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*Official* Asus Xonar HDAV1.3 thread - Page 161

post #4801 of 9499
2/20/09 at 11:14am
Quote:
Originally Posted by captain_video View Post

I'm hoping to eventually install an Asus HDAV1.3 sound card in my HTPC but, guess what? It really only works properly under XP and not Vista according to what I've read. Don't you think it's ironic that they only wrote stable drivers for it to work under XP and not Vista?

You've read wrong, it works well in Vista.

+1 vote for Vista from me, especially for an HTPC. I agree with xgecko on using 32-bit Vista for an HTPC as well.

A bit off thread topic but this business of having to re-install the OS to fix random issues is a thing of the past, ie XP, for me. I've NEVER had to do this with Vista and I've been using it on all sorts of machines since the early betas.

Anyway, back to the HDAV.........................
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post #4802 of 9499
2/20/09 at 11:34am
Quote:
Originally Posted by captain_video View Post

It really only works properly under XP and not Vista according to what I've read. Don't you think it's ironic that they only wrote stable drivers for it to work under XP and not Vista?

I think you better brush up on your reading skills because your statement about the HDAV not working on Vista is blatantly false... and as for your comments regarding Vista it sounds like your living in the pre-SP1 days.
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post #4803 of 9499
2/20/09 at 12:19pm
Amazingly, the solution to the HDAV software installation problem I was having turned out to be the motherboard's BIOS! It was a non-obvious solution, but fortunately after reflashing the BIOS from a early 2008 version to a late 2008 version the problem is solved.

(For the curious, the reason I stumbled on this answer is that I remembered months ago noting that a PCI Firewire 800 card I tried to install mysteriously would not work despite all efforts, and I began to wonder if the PCI/PCIe slots on the motherboard have some incompatibilities; sure enough, when I checked the eVGA 680i motherboard forum they recently released the "P33" version of the BIOS which lists "improved PCI/PCIe compatibility" as a new feature. Pretty lucky guess.)

HOWEVER, there's always another problem... now it's that the latest ASUS TMT (.126) stutters more and more over time, so that after a couple minutes it's unwatchable (stuttering every few seconds). *sigh* I hope there's a workaround!

In any case, thank you all for your comments. I'll stay out of the Vista vs XP debate for now-- I'm just glad I don't have to to a OS install, which likely would not have fixed the issue since it was a motherboard BIOS issue..

-David
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post #4804 of 9499
2/20/09 at 12:33pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by drliu View Post

Amazingly, the solution to the HDAV software installation problem I was having turned out to be the motherboard's BIOS! It was a non-obvious solution, but fortunately after reflashing the BIOS from a early 2008 version to a late 2008 version the problem is solved.

(For the curious, the reason I stumbled on this answer is that I remembered months ago noting that a PCI Firewire 800 card I tried to install mysteriously would not work despite all efforts, and I began to wonder if the PCI/PCIe slots on the motherboard have some incompatibilities; sure enough, when I checked the eVGA 680i motherboard forum they recently released the "P33" version of the BIOS which lists "improved PCI/PCIe compatibility" as a new feature. Pretty lucky guess.)

HOWEVER, there's always another problem... now it's that the latest ASUS TMT (.126) stutters more and more over time, so that after a couple minutes it's unwatchable (stuttering every few seconds). *sigh* I hope there's a workaround!

In any case, thank you all for your comments. I'll stay out of the Vista vs XP debate for now-- I'm just glad I don't have to to a OS install, which likely would not have fixed the issue since it was a motherboard BIOS issue..

-David

Glad to hear you solved your problem with a relatively easy fix. Given this I would indeed sit tight with your current setup and hold out for Win 7. All signs are that it will be a really solid OS well worth upgrading to. Vista appears to have quite a bit of variability with respect to the success people have with it and it is quite true that the development process it was based upon left a lot to be desired... (understatement of the year). While it works great for me it does not do as well for others and given the new development process Win 7 is based upon shows some serious promise insofar as its ability to produce reliable code it can be said that waiting would be wise.

Hopefully they solve the PAP problem the right way with Win 7 too (well, that may be too strong a statement; the true solution is for the content buggers to just wake up and accept reality but that of course is not likely to happen in this lifetime ). I will not hold my breath, however...
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post #4805 of 9499
2/20/09 at 12:44pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by xgecko View Post

Hopefully they solve the PAP problem the right way with Win 7 too (well, that may be too strong a statement; the true solution is for the content buggers to just wake up and accept reality but that of course is not likely to happen in this lifetime ). I will not hold my breath, however...

Well you never know, look at how many sites are now selling drm free music and high resolution / lossless audio content such as iTrack and 2L, etc. Music distribution seems to be heading a much better way. Hopefully, the movie industry will follow eventually.

However, does anyone know what 'hdav slim will be released when the dust settles' means? Doesn't look the dust will ever settle right at the mo'!

Come on Asus, give us the uncomplicated, simple and hopefully elegant product.
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post #4806 of 9499
2/20/09 at 4:05pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by mpgxsvcd View Post

In the days of SPDIF you could select an option for bit perfect output. That would automatically select the appropiate Khz for the PCM output. Is it possible for TMT to determine the Khz and number of channels for a PCM Blu-ray and then set the ASUS card to automatically output those settings?

It is really annoying to try to figure out what Khz the Blu-ray was recorded at and then change the ASUS control panel to those settings.

Got it. (It would be an ASUS request since it interacts with their control panel, BTW.)

But I don't quite understand why you would care enough to go through that trouble to manually reset it. What's the problem with setting it to the max (192khz) and letting it send that bitrate even when the source bitrate is lower? As I understand it, this will not affect the sound quality in any way.

(PS. Despite my interest, I'm pretty close to bowing out of further discussion due to the disjointed nature of this thread that, by necessity, covers a multitude of different stuff. If you want to reopen it on the ArcSoft forum where we can have a thread dedicated solely to this topic without the distractions I'll keep an eye on it.)
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post #4807 of 9499
2/20/09 at 4:34pm
With "passthrough" these settings should be automatic. With other formats, LPCM for instance, correct settings theoretically, should be same as disk output. The goal is playback as imprinted on the disk. Auto set would help assure correct setting.
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post #4808 of 9499
2/20/09 at 5:44pm
Plus it's not only about the bitrate Jas but the channels. Eg having it set 5.1 automatically means those of us with a 7.1 system can use matrixing to "enhance" our listening. Having it set at 7.1 with 5.1 content has nothing coming from the rear speakers, only the sides.
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post #4809 of 9499
2/20/09 at 7:09pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Davinleeds View Post

With "passthrough" these settings should be automatic. With other formats, LPCM for instance, correct settings theoretically, should be same as disk output. The goal is playback as imprinted on the disk. Auto set would help assure correct setting.

OT: I am currently watching all 5 seasons of Earth Final Conflict, one episode each day.

So far, it is fantastic! I liked Boone much better than the half human guy - he seems like a jerk.
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post #4810 of 9499
2/20/09 at 9:37pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by ArcSoft_Jason View Post

Got it. (It would be an ASUS request since it interacts with their control panel, BTW.)

But I don't quite understand why you would care enough to go through that trouble to manually reset it. What's the problem with setting it to the max (192khz) and letting it send that bitrate even when the source bitrate is lower? As I understand it, this will not affect the sound quality in any way.

(PS. Despite my interest, I'm pretty close to bowing out of further discussion due to the disjointed nature of this thread that, by necessity, covers a multitude of different stuff. If you want to reopen it on the ArcSoft forum where we can have a thread dedicated solely to this topic without the distractions I'll keep an eye on it.)


Hi Jason,

I think the problem is that purists want the data to be untouched. I personally would not care in the slightest if it upsampled everything automatically. In fact, if you think about it, this is exactly what many very expensive CD players do (we are talking players in the $5k + range).

That being said, the 5.1/7.1 issue may very well be important. Not yet clear on it myself so I would have to defer to those that have issues with differences here.

It would be nice if you monitored this thread for a while, at least until the products are mature and stable. We seem to be very close, perhaps another round of software releases on the driver and TMT level and the release of the fabled slim card and you can head home and remove your flak jacket...

As a closing comment I will point out that I tried to leave my G45 based board at 192 KHz however WMP would not play music so I was forced to drop it down to 96KHz. Not sure exactly why but it does work now.
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post #4811 of 9499
2/20/09 at 9:49pm
Well, after giving the ASUS HDAV + TMT solution a very serious try, I'm sad to conclude it didn't work for me.

After some BIOS and driver updating, installation went fine. The problem is that playing a BD will induce stuttering that gets progressively worse, and occasionally crashes the system. I suspect the TMT is more at fault than the HDAV card. The non-ASUS TMTs never ran well on my system, and the .126 ASUS version was also a stuttering mess. Oddly, I never got TrueHD or DTS-HD audio bitstreaming to my Onkyo TX-SR876 even during the periods of non-stuttering-- the receiver simply indicated no signal even though bitstreaming DTS-ES, DD+, etc. was no problem.

Specs:
XP SP 3
Nvidia 680i motherboard with P33 (new) BIOS
4 GB RAM
Core 2 Duo x6800 @ 3.6 GHz
2 x Nvidia 8800 GTX running the latest driver (Feb 18, 2009, I think)

From reading thousands of posts here, it seems like users who are not able to fix the stuttering problem tend to be XP and/or Nvidia card users. I suppose I'm just unlucky that I happen to use both!

PowerDVD Ultra 8 plays all my BDs flawlessly-- if only it would do HD audio bitstreaming...

Any last-minute suggestions before I send the HDAV back?

-David
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post #4812 of 9499
2/21/09 at 3:08am
Drliu, I purchased my HDAV in November and originally tried to install on XP with SP3 installed and had a terrible time. I reinstalled XP and only installed SP2 and had a hassle free install. This of course could have just been a fluke One other thing i read about at the time, which helped people who had stability problems with the HDAV and XP (pending a successful install of course) was turning audio hardware acceleration back a notch in Directx. Maybe it could also assit in the initial intall, just a thought. I personally run Vista SP1 now and have had zero problems with the HDAV, apart from the documented 24p issue.

Hope this helps
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post #4813 of 9499
2/21/09 at 5:29am
Quote:
Originally Posted by drliu View Post

Well, after giving the ASUS HDAV + TMT solution a very serious try, I'm sad to conclude it didn't work for me.

After some BIOS and driver updating, installation went fine. The problem is that playing a BD will induce stuttering that gets progressively worse, and occasionally crashes the system. I suspect the TMT is more at fault than the HDAV card. The non-ASUS TMTs never ran well on my system, and the .126 ASUS version was also a stuttering mess. Oddly, I never got TrueHD or DTS-HD audio bitstreaming to my Onkyo TX-SR876 even during the periods of non-stuttering-- the receiver simply indicated no signal even though bitstreaming DTS-ES, DD+, etc. was no problem.

Specs:
XP SP 3
Nvidia 680i motherboard with P33 (new) BIOS
4 GB RAM
Core 2 Duo x6800 @ 3.6 GHz
2 x Nvidia 8800 GTX running the latest driver (Feb 18, 2009, I think)

From reading thousands of posts here, it seems like users who are not able to fix the stuttering problem tend to be XP and/or Nvidia card users. I suppose I'm just unlucky that I happen to use both!

PowerDVD Ultra 8 plays all my BDs flawlessly-- if only it would do HD audio bitstreaming...

Any last-minute suggestions before I send the HDAV back?

-David

Hello I have XP sp3 with nvidia 9800GT 4 GB RAM
Core 2 Duo x8400 3.00 GHz and TMT and PDVD 8 is working with Bluray with HDAV to my Integra dtc9.8 I think its your videocard not supporting Bluray ..GTX which is OK for gaming, but horrible for Blu-Ray. read the forums ..8 series card and offers the less PureVideo HD off-loading than later 8 series hardware ( I feel for you ) sorry
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post #4814 of 9499
2/21/09 at 5:39am
Thanks everyone. I'll assume for now that the stuttering can be solved with Vista and/or a new video csrd. When I use the HDAV (latest software) + the ASUS TMT .126 and play a BD, the more worrying problem beyond the stuttering is that the info card shows "Dolby True HD Passthrough" or "DTS-MA Passthrough", but there's no audio from the TX-SR876. I don't think it's a receiver set up issue since I can send DD/DTS 5.1 successfully from the HDAV to the TX-SR876 (but it would be great if someone could prove me wrong here!).

Any suggestions? It's pretty puzzling but at least until/if the Auzentech/pDVD equivalent comes out, I'm commited to try to troubleshoot HDAV/TMT until I get flawless playback and bitstreaming HD audio.

Thanks very much in advance for your suggestions!

-David
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post #4815 of 9499
2/21/09 at 5:49am
Yea this card sounds great but the studdering is terrible. I'M running vistas 64 bit with Radon 2900. Striker Extreme MB, Plextor BD

If i try to run the software from the Asus site the screen flashes and the system crashes. Itunes video even out of sync.

Before i send it back can someone post all the versions of software to download and from where or just use the disks. Ive read posts but on this card you loose one day and you lost as to whats the latest options to get this thing to work.

I hate this because it sounds great. but the stuttering video is not worth it.
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post #4816 of 9499
2/21/09 at 5:49am
Make sure your video thru Xonar is HD resolution.

Try HA off.

I reinstall XP after an initial try, and installation went smoother pre SP3.

Have everything installed and connected with AVR on B4 driver install - worked for me.

It might be hdmi audio pass setting on 876?
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post #4817 of 9499
2/21/09 at 5:54am
Quote:
Originally Posted by drliu View Post

......Auzentech/pDVD equivalent comes out, .......
-David

Rumor has it (posted in this thread from Taiwan)that the the co-operation between pDVD and Auzen broke. Which, I for one, would regret since competition always benefits consumers.
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post #4818 of 9499
2/21/09 at 7:14am
Do we have more than one report that 9*'s are now available? I think there were two conflicting Newegg buyers, one who got a 9 and one who got an 8, both after the restock.
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post #4819 of 9499
2/21/09 at 7:23am
Quote:
Originally Posted by drliu View Post

Well, after giving the ASUS HDAV + TMT solution a very serious try, I'm sad to conclude it didn't work for me.

After some BIOS and driver updating, installation went fine. The problem is that playing a BD will induce stuttering that gets progressively worse, and occasionally crashes the system. I suspect the TMT is more at fault than the HDAV card. The non-ASUS TMTs never ran well on my system, and the .126 ASUS version was also a stuttering mess. Oddly, I never got TrueHD or DTS-HD audio bitstreaming to my Onkyo TX-SR876 even during the periods of non-stuttering-- the receiver simply indicated no signal even though bitstreaming DTS-ES, DD+, etc. was no problem.

Specs:
XP SP 3
Nvidia 680i motherboard with P33 (new) BIOS
4 GB RAM
Core 2 Duo x6800 @ 3.6 GHz
2 x Nvidia 8800 GTX running the latest driver (Feb 18, 2009, I think)

From reading thousands of posts here, it seems like users who are not able to fix the stuttering problem tend to be XP and/or Nvidia card users. I suppose I'm just unlucky that I happen to use both!

PowerDVD Ultra 8 plays all my BDs flawlessly-- if only it would do HD audio bitstreaming...

Any last-minute suggestions before I send the HDAV back?

-David

I have nVidia 8800 GTX x1 and a slower CPU (6600) than you with only 2 gb of ram and the same motherboard 680i and the xonar works fine in both XP SP3 and Vista. However, I had an initial issue of the motherboard not talking to the card since the bios had not been updated. Once I updated the bios it has been working fine.

EDIT: BTW, I sent my first card back as well blaming the card, then realized it was me, when the second card acted the same way
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post #4820 of 9499
2/21/09 at 7:46am
Yes, the HDAV I received from NewEgg last Thursday was a 9* serial number. (The previous conclusion that an 8* recently arrived from Newegg was a misread of a post-- the guy said he had 10 days left on his 30 day return window, which means it was not purchased recently).

Davinleeds: thanks for your suggestions. Two questions:
1) What do you mean by "HA off"?
2) Which device has the "B4 driver"?
(Sorry for not being too up on the lingo

Thanks,
David
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post #4821 of 9499
2/21/09 at 7:48am
Davinleeds: ahhh you must mean Hardware Acceleration in TMT-- yes, it's off and if I turn it on then the stuttering becomes catastrophic

-David
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post #4822 of 9499
2/21/09 at 7:56am
Quote:
Originally Posted by drliu View Post

Davinleeds: ahhh you must mean Hardware Acceleration in TMT-- yes, it's off and if I turn it on then the stuttering becomes catastrophic

-David

What do you mean? The TMT HA needs to be checked, on.
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post #4823 of 9499
2/21/09 at 7:59am
I would take note of ymarker's post of one 8800 and try that.

B4 = before

I don't know what else you're using, but TMT on certain PCs doesn't work well with extraneous codecs. Some can, some can't.

A poster on AVS ArcSoft thread mentioned ensuring your audio IRQs are not shared. This I haven't looked into but sounds logical.
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post #4824 of 9499
2/21/09 at 8:05am
Quote:
Originally Posted by drliu View Post

Davinleeds: ahhh you must mean Hardware Acceleration in TMT-- yes, it's off and if I turn it on then the stuttering becomes catastrophic

-David

Hardware Acceleration should move the workload to your GTXs. Not familiar with SLI, but something is blocking this process.
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post #4825 of 9499
2/21/09 at 8:52am
What, is it greyed out or something?

I think I am going to wait for the Auzentech Home Theatre 7.1 HDMI card, see both the ASUS and the Auzentech in action then form my own conclusions based on user and professional reviews B4 I make a final purchasing decision.

I like ASUS but what I really like is the fact the Auzentech is based on Creative's XFi technology w/ XRam for a little bonus.
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post #4826 of 9499
2/21/09 at 9:55am
Quote:
Originally Posted by omarty View Post

Yea this card sounds great but the studdering is terrible. I'M running vistas 64 bit with Radon 2900. Striker Extreme MB, Plextor BD

If i try to run the software from the Asus site the screen flashes and the system crashes. Itunes video even out of sync.

Before i send it back can someone post all the versions of software to download and from where or just use the disks. Ive read posts but on this card you loose one day and you lost as to whats the latest options to get this thing to work.

I hate this because it sounds great. but the stuttering video is not worth it.

The problem might be with your graphics card...
I use an MSI 4850 with the Xonar and Vista 64 without any problem...
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post #4827 of 9499
2/21/09 at 10:13am
Zipzoomfly has the deluxe card in stock for $212 http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/Produc...dlist=celebros
What I don't know is what year it is.
I am actually looking for a non deluxe card for myself and nobody I normally deal with has it in stock.
Does anyone know of a reputable dealer that has the 09 non deluxe in stock?

Mark
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post #4828 of 9499
2/21/09 at 11:24am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Super XP View Post

What, is it greyed out or something?

I think I am going to wait for the Auzentech Home Theatre 7.1 HDMI card, see both the ASUS and the Auzentech in action then form my own conclusions based on user and professional reviews B4 I make a final purchasing decision.

I like ASUS but what I really like is the fact the Auzentech is based on Creative's XFi technology w/ XRam for a little bonus.

A big IF is part of your wait. IF Auzentech released such a card. They already promised one once and then said "Sorry all you suckers who bought the mother card in preparation for this daughter card. Thanks for your money, but will decided to screw you instead of produce a card."

With that as their last attempt, I call shens on their current attempt until they have them in Best Buy.
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post #4829 of 9499
2/21/09 at 11:39am
Quote:
Originally Posted by markrb View Post

Zipzoomfly has the deluxe card in stock for $212 http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/Produc...dlist=celebros
What I don't know is what year it is.
I am actually looking for a non deluxe card for myself and nobody I normally deal with has it in stock.
Does anyone know of a reputable dealer that has the 09 non deluxe in stock?

Mark

Good question. It seems that the non-deluxe cards that support 24p are non-existent (in NA). Newegg use to sell them but they pulled the SKU about 5 weeks ago. They kept the SKU for the Deluxe when they were out of stock. Leads me to believe that they don't plan on restocking the non-deluxe version. Maybe ASUS pulled the plug on the non-deluxe version and will replace it with the slim version??
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post #4830 of 9499
2/21/09 at 12:05pm
If you look at the attached pdf you'll see that the 8800gts doesn't support the all decoding that HD requires with out off loading it to the cpu. How ever the cheaper 8600 does.

 

pure_video_hd_support.pdf 108.2255859375k . file
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