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No more high end HDMI soundcards like the Asus HDAV?

10K views 55 replies 15 participants last post by  KurianOfBorg 
#1 ·
I notice the Xonar HDAV line is discontinued. I like using a stand alone card because they seem to have more robust features, settings, and general performance over onboard sound solutions. For example, my onboard Realtek ALC889 does not support Dolby Digital Live or DTS Interactive in which I absolutely need for gaming out to my home theater system. Funny thing is the specs of the Realtek ALC889 does state that it does support DDL and DTS Interactive but it's as they put it- "Optional Software". What the heck does that mean? The drivers will detect a motherboard where the manufacture either paid for the licensing or not and enable/disable it depending on that? Any way to hack/force DDL or DTS Interactive on the Realtek ALC889? I tried using a driver from a motherboard that stated DDL/DTS Interactive and the driver did install and work but those selections where still missing. Looking at Newegg I don't even see anymore HDMI soundcards? Is Asus going to come out with a next gen premium HDMI soundcard because all I see are old school style ones anymore...
 
#33 ·
I just bought a cheap GT 610 and used it for the dummy HDMI audio display. I connected only my real monitors to the 780 Ti. Now I am able to instantly alt-tab in and out of games as fast as single monitor mode. But madVR still flickers like crazy when entering full screen mode. My 780 Ti is also running much cooler when idle on the desktop and the fan is not audible anymore.

I also feel that the mouse cursor movement and window dragging on the desktop has become smoother.
 
#34 ·
In my experience clean installing OS fixes many video playback problems, which would be hard to fix otherwise. I have no idea what's the cause of your problem, of course.
 
#39 ·
In this forum the possibility of sending 3D video to a HDMI 1.4a 3D TV and audio to a HDMI 1.3 AVR from either a single GPU or dual GPU was first mentioned in this post (October 2010) in the sticky thread "FAQ for the 3D HTPC". Since then this topic has been discussed thoroughly in the thread. An early summary by me is here. This has become the standard workaround for people who want to enjoy 3D with a HDMI 1.3 AVR (2D such as MPC-HC+madVR also works fine, of course). Not a single person complained about problems like yours. It looks like yours is an exceptional, unfortunate case.
 
#40 · (Edited)
I am considering a DIY project to build a low cost HDMI embedder. These retail products are grossly overpriced. Something like a miniStreamer can be used to generate 8 channel I2S from the PC which can be muxed into a HDMI transmitter with a dummy signal.

To use a sound card to retain EAX and OpenAL support, the analog output could be converted to I2S using something like this http://www.ti.com/product/pcm1863.

I need to do some extensive research on the subject.
 
#49 · (Edited)
It's not just tearing or lag. It's a HUGE pile of issues. I have two monitors and the AVR connected to my GPU. One monitor is additionally connected to the AVR as well for the PS3 etc.


  • Switching off the receiver while an application is playing audio may crash the application if it doesn't handle the audio device disappearing abruptly.
  • Switching the receiver to another source to check on something (PS3 download etc.) crashes applications like above and makes my primary monitor switch off and on.
  • If the receiver is switched off some apps don't even launch (they don't handle no audio device).
  • If the receiver is switched off, YouTube videos crash after a few seconds stating "An error occured." (failing because there is no audio device).
  • If an app starts on the invisible display and it's brought back to the primary display, the colours are screwed up. This happens even when using a utility like Ultramon to force apps to one display. My monitors are calibrated and the profile of one display is useless on another. Most apps don't reload the profile. Uncalibrated monitors use sRGB across both so it doesn't matter.
  • If I switch on 3D everything flickers and the box remains unchecked. I need to check it again to enable 3D. It looks like some kind of bug when there is a 3D Vision Ready display and a HDMI 1.4a 3D display at the same time.
  • If I switch off 3D the PC may BSOD.
  • If I switch on or off the second monitor connected through the AVR, even though it's disabled in Windows it makes my primary monitor switch off and on and the audio interrupts and apps crash. Sometimes it goes into a loop with all the displays switching on and off indefinitely.
  • The speaker configuration keeps getting reset to 7.1 and the sample rate back to 16-bit 48 kHz every time the display blanks or PC restarts.
  • Alt-Tabbing out of games makes the screen flicker several times. With a single monitor it's instant like switching between desktop applications.
  • madVR flickers like crazy when entering fullscreen exclusive mode.
  • Desktop tearing and input lag.

Some ofthese problems got resolved when I bought a GT610 and dedicated that for the AVR and connected just the two monitors to the 780 Ti. I use one monitor at a time on the 780 Ti and the GT610 for the AVR.

I've ordered a Gefen HDMI Detective Plus and am waiting for it to arrive. That should resolve some more issues since the AVR EDID will appear permanently switched on to the GPU.
 
#50 ·
It's not just tearing or lag. It's a HUGE pile of issues. I have two monitors and the AVR connected to my GPU. One monitor is additionally connected to the AVR as well for the PS3 etc.


  • Switching off the receiver while an application is playing audio may crash the application if it doesn't handle the audio device disappearing abruptly.
Just tested. Works fine. I think the difference is that my AVR appears as an audio device even while turned off because I have HDMI passthrough enabled and a device on the other end. (Two devices, actually. PC->AVR->Wireless Headphone unit->TV.)
  • Switching the receiver to another source to check on something (PS3 download etc.) crashes applications like above and makes my primary monitor switch off and on.
Same response as above, but may vary depending your AVR. With many AVRs, you disconnect the device when you switch the input. My H/K receiver was really bad with this, my Pioneer is a lot better.
  • If the receiver is switched off some apps don't even launch (they don't handle no audio device).
Again, just tested, no problem.
  • If the receiver is switched off, YouTube videos crash after a few seconds stating "An error occured." (failing because there is no audio device).
Just tested, works fine.
  • If an app starts on the invisible display and it's brought back to the primary display, the colours are screwed up. This happens even when using a utility like Ultramon to force apps to one display. My monitors are calibrated and the profile of one display is useless on another. Most apps don't reload the profile. Uncalibrated monitors use sRGB across both so it doesn't matter.
Don't have a way of testing this. My TV was professionally calibrated through its own adjustments so I don't use different color profiles.
  • If I switch on 3D everything flickers and the box remains unchecked. I need to check it again to enable 3D. It looks like some kind of bug when there is a 3D Vision Ready display and a HDMI 1.4a 3D display at the same time.
  • If I switch off 3D the PC may BSOD.
Can't help here because I don't have 3D Vision, but AMD 3DHD has worked fine for the very few times I've actually used it.
  • If I switch on or off the second monitor connected through the AVR, even though it's disabled in Windows it makes my primary monitor switch off and on and the audio interrupts and apps crash. Sometimes it goes into a loop with all the displays switching on and off indefinitely.
Just tested, works fine.
  • The speaker configuration keeps getting reset to 7.1 and the sample rate back to 16-bit 48 kHz every time the display blanks or PC restarts.
No issues here, but one thing to note. If my AVR is off, it reports the audio capabilities of the next device in the chain, which are less than that of the AVR. So if the next device is the TV, it will switch to stereo until the AVR is powered on and re-detected, at which point it will automatically switch back to 7.1.
  • Alt-Tabbing out of games makes the screen flicker several times. With a single monitor it's instant like switching between desktop applications.
  • Desktop tearing and input lag.
No problems with either of these on my desktop (R9 290x.) My laptop does have tearing issues but only with duplicate, not extend.

My responses are above. I think a big part of your problem is that your AVR disappears as an audio device. Mine stays even when powered off due to the passthrough and display connected through it.

What AVR are you using?
 
#51 · (Edited)
I have a Marantz SR5008. It doesn't disappear; It changes to unplugged. This causes audio to stop and makes the GPU cycle the remaining displays off and on. If I enable HDMI passthrough the monitor's HDMI device appears instead after it's switched off but it still causes the remaining displays to cycle off and on, so I just switched off passthrough. I have no other audio playback devices in the list, hence the bugs. If I enabled my onboard audio it will fall back to that, but I don't want those bloated Realtek garbage drivers on my PC.
 
#52 ·
Do you have access to another brand of AVR to test or is it not worth the hassle?


My Pioneer Elite AVR (SC-68) always appears as the audio device, even when off with the pass-through enabled. The devices on the other side are never directly exposed to Windows. I suspect that's the key difference here.


I understand your frustration, my previous H/K AVR had an issue where once the video was interrupted, it would just never come back, even with only one display.
 
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