HTPC Advice

[shuv]

Hello all. I'm going ahead with a HTPC build and need your advice. I have two options:

1) I've a cheap Asus P5KPL-AM/PS borad and Intel E 5200 Dual Core. If this setup can be utilized then well and good.

Queries:

There is NO Optical out on the back panel. Just 3 of those PC speaker outputs in blue, pink and green. But, on the spec sheet it says 6 channel Hi Def audio, ALC662 CODEC. How do I connect this to my AVR then?

If I get a GPU with HDMI out, will the board pass out audio signals over HDMI? Or, do I have to get a sound card? There is 1 PCI Express X16 slot, 1 PCi Express X1 slot and 2 PCI slots.

I understand that no onboard chip will handle True HD/MA properly. But, I don't want to use this rig as a dedicated BDP. If this board can pass out regular DD/DTS I'm quite happy.

2) Get a completely new setup. Here I need your suggestions for the entire rig. I would prefer AMD based rig.

Now that my options are known, here is what I want to achieve.

1) Play DVDs with best possible PQ and SQ
2) Play every format off the HDD and the net
3) Play BDs if I do get a BD drive.

I have a HX 620:clapping:. So, don't need a PSU.

Thanks in advance.

PS. For movies etc, I'll use a 42" Full HD plasma (in the pipe line). Otherwise, a regular LCD monitor.

Edit: OS = Win 7 64 bit.
I have an O2 Atom lying with me. It stopped working as a phone a long time back. But, its WiFi and BT works fine. Can it be modded to control this rig??

 

[qoolss]

hello there,

to solve your problems get your self a new graphics card from Ati and it will come with DVi to HDMi connector also which you can use to play 5.1 surround sound. however, this will not play Blue ray HD sound. instead it will downsampel them to DD or DTS normal.

in order to play all you need a graphics card such as 9500 Gti from Nvidia, once sound card like ASUS HDAV 1.3 and HDMi cables. on top of it all a blue ray drive. all together you can acheive the sound you are looking for. also , not to forget you have to have receiver to decode the sound else can be done by your card.

i hope it helps.

cheers

 

[ashwin_menon]

Hi,
regarding graphics card and HDMI, I could tell you what works for me. I use an ATI 4350 based card which has HDMI output and is passively cooled (i.e. heatsink instead of fan). It provides multichannel sound output over the HDMI cable, and does not need any other sound card (the current ATI GPUs all have a Realtek audio chip on board); once you install the driver, it just works The "Dolby Digital" indicator on my Onkyo receiver lights up when I play DVDs, so I guess the HDMI cable is successfully passing DD

Note that you need to be careful with DVI-HDMI converters; I've seen comments on other forums that say that with some converters, the audio does not properly go out. The safest is to get a card with an HDMI output.

- Ashwin

 

[TechHead]

Hello all. I'm going ahead with a HTPC build and need your advice. I have two options:

1) I've a cheap Asus P5KPL-AM/PS borad and Intel E 5200 Dual Core. If this setup can be utilized then well and good.

Queries:

There is NO Optical out on the back panel. Just 3 of those PC speaker outputs in blue, pink and green. But, on the spec sheet it says 6 channel Hi Def audio, ALC662 CODEC. How do I connect this to my AVR then?

If I get a GPU with HDMI out, will the board pass out audio signals over HDMI? Or, do I have to get a sound card? There is 1 PCI Express X16 slot, 1 PCi Express X1 slot and 2 PCI slots.

I understand that no onboard chip will handle True HD/MA properly. But, I don't want to use this rig as a dedicated BDP. If this board can pass out regular DD/DTS I'm quite happy.

2) Get a completely new setup. Here I need your suggestions for the entire rig. I would prefer AMD based rig.

Now that my options are known, here is what I want to achieve.

1) Play DVDs with best possible PQ and SQ
2) Play every format off the HDD and the net
3) Play BDs if I do get a BD drive.

I have a HX 620:clapping:. So, don't need a PSU.

Thanks in advance.

PS. For movies etc, I'll use a 42" Full HD plasma (in the pipe line). Otherwise, a regular LCD monitor.

Edit: OS = Win 7 64 bit.
I have an O2 Atom lying with me. It stopped working as a phone a long time back. But, its WiFi and BT works fine. Can it be modded to control this rig??

WHy not just an nVidia 9300 IGP based motherboard? Accelerates h264 and VC1 in hardware, does LPCM over HDMI. Why waste money on an add-on GPU?

 

[thevortex]

WHy not just an nVidia 9300 IGP based motherboard? Accelerates h264 and VC1 in hardware, does LPCM over HDMI. Why waste money on an add-on GPU?

I have always wondered why people dont think on these lines. For pure HTPC purposes there really is no need for a discrete display solution.