[craigmcg]

I'm considering getting a blu-ray drive for my PC and I have an Auzentech X-meridian sound card. I figure that this is the best place to ask if I can get analog high definition audio from the PC to my home theatre setup (5 channel and a 2 channel power amps).

Sorry if I missed this information elsewhere.

 

[mojave]

If you plan to use a Blu-ray media player such as Arcsoft TotalMedia Theatre or Corel WinDVD 2010 then the high definition audio will be downsampled to 16 bit 48 kHz. You might want to read The State of Blu-ray Lossless HD Audio in Home Theater Computers. There are now some PAP audio cards, but the rest of the article is relevant.

You can also rip the Blu-ray to an MKV with a lossless FLAC audio track for playback with other software on your HTPC. This is what I do. I use a program called Another EAC3to GUI Plus, but there are other ways to do it, too. I am outputting 8 channels directly to my 7 channel amplifier and dual subwoofers using an Asus Essence ST with H6 daughtercard.

 

[craigmcg]

It is so easy to hate the content industry! I really don't understand the reason for them to "protect" analog audio output. Thanks for the great information Mojave. I will check out the software you mentioned.