[jamieuk147]

from looking at the ATI 4870 specs it says it does 7.1 audio. Now at the minute I am running sound from my motherboard which as we all no is crap quality.


If I buy the 4870 card will it send the audio from the games I play direct to my AMP ?? If not looks like I am going to have to buy a sound card

any help is appreciated !


thanks

 

[kylebisme]

Onboard sound is generally pretty good these days, but the newer ATI cards do support surround sound though HDMI.

 

[GoodToGo1]

This is for 4850 but no reason the 4870 wont do it. Very confusing part is whether everything that play on your PC gets sent or not...

Anandtech

 

[kylebisme]



Quote:
Originally Posted by GoodToGo1 /forum/post/14203841


Very confusing part is whether everything that play on your PC gets sent or not...

How do you mean? I don't see any reason for confusion here.

 

[Trebuken]

They way I read it is that the 4850 will tap into your motherboards audio (if it has it), and transfer that via HDMI. It is cool in that it supports 8-channels (does that mean 7.1?).


What if you do not have on-board audio though? Will it tap the sound-card? I do but others may not. I'm kinda' eyeing the 4870, nVidia's 280 isn't in my pocket book this time around...

 

[kylebisme]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Trebuken /forum/post/14207495


They way I read it is that the 4850 will tap into your motherboards audio (if it has it), and transfer that via HDMI.

No, other solutions do work like that, but the Radeons are their own audio device.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Trebuken /forum/post/14207495


It is cool in that it supports 8-channels (does that mean 7.1?).

Yes.

 

[GoodToGo1]



Quote:
Originally Posted by kylebisme /forum/post/14207262


How do you mean? I don't see any reason for confusion here.

What I mean is that in the Anand Tech Review, they say you have to "configure" your player to output the sound format that you want. Now if I have some MP3's that I want to play, do I have to configure Window media player to output the sound? Will it output 5.1 or which format? I tried to mess around with it but no cigar....

 

[kylebisme]

He is talking about configuring your HD DVD/Blu-ray software to decode HD audio compression formats. As for MP3s; no, there is nothing you'd need to configure WMP to output them, and how many channels they can be output at will depend on how many channels are recorded onto them. The ATI cards aren't any different than any other audio devices in those respects.

 

[ClausenLT]

These cards do NOT decode any audio signals! They simply have the ability to send an audio signal via the HDMI cable to whatever it is plugged into! So if it is plugged into a TV for example, you would need to send the audio signal via a Digital audio out from the TV to an external audio decoding device(receiver). (The TV will play the sound via the TV's speakers.)


If your are already sending your audio from your PC to a receiver with a digital out you do NOT need to send sound via the HDMI.


In summary, the HDMI will send whatever signal. stereo, 5.1 or 7.1 along the HDMI cable, but the digital audio signal will still need to be decoded by an external device! Your TV will not decode a 5.1 or 7.1 signal! If it did it would have to have 6 amplifiers and speaker connections to hookup 6 speakers! Only a Receiver , Digital Processor or sound card will do that!


I have a 4870. I have been using a Creative Sound Blaster, but was not able to get the sound even sent along the HDMI to my TV without using my Realtek onboard sound and downloading and configuring the Sounds and Audio devices in the Control Panel to use the Realtek HDA HDMI out.


If I had an adapter for the 1.5 mm digital out on my Sound blaster to send to my Pre-Amp/Processor I would not have needed to do that!


My Pre-amp does not have Toslink in's or I could have used that on the Onboard sound. (Sound Blaster does not have Toslink outs. LOL.)


So I have my PC hooked up via the HDMI to my TV and RCA out's from my TV to my Pre-Amp which decodes a stereo signal in several formats including Dobly Prologic!


Hope this helps

 

[Lamprey]

Depends on what you mean by amp.


If you mean Reciever that has an HDMI input, then you should be fine. Although, you have to use the 8.6 ATI drivers to get sound in games.


If you are trying to output analog to a pre-amp, then no the 4870 won't work because it putputs the sound over HDMI. Unless of course you want to do someting like Clausen mentioned above by going to somce device (TV) and then outputing the audio to your Amp from that device.

 

[gunbunnysoulja]



Quote:
Originally Posted by jamieuk147 /forum/post/14197321


from looking at the ATI 4870 specs it says it does 7.1 audio. Now at the minute I am running sound from my motherboard which as we all no is crap quality.


If I buy the 4870 card will it send the audio from the games I play direct to my AMP ?? If not looks like I am going to have to buy a sound card

any help is appreciated !


thanks

As long as you send it to a receiver that has atleast an HDMI 1.1 repeater, you are all set.


The software for BD/HD such as PowerDVD Ultra can decode the advanced audio codecs and output as PCM.


The only current issue with PCM is lack of exclusive control. If you set the audio config for 7.1, then you are unable to apply post processing for matrixing. So, if you output a 2 ch. PCM signal, 7.1 is sent to the AVR, with 5.1 info being blank.


With my 7.1 setup, I output 5.1, thus allowing the ability to matrix 5.1 to 7.1. If I NEED to matrix 2.0 PCM, I can simply change the audio settings.


Newer sound cards should be able to bitstream the advanced audio codecs, resolving this issue. But, with the 4*** series gfx cards, it's like getting a sound card for free..

 

[gunbunnysoulja]



Quote:
Originally Posted by ClausenLT /forum/post/14981060


If your are already sending your audio from your PC to a receiver with a digital out you do NOT need to send sound via the HDMI.

Except if you want to hear the advanced audio codecs from BD/HD or other MC lossless audio.

Quote:
Originally Posted by ClausenLT /forum/post/14981060


So I have my PC hooked up via the HDMI to my TV and RCA out's from my TV to my Pre-Amp which decodes a stereo signal in several formats including Dobly Prologic!

Hope this helps

If it's analog, there is no decoding to be done. You are outputting PCM, which is already unzipped. Dolby Prologic is just matrixing. Nothing is discrete this way, which is the worst possible way for such a config.


Unfortunately, as you said, your AVR doesn't have digital input, so it's the only work around.

 

[mmountainbiker]

how about streaming sound from computer wirelessly to ps3 then hdmi out to reciever then hdmi to tv?

 

[GoodToGo1]

I have a 4870X2 that sends sound to my receiver with no issues. The only problem is that it only sends stereo even if the output from games is 5.1. I don't know how to solve this issue yet. Maybe I will try to mess around with sound devices.


@ mmountainbiker Yes you can do that also, though it kinda a round about way. Are you getting no sound from your card?

 

[AngelicPenguin]

Hmm...I'm a bit confused by all this. I didn't even know my 4870x2 could output sound. I currently am just using the onboard realtek HD Audio outputting to my A/V Receiver using the SPD/IF on the motherboard. Is there any advantage to using the 4870 to do it? I'm using a DVI->HDMI cable from the 4870x2, so I'm guessing I have to go put that ATI connector on there to get the sound and just plug in a plain jane HDMI cable.

 

[mmountainbiker]



Quote:
Originally Posted by GoodToGo1 /forum/post/15411132


I have a 4870X2 that sends sound to my receiver with no issues. The only problem is that it only sends stereo even if the output from games is 5.1. I don't know how to solve this issue yet. Maybe I will try to mess around with sound devices.


@ mmountainbiker Yes you can do that also, though it kinda a round about way. Are you getting no sound from your card?

yes but computer is in other room

 

[GoodToGo1]



Quote:
Originally Posted by mmountainbiker /forum/post/15411862


yes but computer is in other room

Guess then thats the only option. The HDMI calbe from the 4870 cannot send a signal over some distance, I think it was like 50 feet max

 

[GoodToGo1]



Quote:
Originally Posted by AngelicPenguin /forum/post/15411596


Hmm...I'm a bit confused by all this. I didn't even know my 4870x2 could output sound. I currently am just using the onboard realtek HD Audio outputting to my A/V Receiver using the SPD/IF on the motherboard. Is there any advantage to using the 4870 to do it? I'm using a DVI->HDMI cable from the 4870x2, so I'm guessing I have to go put that ATI connector on there to get the sound and just plug in a plain jane HDMI cable.

Yup, it can send sound allright. Only advantage I guess is that you use one wire for sound and monitor. The DVI -> HDMI jack can transfer sound. That's what I am using currently.

 

[Thunderheader]

You could always spend a little extra and buy a good soundcard. That's what I did and ran optical from the sound card the the receiver, sounds great.

 

[GoodToGo1]

That's not necessary. I figured out the issue. You have to download and install Realtek HDMI audio drivers. I did that and now my 4870 transfer 5.1 sound with no issues. Tried it just yesterday