Any sound card in the horizon with TrueHD/DTS-HD decoder?

I have been waiting for a PCI or PCIe sound card with DTS-HD and/or TrueHD decode-ability before investing in a Blu-Ray drive for my HTPC.

I know TMT or PDVD can decode HD audio codecs in software but I'd like this to be done in the hardware as I'd be mostly playing MKVs from hard-drive. I don't have a receiver and just use ffdshow/7MC or Boxee to decode DTS/Dolby in software. I have Creative Gigaworks 7.1 speakers and would like to continue using the amplifier in it.

From what I hear, full support for DTS-HD or TrueHD may never be available in open source software and a hardware based decoder is a must.

So, back to the question, anything coming with hardware DTS-HD/TrueHD support that is not a receiver? I'd love one like this, only if it had support for HD codecs (for another $50-75) as well.

Thanks.

I use 7MC with Media Browser mainly, sometimes Boxee/XBMC. Boxee doesn't support TMT/PDVD. MB on 7MC theoretically does, but it doesn't work most of the times. And even when it works, the usability is not there as it can't remember where you left off last time and also the it'll need a lot of manual intervention in my setup.

To play BD, I'll use the player that comes bundled with the drive, but that is not how I intend to play regularly. I need to have the movies on hard drive in MKV or another format that is supported by the 7MC/Boxee and has unchanged TrueHD/DTS-HD/MA to keep the size to a minimum.

For storing audio as FLAC in MKVs, As far as I know there is nothing to convert DTS-HD/MA (not the DTS core) to FLAC. If there was an open source software for that, I believe ffdshow would have that support in a short time. Am I missing something?

Can this codec decode DTS-HD/TrueHD while playing MKV? Or only from BD content? Thanks, I'll google and find out.


The Gigaworks S750 speakers are pretty good for my ears and have decent specs. They were originally Cambridge Soundworks speakers, re-badged as Creative and are as good as home theater speakers in this price range. It has 7 front/center/surround speakers and an 8" 210W powered sub. It's also THX certified but that's probably just marketing.

Also, these are not digital. You'd be making a mistake if you think they are like Logitech or any other average digital speakers. I bought them with DDTS-100 Dolby/DTS decoder, which I think supports 24-bit/96KHz sampling but it stopped working a while ago.

Now, I have the speakers hooked directly to my motherboard and Dolby/DTS etc are decoded in software. I miss the decoder as the integrated audio (Realtek says it's 24-bit/96KHz) is not as good, or may be it's the software, that's why I want to buy a sound-card with hardware decode.

More than the quality (most people can't differentiate between DTS from DTS-MA in blind test), I need the 2 extra channels of TrueHD/DTS-HD. A receiver is not very suitable for me as I have just one source (HTPC) and 2 displays (TV & projector). Receivers below $500 didn't even have 2 outputs when I researched last time.

So, the question is, am I waiting for something that will never come? Is there something in the technology that's stopping Creative/Asus/HT Omega etc from using the same DTS-HD/TrueHD decoder chip that Onkyo/Yamaha use in their receivers?

They are definitely not crap as I compared them with Onkyo and Klipsch speakers in the similar price range (~$500 for just speakers) at a Magnolia center before buying. I went with these since the amplifier is built-in and no tuning or extra receiver necessary. But obviously they are not in the same league as the $15000 equipments the other poster mentioned. I do not have the budget nor the ears for such equipments.


Thanks. I ignored this card earlier thinking it only supports HDMI passthrough. Yes, I'd be connecting the speakers through analog connectors. Earlier I used to connect the co-axial S/PDIF output of the motherboard to the DDTS-100 decoder, and I was quite happy with the quality. If I were to go with a receiver, I guess I'd ditch the sound card altogether and replace my ATI 4850 card with a 5000 series card to pass the HD audio to the receiver. But these newer ATI cards also have issues.


All my ripped DVDs with DTS can be played back in Media Center/XBMC. But if the above Asus card never supports hardware decoding DTS-HD/TrueHD with other players like 7MC/XBMC etc (from newegg reviews, the player that comes bundled doesn't support HD decoding either), then I think you are right. I should go with a decent 7.1 sound card like the one mentioned in the OP and rip the BDs into MKVs with FLAC.

Thanks for the pointers, I'll research the TMT codec to find out how I can use it to convert DTS-HD into FLAC. It'll involve a bit more manual process but it'll be future-proof for sure.