ATI 4850 Video Card 7.1 LPCM Audio

[prerich]

It seems as if AMD/ATI has come up with a nice solution, the new Radeon 4850 video card can carry LPCM 7.1 audio via hdmi. Now its still downres'd to 48khz/16bits but via, Vista can be upres'd to maximum res (an nice long thread on AVS is devoted to this very subject). Now what I would like to know is since PowerDVD 8, and WinDVD 9 Plus BD can decode TrueHD and DTS HD-Master - the output would be LPCM - just like the PS3. This sounds like a wonderful solution. I really want to wait for the Xonar HDAV 1.3 (it will bitstream - the 4850 can't bitstream - just like the PS3), but I feel upgrade lust coming on! Is anyone out there using this solution in their HTPC and what to you think about it? I'm getting nothing but positives from AVS posters.

[crackinhedz]

Auzen X-Fi HomeTheater 7.1 HDMI sound card does bitstream output from your HTPC

Earlier this month, ASUS introduced the "world's first HDMI 1.3a compliant audio / video enhancement combo card." Who knew numero dos was so close behind? Auzentech has just announced its very own HDMI 1.3-native PCIe audio combo card, which is built around Creative's X-Fi processor and enables PC users to easily output 7.1-channel audio with no downsampling. Essentially, the Auzen X-Fi HomeTheater 7.1 "accepts video from either an internal or external connection, mixes it with digital audio, and outputs the combined video and lossless multichannel audio via a single HDMI 1.3 port." Yep, that means Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio codecs are fully supported. The only digs? For one, pricing remains a mystery, but the real kicker is the September release -- talk about a long wait.

[Obiit]

Well there's a turn up for the books - instead of eagerly awaited graphics cards shootouts we have soundcards instead

Either one is going to put a big dint in your pocket though

[prerich]

Originally Posted by Obiit

Well there's a turn up for the books - instead of eagerly awaited graphics cards shootouts we have soundcards instead

Either one is going to put a big dint in your pocket though

It will be worth it for the Asus - the DAC's are even customizable! Burr-brown Dac's are standard but you can upgrade the DAC's because they are removeable modules on the soundcard itself - this is what the mid-to high end PC user has been waiting for !!!!

P.S. BD itself put a sizeable dent into people's pockets - even with the PS3. I could easily find myself spending up to $300.00 for the right sound card (you may say that I could buy a ps3 for $99.00 more dollars - but its not the same if you're a tweeker). That's what I love about HTPC - the ability to upgrade bit by bit!