[mgb_]

So I know very little about home audio, I was originally going to go for a reciever with a 3.1 system but due to my lack of knowledge and the simplicity of a soundbar setup i'm going that route. I've got a couple questions though.

I know XBMC doesn't support 'bit streaming' as of now. But i'm not entirely sure i understand what that impacts. If i go for a 5.1 HTIB/Soundbar that has HDMI input will it output 5.1 audio to the device? If so how does it do it if its not bitstreamed?

Also a lot of the soundbars don't have HDMI connections, only SPDIF and RCA. If I connect my HTPC to the soundbar/HTIB system through SPDIF, will it be bitstreamed? If not will XBMC send 5.1 audio to the system?

Assuming XBMC is capable of sending 5.1 audio over SPDIF, is there any recommendation on a mobo that has onboard SPDIF that will work? The motherboards i've been looking at don't have digital audio out. Or should i just consider a seperate sound card??

This will be XBMC running on windows 7 if that makes a difference

[eskro]

ok BitStreaming is not supported in XBMC yet...
LPCM works though!

BitStream = Sending the Audio un-touched to an Audio/Video Receiver to decode...
LPCM = Sending the Audio already decoded to an Audio/Video Receiver....

Windows 7 is perfect,
you'll be able to enable DVXA2 (Video Acceleration) in XBMC settings!!

since you seem to start this HTPC quest,
i suggest you take a look at the links included in my signature..
it'll help you im sure!

peace

[poofyhairguy]

There are two kinds of Bitstreaming:

1. AC3 and normal DTS

2. Dolby True HD and DTS HD

XBMC does the first, not the latter. The first can be sent over HDMI or SPDIF.

In fact, if you are shopping for a soundbar, just make sure it can decode DTS. The cheap ones can't.