Went HDTV (Finally) Want to hook up PC via HDMI

[Oyeve]

Ok, finally got an HDTV, 360 looks great, cable, dvds, all that jazz look great. Non of those devices have HDMI so I am still an HDMI noob. Anyway, I ordered a nice 20ft HDMI from monoprice, should be here tomorrow or so. Anyway, I am planing to hook up my PC (see sig) via the HDMI output from my AMD X3870 videocard. The specs for the card say digital sound, is this true? Will my videocard output sound from HDMI to my TV? TV is ver 1.3a. And if so, I am assuming its only for HDCP compliant stuff like BRD and such, correct? No game sounds will come from my videocard HDMI or not, right?

 

[krotchy]

You will get 2 channel audio from everything but DVD/Blu-Ray or other things via HDMI which is already encoded into 5.1+ using DD or DTS or similar. Since you are hooking it up to a TV this should suffice, however if you were using a receiver a dedicated sound card might be nicer to get surround from other sources.

 

[SaltBoy]

The videocard WILL output sound from HDMI to your TV, but it won't be the best quality audio.

You should wait to get one of these: http://www.anandtech.com/tradeshows/showdoc.aspx?i=3328

 

[Oyeve]

My PC is already connected to my receiver via digital coax from my X-Fi so I get 7.1 output already. My TV has optical out. If I connect the PC to TV via HDMI and connect the tv to the receiver via optical will I get 5.1 or DD? Or should I just use the HDMI from video card for video and just use the digital connection from the PC thats already connected to my receiver for sound?

 

[SaltBoy]

I'd go with the second option, as that works just fine with my setup.

Keep in mind that to output Dolby TrueHD and DTS-MA - not to mention uncompressed PCM - from Blu-ray discs on your computer to your receiver, you *will* need to get something like the ASUS card I mentioned above. Coax and/or optical cables don't have enough bandwidth to output those formats. You still can output standard Dolby Digital and DTS formats, however, without the card.

 

[Oyeve]

Thanks for the info guys, it's much appreciated.

 

[Shawn]

Originally posted by: SaltBoy
I'd go with the second option, as that works just fine with my setup.

That is how mine is setup as well. I get DD 5.1 from broadcast TV which is all I wanted. I have a dedicated Blu-ray/HD DVD player.