Thinking of building an HTPC

furball zen · 03-13-2010, 10:45 PM

AFAIK nVidia cards dont do audio out via HDMI, but ATi cards do.

importskyline22 · 03-14-2010, 12:40 PM

Well are there any comparable ati cards that can perform like my 8800gt did? Because like i said, i am perfectly willing to sell the gt so that i can have native hdmi.

**Duke3d87** · 03-14-2010, 12:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by furball zen

AFAIK nVidia cards dont do audio out via HDMI, but ATi cards do.

that's not true. I have done audio out with my GT230m on my laptop several times

importskyline22 · 03-14-2010, 12:45 PM

Well he did say as far as he knows, meaning he was not certain.

Anyway to know if this one does?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130535

Well by reading i found that this one does, and people are saying max settings on games.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814161287

But will it fit in the case im looking at..hmmm.

furball zen · 03-14-2010, 01:36 PM

Well, ALL ATi cards will do audio out via HDMI (whether native or DVI-HDMI), im not certain with the nVidia cards.

Heres one thats cheaper shipped, same card, Sapphire http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102842

**Duke3d87** · 03-14-2010, 02:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by furball zen

Well, ALL ATi cards will do audio out via HDMI (whether native or DVI-HDMI), im not certain with the nVidia cards.

Heres one thats cheaper shipped, same card, Sapphire http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102842

sorry didn't mean to sound confrontational

furball zen · 03-14-2010, 09:09 PM

Oh, i didnt think you sounded that way :)

obobskivich · 03-15-2010, 11:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by furball zen

Well, ALL ATi cards will do audio out via HDMI (whether native or DVI-HDMI), im not certain with the nVidia cards.

Heres one thats cheaper shipped, same card, Sapphire http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102842

HD 3--- and higher

the 2--- series has some oddities, 3---, 4---, and 5--- are good to go
nVidia boards require an internal S/PDIF connection - 8800GT should be good to go if you connect your onboard's S/PDIF header to your 8800's S/PDIF header and party on

and all of that said, audio via HDMI doesn't even matter here, the PC usage doesn't need the bandwidth for 6-ch L-PCM and isn't going to be pushing TrueHD or whatever (doesn't matter even if you do have the sources, as its going to be crunched by software earlier in the pipe) - even if something somehow somewhere "needed" all of that, your analog output is going to be that L-PCM as you're taking whatever internal "digital" and passing it along to your n-channel PCM DtoA to party (for example most Creative boards can do 7.1 96/24 on their DtoA's, from PCM input, thats going to be more bandwidth than HDMI can pass digitally without compression (never mind that absolutely nothing in the known world uses it))

so with that in mind, if you're only hooking up stereo (as in two channels or two channels and a sub) just hook up stereo TRS to RCA, and use HDMI or VGA for your connection to the TV (there is no quality difference unless the TV's input section is a piece of crap), if you want 5.1 either use 6ch analog out (what I'd do), or use optical or coaxial out (no quality difference again) however this requires DDL or DTS Connect to encode the 5.1 signal to pass it via S/PDIF (which many onboard solutions do not have)

SO, I would:
connect your TV via HDMI, VGA, or YPbPr (not the same as VGA)
connect your audio via however many analog connections you need for however many speakers you have

costs nothing, unless you need to buy cables (few bucks, geeks.com, monoprice.com, amazon.com), everything works, all is well

importskyline22 · 03-15-2010, 07:08 PM

Thanks for the informative input bob.

I think im going to just hook everything up with the exsisting stuff that i have. I was going to buy a new case so it would look nice in the living room and all but i think i will hold off on that, test it out first and see if i really need to spend the extra money.

Because the more i think about it, the only true reason im doing it is so i can have my movie collection within grasps (as of now its in the back room with no internet connection because i need to buy a wireless adapter for it, i digress).

If thats the only reason im doing it then i might as well just keep doing what im doing and just putting a movie on my usb stick watching it, and thats it.

Im working with my dad with building, or rebuilding is home theater system and i think i might do the same and invest the money i was going to put into this on a good entry level a/v receiver.

Thoughts?

obobskivich · 03-16-2010, 09:49 AM

could go with something like Roku or the WDTV thing (dare I say, Apple TV, lol) - Xbox360 might be an option too, if you want games and such as well (also does netflix and so on)
just hook into your network and stream

or just move the PC and go with it, would work as well

receiver wise, depends a lot on what you're hooking into it as to what you should get

importskyline22 · 03-16-2010, 03:33 PM

Well i already have an xbox 360 and a blu ray that streams netflix so im set there. So i think i just might network the computer in the back and be done with it.

obobskivich · 03-16-2010, 04:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by importskyline22

Well i already have an xbox 360 and a blu ray that streams netflix so im set there. So i think i just might network the computer in the back and be done with it.

sounds cheapest, the Xbox can do everything except BD, shouldn't have trouble streaming, and the BD player should overlap quite a bit by itself

maybe get a nice 802.11g setup (might be a bit slow for streaming media, depending on what you want to do with that) if running wires is a problem (i.e: wife approval factor)

importskyline22 · 03-16-2010, 06:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by obobskivich

sounds cheapest, the Xbox can do everything except BD, shouldn't have trouble streaming, and the BD player should overlap quite a bit by itself

maybe get a nice 802.11g setup (might be a bit slow for streaming media, depending on what you want to do with that) if running wires is a problem (i.e: wife approval factor)

Well I actually have a wireless N setup, and my router hub is actually in my entertainment center, so the xbox and blu-ray are both wired.

Seems like i have had all puzzle pieces just needed to put them together lol

obobskivich · 03-16-2010, 07:13 PM

802.11n - me likey

furball zen · 03-17-2010, 12:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by obobskivich

sounds cheapest, the Xbox can do everything except BD, shouldn't have trouble streaming, and the BD player should overlap quite a bit by itself

maybe get a nice 802.11g setup (might be a bit slow for streaming media, depending on what you want to do with that) if running wires is a problem (i.e: wife approval factor)

Hell my 1.2G Celeron can stream full DVD rips over wired or wireless decently. G spec wireless will be more than enough to keep up, depending on the distance (router to pc) possibly being a factor.

obobskivich · 03-18-2010, 09:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by furball zen

Hell my 1.2G Celeron can stream full DVD rips over wired or wireless decently. G spec wireless will be more than enough to keep up, depending on the distance (router to pc) possibly being a factor.

one word: Blu-ray

also have to consider - network loading will decrease throughput on most consumer hardware

802.11g should work fine if it runs at full speed, however theres always a "but" - hence my qualification "might"