If you've ever read "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell you understand that sometimes having more information is a bad thing because you are so overwhelmed by it all that you can't process it well enough to make the proper decision. That's the biggest problem with these forums. If you are looking for something very specific, these forums hold a ridiculous depth of knowledge and chances are you can find your answer because some one else has run into the same problem and resolved it. But if you're trying to work through a broader question its near impossible to track down what you need unless you're willing to read thru 70-100 pages of mostly unrelated posts and chase down every single rabbit hole along the way. That's how I feel, I've been digging thru forums for the last month trying to answer what I thought was a simple question and all I seem to find is more questions. So if one of you gurus can help me put this all together I would really appreciate it.
-I am building an HTPC from scratch, money is no object
-the machine will be used for TV, Music, standard DVD movies and Blu Ray movies and probably some light gaming
-I want lossless HD audio over HDMI to my receiver
-I want this all to work within WMC, initially on Vista but I'll upgrade to W7 as soon as its stable (WMC is required to pass the 'wife' test)
-equipment: 46 in Sony Bravia XBR4, Integra DTR 7.8, Paradigm Studio Reference 5.1 speakers, PS3
From what I understand, the main issue is getting true lossless HD audio over HDMI without downsampling, etc. It seems that the ATI Raedon 4800 is my best bet currently and that this thread on HD to MKV ( http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1033822 ) may solve all my problems getting the true HD audio signal over to my receiver intact.
EDIT: vladd below reminded me to add this. I've read thru parts of the XONAR thread on this forum as well and my impression was that it was buggy and the setup/config sucked and always had to be changing. If I'm in error over this, let me know. How exactly does this card work? Does it take the full HDMI signal, just pass thru the video and process the audio and send them both out over HDMI to the receiver, is that the way it works?
Can someone chime in to let me know if I'm on the right path and offer any advice or guidance. I really want to move ahead with this project but I find this all overwhelming.
thank you!
-I am building an HTPC from scratch, money is no object
-the machine will be used for TV, Music, standard DVD movies and Blu Ray movies and probably some light gaming
-I want lossless HD audio over HDMI to my receiver
-I want this all to work within WMC, initially on Vista but I'll upgrade to W7 as soon as its stable (WMC is required to pass the 'wife' test)
-equipment: 46 in Sony Bravia XBR4, Integra DTR 7.8, Paradigm Studio Reference 5.1 speakers, PS3
From what I understand, the main issue is getting true lossless HD audio over HDMI without downsampling, etc. It seems that the ATI Raedon 4800 is my best bet currently and that this thread on HD to MKV ( http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1033822 ) may solve all my problems getting the true HD audio signal over to my receiver intact.
EDIT: vladd below reminded me to add this. I've read thru parts of the XONAR thread on this forum as well and my impression was that it was buggy and the setup/config sucked and always had to be changing. If I'm in error over this, let me know. How exactly does this card work? Does it take the full HDMI signal, just pass thru the video and process the audio and send them both out over HDMI to the receiver, is that the way it works?
Can someone chime in to let me know if I'm on the right path and offer any advice or guidance. I really want to move ahead with this project but I find this all overwhelming.
thank you!