless you only want it to last a year. Onkyo uses the cheapest components possible. Youtube is filled with tutorials showing you how to repair Onkyo receivers because the caps are bad. Denon and Yamaha are both good. I prefer Denon myself but IDK who has better entry level HTiBs. I take it you aren't in the US? I tried to google but couldn't find anything on the Yamaha in English.

07-22-2011, 01:48 PM	#1
Happy_Evil_Dude Senior Member Top contributor Member since:May 2009 4K collection:2 Blu-ray collection:138 Blu-ray reviews:3	How to get lossless audio from the PC? Hey everybody, I'm going to buy a proper surround sound system to hook up to my PC before sales end on tuesday. Right now, I only have my Panasonic stereo plugged in, so am only getting 2.0 sound, and obviously am looking to get into some of that lossless audio action by buying a system that will deliver Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD MA. The thing is, I know that when blu-ray was still at its nascent stage and the first PC drives came about, there was basically no way to get lossless audio from a PC, but haven't really been following, so have things evolved since then? My PC is an HP p6035 with a Core2 Quad CPU running at 2.33 GHz with 4 Gbs of RAM and a NVIDIA GT120 graphics card whose sole HDMI port connects it to my 24" Hyundai W240D monitor. The motherboard has jack ports for a full surround sound system. I'm currently still running on Vista but I have 7, and plan to switch in the near future. It is my understanding that lossless sound, be it from Dolby, DTS or simple PCM, can only be carried over an HDMI cable. So, could someone help me figure out if I can get HD sound and how? I'd ask the guys at the store, but they're clueless about this sort of thing.

07-24-2011, 04:02 PM	#16
HyperRealist Blu-ray Ninja Top contributor Member since:Nov 2009 Location:PA Blu-ray collection:110 DVD collection:96 Trading Score:48	I thought there were only 2 posts in this thread that offered any good advice to the OP. ASUS is no better than anyone else. All you need is a $50 Radeon HD 5450 to bitstream lossless to an AVR, if your power supply is sufficient. Last edited by HyperRealist; 07-24-2011 at 04:31 PM.

07-25-2011, 09:40 AM	#17
Nightowl2010 Active Member Top contributor Member since:Dec 2010 Location:Los Angeles Blu-ray collection:293 DVD collection:13 Blu-ray reviews:1 Trading Score:6	Some people really get into specific brands, and that's cool with me. Having said that, I've had great success with Sapphire and HIS cards, and might go with an MSi card next time. The thing I like about Sapphire and MSi is they both use higher quality capacitors than other brands like VisionTek, Diamond, etc. I don't know if this really matters if you're only watching Blu-rays and not gaming, though. And I'm not knocking Asus at all. I know they've put out some great AMD cards, as well. In the end, especially for an HTPC, I think the most important feature would be a card that is quiet (unless your HTPC is in a closet or far away form your listening position). As such, I'd research sites like Newegg and Guru3d.com and check out reviews of fan noise. Or, buy a fanless card. Last edited by Nightowl2010; 07-25-2011 at 09:42 AM.

07-25-2011, 11:22 PM	#19
Happy_Evil_Dude Senior Member Top contributor Member since:May 2009 4K collection:2 Blu-ray collection:138 Blu-ray reviews:3	Hey, thanks for all the great advice you guys! Nightowl, your post about cards was a bit too technical for me to fully grasp , but as for my system being region-free, I've already taken care of that by using a program that apparently we're not supposed to mention here. Anyway after checking out the main stores in my area, they don't seem to have any systems on sale , so I'll be buying one soon, but the urgency is not there anymore. Most of the stores don't even seem to have that much choice for packs (I don't have the budget for one badass receiver + speakers sold seperately). So after giving a good look around, I've settled my options to 4 potential choices, I'd appreciate if someone could give me their advice : The cheapest is the ONKYO AVX-380. Then for about 180 bucks more (US) I can get either the ONKYO AVX-390, the DENON DHT-1311XP or the YAMAHA HT371. According to the specs, all 4 are 3D Ready and the included speakers are all of equivalent power (except the Denon, whose speakers are 110W instead of 100). I've heard good things about Denon and Onkyo, not sure about Yamaha. I spoke to 2 guys at the store, one who expressed doubt at the thought of a pc-to-receiver/receiver-to-monitor connection working, while the other said it should work, but only if the receiver's hdmi ports were 1.3. Since all those 4 are in 1.4 I guess there should be no problem. Last edited by Happy_Evil_Dude; 07-26-2011 at 12:59 AM.

07-25-2011, 11:44 PM	#20
HyperRealist Blu-ray Ninja Top contributor Member since:Nov 2009 Location:PA Blu-ray collection:110 DVD collection:96 Trading Score:48	Stay away from Onkyo unless you only want it to last a year. Onkyo uses the cheapest components possible. Youtube is filled with tutorials showing you how to repair Onkyo receivers because the caps are bad. Denon and Yamaha are both good. I prefer Denon myself but IDK who has better entry level HTiBs. I take it you aren't in the US? I tried to google but couldn't find anything on the Yamaha in English. Last edited by HyperRealist; 07-25-2011 at 11:54 PM.

07-22-2011, 02:11 PM	#2
Offender_Mullet Blu-ray Samurai Member since:Nov 2008 Location:Illinois Blu-ray collection:6 Blu-ray reviews:4 Trading Score:10	Not familiar with that video card. I looked at Nvidia's product page and it was very generic (the picture didn't even show the version with the hdmi out). Your setup should go like this: Video card hdmi to receiver, receiver hdmi cable to monitor. Done.

07-22-2011, 11:25 PM	#3
Happy_Evil_Dude Senior Member Top contributor Member since:May 2009 4K collection:2 Blu-ray collection:138 Blu-ray reviews:3	^ Oh sweet, I was hoping something like that would work but wasn't sure...many thanks! Also, I don't know if it's relevant, but I forgot to mention my blu-ray hardware and software. MY BD-RE drive is an LG GGW-H20L and playback is achieved through Cyberlink PowerDVD 7.3 Ultra.

07-23-2011, 10:01 PM	#8
slimdude Banned Member since:Apr 2009 4K collection:- Blu-ray collection:- DVD collection:- Blu-ray reviews:8	Why would you want hear lossless audio, through your PC? You won't hear the full dynamics of lossless audio through your computer at all, without using proper high fidelity home theater equipment... If I were you, I would wait until you get your new surround sound, and be done with it, instead of going through hoops, on trying to substitute for the time being.

07-24-2011, 11:18 AM	#14
Nightowl2010 Active Member Top contributor Member since:Dec 2010 Location:Los Angeles Blu-ray collection:293 DVD collection:13 Blu-ray reviews:1 Trading Score:6	Some cards can bit-stream (pass through the native DTS-HD/ TrueHD/ LPCM audio format from the Blu-ray to the receiver) and some can't. I'm not very familiar with nVidia cards, but here is what I know about AMD cards ... AMD 2000, 3000, and 4000 series cards can send both video and audio over HDMI to the receiver. Those series of cards will internally convert DTS-HD and True-HD to LPCM 16-bit/ 48khz uncompressed audio to send to your receiver. They can also send the lossy Dolby Digital and DTS formats natively to the receiver, or convert them to the aforementioned LPCM format. Additionally, the 2k, 3k, and 4k series can pass through 16-bit LPCM (uncompressed) audio to the receiver. In fact, I just watched Hellboy last night, which has an LPCM 16-bit/ 48khz soundtrack, and it sounded fantastic. I have an AMD4890 which does all this, and although it is not true bit-streaming with DTS-HD and TrueHD, it does sound great. AMD's 5000 and 6000 series (the 6000 series are the latest models on the market) can do all of the above plus true bit-streaming of DTS-HD and TrueHD audio. The advantage of this is if the Blu-ray's audio is encoded in 24-bit, which is actually pretty rare, but these cards would be able to pass that through to the receiver without converting it to 16-bit first. The 24-bit signal, in brief, means more headroom and dynamic range in the audio. This is the quality at which the original audio was recorded at in the studio, and it does sound better IMHO, but you'll want at least a decent speaker system and listening environment to appreciate the difference. So, if you get an AMD 5k or 6k card you will be able to pass through the native audio from Blu-ray to receiver without any type of internal conversion.

07-24-2011, 02:34 PM	#15
brettallica Blu-ray Samurai Top ranked HT gallery Top contributor Member since:Nov 2008 Location:Santa Cruz, California Home Theater Gallery:51 Blu-ray collection:79 Trading Score:6	Awesome discussion. This is almost sticky-worthy and is perfect for those who are looking to go the HTPC route and need answers. There's definitely a lot of good info in here.

07-25-2011, 10:44 AM	#18
Nightowl2010 Active Member Top contributor Member since:Dec 2010 Location:Los Angeles Blu-ray collection:293 DVD collection:13 Blu-ray reviews:1 Trading Score:6	Also, I forgot to mention, if you use an HTPC to watch Blu-rays then you can make the system essentially region-free by having two different Blu-ray playing softwares on your system. Just set one to Region A and the other to Region B. I've got PowerDVD set to A and Total Media Theater set to B, and it works a treat!

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