I suck at audio; help requested

[blakeatwork]

Setup:

HTPC (Intel DG45ID, C2D 8xxx)

Video - HDMI out to Samsung LCD
Audio - S/PDIF out to Logitech Z5500

Quandry: Playing anything that's not a DVD/HD/BRD plays fine through the optical connection (all audio effects work: Speaker, Speakerx2 etc etc), but when I go to play a BRD through WMC, I get video, but no audio.

I know I'm screwing something up, I just have no idea what it might be.

 

[SlickSnake]

As far as I know, you still can't output audio through a PC video card using HDMI. I think this is the problem you are describing.

You need to use the audio connector on the video card (usually located on one side of the video board) and connect the other end to the audio card. Some video card makers supply a special adapter or cable to do this. You will have to research your specific video card to figure out how they enable audio through HDMI video outputs.

 

[vshah]

i think you need to connect the spdif header on your motherboard to your video card.

 

[VulgarDisplay]

I found on my PS3 that the optical out did not have enough bandwidth to output a 5.1 signal. So the problem could be that the z5500's aren't getting any sound because the HTPC can't output a surround signal over S/PDIF. Change the output of the HTPC to 2.1 and see if you get audio then. If so then you know the problem.

My solution to this issue was this.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...yo%20s3300

Eliminate optical out from the equation entirely, and go with HDMI only. It will blow the z5500's away and it's fairly cheap. It's 3d ready too so it decodes all the latest HD sound formats.

 

[Binky]

play a BRD through WMC

Explain this. How are you playing a blu-ray in windows media center?

What program you are using matters. Media center cant play blu-ray without help.

 

[blakeatwork]

Explain this. How are you playing a blu-ray in windows media center?

What program you are using matters. Media center cant play blu-ray without help.

Using PowerDVD 9..

Did some tinkering.. looks like PDVD9 had a bug fix that corrected my issue.. watched Star Trek BrD fine..

I did discover that the system will only output Dolby Digital, so I suspect I'mm missing out on a fair bit of sound quality..

Just means it's time for a new HTPC bulding project

 

[alcoholbob]

You should grab a slim profile ATI 5000 then. Maybe the 5450? 8 channel linear pcm and dolby true-hd/dts-master bitstreaming out of the box.

 

[blakeatwork]

You should grab a slim profile ATI 5000 then. Maybe the 5450? 8 channel linear pcm and dolby true-hd/dts-master bitstreaming out of the box.

ooh, that sounds like an idea.. wonder if it's available in half height?

 

[VulgarDisplay]

Using PowerDVD 9..

Did some tinkering.. looks like PDVD9 had a bug fix that corrected my issue.. watched Star Trek BrD fine..

I did discover that the system will only output Dolby Digital, so I suspect I'mm missing out on a fair bit of sound quality..

Just means it's time for a new HTPC bulding project

Like my earlier post said. Optical doesn't have the bandwidth to do HD audio formats. Don't know if you need a new HTPC as much as a receiver that can do the decoding for you over HDMI.

 

[Exterous]

You should grab a slim profile ATI 5000 then. Maybe the 5450? 8 channel linear pcm and dolby true-hd/dts-master bitstreaming out of the box.

Yeah - the ati 5xxx series is well worth it for HTPC setups. I grabbed a 5450 for $40 and it improved my playback as well (I had some stuttering everyonce in a while but it was an older AMD 5000+ CPU so it was usually at 95% during Bluray playback)

 

[Exterous]

ooh, that sounds like an idea.. wonder if it's available in half height?

Yep! Newegg has a couple of different models - passively cooled as well.