[shiznit]

So I just wall-mounted my Kuro and set up the surround sound, now I want to play sofa-friendly games I had put off waiting for a proper setup like GTA IV. The problem is I would need to run three 20ft stereo cables from my pc to the receiver for analog multi-channel. I don't have DD Live and I probably wouldn't use it even if I did.

My receiver is old and doesn't have HDMI, I need to upgrade it anyway and I'm wondering if I do, can use the 5870's hdmi out for multi-channel pcm in games so I don't have to run all those stereo cables? I can't justify buying another receiver if I still need the analog cables.

 

[orl2222]

Sorry to bump a old tread, yes you can. I'm using my ATI 5770 card to run HDMI to my receiver, a Insignia NS R510HD which does allow pass thru with the new 10.3 drivers. In fact im using the DVI connection from the same card to my monitor. Also I can use WASPI with Foobar also with the HDMI connection. Sounds alot and I mean alot better than my previous attempts using a creative XF-I card,or the Gigabyte on board audio using SPDIF or optical connections.
If you don't mind buying the extra for a receiver that allows audio pass thru HDMI, this is the way to go.
I got my Polk ri series front speakers and Polk subwoofer hooked up to it.
If i would have know this from the beginning, I wouldn't have bothered purchasing a separate sound card.
If you have a bluray drive installed it passes the latest dolby and DTS codecs and the reciever handles all the encoding, sweet set up.

 

[shimm]

orl2222, have you seen 44.1 on receiver's display? Can your avr download flacs from LAN? If yes and you've tried it, is there any audible difference in sound between flacs dl and streaming them by PCM?

 

[orl2222]

it Doesn't download from the internet, so I can't tell you about that. I do have the ATI drivers in windows 7 set to 24 bit 192000 Hz and the Insignia receiver handles it. I've played ripped flac files, and apple lossless files in foobar, and it sounds way better than thru the sound card or on board audio.I would ask on audiogon, or the AVS forums for receivers that can pass audio thru HDMI.
You gotta remember, the Isignia receiver was a budget buy, i bought on sale for 147.00. The other nice thing it does is allow pass thru audio from my Sony SACD player to My Gilmore V2 headamp as well. If you have passive speakers, this is the way to go.

 

[shimm]

I have Onkyo 1007 and Dali Ikon 2 (biamped). I only can't choose videocard with passive heatsink for my HTPC. Btw, your 24 bit 192000 Hz settings are for system mixer not for HDMI audio driver and you can bypass it with ASIO/KS/WASAPI interface (there are some plugins for foobar).

 

[sonci]

Quote:

Originally Posted by orl2222 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Sorry to bump a old tread, yes you can. I'm using my ATI 5770 card to run HDMI to my receiver, a Insignia NS R510HD which does allow pass thru with the new 10.3 drivers. In fact im using the DVI connection from the same card to my monitor. Also I can use WASPI with Foobar also with the HDMI connection. Sounds alot and I mean alot better than my previous attempts using a creative XF-I card,or the Gigabyte on board audio using SPDIF or optical connections. If you don't mind buying the extra for a receiver that allows audio pass thru HDMI, this is the way to go. I got my Polk ri series front speakers and Polk subwoofer hooked up to it. If i would have know this from the beginning, I wouldn't have bothered purchasing a separate sound card. If you have a bluray drive installed it passes the latest dolby and DTS codecs and the reciever handles all the encoding, sweet set up.

Do you know, which is the cheapest ATi card that allow this?

 

[orl2222]

Yup, I use WASPI in Foobar, works great. Here's a link to a page at the AVS forums that gives a rundown on ATI cards:
ATI Radeon HD 5800, 5700 and 5600 Series Thread: Supporting HD Audio Bitstreaming! - AVS Forum
The 5600 series should work, and doesn't require a power connection to the card, uses the motherboard's power from the slot.

 

[shiznit]

Quote:

Sorry to bump a old tread, yes you can. I'm using my ATI 5770 card to run HDMI to my receiver, a Insignia NS R510HD which does allow pass thru with the new 10.3 drivers. In fact im using the DVI connection from the same card to my monitor. Also I can use WASPI with Foobar also with the HDMI connection. Sounds alot and I mean alot better than my previous attempts using a creative XF-I card,or the Gigabyte on board audio using SPDIF or optical connections.
If you don't mind buying the extra for a receiver that allows audio pass thru HDMI, this is the way to go.
I got my Polk ri series front speakers and Polk subwoofer hooked up to it.
If i would have know this from the beginning, I wouldn't have bothered purchasing a separate sound card.
If you have a bluray drive installed it passes the latest dolby and DTS codecs and the reciever handles all the encoding, sweet set up.

 
Thanks for the response.  Can you please try a game with sound set to 5.1 or more and see if it's really multichannel in the game?  I know HD bitstreaming works, but confirmation that multichannel LPCM from a game is playing correctly would be very helpful.  
 

 

[shiznit]

Ok I couldn't wait for a definite answer, saw a Denon 790 at Best Buy for a steal (open box) and couldn't resist.  With only Catalyst 10.4 installed (no Realtek drivers), multi channel lpcm works perfectly.   I set my speaker output to 5.1 and set the receiver to auto, fired up GTA and it worked beautifully.  Tried Star Trek with PowerDVD set to bitsream and the HD Audio logo lit up and the receiver said Dolby HD. 

 

[Nachmanowicz]

Thats sweet and rather useful for me too! But... wouldnt it sound much better via a optical out from a proper sound card?

 

[shiznit]

Probably not.  Optical out can only be used for 2.1 stereo and 5.1 encoded Dolby/DTS content, you can't send multichannel lpcm or Dolby/DTS HD with it.  And games aren't 5.1 encoded so unless you want to use something like DD Live you will need to use the analog outputs.  The only way I can see optical out from a sound card being better is if its DAC is substantially better, you don't play games or you are ok with stereo, don't care for blu-ray audio, mostly use 2.1, and only use 5.1 with encoded content.

 

[orl2222]

Sorry I didn't reply right away, but I'm not a gamer. I also did find a nice post on how to use media player classic with HD codecs here:
http://www.mediasmartserver.net/2010/02/02/guide-setting-up-bitstreaming-with-your-windows-7-htpc-part-i/