AVS › AVS Forum › Video Components › Home Theater Computers › Guide to Building a HTPC, Workstation and Server
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

Guide to Building a HTPC, Workstation and Server - Page 157

post #4681 of 18891
12/8/08 at 12:56pm
Hello everyone. I've been lurking this thread for a few days and have been trying to come up with a good HTPC system that I will be using for gaming and watching HD MKVs and the such. I would really appreciate it if I could get creative feedback on this system.

System (http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/Pu...umber=11704308)
  • CPU: Core 2 Duo E8500 3.16GHz Socket 775, $187.99.
  • Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3P LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard, $136.99.
  • Memory: A-DATA 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800, $43.99.
  • Graphics Card: HIS Hightech Radeon HD4870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5, $264.99.
  • HDD: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 7200 RPM SATA, $129.99.
  • PSU: CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V, $109.99.
  • Case: Lian Li Black Aluminum PC-C32B ATX Media Center / HTPC Case, $153.99
  • Total Cost: $1,028

I would mostly like feedback about the overall quality of the machine, if I am missing any components, if I picked the right case, and maybe some tips on how I can make it cost less.

Thanks in advance guys.
Reply
Reply

Gear mentioned in this thread:

post #4682 of 18891
12/8/08 at 2:15pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by walterg74 View Post

You people must be either hyper-sensitive, or total freaks... I haven't had any card that annoys me in regards to fain "noise"... and for those that "argue" about the noise "in the long run", judging by the comments, you probably will have changed your whole system way before that... Really unreasonable arguments... (not to mention the fact that under operation, if you can hear it over the movie/media sound, you got a different kind of problem....)

I'm not really concern about the noise when it is playing games, movie or TV, but what I read is those cards are noisy even when it is idle. I keep my pc on 24/7, and I still remember the annoying noise I heard at night from my previous ATI 8500DV long time ago. Since then I moved to passive cooling card and now with IGP. Well, be honest, I only read comment from web for the noise issue, may be I should actually get one from B&M and try it out before I comment here.
Reply
Reply
post #4683 of 18891
12/8/08 at 2:30pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by dbone1026 View Post

I just got the ASUS 4670 card which has HDMI included. There is a slight noise (prior to installing you couldn't even tell my HTPC was on), but not bad at all. Watching/listening to any media you will not even notice the noise. I was concerned about getting a discrete card since some people made it seem like I would have an airport coming out of my HTPC, but I am glad I did as the noise is well below what I expected

Good to know that, seems I should really get one from store, try and return, then buy from newegg if it is ok.
Reply
Reply
post #4684 of 18891
12/8/08 at 4:06pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by walterg74 View Post

You people must be either hyper-sensitive, or total freaks... I haven't had any card that annoys me in regards to fain "noise"... and for those that "argue" about the noise "in the long run", judging by the comments, you probably will have changed your whole system way before that... Really unreasonable arguments... (not to mention the fact that under operation, if you can hear it over the movie/media sound, you got a different kind of problem....)

I don't care about a little noise just performance. Already have HDMI adapter from old MSI 5700. Thx
Reply
Reply
post #4685 of 18891
12/8/08 at 4:47pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by j_the_alchemist View Post

Could you elaborate on "your environment" that gives you equally excellent 24p with an HD4xxx

Athlon X2 4850e/GA-MA78GM-S2H/DDR2-800 2x1GB, Sapphire 4550/HIS 4670, Catalyst 8.11, Vista x86 SP1, TMT 126, HDMI to ONKYO 606+REGZA 52Z3500.
Reply
Reply
post #4686 of 18891
12/8/08 at 4:51pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by patrickkhong View Post

renethx,
given the midrange mATX in your recommendation of Intel/Intel vs Intel/Nvidia, what would be your preferred config and why?
The Gigabyte 7AUM seems to be drawing more attention and getting better reviews than P5Q-EM generally for HTPC.. Am i right?

I recommend GA-E7AUM-DS2H over any G45 mb. GeForce 9400 is the best IGP. Unless you need 3D performance, you don't need a discrete graphics card.
Reply
Reply
post #4687 of 18891
12/8/08 at 5:06pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Captain3 View Post

Rene
Any reason not too use this board MSI R4670-2D512 Radeon HD 4670 512MB 128-bit as opposed to the His board. About $30 cheaper at Newegg right now. This is second htpc first one running like a champ per your recommendations. Gigabyte 780 MB and 5000+ BE cpu.

Possible problems of R4670-2D512 are:

- It does not includes a DVI-HDMI adapter (add +$15).
- Noise (redtyler1's report). As I don't own the MSI model, I can't say for sure. PowerColor model is likely the quietest.
Reply
Reply
post #4688 of 18891
12/8/08 at 5:13pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Quickett View Post

Renethx,
Thanks for all of the support, have been following thread for a while now.
The use for my system will be mainly playback of HD/SD contents. Will only be hooked up to Samsung DLP, no second monitor or LCD. And occasional gaming(have a PS3 to handle most of those duties)
Parts:
Proc: Phe 9950be
MB : Foxcon A7DA-S 790GX
Ram: OCZ Reaper DDR21066 2x2gb

I have noticed that the MB offers the hybrid crossfire(hd3400 series only?), would I need to get a graphics card? If so which one would offer the best cost/performance?

You could save $75 by choosing Phenom X3 8450 (unless you do CPU intesive tasks such as encoding). Forget about Hybrid CrossFire. This does not improve video playback peformance at all, it just increases power consumption.
Reply
Reply
post #4689 of 18891
12/8/08 at 5:19pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by hangar18valk View Post

Lite-On DH-401S BD Player
GA-MA78GM-S2H rev 1.1
AMD 9600
Vista32

I'm running MB HDMI --> TV HDMI, no problems with SD video (have not tried a BD yet). PC Audio works fine: Windows sounds, Streaming net video, Audio CD playing from the Lite-On drive (WMC and WMP). Only problem is i can't get audio from a DVD! DVD video looks fine (WMC).

I think i have the latest firmware from Lite-On (i loaded it, but not sure how to check). Device Manager says i have the most current driver, but it's the standard Microsoft "cdrom.sys" driver. Not sure how to upload a newer driver; maybe the firmware is the only update.

Any ideas on why the DVD audio stream is not getting output on HDMI? No, i haven't tried the analog channels yet...i should have but just thought of it!

Which player do you use? Did you install ATI HDMI audio driver (download from Realtek)?
Reply
Reply
post #4690 of 18891
12/8/08 at 5:49pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by LR2 View Post

Hello everyone. I've been lurking this thread for a few days and have been trying to come up with a good HTPC system that I will be using for gaming and watching HD MKVs and the such. I would really appreciate it if I could get creative feedback on this system.

System (http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/Pu...umber=11704308)
  • CPU: Core 2 Duo E8400 3.16GHz Socket 775, $187.99.
  • CPU Cooler: How important is this? Any suggestions?
  • Motherboard: DFI Lanparty DK P45-T2RS LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard, $159.99.
  • Memory: Crucial 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR2-800, $52.99.
  • Graphics Card: HIS Hightech Radeon HD4870 512MB 256-bit GDDR5, $239.99
  • HDD: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 7200 RPM SATA, $129.99.
  • PSU: Silverstone OP800 800W ATX 12V 2.2, $159.99.
  • Case: Lian Li Black Aluminum PC-C32B ATX Media Center / HTPC Case, $153.99
  • Total Cost: $1085

I would mostly like feedback about the overall quality of the machine, if I am missing any components, if I picked the right case, and maybe some tips on how I can make it cost less.

- Cooler: Try the stock cooler. It's mostly quiet.
- Memory: Unless you like bare looking of the Crucial memory, this is better (cheaper, with heat spreader).
- MB: Go with GA-EP45-UD3P and save your money.
- Graphics Card: Consider also 1GB version. It's better in gaming. (Better spend money on this rather than mb/PSU.)
- PSU: 800W is overkill unless you will go with CrossFire (in which case you'd better choose a X48 mb). Corsair CMPSU-650TX (not support CF) or CMPSU-750TX.
Reply
Reply
post #4691 of 18891
12/8/08 at 5:53pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Captain3 View Post

I don't care about a little noise just performance. Already have HDMI adapter from old MSI 5700. Thx

I do not believe you will get sound over that HDMI adapter, you need the one from ATI.
Reply
Reply
post #4692 of 18891
12/8/08 at 6:07pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by renethx View Post

Athlon X2 4850e/GA-MA78GM-S2H/DDR2-800 2x1GB, Sapphire 4550/HIS 4670, Catalyst 8.11, Vista x86 SP1, TMT 126, HDMI to ONKYO 606+REGZA 52Z3500.

And with 2 different dGPU's to boot! Thanks!

Also, do you notice a significant difference between SD post-processing on the 4670 vs the 4550? If you had to pick one today, would you go with the fanless Giga-Byte 4550 OR the two slot HIS 4670? Are you satisfied with the fan-noise levels on the HIS ?

Thanks so much!

Jay
Reply
Reply
post #4693 of 18891
12/8/08 at 7:50pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by j_the_alchemist View Post

And with 2 different dGPU's to boot! Thanks!

Also, do you notice a significant difference between SD post-processing on the 4670 vs the 4550? If you had to pick one today, would you go with the fanless Giga-Byte 4550 OR the two slot HIS 4670? Are you satisfied with the fan-noise levels on the HIS ?

Just note that working 24p in one environment does not mecessarily mean that in others. In fact quite a few people reported (micro-)sutter and/or audio drift and many people reported excellent 24p.

The difference of SD post-processing between 4550 and 4670 is not significant (unless you connect two displays). But to be sure you'd better choose 4670. PowerColor model is the quietest 4670 card.
Reply
Reply
post #4694 of 18891
12/8/08 at 8:07pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by renethx View Post

You could save $75 by choosing Phenom X3 8450 (unless you do CPU intesive tasks such as encoding). Forget about Hybrid CrossFire. This does not improve video playback peformance at all, it just increases power consumption.

Thanks for the quick reply,
I was thinking about the Crossfire for the occasional gaming I might do, would you suggest even getting a discrete gc or just keep the gaming to the PS3?
Reply
Reply
post #4695 of 18891
12/8/08 at 9:02pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by renethx View Post

- Cooler: Try the stock cooler. It's mostly quiet.
- Memory: Unless you like bare looking of the Crucial memory, this is better (cheaper, with heat spreader).
- MB: Go with GA-EP45-UD3P and save your money.
- Graphics Card: Consider also 1GB version. It's better in gaming. (Better spend money on this rather than mb/PSU.)
- PSU: 800W is overkill unless you will go with CrossFire (in which case you'd better choose a X48 mb). Corsair CMPSU-650TX (not support CF) or CMPSU-750TX.

Thanks a bunch renethx! ...here are the new specs. Any more suggestions?

System (http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/Pu...umber=11704308)
  • CPU: Core 2 Duo E8400 3.16GHz Socket 775, $187.99.
  • Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3P LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard, $136.99.
  • Memory: A-DATA 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800, $43.99.
  • Graphics Card: HIS Hightech Radeon HD4870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5, $264.99.
  • HDD: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 7200 RPM SATA, $129.99.
  • PSU: CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V, $109.99.
  • Case: Lian Li Black Aluminum PC-C32B ATX Media Center / HTPC Case, $153.99
  • Total Cost: $1,028

Also, I have a couple of questions.
1. What's best for a HTPC, 32bit or 64bit windows OS?
2. Also, what optical drive should I get? (I don't need Blu-ray)
Reply
Reply
post #4696 of 18891
12/8/08 at 9:11pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by renethx View Post

Which player do you use? Did you install ATI HDMI audio driver (download from Realtek)?

i hadn't downloaded the Realtek driver (thanks for the hyperlink)...i just did and still no DVD audio. i can get the DVD audio through headphones, so it's getting out of the player via SATA at least!

on my mobo, i plugged in the "HD Audio" connector, not the "AC '97" connector. they're on the same cable, what's the difference?

on my Realtek HD Audio Manager, Digital Input tab, "Status:" says Unlock in bold (other 3 fields are blank). should the Input fields be filled in? clicking on "Auto Lock" does not appear to do anything, and "Set Default Device" is ghosted. Maybe this tab is for a Mic In and has nothing to do with my problem?

i've tried both Windows Media Center and Player, same symptoms for both.

i appreciate your patience with this, i know we'll get it figured out!
Reply
Reply
post #4697 of 18891
12/8/08 at 9:22pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by renethx View Post

I am going to update the Premium Intel/Intel system.

- CPU: Core i7 920 2.66GHz, $286
- Cooler: Thermalright HR-01 PLUS with LGA1366 Bolt-Thru-Kit and Scythe S-FLEX S-FDB 120mm Fan SFF21E, $74
- Motherboard: MSI X58 Platinum, $220 (or GIGABYTE DS4)
- Memory: A-DATA HY63I1B16T DDR3-1333 3 x 2GB Kit, $170, or G.SKILL F3-10666CL9T-6GBNQ DDR3-1333 3 x 2GB Kit, $170
- The rest are the same.

The new Premium is about 30% faster in encoding than the old Premium, and 250% faster than the High-End!.

Multi-GPU (CrossFire) is for gaming.

WOW, those are some impressive numbers. When you say 30% faster encoding, you are talking about ripping discs, not playing BD discs on a Blu-ray rom drive, correct? How did you come up with these numbers... are they based on real tests or theoretical? How does performance of this system compare with a Q9550 running on a Gigabyte EP45-DS3R with 4gb Crucial ballistix and a HD 4870 1gb vid card? This what I have now, but might relegate that to my new server instead and get the above config for HTPC and gaming...
Reply
Reply
post #4698 of 18891
12/8/08 at 11:18pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by renethx View Post

1. You can do this instantly by hotkeys. Connect both displays to the card. Set LCD on and the projector off and save the configuration as a profile and assign a hotkey. Similarly set the projector on and the LCD off and save the configuration as a profile and assign a hotkey.

2. ATX or mATX? Check AVerMedia AVerTV Combo PCIe.

Thanks for the tip on hotkeys, that will work perfectly for me. The case is ATX (Antec Solo) and mobo is GA-EP45-DS3R, although I just noticed that it only has 1 PCIEX 16 slot, so I won't be able to do crossfire. This motherboard also does not appear to have any pins to connect the Power LED wire from the Ante case... odd. What kind of control will I have over sound... is there a way to toggle it the same way as the video (between use in my office over PC speakers and HDMI out to AVR)

I picked up a Hauppauge HVR-1800 because I could not find the AVerMedia card at my local Frys... any good?
Reply
Reply
post #4699 of 18891
12/9/08 at 4:40am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Quickett View Post

Thanks for the quick reply,
I was thinking about the Crossfire for the occasional gaming I might do, would you suggest even getting a discrete gc or just keep the gaming to the PS3?

3DMark06 Basic edition scores

Here are 3DMark06 Basic edition scores of various Radeon cards. Common components are:

- 780G chipset mATX motherboard with 128MB DDR3 SidePort (SP) memory
- DDR2-800 2 x 1GB
- Vista 32
- Catalyst 8.11 (and 8.10 hotfix for HD 4350)

The motherboard GPU is HD 3200 (core 500MHz). I also overclocked it to HD 3300 (core 700MHz).

  Athlon X2 4850e Phenom X3 8450
HD 3200 1134 1501
HD 3300(SP) 1537 1940
HD 3450 1667 1663
HD 3450+HD 3200 2063 2633
HD 3450+HD 3300(SP) 2760 3017
HD 4350 2720 2775
HD 4550 3379 3482
HD 4670 7398 7756

Perhaps you are interested in the colored configurations.

Cost analysis

The total price of CPU, motherboard and graphics is (for example):

3017

- Phenom X3 8450, $94
- A7DA-S 790GX ATX, $95
- HD 3450, $20
- Total: $209
- Remarks: No multichannel LPCM, faster in encoding, RAID 5 support, higher power consumption.

3379

- Athlon X2 4850e, $57
- GA-MA78G-DS3H 780G ATX, $87
- HD 4550, $50
- Total: $194
- Remarks: Multichannel LPCM, excellent SD/HD post-processing. This is the ATX, low-end, AMD/AMD system in my recommendations.

7398

- Athlon X2 4850e, $57
- GA-MA78G-DS3H 780G ATX, $87
- HD 4670, $80
- Total: $224
- Remarks: Multichannel LPCM, excellent SD/HD post-processing, good 3D performance (doubles with only +$30).
Reply
Reply
post #4700 of 18891
12/9/08 at 5:11am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by LR2 View Post

1. What's best for a HTPC, 32bit or 64bit windows OS?
2. Also, what optical drive should I get? (I don't need Blu-ray)

1. Perhaps 32-bit is easier for a while because many good codecs are still 32-bit.
2. For example, Samsung SH-S223F (or SH-S223Q if you like lightscribe).
Reply
Reply
post #4701 of 18891
12/9/08 at 5:36am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by hangar18valk View Post

i hadn't downloaded the Realtek driver (thanks for the hyperlink)...i just did and still no DVD audio. i can get the DVD audio through headphones, so it's getting out of the player via SATA at least!

on my mobo, i plugged in the "HD Audio" connector, not the "AC '97" connector. they're on the same cable, what's the difference?

on my Realtek HD Audio Manager, Digital Input tab, "Status:" says Unlock in bold (other 3 fields are blank). should the Input fields be filled in? clicking on "Auto Lock" does not appear to do anything, and "Set Default Device" is ghosted. Maybe this tab is for a Mic In and has nothing to do with my problem?

i've tried both Windows Media Center and Player, same symptoms for both.

i appreciate your patience with this, i know we'll get it figured out!

There are two different, independent Realtek audio codecs:

1. ATI HDMI audio (whose driver you just downloaded), integrated in the 780G chipset. This provides audio to the HDMI port in the rear panel.
2. Realtek ALC889A. An audio chip independent of 780G. Provides S/PDIF in/out and analog audio (the optical port in the rear panel, S/PDIF internal connector, six 3.5mm jacks in the rear panel). You can configure ALC889A with "Realtek HD Audio Manager".

You are going to use the first one if you want to get audio through HDMI. Check the Sound dialog box (launch from Control Panel). Does it look like this? (Otherwise you can't get audio from DVD.)


LL
Reply
Reply
post #4702 of 18891
12/9/08 at 5:49am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by mulox View Post

WOW, those are some impressive numbers. When you say 30% faster encoding, you are talking about ripping discs, not playing BD discs on a Blu-ray rom drive, correct? How did you come up with these numbers... are they based on real tests or theoretical? How does performance of this system compare with a Q9550 running on a Gigabyte EP45-DS3R with 4gb Crucial ballistix and a HD 4870 1gb vid card? This what I have now, but might relegate that to my new server instead and get the above config for HTPC and gaming...

It's transcoding (for example, MPEG-2 to H.264). x264 HD Benchmark is one of the popular benchmarks (a test encode of a 1280x720p MPEG-2 source file using the x264 encoder). For example see this article. You can find many articles if you google with two keywords "Core i7" and "x264 HD Benchmark".
Reply
Reply
post #4703 of 18891
12/9/08 at 6:01am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by mulox View Post

Thanks for the tip on hotkeys, that will work perfectly for me. The case is ATX (Antec Solo) and mobo is GA-EP45-DS3R, although I just noticed that it only has 1 PCIEX 16 slot, so I won't be able to do crossfire. This motherboard also does not appear to have any pins to connect the Power LED wire from the Ante case... odd. What kind of control will I have over sound... is there a way to toggle it the same way as the video (between use in my office over PC speakers and HDMI out to AVR)

I picked up a Hauppauge HVR-1800 because I could not find the AVerMedia card at my local Frys... any good?

Check the manual. You can use either PWR_LED (a 3-pin connector) or the two pins MSG+/MSG- in the F_PANEL connector.

Check this post.

HVR-1800 is good.
Reply
Reply
post #4704 of 18891
12/9/08 at 8:11am
Quote:
Originally Posted by renethx View Post

3DMark06 Basic edition scores

Here are 3DMark06 Basic edition scores of various Radeon cards. Common components are:

- 780G chipset mATX motherboard with 128MB DDR3 SidePort (SP) memory
- DDR2-800 2 x 1GB
- Vista 32
- Catalyst 8.11 (and 8.10 hotfix for HD 4350)

The motherboard GPU is HD 3200 (core 500MHz). I also overclocked it to HD 3300 (core 700MHz).

  Athlon X2 4850e Phenom X3 8450
HD 3200 1134 1501
HD 3300(SP) 1537 1940
HD 3450 1667 1663
HD 3450+HD 3200 2063 2633
HD 3450+HD 3300(SP) 2760 3017
HD 4350 2720 2775
HD 4550 3379 3482
HD 4670 7398 7756

Perhaps you are interested in the colored configurations.

Cost analysis

The total price of CPU, motherboard and graphics is (for example):

3017

- Phenom X3 8450, $94
- A7DA-S 790GX ATX, $95
- HD 3450, $20
- Total: $209
- Remarks: No multichannel LPCM, faster in encoding, RAID 5 support, higher power consumption.

3379

- Athlon X2 4850e, $57
- GA-MA78G-DS3H 780G ATX, $87
- HD 4550, $50
- Total: $194
- Remarks: Multichannel LPCM, excellent SD/HD post-processing. This is the ATX, low-end, AMD/AMD system in my recommendations.

7398

- Athlon X2 4850e, $57
- GA-MA78G-DS3H 780G ATX, $87
- HD 4670, $80
- Total: $224
- Remarks: Multichannel LPCM, excellent SD/HD post-processing, good 3D performance (doubles with only +$30).

Already have the Phenom x4 9950 Black & A7DA-S. Should I stick with a Radeon 3xxx series for the crossfire? Is the 3450 the highest 3xxx series that has that ability? Just looking for the most cost effective solution.
Reply
Reply
post #4705 of 18891
12/9/08 at 8:24am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Quickett View Post

Already have the Phenom x4 9950 Black & A7DA-S. Should I stick with a Radeon 3xxx series for the crossfire? Is the 3450 the highest 3xxx series that has that ability? Just looking for the most cost effective solution.

Well,

- 2000 -> 3000 with +$20 (add HD 3450 in Hybrid CF mode)
- 2000 -> 3500 with +$50 (add HD 4550); 7.1 LPCM is a bunus.

Perhaps the first choice is better if you don't use a HDMI receiver. HD 2400 PRO/XT and HD 3450/3470 are the only cards that support Hybrid CrossFire. Maybe you can find a HD 3470 (better than HD 3450) at eBay. (Of course you can add HD 4670 for $80 which will quadruple the 3D performance.)
Reply
Reply
post #4706 of 18891
12/9/08 at 8:30am
Quote:
Originally Posted by renethx View Post

There are two different, independent Realtek audio codecs:

1. ATI HDMI audio (whose driver you just downloaded), integrated in the 780G chipset. This provides audio to the HDMI port in the rear panel.
2. Realtek ALC889A. An audio chip independent of 780G. Provides S/PDIF in/out and analog audio (the optical port in the rear panel, S/PDIF internal connector, six 3.5mm jacks in the rear panel). You can configure ALC889A with "Realtek HD Audio Manager".

You are going to use the first one if you want to get audio through HDMI. Check the Sound dialog box (launch from Control Panel). Does it look like this? (Otherwise you can't get audio from DVD.)


Yes, mine looks just like that (although without the "5-" i think ). The 3 format test tones on the right screen work fine, as well as the Sample Rates tone. and i changed the default on another tab to 48k DVD audio vs. 44k CD audio IIRC.

Ultimately, I'm going to go S/PDIF to my Onkyo 705, but don't yet have a cable. thought i should/could be able to get DVD HDMI working first, just to the TV. i'll replace the "HD Audio" connector with the "AC '97" connector from the Antec Fusion case tonight and let you know if that makes a difference.

thanks
Reply
Reply
post #4707 of 18891
12/9/08 at 8:38am
I have my Gigabyte 780G MA78GM-S2H card connected to my Antec Veris Fusion Silver V2 with the HD audio header not the AC97 one. (Isn't AC97 an older legacy connector?)

However AIUI neither carry digital audio - they are both analogue only?
Reply
Reply
post #4708 of 18891
12/9/08 at 8:46am
Quote:
Originally Posted by sneals2000 View Post

I have my Gigabyte 780G MA78GM-S2H card connected to my Antec Veris Fusion Silver V2 with the HD audio header not the AC97 one. (Isn't AC97 an older legacy connector?)

However AIUI neither carry digital audio - they are both analogue only?

can you get DVD audio out of HDMI? what DVD player do you have?
Reply
Reply
post #4709 of 18891
12/9/08 at 8:54am
Quote:
Originally Posted by hangar18valk View Post

can you get DVD audio out of HDMI? what DVD player do you have?

Vista Media Center, PowerDVD and Total Media Theater will all output PCM2.0 and bitstreamed Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1 for amp decoding, via HDMI or SPDIF from my 780G / HD 3200 motherboard. I have connected amps via HDMI (with the amp decoding DD5.1 or DTS5.1) and Toslink with my MA78GM-S2H / 4850e combo - with Vista 32 bit. I have used all three players for DVD replay.

I had to install both the HDMI and HD Audio drivers (the former for HDMI, the latter for Toslink)

For HDMI audio output :

I had to select HDMI audio in Sound Control Panels, ensure that both DTS and DD were ticked as supported formats in the properties of this device.

In PowerDVD I had to select HDMI AC3 Pass through for HDMI output, in TMT I had to select SPDIF. VMC followed Windows Control Panel.

For Toslink Audio Output :

I selected Realtek HD Digital audio output in Sound Control Panel, and again selected DD5.1 and DTS5.1 as supported audio.

In PowerDVD I selected SPDIF output (not HDMI AC3 Passthrough as above) and in TMT SPDIF (same as HDMI above), in VMC I didn't have to do anything extra.

NB : some versions of PowerDVD may only output 2.0 PCM and not bitstream.
Reply
Reply
post #4710 of 18891
12/9/08 at 9:04am
Quote:
Originally Posted by sneals2000 View Post

Vista Media Center, PowerDVD and Total Media Theater will all output PCM2.0 and bitstreamed Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1 for amp decoding, via HDMI or SPDIF from my 780G / HD 3200 motherboard. I have connected amps via HDMI (with the amp decoding DD5.1 or DTS5.1) and Toslink with my MA78GM-S2H / 4850e combo - with Vista 32 bit. I have used all three players for DVD replay.

I had to install both the HDMI and HD Audio drivers (the former for HDMI, the latter for Toslink)

For HDMI audio output :

I had to select HDMI audio in Sound Control Panels, ensure that both DTS and DD were ticked as supported formats in the properties of this device.

In PowerDVD I had to select HDMI AC3 Pass through for HDMI output, in TMT I had to select SPDIF. VMC followed Windows Control Panel.

For Toslink Audio Output :

I selected Realtek HD Digital audio output in Sound Control Panel, and again selected DD5.1 and DTS5.1 as supported audio.

In PowerDVD I selected SPDIF output (not HDMI AC3 Passthrough as above) and in TMT SPDIF (same as HDMI above), in VMC I didn't have to do anything extra.

NB : some versions of PowerDVD may only output 2.0 PCM and not bitstream.

thanks for the good info...i'll try PowerDVD too. which make/model of the actual DVD drive do you have? is it a Lite-On BD player?
Reply
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Home Theater Computers

Gear mentioned in this thread:

AVS › AVS Forum › Video Components › Home Theater Computers › Guide to Building a HTPC, Workstation and Server