Auzentech Home Theater 7.1 HDMI thread - Page 9

But probably not for analog

I guess people with PC speakers like Gigaworks S750 (me) will be stuck with 48/16 forever.

I mean I don't know if it would make any difference on speakers like these anyway, but I'm guessing it may fix stuff such as TrueHD sounding worse than LPCM on the same title (such as 300) and generally.

Hate to sound personal, but do you really think you can distinguish the difference between 16 and 24-bit sounds on a Gigaworks S750??

Well I know I can definitely distinguish between DD and LPCM on 300 and The Patriot, but I could on my old Logitech Z-5300s too. It's not placebo because I've gone back and forth many times and there is definitely a significant difference.

The fact Warner's TrueHD tracks pretty much all sound identical to the standard DD tracks on the same disc makes me think PowerDVD is screwing around with the audio, maybe not even related to downsampling... because most of Warner's TrueHD tracks are 48/16 to begin with.. so they shouldn't be affected, right? Evidence of this is apparent with HD-DVDs with TrueHD tracks, switching between the DD+ and TrueHD has no break in the audio, and the tracks sound exactly the same.

When I bought all Harry Potter films I made sure I got the Blu-ray versions since they had LPCM which I was almost certain would sound alot better than the DD, which they did. Yet I bet if I bought the HD-DVDs the TrueHD would sound identical to the DD+ just like every other Warner 48/16 BD/HD TrueHD track.

No comparing DD/DTS to HD codecs is an apples to oranges comparison. Lossless vs. lossy is much more considerable than 24-bit vs. truncated 24-bit into 16-bit in lossless samples.

The more accurate test would be with an identical receiver, comparing a dedicated Blu-ray standalone that passes bitstream vs playing the same audio on the same movie played on your HTPC connected to those speakers.

Considering a computer speaker setup with it's stereo inputs is awkward to connect to a HT receiver regardless, I doubt you've made a fair comparison between the proper scenarios to make this judgement call. What's more strange is actually wanting to connect a computer speaker package up to a HT receiver that can take HD codecs in their digital form. FYI iirc, analog audio out of a blu-ray player will almost certainly be 24-bit to 16-bit truncation just like it is in software high def players.

And remember while comparing that if there is the slightest difference in level then you will think the slightly louder one sounds better... this is why it is so hard to get a valid test without level matching and it explains many of the claims of "I can hear a difference!".

There is a long history of such claims being show to be invalid when a true level matched blind ABX style test is performed. Of course the most common response to this is "Well, I don't believe in ABX testing (because it does not support my belief system)"...

[EDIT] I expect to be tarred and feathered for uttering such heresy...

some news about this card? when do you think will be sold this card? i wait it a lot

Last we heard it won't be out until the end of Jan. 09.
http://www.auzentech.com/site/compan...p#hthdschedule

http://www.auzentech.com/site/produc...theater_hd.php

The Asus card is finally, MOSTLY working.

For Blu-ray bitstreaming it is working with every codec and format. What else did they "advertise" that it would do?

The special version of TMT lost functionality in VMC now. Once they get everything running perfectly they should be adding that back in. HD-DVD's don't work any more. Plus a few other bugs are still being worked out. Some have it working, some don't. 24P issue may be fixed with new chip. You must send in your card for one with the new chip.

Here is the status summary statement from Asus as of 12/07/08:
http://vip.asus.com/forum/view.aspx?...Language=en-us

It may take just a little bit more time but it looks like they're getting it. Since the Asus was so bad until lately I was waiting for the Auzentech but now I really don't need the analog section so I may wait for the HDMI Slim card from Asus instead of either of these. The slim card will just be HDMI in and HDMI out with a Toslink output also. Made more for those of us that want to use our external high end surround processors.

Well I am able to get DD, DTS, and 7.1 Channel PCM from HD-DVDs so I am not sure why you said that it is not working? You just have to select the SPDIF option instead of HDMI.

They never claimed it would support 24p so I wouldn't hold my breath for that.

The VMC support is a shame but I bet that will get fixed quickly.

From what I understood was that support for HD-DVD had been pulled and that the Asus wouldn't support the lossless codecs. I should have refraze the "don't work" statement. Sorry! I know that standard DD and DTS worked through the card but from what I understood, TMT no longer supports playback of HD-DVD's but that you could use another player like PowerDVD 7.3 to play back HD-DVD's and get DD and DTS. Is that correct?

Nope, hd-dvds still work, but you have to select spdif in TMT to get sound (obviously not the HD formats though). You don't actually need a toslink connected however.

Actually it is only DD+ that is not working correctly for HD-DVDs. However, almost all HD-DVDS had DD+. If you select DD+ for HD-DVDs then you will only get DD in Asus TMT. However, if you select DD-True-HD, DTS-HD, or DTS-MA with SPDIF then you will get 7.1 Channel 48 Khz 16 Bit PCM from those tracks.

They have not dropped HD-DVD support. They have just opted not to implement HD audio bit streaming for HD-DVDs. PowerDVD is actually the one who completely dropped HD-DVD support!

Well that's a bit better news. I don't own as many HD-DVD's as some do but still I have 30 that I've been waiting to hear the lossless audio on. I do still have a Samsung BD-UP5000 that will bitstream TrueHD and DTS MA so I will be able to use it for a while although now that I have a really nice new HTPC I was planning buying a good audio card and selling the Samsung. The Samsung may be the only way that I'll ever get to hear those lossless tracks on my dying HD-DVD's!!! I don't have an HDMI receiver or processor yet and my processor doesn't have a 5.1 passthrough so I have yet to hear these fleeing formats. They're always just out of my reach...tempting me!

I'm just looking for the least expensive card that will just give me the HDMI lossless audio/video out to my someday coming Emotiva UMC-1.

To post your wish for HDDVD;
If ASUS does it, Auzentech may also.
http://vip.asus.com/forum/topic.aspx...Language=en-us

A year and a couple of months ago I spent $383 on a fanless 8600GTS card and the Auzen Fusion with the knowledge that an HDMI add-on card would be just around the corner... Yesterday, I replaced both with a $57 ATI 4550 (fanless Gigabyte). Picture looks great and the sound of multi-channel flacs into my Integra 9.8 is awesome. Granted bitstream doesn't work, but at least I can pick the player I want to use and no more waiting for the next driver, next card etc.

/Anders

What about the internal nvidia connection? Does anyone know when we will see that on nvidia graphics cards?

And- yes- i am aware dvi to hdmi in on the card will work exactly the same.

Hi,

just a quick question for understanding.

I'm looking for an audio card that can transport Multichannel PCM Sound via HDMI. Form my understanding ATI (4***), Nvidia 8***/9*** Onboard and also the Auzentech and Asus Xonar can do that. Unfortunatelly Cyberlink downsamples to 16/48 because of copy protection.

With the HDMI Sound cards this could be solved because PAP is supported. Right?

But is that also the case if using XP or is that just a Vista issue. I'm very confused because Powervd does not offer an HDMI setting in Audio configuration and Vista does.

I'm very interested in the Auzentech card but only if PCM Sound is not compressed under XP. As far as I understand this is not possible with the Asus card.

Thanks a lot

Regrads,

Alex

The Asus card can do non-downsampled and bitstreamed 7.1 Channel PCM, DD-TrueHD, and DTS-MA under Windows XP and Vista. Check here for updates on what solutions can provide what features.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...2#post15242282

Hi,

thank you very much for your answer.


Yes, I ordered the sound card 1 month ago and tested it. The driver was not acceptable and completely buggy so I sent it back. I know that there are new drivers available perhaps I will do a test again.

But back to the Auzentech: I use PowerDVD for Blu-Ray playback and unfortunately you will only get downsampled sound there (even with the Asus Card). So my question is does Auzentech also provide a driver under XP that you can use with NON Downsampled Sound and PowerDVD. With Vista you have the HDMI Setting in Audio Configuration but not with XP.

So I think it could be possible to have the full NON Downsampled feature with Vista but not with XP....

Thanks again and Regards,

Alex

can this only output sound from hdmi if i want or do i need to input sound and video into it from the video card then use the hdmi output.

What I would like, is HDMI video from the video card to my projector and hdmi sound from this card to my Rotel 1570. Is this possible.

Hi,

with the Asus Card it was not possible, unfortunatelly. With the Auzen I do not know.


Thanks for this information. Do I understand this right? The Auzen card will support non downsampling sound via the analogue outputs (Under XP and with PowerDVD) but not via the Multichannel PCM HDMI (not the BITSTREAM)

Regards,

Alex

@ROBSCIX

Thank you very much for this information. Great news. I hope Cyberlink will implement this also in PowerDVD under XP. In the release 2217a which has been published in December you cannot select HDMI in XP (like you can do in Vista). This steatement sounds not good

"Note: The current operating system supported by Cyberlink PowerDVD for Blu-ray HD audio playback are Windows VISTA 32/64. Additional information coming soon regarding Windows XP support."

So I just wonder how they will realize it?

But again thank you for the information

Regards,

Alex

@robscix

I have the onkyo 604 which does not support the latest hd formats. I am going to buy the new auzen card next month but do I also have to buy a new receiver also to take advantage of the New auzen sound card or does the new card handle all the decoding for me or does it just pass it to the receiver and let the receiver do the decoding?
Thanks for any help on my question

Does anyone know when we will see nvidia cards with the internal graphics connection?

If they are coming, we will hear about them at CES on January 8'th.

- Rich

How is this card compared with the Prelude for analogue only use?