Dolby TrueHD -> Dolby Digital

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Sat down to watch Iron man last night, quite excited as I hear it's great on blu ray.

This is quickly dispelled however when I see I'm only getting stereo sound to my amp. My setup is an HTPC with power dvd 8 ultra, video over HDMI, sound over spdif (can't seem to get sound to work over HDMI :().

I'm happy to accept I can only get DD 5.1 until software and hardware support for True HD and DTS MA improve. Problem is Iron Man only has TrueHD audio stream for English, no DD. Is there any way I can get dolby digital from this?

My thoughts are can I get power dvd 8 to decode TrueHD to LPCM and then encode this using AC3 filter to 5.1 DD?
 
I thought there where "core" versions of both HD audio streams that where available over spdif

(You may find - if you have to use one - that its your dvi/hdmi converter on the graphics card that might be causing audio issues. This was quite a common issue a while ago when ATI started shipping their new cards and some on here didnt use the bundled adaptor thinking it was standard)

Im sure someone will come along with more help in a short while
 
My thoughts are can I get power dvd 8 to decode TrueHD to LPCM and then encode this using AC3 filter to 5.1 DD?

Are you using the free version that comes with blu-ray drives as I think it only outputs spdif in 2-channel? AFIAK you have to buy the full version for more channels.

Are you using an ATI card that does audio over HDMI?
 
Ive been reading about this heavily in the last 2 days as I just got my HTPC.

Not sure if I have interpreted what I have read correctly, but it seems unless you have one of these -> Asus Xonar HDAV1.3 Sound Card <- then you can not get the new TrueHD Audio or DTS-HD Master Audio out over HDMI.

In my situation (here) I can send out DD5.1 and DTS perfectly fine over HDMI via PowerDVD 7. Not tried other applications yet though.

I think when I tried a HD-DVD which had TrueHD Audio I didnt get any sound at all though.

Would be good if someone confirms if thats right or not :)
 
My 4870 has a DVI > HDMI dongle which includes sound. My HDMI dongle shows up as a soundcard in windows. Maybe this will work for you?
 
I should have posted more info. My HTPC has a gigabyte mobo with 780g chipset and hence has a HD3200 onboard graphics with HDMI out (no dongle or converter required). I can select the HDMI output in sound options in windows but I don't seem to get any output, very frustrating!

As a temporary fix to this I hooked up a toslink cable and set audio to output over spdif.

I am using power dvd 8 ultra (top version)

@probedb - DTS MA has a DTS core, TrueHD does not have a DD core.
 
Did you read this? :)

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17931333

Edit; I just read your post in the HDAV thread. That link should answer your questions.

Yeh i did, that prompted me to put my second post in. Thanks for replying. That post was from october though so I wanted to make sure 3 months down the line it was the same story.

Assuming you do need that card I have also been reading about it and it doesnt seem to be 100% reliable. Im trying to learn more on that now though to work out if I should buy it.

There seems to be some fuzzy mist around Vista 64 and drivers. If anyone knows more let me know! :)
 
I can select the HDMI output in sound options in windows but I don't seem to get any output, very frustrating!

I am using power dvd 8 ultra (top version)

@probedb - DTS MA has a DTS core, TrueHD does not have a DD core.

I didnt either until i went into PowerDVD "Configuration" and the "Audio" tab. In here if I select "HDMI" and "AC3 / DTS pass through".

But first I had to go into the settings for the HDMI sound device, then on the "supported formats" tab you need to test both AC3 and DTS. If you hear the tests, then its only PowerDVD holding you back. IF you do not hear the test, then it implies the PC is not sending out the audio via HDMI to the amp at all.
 
Assuming you do need that card I have also been reading about it and it doesnt seem to be 100% reliable. Im trying to learn more on that now though to work out if I should buy it.

There seems to be some fuzzy mist around Vista 64 and drivers. If anyone knows more let me know! :)

I'd wait till the low profile Asus card and the Auzentech card come out if I was you.

The best place to ask about 64-bit drivers is here, if you haven't found it already;
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=15438914#post15438914
 
I didnt either until i went into PowerDVD "Configuration" and the "Audio" tab. In here if I select "HDMI" and "AC3 / DTS pass through".

But first I had to go into the settings for the HDMI sound device, then on the "supported formats" tab you need to test both AC3 and DTS. If you hear the tests, then its only PowerDVD holding you back. IF you do not hear the test, then it implies the PC is not sending out the audio via HDMI to the amp at all.

It's not a software config issue, it's the fact that CCC doesn't correctly identify my amp (denon 1909) as an video & audio device. It shows connection as DVI rather than HDMI. It seems to be a common problem :(
 
Eriedor,

I believe that we have the same motherboard - Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H?

I have successfully - after much frustration - managed to obtain sound through HDMI via my Onkyo receiver. FWIW, this is what I did:

1. Ensure in the BIOS that, in the 'Advanced BIOS Features', [D-SUB/HDMI], and NOT [D-SUB/DVI], is selected. After lots of messing with software and drivers, this proved to be my elementary mistake and all I needed to do! :mad:

2. The drivers that worked for me were:

a. Radeon Catalyst 8.12 drivers for integrated motherboards.

b. Realtek R213 ATI HDMI HD Audio driver - NOT the normal Realtek HD audio driver.

3. The HDMI input on the receiver was a little choosy - HDMI no 1 worked, no 4 didn't; it might be worth trying a different HDMI input if the first input tried doesn't work.

Having done all that - I then discovered that PowerDVD does NOT pass through the raw TrueHD bitstream to the receiver, but compresses it to, yes, you've guessed it, stereo PCM. The result is that to listen to bluray 7.1 audio via my particular motherboard, I must connect the motherboard analogue speaker outputs to the receiver and let PowerDVD do the work.

But I do have sound through the HDMI output!

HIH,

Mark
 
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