Blu Ray PC player?

[wiak]

Z-5500 as far i know dont support TrueHD/DTS HD
if you want the best sound for z-5500 you should get a dedicated audio card like a xonar dx or something in that range, it will be better than onboard

 

[Mussels]

Bugger. Maybe i'll just buy a 6870? and use straight HDMI cable.

its $10 adaptor on ebay, a 6870 is a bit overkill for HDMI audio

 

[7.62]

If you look at it that way yes, but I think its time for me to upgrade the 4890 anyway.

 

[brandonwh64]

If you look at it that way yes, but I think its time for me to upgrade the 4890 anyway.

Wait for a 69xx before you upgrade. its not too much longer!

 

[7.62]

how long?

 

[Robert-The-Rambler]

4890 does not support Blu Ray Audio

If you look at it that way yes, but I think its time for me to upgrade the 4890 anyway.

It can't output the protected audio bitstream so you will have to upgrade anyway to get that anyway. If you use the HDMI audio feature on a 4800 series card it will be downmixed to 16 bit 48khz linear PCM. Some examples of bitstream ready cards are the Radeon 5000 series, 6000 series, GTX 400 series among others. Copy protection sucks monkey balls.

 

[Mussels]

It can't output the protected audio bitstream so you will have to upgrade anyway to get that anyway. If you use the HDMI audio feature on a 4800 series card it will be downmixed to 16 bit 48khz linear PCM. Some examples of bitstream ready cards are the Radeon 5000 series, 6000 series, GTX 400 series among others. Copy protection sucks monkey balls.

yeah but he's still going to get AUDIO, even if it merely 2.0

 

[Robert-The-Rambler]

You need Power DVD 8

yeah but he's still going to get AUDIO, even if it merely 2.0

To listen to analog Dolby True HD decoded by Power DVD using the MLP decoder you need Power DVD 8. I have Ultra. You can get the full audio resolution if you have the old software. I do this all the time with my analog setups. It should and will also work with SPDIF in stereo mode with Power DVD 8. It downmixes the 5.1 audio to stereo in True HD, You can also force max bitrate DTS also by using Power DVD 8 Ultra and simply setting it to 6 speaker output. Your soundcard will downmix for you with DTS connect if it is supported. I don't think this works with DTS Master. I'm not sure if Power DVD 8 can decode DTS Master and output it in analog 5.1. Well, there you have it.

The problem is since Power DVD 9 they dropped MLP support that was the key to DVD-Audio high resolution audio. It is the reason with Power DVD 8 you can get at least some non HDMI Blu Ray audio.

 

[Thatguy]

It can't output the protected audio bitstream so you will have to upgrade anyway to get that anyway. If you use the HDMI audio feature on a 4800 series card it will be downmixed to 16 bit 48khz linear PCM. Some examples of bitstream ready cards are the Radeon 5000 series, 6000 series, GTX 400 series among others. Copy protection sucks monkey balls.

my wifes 3000 IGP series works just fine. a bit of searching turns this up.

http://support.amd.com/us/kbarticles/Pages/GPU70NoAudiofromHDTV.aspx

and this

http://forums.amd.com/game/messageview.cfm?catid=260&threadid=137337

 

[7.62]

To listen to analog Dolby True HD decoded by Power DVD using the MLP decoder you need Power DVD 8. I have Ultra. You can get the full audio resolution if you have the old software. I do this all the time with my analog setups. It should and will also work with SPDIF in stereo mode with Power DVD 8. It downmixes the 5.1 audio to stereo in True HD, You can also force max bitrate DTS also by using Power DVD 8 Ultra and simply setting it to 6 speaker output. Your soundcard will downmix for you with DTS connect if it is supported. I don't think this works with DTS Master. I'm not sure if Power DVD 8 can decode DTS Master and output it in analog 5.1. Well, there you have it.

The problem is since Power DVD 9 they dropped MLP support that was the key to DVD-Audio high resolution audio. It is the reason with Power DVD 8 you can get at least some non HDMI Blu Ray audio.

This interests me. Just to make it clearer for my brain. If I use my 3x mini jacks and selece '6 speaker output' Power DVD 10 will decode the HD audio and send it to my speakers in higher resolution than the SPDIF?
Im assuming that because the digital connection will only send the standard DTS, and DD, while the software will decode the HD audio in full resolution?

Mussels, 2.0 is not enough I have spent yesterday putting speaker cabling through the wall Missus happy.

 

[7.62]

Here is the setup.

Please tell me if there is anything that should be changed.







Speaker receiver left to right. PC onboard audio SPDIF. Optical from TV. 6 Speaker analoge from onboard audio too.

 

[streetfighter 2]

This interests me. Just to make it clearer for my brain. If I use my 3x mini jacks and selece '6 speaker output' Power DVD 10 will decode the HD audio and send it to my speakers in higher resolution than the SPDIF?
Im assuming that because the digital connection will only send the standard DTS, and DD, while the software will decode the HD audio in full resolution?

Let's assume for a second that PowerDVD will decode the HD audio in software then send it to the sound card for DAC conversion (which wouldn't conform to HDCP as far as I know), you're then relying on your onboard card's DAC. The ALC889a isn't well known for its quality...

Personally I'd stick with SPDIF and assume that your Z-680 will do a better job of decoding and DAC.

 

[Robert-The-Rambler]

Unfortunately Power DVD 10 Will Not Do That

This interests me. Just to make it clearer for my brain. If I use my 3x mini jacks and selece '6 speaker output' Power DVD 10 will decode the HD audio and send it to my speakers in higher resolution than the SPDIF?
Im assuming that because the digital connection will only send the standard DTS, and DD, while the software will decode the HD audio in full resolution?

Mussels, 2.0 is not enough I have spent yesterday putting speaker cabling through the wall Missus happy.

The older Power DVD 8 software with MLP support when it supported DVD-Audio is capable of decoding the HD audio in software and outputting over analog 5.1 for at least Dolby True HD. They dropped MLP support so in doing so also dropped analog HD audio in later versions. With Power DVD 10 it will not matter how you connect other than a protected path HDMI connection with bitstream BLU RAY audio support; it will default to 16 bit 48khz linear PCM DVD resolution audio.

So for you right now either way you will hear some form of 16 bit 48khz no matter how you connect your audio. Thats okay I guess but still not exactly fair for analog users.

P.S I just want to add that analog audio will be better for gaming as you don't have copy restrictions and can set the resolution as high as your sound card supports.

 

[7.62]

Ok.
I guess thats a bit disappointing, but with that said, its kinda what I expected.

Please just for interest sake, what is the bit rate of the HD audio?

 

[Thatguy]

What kind of shit are you guys smoking ? 44.1khz 16 bit is MORE THEN FINE

I can find at least 1,000 studies done on bit rates in PCM wav format audio that state this.

 

[Dent1]

Ok.
I guess thats a bit disappointing, but with that said, its kinda what I expected.

Please just for interest sake, what is the bit rate of the HD audio?

I believe for DD True HD it's 96KHz/24-bit for 8 channel audio or 192KHz/24-bit for 6-channel audio. DTS Masters HD is also 96KHZ/24-bit in 8 channel.

If you have to settle for 44.1khz/16-bit you'll be worst off than regular DD or DTs. Regular Dolby Digital is 48KHz/16-bit, and regular DTS is 96KHz/24-bit.

Bugger. Maybe i'll just buy a 6870? and use straight HDMI cable.

If you can afford a 6870, you can afford a AV receiver that genuinely supports DD True HD and DTS Masters.