[DDDude25]

Guys,


I'm having a huge problem finding info on my question..


I am looking at few ATI cards, example:


Sapphire Radeon HD 4830

or

ASUS ATI RADEON HD 3650 PCIE2.0 512M DDR2 DVI VGA HDTV HDCP HDMI TV OUT SLNT MG


Both say they have HDMI Audio... I usually prefer Nvidia, but I heard that HDMI ports on NVIDIA are only pass through audio.


I currently have M2A-VM HDMI , and this MB has HDMI with audio, but it's not simple pass through, I actually see an audio device in my VISTA to select, and audio gets over to HDMI...


So my question is, is there an NVIDIA card that has HDMI and integrated AUDIO, my understanding is not. So I am forced to gO ATI.


For the above cards, how do I know before I buy if the audio is simply pass through or integrated?


Thanks for any insight you can provide.

 

[jeffreydeng]

I assume that you mean HD audio like TureHD or DTSHD MA when you use term 'HDMI audio'.


Discrete NVIDIA VID doesn't support HD audio. However NVIDIA chipset 8200/8300/9300/9400 supports HD audio perfectly if integrated video card is acceptable to you.


For discrete video card, you can get any ATI 4xxx for HD audio. I am using ASUS 4670 and HIS 4650 for connecting HTPC to receiver using one HDMI cable. Both HD movie and audio are handled perfectly. If you do gaming, go with 4670 or above based on how serious you are. If you don't go gaming, even 4350 is perfect for playing BD but is weak in post processing.


Some members reported difficulties in configuring ATI 4xxx VID for HD audio. You need to search for those threads for hints and tips.


Good luck!

 

[DDDude25]

Hi,


When you say "discrete audio", what do you mean? through my current HDMI connection from my MB, I get any windows AUDIO, weather it's from playing a DVD, a movie, or just windows sounds... I know DTS comes out from DVDs or Blueray discs, but HD Audio I am not sure what that means.


Nvidia cards based on my research come with an audio port on the back that is supposed to be connected to the SPDIF from an existing sound card to simply pass audio through.... I am not looking to buy another MB, I only want a video card added to my current MB.


I saw another card:

Diamond Radeon HD 4650 - 1GB GDDR2, PCI Express 2.0, CrossFireX, (2) Dual-Link DVI, S-Video, Video Card


This one says: "Built-in HDMI with multi-channel 5.1 surround audio."


Is this what I am looking for? All Windows audio going out through HDMI port, or is this through a passthrough as I explained?


I would appreciate if you explain of the terms you referred to... I will also google them to get a better understanding.


Thanks.

 

[DDDude25]

Another note, is there a site which has good comparison for chipsets! I am thinking 48xx or 46xx like you suggested. But is 4670 better than 4830? This is mostly for playing movies, but I wouldn't mind some power for games... Cause I can find the cards mentioned above around the same price.


Thanks.

 

[jeffreydeng]



Quote:
Originally Posted by DDDude25 /forum/post/15457643


Hi,


When you say "discrete audio", what do you mean? through my current HDMI connection from my MB, I get any windows AUDIO, weather it's from playing a DVD, a movie, or just windows sounds... I know DTS comes out from DVDs or Blueray discs, but HD Audio I am not sure what that means.

'Discrete video card' means that add-on video card to VGA/PVIe bus which is not included in the mobo. Your current mobo supports many audio formats including DD, DTS and 2channel PCM. DD/DTS is standard sound format for DVD discs and is included in many BD also. However these ausio are compressed. In BD, there is new audio format which is called HD audio in most cases. These HD audio formats includes TrueHD, DTSHD MA as well as 5.1/7.1 PCM etc. . New hardware is necessary to support these new formats. In addition, your ausio receiver need to support these new audio format.


If you only care about DD/DTS, then your current mobo will be fine.

Quote:
Nvidia cards based on my research come with an audio port on the back that is supposed to be connected to the SPDIF from an existing sound card to simply pass audio through.... I am not looking to buy another MB, I only want a video card added to my current MB.

Spdif only carries up to 1.5mbps data which is sufficient for DD/DTS. It doesn't support HD audio. Again, if you only care about DD/DTA, then this will be fine.

Quote:
I saw another card:

Diamond Radeon HD 4650 - 1GB GDDR2, PCI Express 2.0, CrossFireX, (2) Dual-Link DVI, S-Video, Video Card


This one says: "Built-in HDMI with multi-channel 5.1 surround audio."


Is this what I am looking for? All Windows audio going out through HDMI port, or is this through a passthrough as I explained?

This card support what I refer as 'HD audio' which becomes standards in BD movies. Believe me. it sounds totally different comparing to DD/DTS and you get much richer sounds.


Using this card, you don't need to use any additional cable, Windows will output sounds throught the card and your receiver will need to pick it up and decode that. And yes, this is what you want from your original post.


There is alternative to 4650 and also cheaper. ATI 4550, 4350 all supports the audio as 4650. If you don't play game and only watch DVD/BD using out-of-shelf software like PDVD or TMT, then 4350 is enough.


As I said above, in order to enjoy HD audio, you will need to check your receiver to see whether it supports multi-channel PCM audio for using ATO 4xxx card.

 

[DDDude25]

Thanks for the info. Good stuff.. I will be checking my audio receiver!!

I didn't know about the new AUDIO uncompressed stuff, I thought that it's always DD, DTS... Thanks again.

 

[jeffreydeng]



Quote:
Originally Posted by DDDude25 /forum/post/15457777


Another note, is there a site which has good comparison for chipsets! I am thinking 48xx or 46xx like you suggested. But is 4670 better than 4830? This is mostly for playing movies, but I wouldn't mind some power for games... Cause I can find the cards mentioned above around the same price.


Thanks.

All Gaming Graphics Charts gives you some idea about performance on different video cards.


In general, for gaming 45870>4850>4830>4670>4650>4550>4350.


For playing DVD/BD, all these cards performs excellent except 4350 is weak at post processing.

 

[jeffreydeng]



Quote:
Originally Posted by DDDude25 /forum/post/15458702


Thanks for the info. Good stuff.. I will be checking my audio receiver!!

I didn't know about the new AUDIO uncompressed stuff, I thought that it's always DD, DTS... Thanks again.

To clarify, TrueHD and DTSHD MA is still compressed audio format. However they are loseless compressed which means that you can decode the audio exactly the same as original master at playing back. 5.1/7.1 PCM is uncompressed but takes lots of disc space. Most BD today carries either TureHD or DTSHD MA.


For contrast, DD/DTS is lossy compressed audio format which means that you don't get original sound quality as master when playing back.


Good luck in this new 'HD' world.

 

[scotty588]

I have a question relating to this as well. I have a Visiontek HD4870 and all it has is 2 dvi outs and that s-video type connector for composite. It came with an DVI HDMI adapter, but I just realized this. I have a new 1080p LCD coming tomorrow so I ordered a DVI -> HDMI cable. I was reading on the box of my video card that it can pass audio through the DVI HDMI adapter. My question is can I still get audio through with the cable I ordered or do I need to use that adapter with a regular male to male HDMI cable?

 

[jdcrox]

You will need to use the ATI adapter with an HDMI cable. It will not send sound over the DVI-HDMI cable.

 

[mkdiehl]

So....his DVI connections can carry audio? I thought that DVI could NOT carry audio and that only HDMI could do both audio and video..?

 

[jdcrox]



Quote:
Originally Posted by mkdiehl /forum/post/15527009


So....his DVI connections can carry audio? I thought that DVI could NOT carry audio and that only HDMI could do both audio and video..?

Yep. As long as you use the ATI adapter. A generic adapter will not work.

 

[wiak]



Quote:
Originally Posted by jdcrox /forum/post/15459770


You will need to use the ATI adapter with an HDMI cable. It will not send sound over the DVI-HDMI cable.

wrong it will, did you try?

i have tested with a cheap HDMI to DVI cable and it works fine on my HTPC's HD 3200 IGP

 

[duff99]

There is some pretty serious discussions on this topic in other threads. First off nothing short of some of the new audio cards in conjunction with specialized versions of playback software will output Dolby True-HD and DTS-MA as bitstream. Meaning if your receiver is capable of decoding it it will "light up" as that high-def codec. They are capable of outputting full bit-depth multi-channel sound from converted movies but, that is a topic that has been covered many times in other threads.


Also, everything I've read from the gurus in this forum say that for the ATI 4000 series cards you need to use the adapter that comes with them for sound, not a dvi to HDMI cable or a generic adapter. It apparently used to work with the older cards but not with the current ones.


renethx the moderator that runs the HTPC thread recommends the 4670. It will output standard DD and DTS and uncompressed multi-channel PCM. No video card will do the new HD codecs. Nvidia cards just tap into spdif which can handle only 1.5 Mb's. Fine for DD and DTS, but no uncompressed audio formats.


good luck

 

[dlthorpe]

I thought you need an Asus Xonar 1.3 sound card to get the PC to output HD audio? Is that not the case? Can i just get one of these ATI cards instead?


I was puzzled about the whole ATI cards that say they do HD audio because when I looked at the card it showed only DVI outputs.


So I went looking for a ATI card that has an HDMI output. Found this...


GIGABYTE Radeon HD 4550 GV-R455D3-512I Video Card


Would this also work for the HD audio?

 

[dlthorpe]

For fear that this is back on page three and no one will see what i asked = bump

Ive read two different things now so would love someone to clarify.


Do you need an Asus Xonar 1.3 to transfer HD audio (DTS Master Audio, True HD etc) to an a/v amp? Or can it be done with a simple ATI 4xxx card?


Thanks all.

 

[politby]



Quote:
Originally Posted by dlthorpe /forum/post/15534199


For fear that this is back on page three and no one will see what i asked = bump

Ive read two different things now so would love someone to clarify.


Do you need an Asus Xonar 1.3 to transfer HD audio (DTS Master Audio, True HD etc) to an a/v amp? Or can it be done with a simple ATI 4xxx card?


Thanks all.

Yes, if you are referring to direct-from-disc playback. To get the untouched HD audio you need the Xonar. An ATI 4xxx card will give you a downsampled/bit stripped version of the HD audio tracks in the form of a linear multichannel PCM signal, or LPCM, or the "core" DTS or Dolby Digital 5.1 bitstreams, if available on the disc.


If you are prepared to "rip" the disc to hard disk storage, you can extract the full HD audio track(s) along with the movie (video) track from a HD disc, encode the audio into the lossless flac format and repackage (mux) them into an .mkv container file which can be played in any DirectShow capable player.

How to do this is explained here .


/politby

 

[dlthorpe]



Quote:
Originally Posted by politby /forum/post/15534921


Yes, if you are referring to direct-from-disc playback. To get the untouched HD audio you need the Xonar. An ATI 4xxx card will give you a downsampled/bit stripped version of the HD audio tracks in the form of a linear multichannel PCM signal, or LPCM, or the "core" DTS or Dolby Digital 5.1 bitstreams, if available on the disc.


If you are prepared to "rip" the disc to hard disk storage, you can extract the full HD audio track(s) along with the movie (video) track from a HD disc, encode the audio into the lossless flac format and repackage (mux) them into an .mkv container file which can be played in any DirectShow capable player.

How to do this is explained here .


/politby

Thanks for your reply. I want this for the proper HD audio straight from Blueray or HD-DVD. I dont want to mess with ripping etc.


I was reading another post and saw mention of this sound card and assume it does the same job. Might wait for that or the low-profile Asus card expected sometime soon.


Thanks again.

D.