Does PC audio out via HDMI work?

[mikeford]

After years of struggle getting S/Pdif working I am finally about to dip my toe in the HDMI receiver world, but I am so out of sync with technology I am finding it hard to get a solid yes or no answer.

My proposed new receiver is a 9 year old model with HDMI 1.2, but otherwise its great and a good price. Great as in top of the line Sony with either 7 or 9 channels of 170 watts.

Its going to be a HTPC, and it has a bluRay drive, but mostly playback from files or a little light gaming (its low power and quiet by intention).

 

[mmntech]

If your PC has an HDMI port, it should output audio via HDMI. I've yet to come across a system that doesn't. Both AMD and nVidia have audio drivers for their graphics cards, as do most motherboards with built in HDMI.

 

[s44]

Sonys of that vintage are notorious for delivering only a fraction of the listed power. As in maybe 30w tops w/o distortion when all (or just 5) channels are driven simultaneously.

But yes, multichannel PCM via HDMI is the easiest and best way to hook up sound from a computer.

 

[Automaticman]

What specific video card will you be using for HDMI output?

 

[poofyhairguy]

But yes, multichannel PCM via HDMI is the easiest and best way to hook up sound from a computer.

This. Only issue is if the receiver adds some input lag (for gaming), but that is worth all the benefits.

 

[DesiPower]

Depends on your video card, some of the very old ones did not do audio, but, as I said, they are old and few. If you own a receiver which has HDMI then your should use it, that would be the best option.
HOWEVER, I have a old Sony 5.1 receiver, which too had HDMI 1.2, does not work with Blu-ray disks, DVDs work fine. From my short and half-hearted research, I found that DRBs have some new type of DTS sound or something which cannot be decrypted by older AVRs.

In my main setup, I let Xonar DS handle sound and the 7.1 channel output goes to "External Input" of the receiver.

 

[Automaticman]

Depends on your video card, some of the very old ones did not do audio, but, as I said, they are old and few.

Right, this is why I was asking what card he had. For example, the ATI's HD3800 and 4800 series could output SPDIF and 2 Channel LPCM audio over HDMI, but it wasn't until the HD 5000 series that they added HDMI 1.3, 7.1 channel LPCM and High definition audio.

The earlier Nvidia cards that supported HDMI (around the time of the GTX 480 I believe) only supported HDMI audio by connecting a SPDIF header from the motherboard to the card. I think the first Nvidia card to support true HDMI audio was the later released GTX 460, and was probably added on as a reaction to AMD catching them offguard with its inclusion on the HD5000 series.

HOWEVER, I have a old Sony 5.1 receiver, which too had HDMI 1.2, does not work with Blu-ray disks, DVDs work fine. From my short and half-hearted research, I found that DRBs have some new type of DTS sound or something which cannot be decrypted by older AVRs.

HDMI 1.2 did not support HD Audio like DD TrueHD or DTS Master. Those formats were not added until HDMI 1.3. Prior to that, multichannel audio on BluRays were 7.1 LPCM. Luckily, the DTS Master standard consists of a normal DTS core that should play fine on receivers that do not support DTS Master.

 

[s44]

HDMI 1.2 did not support HD Audio like DD TrueHD or DTS Master. Those formats were not added until HDMI 1.3. Prior to that, multichannel audio on BluRays were 7.1 LPCM. Luckily, the DTS Master standard consists of a normal DTS core that should play fine on receivers that do not support DTS Master.

No, that's not necessary. Given proper software (as in every $50 Blu-Ray player), DTS-MA and TrueHD are just compressed versions of 5.1/7.1 PCM. The player can decode it to multichannel PCM, which any HDMI AVR can play with zero drop in audio quality (all are lossless).

 

[mikeford]

What I am looking at was Sony's top of the line $2000 ES receiver, audioholics tested it at 162 wpc 20 to 20k and 183 wpc 40 to 20k (will be used with an external powered sub handling all the low bass). Also has a version of i.link, and stuff to allow SACD digital connections, so I am not that concerned with the AVR side as the PC side.

I'm used to the nightmare of S/Pdif where all game sounds need to be encoded with a licensed bit of software. Motherboard I started with had licensed drivers for some formats, replacement had better hardware, no license and no encoding. I ended buying a mid range Xonar and still needed to go with a third party encoder due to bugs they never fixed.

HTPC likely to get third revision and new motherboard that supports HDMI with no video card to keep the power usage down.

 

[Automaticman]

so I am not that concerned with the AVR side as the PC side.

Right, so that's why we were asking what video card you have in your HTPC. Since your talking about getting a new Motherboard and CPU you should be fine. All of the Intel stuff since..uhh whenever they first put the GPU on-die...has had 7.1LPCM and HD audio capabilities. Certainly a new Haswell chip will work great, and I assume the new AMD CPUs as well.

No, that's not necessary. Given proper software (as in every $50 Blu-Ray player), DTS-MA and TrueHD are just compressed versions of 5.1/7.1 PCM. The player can decode it to multichannel PCM, which any HDMI AVR can play with zero drop in audio quality (all are lossless).

That's true, but the video cards that first supported 7.1 LPCM output were also the first cards to support HD audio formats, and I was speakeing about the GPU side of things. But you're right, as long as he has a somewhat recent GPU, he should be able to decode the DTS-MA in software and output it to a HDMI 1.2 receiver.

I'm used to the nightmare of S/Pdif where all game sounds need to be encoded with a licensed bit of software. Motherboard I started with had licensed drivers for some formats, replacement had better hardware, no license and no encoding. I ended buying a mid range Xonar and still needed to go with a third party encoder due to bugs they never fixed.

Yeah, trying to get games to work DDLive or DTS Connect can be a pain, and then bitstreaming doesn't always work when Live is turned on... it's a pain. 7.1 over HDMI is so much easier, esp if you use the PC for both games and movies. Once you get it set up it just outputs whatever it needs to, games just see it as normal speaker outputs.