Login at Kodi Home

prophetizer · 2011-03-14, 20:24

what would be the best video card i can get to use HDMI Audio/Video with XBMC, and attempt to get HD Audio as well? right now i have a Nvidia GTX 285 that only has DVI outputs, but i would prefer to get a card with HDMI output, and would like to stop using my optical audio cable and just use the 1 hdmi cable.

i would want something at least as powerful as what i currently have. thanks.

Godfazzer · 2011-03-14, 20:34

No HD Audio with xbmc((

**steelman1991** · 2011-03-14, 20:58

ATI 5 series (5450) is a great value card and will provide HD Audio once its available in xbmc.

bmcclure937 · 2011-03-14, 21:02

Godfazzer Wrote:No HD Audio with xbmc((

That statement is not necessarily true. HD audio bitstreaming is not yet supported by XBMC but substantial work is being done on this (AFAIK) for Eden.

You can currently achieve HD audio bitstreaming by using external players (running XBMC on Windows). I cannot do this, as I prefer XBMC Live.

Although HD audio bitstreaming is not supported... you can still use HDMI for AC3/Dolby audio. This simply means that HDMI audio will work for practically everything besides DTS HD MA or Dolby TrueHD.

I use the nVidia GT430 in my HTPC. This will work with HD audio bitstreaming when the functionality is available. Big Grin

Tuxon86 · 2011-03-14, 21:38

You can also get HD audio by converting the audio track to a lossless format like Flac. Most of my BR rip are like that.

prophetizer · 2011-03-14, 22:33

interesting. kind of a bummer but also good to know. i want to rip all my blurays to my htpc and stream through the house. only my theater supports hd audio though

**steelman1991** · 2011-03-15, 00:11

There's little perceivable difference in sound quality, don't get too hung up on the HD, DD/DTS debate.

Godfazzer · 2011-03-15, 01:09

XBMC is useless without HD audio

Philmatic · 2011-03-15, 01:23

Any NVIDIA 4xx series video card will support XBMC's bit-streaming when it makes it into the main branch, which shouldn't be too far out now. I recommend the NVIDIA GT430.

Also, XBMC currently decompresses Dobly TrueHD to multichannel LPCM which is the same thing as TrueHD. Only DTS-HD support is missing, the "core" track (which is regular lossy DTS) is extracted and converted to LPCM, but the HD bits are lost. Bitstreaming will solve that issue for us.

**steelman1991** · 2011-03-15, 09:58

Godfazzer Wrote:XBMC is useless without HD audio

Of course it is lol - what a stupid statement.

thrak76 · (This post was last modified: 2011-03-15, 12:34 by thrak76.)

steelman1991 Wrote:There's little perceivable difference in sound quality, don't get too hung up on the HD, DD/DTS debate.

I totally disagree. If you have an audio system capable of moving some air (so to speak), the difference between DD/DTS and DD true HD/DTS-MA HD is quite remarkable. It was one of the most noticeable differences to me when i first started viewing HD material, after many years of just standard DD/DTS.

To the OP, i agree with the above recommendation for an AMD 5 series card. Many of the 5450s have passive cooling systems also, to help keep the noise down on your HTPC.

**steelman1991** · 2011-03-15, 13:55

thrak76 Wrote:I totally disagree. If you have an audio system capable of moving some air (so to speak), the difference between DD/DTS and DD true HD/DTS-MA HD is quite remarkable. It was one of the most noticeable differences to me when i first started viewing HD material, after many years of just standard DD/DTS.

To the OP, i agree with the above recommendation for an AMD 5 series card. Many of the 5450s have passive cooling systems also, to help keep the noise down on your HTPC.

I have a good audio system and its quite unremarkable, in fact its one of the most unimpressive areas of HighDef AV - have a read at this http://www.hemagazine.com/node/Dolby_Tru...M?page=0,0 blind tests carried out in Dolby and DTS own labs and the testers could barely tell the difference. Shocked

Philmatic · 2011-03-15, 14:01

How about we drop the lossy/lossless discussion and focus on what the OP wanted?

**steelman1991** · 2011-03-15, 14:51

Thought we already had - focussed on the OP's needs - ATI or Nvidia - no contest. Big Grin

prophetizer · 2011-03-15, 19:04

steelman1991 Wrote:Thought we already had - focussed on the OP's needs - ATI or Nvidia - no contest.

LOL, totally got me what i needed, i'm going to grab a nvidia 460, good price, and i do game on there sometimes, although not often. but thanks for all the helps guys.

as for the lossy/lossless discussion, i can certainly tell a difference from watching a bluray i own, and the same mkv i find in other places. now, i know my wife couldn't tell the difference but thats another story. at the moment though no hurry for me until bitstreaming is supported, then i'll rip all my blurays to disk