HDMI audio on HTPC ?

Snow-Munki · 2 Oct 2009 at 08:51

Hi,

My amp is not working so just looking around what is available for around £200 mark. Was looking at the onkyo TX-SR507.

Anyway the only sound input is HDMI, it doesn't have the 3 pairs of analogue inputs.

I do have the ATI Radeon™ HD 4550 graphics card which I believe does support audio of HDMI.

So would sound quality be better ?

Thanks,

james.miller · 2 Oct 2009 at 13:08

the 507 also has two optical and two coaxial digital inputs

it would be largely the same, except for very high quality content where the multi channel 192khz capability of the hdmi inputs would swing it

not as as good for games as an audigy though, if that matters to you

AbsenceJam · 3 Oct 2009 at 09:08

I don't even think the 4550 has proper HDMI output, and if it does it'll be 7.1 PCM and no high resolution. I'm pretty sure the HDMI side is just S/PDIF really.
But use it anyway, one less cable.

james.miller · 3 Oct 2009 at 10:45

AbsenceJam said:
I don't even think the 4550 has proper HDMI output, and if it does it'll be 7.1 PCM and no high resolution. I'm pretty sure the HDMI side is just S/PDIF really.
But use it anyway, one less cable.

all the 4 series cards have the same 192khz 7.1 LPCM outputs.

zealot · 3 Oct 2009 at 14:32

james.miller said:
all the 4 series cards have the same 192khz 7.1 LPCM outputs.

+1 just wait for slyplayer

Kanifee · 3 Oct 2009 at 21:22

Not sure on the ati hdmi audio, positive i read somewere that it is only spdif passthrough though as mentioned before, one less cable to worry about and the reciever gives you upgrade possibilitys in the future.

just got my 507 set up and after a bit fiddling with my htpc got dts running through hdmi which i imagine (as i dont understand the ins and outs of how or what i did) is some sort of spdif handover to hdmi as dts is only supported over spdif or so im lead to believe, any way i really couldnt tell the differance between the spdif and hdmi raw audio, the quality is very clean and detailed on both but im just one set of ears, maybe if i get a higher quality source in the future the differance will become noticibly dicernable. i can however vouch for the reciever, for the money its a cracking bit of kit, does everything you need it to and a bit more.

james.miller · 3 Oct 2009 at 21:59

audio support over hdmi for the 4 series card are as i said above. I own a 4830 that is just the same - 7.1 192khz 24bit LPCM. DTS is supported by all versions of HDMI so no decoding/encoding is happening, its straight bitstream from the pc to the amplifier.