Audio over HDMI

[McWatt]

I want a new card. I currently have a 4870 512, which was a disappointment sometimes mainly because of the 512 causing stutters when confronted with hires texture packs. One thing I love, though, is having a single cable to hook up to my PC that carries both video and audio to my nearby TV. I hook it up, the desktop is immediately extended, and I can play bluray or stream or whatever I want right away.

I assume the 5xxx cards do the same. Am I right?

I'm sort of interested in Fermi, but I don't know whether it carries audio over HDMI. Do the 2xx cards? If not, is there any info on whether Fermi does?

Oddly enough, I think this is a deal breaker for me.

 

[1h4x4s3x]

But Nvidia says GF100 has the same A/V suite as the GeForce GT 240. That means you get Blu-ray playback acceleration and eight-channel LPCM output, but no bitstreaming—a feature ATI and Intel both offer.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gf100-fermi-directx-11,2536.html

 

[blanketyblank]

For someone who uses a TV as a monitor, ATI just does sound better than NV since they pack an actual sound card chip(realtek) onto their cards. NV usually just has a spdif connection on some of their cards (cable not always included) where you can hook up your sound card or mobo, but obviously that's not as good.
So yes 5xxx series is actually better than 48xx series at sound thanks to bitstreaming.

 

[s44]

For someone who uses a TV as a monitor, ATI just does sound better than NV since they pack an actual sound card chip(realtek) onto their cards. NV usually just has a spdif connection on some of their cards (cable not always included) where you can hook up your sound card or mobo, but obviously that's not as good.

Not true since the latest, otherwise useless DX10.1 cards from Nvidia. Geforce 220 + GT240 have the same sound setup as the 4xxx ATIs, though with less handshaking/driver issues.

 

[blanketyblank]

Not true since the latest, otherwise useless DX10.1 cards from Nvidia. Geforce 220 + GT240 have the same sound setup as the 4xxx ATIs, though with less handshaking/driver issues.

Sorry didn't realize that since I really only pay attention to the midrange to high end cards.
Strange that they'd have the feature in low end cards, but not in 250 and higher though.
I guess it's more important for htpc market. One other exception may be nonreference cards since I remember there was one manufacturer (Zotac I believe) who put sound hardware on NV cards which didn't even support spdif.

 

[Attic]

Ya, 5xxx is the best option for a guy in your situation. Bit streaming is nice, 8 channel LPCM is great and you get these features across the entire 5xxx lineup so you can get the graphics performance your budget allows for while still getting the sound capabilities your home theatre setup benefits from.

I've used the HDMI output on a 4830 and 5770 for a HTPC hooked up to 7.1 sound and it's great. The 5770 also happens to be the best performing card that fits in tight HTPC cases, < 9 inches. Non reference 5830 might do the trick as well.

 

[LOUISSSSS]

Does the 5xxx series actually have better onboard sound quality than the 4xxx?
And also with either of these serieses, is it possible to hook up my sound card (asus xonar dx) to it and have it hdmi output through the videocard?

 

[Janooo]

Not true since the latest, otherwise useless DX10.1 cards from Nvidia. Geforce 220 + GT240 have the same sound setup as the 4xxx ATIs, though with less handshaking/driver issues.

Actually not 100% true.

Speaking of audio, let’s quickly discuss the audio/video capabilities of the GTX 400 series. GF100 has the same audio/video capabilities as the 40nm GT 200 series launched late last year, so this means NVIDIA’s VP4 for video decoding (H.264/MPEG-2/VC-1/MPEG-4 ASP) and internal passthrough for audio. Unfortunately the latter means that the GTX 400 series (and other first-generation Fermi derivatives) won’t be able to match AMD’s Radeon 5000 series in audio capabilities – NVIDIA can do compressed lossy audio(DD/DTS) and 8 channel uncompressed LPCM, but not lossless compressed audio formats such as DTS-HD and Dolby TrueHD. This leaves the HTPC crown safely in AMD’s hands for now.

 

[Wag]

I have a Nvidia card but went another route and bought a HDMI soundcard.

 

[s44]

Actually not 100% true.

Wrong. The 4xxx series can't do bitstreaming either.

 

[Wag]

Like I said in my previous post, there's a relatively inexpensive ASUS HDMI soundcard called the Xonar HDAV1.3 Slim that's going for around $80-90 on eBay right now (loop through). Not the ideal solution, but if you must have your nVidia card, this is really the only way to go. Unfortunately it is PCI, but there are more expensive PCI-e versions as well.

That said, I think I will eventually just go for a 2Gb 5870 if and when they arrive, that way I won't have to bother with the inconvenience of a loop-through solution.

 

[Dark Shroud]

Right now the ATI 5000 series are the best for this. The 5770 is a good balance between power & price and you can easily crossfire them.

 

[Modelworks]

Right now the ATI 5000 series are the best for this. The 5770 is a good balance between power & price and you can easily crossfire them.

Agree.
I am using a 5770 with the HDMI connected to a 32" Hitachi LCD for windows media center and netflix and it has been flawless. No setup issues whatsoever. I just select the 32" as output and the audio switches with it. The 5770 is more than fast enough for me now for games and I can add another in the future if I need to.