How do you handle audio with your home theater?

[Hulk]

With all of the various audio formats for video and the problems with getting various pieces of equipment to cooperate I'm curious as to how people are working out their audio.

I'm using a home theater PC that I built with the Asus P5E-VM HDMI motherboard. HDMI out to a Sony 52XBR4 LCD display. Comcast Cable HD cable box HDMI into the Sony as well. Digital SPDI/F output from the HTPC into my JVC surround sound receiver and optical output from the Cable box into the receiver.

When I'm watching a movie from the HTPC I select the appropriate input on the TV and receiver. Same when I'm watching cable.

The good points of this setup is that it works and I can decode all audio formats save for the uncompressed ones that won't fit through SPDI/F like True HD. For those I'll either use the AC3 5.1 track or if it's not available I convert audio to AC3 5.1 using tsremux. I've only come across one movie where I've had to do this and that was "Immortal Beloved." Of course I'm losing a little audio quality.

The problem is that I hear lots of people are having problems running their HTPC HDMI into a surround receiver and having the receiver pass the HDCP video signal without issue. I actually had a Onkyo 605 and passing the video from computer to receiver to display was kind of flaky so I returned it and went with the simpler but more reliable setup I described above.

So basically my setup works but I can't do uncompressed multichannel formats. The only other problem I have is if I switch to cable TV box and then back to computer the display resolution will reset to 1440x1080 so I have to set it back to 1920x1080. It's not huge deal but a PITA which I haven't been able to resolve. There doesn't seem to be a way to "lock" the display resolution.

How are you guys running your home theater audio?

 

[kenrippy]

i have everything passing through an onkyo 605 via HDMI:

cable -> tivoHD -> onkyo -> yamaha 5.2 (an extra sub - i love bass)

sony Sony BDP-S301-> onkyo (i will be returning the sony BD when prices come down. it won't decode Dolby TrueHD, DTS HD, or DTS HD Master Audio) costco return policy is awesome!

i recently bought a LG GGC-H20L for the pc to rip BD/HD dvds. i can rip the .m2ts files and send them to the tivoHD via the network. the PQ is very very close to the stand alone BD player, but i lose the higher end audio (DTS etc.) but i get dolby digital 5.1. this lets me store more movies on the 1tb drive in my pc, and send them to the tivo when i'm ready to watch them. and i get more for my money with my blockbuster.com account

 

[minendo]

I run everything directly into my TV and then audio from my tv to receiver via optical. The only thing I ever have to change is the input on my TV.

 

[Auric]

Uncompressed (LPCM) is less of a problem. However, there are virtually no digital PC devices save a few mobos capable of passing advanced losslessly compressed formats (TrueHD and DTS-HD MA), and even lossy DTS-HD HR due to absence of an anti-fair-use scheme to "protect" the digital audio. Even those that can are limited to lesser quality IGP video output.

Ergo, the only option for HD audio is software-decoding to LPCM and analog output from a good sound card and interconnects. On the positive side, it negates the need for a more recent AVR which can decode said advanced formats.

Ultimately, we must wait for viddy cards with complete HDMI audio output as they are currently limited to pretty much the same as S/PDIF. Downsampling from AF may still be better than ye olde DD and DTS but 'tis a far cry from original lossless.

 

[Hulk]

Originally posted by: Auric
Uncompressed (LPCM) is less of a problem. However, there are virtually no digital PC devices save a few mobos capable of passing advanced losslessly compressed formats (TrueHD and DTS-HD MA), and even lossy DTS-HD HR due to absence of an anti-fair-use scheme to "protect" the digital audio. Even those that can are limited to lesser quality IGP video output.

Ergo, the only option for HD audio is software-decoding to LPCM and analog output from a good sound card and interconnects. On the positive side, it negates the need for a more recent AVR which can decode said advanced formats.

Ultimately, we must wait for viddy cards with complete HDMI audio output as they are currently limited to pretty much the same as S/PDIF. Downsampling from AF may still be better than ye olde DD and DTS but 'tis a far cry from original lossless.

My motherboard (G35) is one of the few available that will pass the lossless audio via HDMI but as I said the problem is passing the video through the receiver and to the display. Unless the AVC is "smart" enough to know it's okay to pass the HDCP video you have problems there. If you AnyDVDHD it you can get around that but then you still have odd sync issues with the receiver to display video every time you change sources.

Basically I think three things needs to happen to get this working well.

1. As you said we need video cards that will pass the lossless audio streams via HDMI.

2. Receivers must be programmed to be "pass through" devices for HDCP video so the video player, be it stand alone or computer software based, knows it's okay to play the video at full resolution.

3. The video issues when changing sources needs to be resolved. Perhaps the receiver on the computer input could "act" like a display and you could even set a resolution that the computer video card would detect, therefore keeping the signal even when switching devices on the AVC.

I have a feeling the easiest for manufacturers to solve will be #1. #2 will involve a lot of blaming on receiver and player manufacturers. And #3 will involve even more of the same but now the video card driver people and receiver people will have to get together. An unholy marriage to say the least. Then again I'm not an expert at this stuff and it might suddenly be all fixed.

 

[pennylane]

Gosh that sounds like a huge pain. I've avoided the HTPC route because the products don't "just work" quite yet. I still don't have an HDMI receiver so lossless audio is still out of the question for me. I don't mind thaaat much. My current receiver works fine so I'm hesitant to replace it just for that, but all the little HDMI issues just make me even more hesitant.

I guess you could say I handle audio by waiting for things to get more convenient. The PS3 works fine as a blu-ray/dvd player, just without the lossless audio. My original xbox streams music amazingly well. I've spent my HT money recently on acoustic panels so that should help me get a bump in sound quality. I'll just wait a bit longer for the technology to mature. Good luck with everything, though.

 

[krotchy]

Well since I have a pretty complex setup I will chime in:

Components:
47in Phillips 7422 LCD (3 HDMI In)
Onkyo 705 (3 HDMI In/1 Out with audio processing + several SPDIF)
HDMI HD-DVR
HDMI DVD Player (Will be a Blu-Ray player or PS3 eventually)
HTPC with Radeon 2600XT video card (with HDMI Audio and Video) as well as a HT Omega Striker 7.1 Sound Card
Xbox 360 (Old, No HDMI, though I intend to upgrade it to an one HDMI eventually)
Nintendo Wii

Currently into the TV I have:
Component 1 - Xbox 360 Directly
Component 2 - Nothing
HDMI 1 - Onkyo 705 Component out
HDMI 2 - HTPC
HDMI 3 - Nothing

Into the receiver:
HDMI 1 - HD-DVR
HDMI 2 - DVD Player (Eventually PS3)
HDMI 3 - Nothing (Eventually 360 HDMI)
Component 1 - Nintendo Wii (480p Component converted to 480p HDMI sent to TV)
Coax SPDIF - Striker 7.1 Digital Out
Optical SPDIF - Xbox 360 Audio In (removed if I get an HDMI 360)

Nothing here is really out of the ordinary except that despite my 2600XT having HDMI audio capabilities I do not actually have the HTPC HDMI plugged in the receiver, but directly to the TV. There are 2 reasons for this:
1. The HTPC requires no overscan, and I prefer to have my cable box set set to Autoscale since its changing between SD and HD all the time and that goes in through the receivers HDMI.1
2. The audio via HDMI from the 2600XT was 2 channel only unless the source was pre-encoded for SPDIF passthrough. The Striker 7.1 on the other hand can take any source and encode it into a 5.1+ DTS or DD stream and pass that to the receiver, and it sounded significantly better than doing 7.1 analog or HDMI into the receiver.

I, like you, found the only device that I really had issues with hooking into my setup was the HTPC. Specifically in finding the best way to get the TV, HTPC and Receiver meshing the best. In the end I found that HTPC's are not quite ready for prime time when it comes to HDMI. Also I found that the line levels of the 7.1 analog outputs from either my sound card or my motherboard was not really adequate either. Thats where the Striker came in and I found it to be the best way to integrate a PC and Receiver and still have great audio fidelity. Also it seems to do just fine with true SPDIF passthrough if the source is already encoded that way.

 

[Hulk]

Originally posted by: fanerman91
Gosh that sounds like a huge pain. I've avoided the HTPC route because the products don't "just work" quite yet. I still don't have an HDMI receiver so lossless audio is still out of the question for me. I don't mind thaaat much. My current receiver works fine so I'm hesitant to replace it just for that, but all the little HDMI issues just make me even more hesitant.

I guess you could say I handle audio by waiting for things to get more convenient. The PS3 works fine as a blu-ray/dvd player, just without the lossless audio. My original xbox streams music amazingly well. I've spent my HT money recently on acoustic panels so that should help me get a bump in sound quality. I'll just wait a bit longer for the technology to mature. Good luck with everything, though.

Don't get me wrong here. There are some issues to be worked around with HTPC's but I love mine and it works beautifully from day-to-day. All I have to do is switch the input on the TV and surround receiver and I'm good to go with any video content, be it HD or SD, and any audio except lossless multichannel.

On the plus side I have all of my DVD's and HD movies on hard drive for instant access, plus any other video on the computer I want to watch. All of my mp3's are there to be played. Browsing the web at 1920x1080 on a 52" LCD is pretty cool as well.

Finally with a Netflix membership you gain access to an ever expanding library of streaming media for no extra cost.

So yes it's not as smooth as it should be but if you want to do it you have the advantage of lots of other people's experience. Also I built my HTPC for $700 including a combo HD-DVD/BR drive. Of course that includes an E2160 o/c to 3GHz.

 

[tHa ShIzNiT]

I have a modded original xbox playing FLAC files off my 2nd computer's hard drive with Xbox Media Center. The xbox goes into a Yamaha V663 receiver via optical cable, so I figure everything should remain digital and I should have a decent quality output. I'm not sure how the quality compares to other methods of audio delivery but it sounds good to me...I recently ripped my Orbital Live at Glastonbury CD to FLAC and it sounded just like the CD to me, very nice.

Edit: I should mention, I have a PS3, Xbox360, personal computer DVI -> HDMI all going into my yamaha receiver with the help of an HDMI switch. It all goes out via one HDMI output to my TV, which is nice because I just have to switch the receiver's input and always leave my TV on HDMI1.

 

[schizoid77]

I've got everything going into a Harman Kardon with 3 to 1 HDMI switching with audio and video processing. Anything that is not HDMI just uses the optical ports. It auto-detects everything. Greatest receiver I've ever owned.

 

[Hulk]

Originally posted by: schizoid77
I've got everything going into a Harman Kardon with 3 to 1 HDMI switching with audio and video processing. Anything that is not HDMI just uses the optical ports. It auto-detects everything. Greatest receiver I've ever owned.

Do you have a HTPC going into that HDMI switcher as well? I'm not sure I'm following. Each device goes into the switcher, then into the AVR, then to the TV right? Why do you need the switcher if you have the AVR? Does it not have enough HDMI inputs?

 

[ChAoTiCpInOy]

Xbox 360 -> Optical Cable -> Receiver
Upconverting DVD Player -> Optical Cable -> Receiver
Dish Network Receiver -> Optical Cable -> Receiver
HDTV -> Optical Cable -> Receiver

VCR -> Composite -> Receiver
Other DVD player -> Composite -> Receiver