No more high end HDMI soundcards like the Asus HDAV?

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...

That makes sense. I was under the impression that to use surround over digital from a game it had to be encoded on the fly. So I would just setup the control panel for say 5.1 and games with surround would automatically output PCM over HDMI? But then my only problem would be to lose quality sound over analog/headphones (I use headphones for net browsing/general PC use). I'm currently using a Xonar HDAV 1.3 and now wondering if it's just a redundant piece of hardware in my system. Analog output on the Xonar smoked all my last onboard sound chips - no comparison there but I haven't even tried with my latest Realtek ALC889. I doubt it would be any different than my last Realtek experience?

I have a GTX 560, will it bitstream HD audio from a Bluray like the Xonar will or will it only output PCM? I have TotalMedia Theatre 3 Asus version and Retail version.

So just to play it safe, it would be wise to leave the Xonar HDAV in my system just for sake of my sound not being tied to a compatible or not videocard when I swap out/upgrade in the future? Seems weird why a higher end card wouldn't support it?

I decided to try the Nvidia HD sound for shits and giggles, never tried it before, so I was curious about it. Bitstreaming HD audio didn't work with the Asus version of TMT3 or even multichannel PCM. Only the regular DD/DTS sound worked here. Going to uninstall the Asus TMT3 version and put my retail on and try.

One thing that really blew me away is that I have the original Xonar that didn't support 24p and never sent mine in for the firmware update because I didn't want to wait forever without having my sound card and also I didn't think I would need it. I googled my LG plasma and noticed it did support 24p playback so I said what the hell, I'll try it out. NOW I KNOW WHAT THE FUSS IS ALL ABOUT WITH 24hz MOVIE PLAYBACK! It's so freaking smooth, it's borderline soap opera effect, lol. Now I can really notice judder on video playback when not in 24hz mode! I mean, you'd think 24fps would be laggy or glitchy, but it's soooo liquidy smooth I don't think I could ever go back now! Info on my display reported 1080/24p and my Denon AVR also reported 1080p/24hz. It's unbelievable the difference... you'd have to see it in action to understand.

Anyway... games did surround over HDMI through the GTX560 so yeah, no more need for DDL or DTSi. One game I have a problem with but not sound related is a console port of MX vs ATV Reflex that the only way I could get it to look judder free (it's locked at 30fps) was to play it in 1080i (have no idea why using interlaced made it judder free just like 24hz on bluray/movie) but now no matter even if I set it to 1080i/30 like before when going through the Xonar, it always jumps to progressive and for some strange reason I lose video/menu overlay through my Denon...Weird.

But yea, 24hz movie playback... now I know what the fuss is all about! It's.... A major difference. Hopefully my regular retail version of TMT3 will allow me to bitstream HD audio or at least PCM output...

Now I have to figure out why Mx vs ATV Reflex has so much video judder when using progressive scan... Weird how it was so smooth just like using 24hz for movies when using interlaced but interlaced just wont stick when the game starts with the Xonar out of the way it switches to 1080/30p. Computers, gotta love em'... almost never does every single aspect of performance and compatibility work all at one time! Just when you think you got all the pieces of the puzzle put together you always introduce that one new problem.

I don't know about jitter with the sound but I was able to get bit perfect CD sound through the 560 GTX verified with a DTS surround WAV file (if you're not bitperfect for CD audio it will just play random static/digital noise). I think sound wise it's fine. Just the dedicated soundcard has many more features and driver adjustments.

Installed my retail version of TMT3 and applied the latest update and HD bitstreaming instantly crashes the program. PCM output of HD audio dropped back to 2 channel even when audio properties where set correctly to 5.1 48kHz. Downloaded TMT5 trial and all is well with bitstreaming now. I'll probably use the promo code to get the 30% off and buy it. I like the new interface as well and finally TMT isn't disabling Aero. But $69.99 still seems a little steep for a buyer of the previous one. I think the update from a previous version should be a little cheaper.

But forget all that, I'm lovin' 24p playback more than HD audio, lol. I can't believe the difference it makes. You would think such a low framerate wouldn't be very smooth but it's sooo liquidity smooth you just have to see it in action to believe it, lol.

Fixed my problem with MX vs Atv by setting the game settings in Steam to 1920x1080x60p instead of 30i. That was too easy to fix, liquid smooth once again, heh, although there appeared to be less aliasing and texture flickering at 30i but it's good enough.

Going to keep the Xonar installed for now just to have good sound quality for headphones. Would have to install the Realtek anyway and rather just use the Xonar if it came down to having two sound devices installed.

I think it's ridiculous that the higher end nvidia cards don't support HD audio bitstreaming. So what if I wanted to upgrade from my 560 GTX I would lose HD bitstreaming? Lame. For the price of the upper end cards, they should support everything and come with a free copy of TMT5. I don't get it why the premium priced hardware wouldn't have what the cheaper ones have. Is there any explanation at all?

So I have the fastest nvidia card (560) that supports HD bitstreaming?