*Official* Asus Xonar HDAV1.3 thread - Page 70

Sorry, your right. I should have said all you did which was much more helpful because it detailed all the failed promises of what this card was supposed to do, yet does none of it.

I actually messed up again when I said RMA is the only answer, because unless people bought from places that will give a refund, they probably will just replace it with the same worthless junk.

I agree with everything you said and stand corrected.

Thank you.

My heart goes out to all the hapless souls who purchased this cr*p.

dudeman

Well, I'm going to wait it out. I received my HDAV card today but not in a rush at the moment because my home theater is in the middle of being set up. I quite sure that Asus/TMT are aware of the problems and it is most likely a driver issue versus hardware issue.

One question I do have is regarding 24p pass-through. Has anyone tested the pass-through capabilities of the card without the drivers installed? If it passes 24p unmolested then we can point towards the driver causing the 24p issue people have been experiencing.

Eric

I was just correcting some misconceptions about the analog output on this card. I am unsure about your question though as I am unfamiliar with you receiver.

Actually, let me be really helpful here and not just slam the card.

I used to use TMT before and then switched to WinDVD 9 Blu-ray. But WinDVD 9 is kind of funky in the sense of you can't set it as default player. You have to start the software then insert BD. I choose these two player because they also support HD DVD which the LG drive in my HTPC plays.

So I got myself the newest version of TMT that supports HD audio for free (don't ask) and installed it. My motherboard (Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H) has the abilty to do 2 channel 16/48 and 5.1 over HDMI and 2 channel 41/48/96/192 and DTS 5.1 over optical. I have it hooked up to my Onkyo 876 both ways and can switch depending on the movie.

If it's a BD in TrueHD or DTS HD-MA, I will only get 2 channel through the HDMI. But if the movie has a DD or DTS 5.1 track it's fine and I get 5.1 over HDMI.

So, when playing a BD with either TrueHD or DTS MA, I switch to optical and get 5.1 either DD with TrueHD disc or DTS with DTS MA disc.

I know your all saying great but it's downsampled and not bitstream and all that. I agree, but can tell you that it sounds really, really good.

I have a Panasonic BD35 stand alone player and when I want TrueHD or DTS HD-MA, I've got it. And it sounds great. But honestly guys, there isn't a whole heck of a lot of differnce. Audiophiles will disagree, and that's fine.

But my point here is why doesn't everyone just hold on and wait to see what will happen in the coming months. The Auzen card may be released and may work. But the problem here is all the licensing and all that DRM HDCP junk that is clogging the works. That will probably never go away, but maybe down the road it will get ironed out where hardware makers and software makers can really colaborate to make a working product.

I was like all of you and was very hopeful about this card and the Auzen. But when around page 17 or so....can't remember...of this thread people started talking about no 24fps in Vista and all the other problems, I gave up hope right there. I have watched this thread get longer and longer with nothing but problems and no real solutions in sight.

So wouldn't it be better for everyone to just stop buying this card and send a message to Asus? Probably just dreaming on my part because there will be many who haven't seen and may never see this thread and will be taken in by the hype and advertising and will still buy.

Asus makes some good motherboards and there are plenty of forums where you can get good info and help with the boards. But everyone in those rooms knows that Asus support is non-existent except for drivers and often they are shoddy, but for the most part work. So no one in those rooms ever expects to be able to get any support except from others in the rooms. I have had many Asus motherboards and have had good luck, but motherboards are their bread and butter. So when I read about this card coming out, I knew that it would be released unto the public and the people in the forums would end up as the beta testers and whatever problems occured, Asus would take note, maybe, and fix issues when they decide to. And the one guy they have working on it will eventually, maybe get it fixed. Or not, because again they are selling bunches of motherboards everyday and this xonar is a drop in the bucket for them.

And that's just Asus! Throw Arcsoft into the mix, and the problems are compounded exponentially.

So just let it go, I have.

Sorry for long post, and it's just my 2 cents.

dudeman

Well it was about a month between the last two beta drivers. It's been just about a month since the last one... shouldn't we be about close to a new release soon? I really wanna be up and running correctly (bitstreaming True-HD) by the time The Dark Knight is released, heh.

I am not as concerned about the drivers. I want a new version of TMT. That has too many problems on its own!

Won't play How The West Was Won and Planet of the Apes...125 does.

as to the analog out issue, it will remain an issue for many for quite some time... most Rcvrs out there today (I said most, not all) inhibit bass management, dsp processing, and things like audessy corrections when set for multi channel analog input, since the designers ASSUME you are connected to a DVD/SACD/DVD-Audio player which has its own built-in bass management.

I've been mucking around with nvidia settings all day today trying to see what the xonar will and won't pass through, and guess what....
ahahahahahahahahah
1080/24p running through the xonar!!!!!

So for now PowerDVD will output discreet channels (for sure with test disc) playing back True-HD? I'm using the last version that could play HD-DVD from harddrive, will that work? For audio, would I just select 6 speaker (there is no 5.1 setting, 6 speaker or 7 speaker) in PDVD?

Makes you wonder of the original posts about it being "impossible" supposedly realyed from ASUS tech support were truthful or is somebody lying along the way or perhaps the tech agent has noe clue that day.

Good job Evilstuie82...

So can any other owners confirm - at work at the mo...

Thank you R10KYJ. Although it was an exhausting trip, I really enjoyed it.
Thank You.

Perhaps the issue is only isolated to ATI cards. Would be nice to get some further information from others using 24p comaptible diplays so we could isolate the issue the root cause. This is very good news for some though

Welcome back as well! It is good to see you are posting here again. I was worried that everyone's comments had chased you off.

Your information was very helpful in my decision to purchase the Asus card. With your help I was able to determine that despite the Asus HDAV's current limitations it was the best choice for my setup.

Thanks again, and please don't be a stranger. Your help is always appreciated.

A problem that is only caused by an ATI card? Nonsense, that could never happen!

Ha ha. I have to agree. I am currently using WinDVD9 with the G45 and sometimes it outputs LPCM, other times it outputs DTS or DD. Frankly, when watching movies, all I can say is that it sounds great. This has meant I am in a zen state of appreciating what I have and the value of not spending more money in a tight economy for something I am just not convinced will sound meaningfully better.

While there are all sorts of 'Audiophiles' out there that will argue to the death that they can hear a difference - and as skeptical as I am perhaps they do hear a difference - I have to say I am really glad I am not an 'Audiophile'. This has been a way of thinking for me for years; I appreciate good sound but refuse to get caught up in the hype surrounding audio. I have a top-notch system that can run with the best yet cost me a fraction of what many pay for similar sound quality (this is helped by having designed and built my own speakers for roughly 1/5 the cost of comparable commercial speakers even including the 8-channel amps and active crossovers required for each pair).

Then again I am one of those people that are completely mystified by the vinyl vs digital debate...

So I also agree with the rest of your comments. Given the pain I see here and elsewhere and the strong suspicion that one will shortly (sometime next year) be able to use an ATI card to get bitstreaming I have concluded that my money is best held onto for now.

Sometimes being satisfied with 'good enough' is the best place to be.

Ok so if the 24p problem does not exist for Nvidia cards and I was able to resolve the black crush issue by using the ATI DVI to HDMI adapter with my ATI 4850, then what is left to be fixed? Here is how I see it.

Things it can not do:
1. It does not bit-stream DD-True-HD and DD+
2. It does not bitstream HD-DVDs at all
3. It does not bit stream at all with Vista
4. It will not send PCM audio exactly the way it is encoded unless you manually select the correct Khz
5. The packaging for the daughter card is non existent
6. All Dolby formats are incorrectly decoded in TMT. They end up sounding like 7 channel stereo.
7. It can not pass 24p video through with some ATI cards.

Things it can do:
1. Bitstream DTS-HD and DTS-MA from Blu-rays in Windows XP with the Asus version of TMT only.
2. Bitstream DD and DTS from Blu-rays in Windows XP with the Asus version of TMT only.


If they enable bitstreaming in Vista and XP for everything then this card will be fully functional in my book.

Did you get your new daughter card? Come on man! Blue balls over here!

Patience young grasshopper. I only paid for 2 day shipping so it will get here tomorrow. Maybe if everyone had chipped in for the next day air I could have reviewed it today.

However, I am very skeptical that the daughter card will get here intact. It is literally thrown in the box with NOTHING to secure it or protect it. It is highly likely that components will be broken off of every single daughter board that is shipped. I used to work on packaging for circuit boards. I would expect a 100% failure rate for the daughter card packaged this way. The main board is packaged properly though.

I guess I shouldn;t get too wound up. I can't even think about opening up my HTPC until after thanksgiving.

According to what I have seen, the daughter card is in anti-static wrap in a heavy cardboard box with all the other accesories within the HDAV 1.3 packaging.
I know quite a few people who have bought the Deluxe model and never complained about any broken components on the daughter card.
Your the only person I heard ever complain about broken parts. Perhaps it is just bad luck or they sent you a faulty unit.

is there something specific you want to know about the Deluxe model?

Heh! I deliberately bought an Nvidia after buying the Xonar as the chat on the Arcsoft forum pointed that as the best way to go. Lots of ATI/24p problems with TMT, so even if you ATI peeps get 24p passthrough, it won't be working properly

See eg http://www.arcsoft.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=589

Yes, does it work? I am under the assumption (or the hope) that 95-100% of the issues discussed here do not apply to the analog output. I don;t need HDMI at all I would hook it up with my dvi to hdmi adapter straight to the tv and use the 8 channel analog outputs straight to my non hdmi onkyo receiver.

All I know is that when you put a circuit board in a Nice Sturdy cardboard box without any padding and then shake it violently then the components fall off. I used to work on the sort and loading lines at UPS. I can guarantee your box will be shaken!

I haven't seen anyone post that they tried the analog outputs with the card. I would definitely be interested in seeing someone post about it.

My card came with one of the capacitors broken off and it was still in the plastic bag. After seeing the packaging I was not surprised that it was broken.

Nice. Which receiver do you have? Xonar doesn't show up in that Nvidia panel, my receiver Onkyo 605 does.
I don't have 24p display anyway, just curious that Nvidia identifies the Xonar and not the receiver.

Is it the same for others?

I have read over some of the post's here regarding the Xonar HDAV1.3 card and would like some extra help if anyone has the time.

Just had a computer built for me and they have installed the Xonar card along with the ATI HD 4850 video card. The installed WinDVD 8 and the TotalMedia Theater that came with the sound card.

Weird thing is that in Vista under the sound properties, it showed "Speakers" and another showed "Digital". Asus tech support told me it should be set to Digital as the default but couldnt explain to me why every speaker option under it only showed multipule 2 channel options and nothing indicating HDMI. Under WinDVD audio options I could see HDMI but that whoe section was greyed out and couldnt select anything? In TMT, everything but HDMI was listed? Could this all be due to an inproper install??? Both players audio option is set on 2 speaker and the only option Im seeing is headphone!

Another issue Im seeing is what alot of you folks are talking about....the actual sound signal coming from the card to a reciever. My reciever is the Denon AVR-3808ci. When I play a regular DVD, everything runs fine and the signal shows correctly on the reciever whether its DTS, Dolby, etc. When playing a Blu-ray, its just stereo??? Even if send the audio over PCM the reciever should decode it, but I certainly dont think its being sent to the reciever correctly.

The last issue Im having when playing a Blu-ray is the playback stutters. Asus told me that could be caused by non blu-ray compliant hardward/software. Dont understand this one at all. I can see the install tech that built the computer used Cyberlinks BD advisor program and I ran it myself and everything is in the green except for a valid mediaplayer for blu-ray???

I took the computer back to Altex so that they can look into it for me since I just picked it up yesterday since its under warranty. Sounds like you guys are in the know, so any advise, help & guidance would be GREATLY appreciated so I can at least tell the tech at the store.

THANKS!!!!

I'm using an onkyo 805 so it should be the same. The monitor is displayed as generic pnp(which is its way of saying onkyo 805) but i'm assuming the xonar is coming up as its the first thing attached to the video card.
I was fiddling again this morning and can now get 48hz progressive as well!
I'm just waiting till panasonic tech support opens up this morning to find out if my ingenius find will actually benefit me and what my pc is outputing(ie refresh rates) are actually being displayed "as is" or if the tv is buffering the frames and up converting it to 60p, as some people have suggested it may.
Good news to everyone with a 120hz lcd or latest gen plasmas, now they can use the xonar with 24p passthrough... bad news for me if i was the first to find it and can't even benefit from it.
It makes you wonder what kind of brainless twits they've got working on the drivers and tech support at asus if they can send emails disuading customers from buying the card because it categorically can't and will never do what I just made it do... :P
Does anyone know of any software or tool that can give me an accurate readout or log of what the display is actually showing in terms of refresh rate?
is there any 2 way exchange over hdmi or is it only a 1 way transfer of data?