Best HTPC - HDMI Audio Solution?

[aokman]

Hey guys just wanted to pick your brains on what is the best card choice at the moment that is most likely to give trouble free HDMI audio output for 5.1 from PLEX.

Maybe even passthrough? though i dont like the chances.

im currently using a GT430 via HDMI and its working great however the only solution for it at the moment is the VoodooHDA for sound and i can only get stereo out of it no matter which version i run. I tried the MIDI trick but the other channels have nothing on them anyway.

I dont mind switching to another card but i want to be sure it will work this time

cheers

 

[nemix]

I'm in the exact same situation!

I am building a hack for the living room and want to buy a new card that I know can do 5.1 or 7.1 out from plex and vlc to my receiver and then tv.

Anyone running a card with surround out thats working great and want to brag so we can buy the same set up?

 

[toleda]

I'm in the exact same situation!

I am building a hack for the living room and want to buy a new card that I know can do 5.1 or 7.1 out from plex and vlc to my receiver and then tv.

Anyone running a card with surround out thats working great and want to brag so we can buy the same set up?

I have 2 working solutions; 1. ATI HD 5570 (Sapphire) and 2. Nvidia GT 430 (EVGA). Both provide 5.1 Dolby Digital and 5.1 DTS in Plex and VLC. To my knowledge, there is not currently a 7.1 bit stream solution for OS X. Attached are details to implement HDMI audio for both graphics cards in Snow Leopard.

A recent review of HTPC graphic cards from AnandTech: http://www.anandtech.com/show/4380/discrete-htpc-gpus-shootout/4

plex.png
htpc_osx_graphics_cards.pdf

 

[nemix]

Thanks toleda!

it looks like the 5770 is the way I'm leaning (ATI fan) quite reasonable priced too.

I just read through all your guide from the new blog post, looks great! Cant wait to get all the parts together and get started. I'll keep everyone posted.

I really appreciate the info and your time getting all this worked out and wrote up!

 

[Huberer]

@toleda

How is the noice of the fan of the EVGA GPU? It looks great for a small HTPC rig (because of half size) but I'm a little bit afraid of the fan. I've a EVGA GT240 (recommondation of Tony) and even it has a fan it's quite silent.

thanks in advance

 

[nemix]

Holy smokes! I hadnt realized the low cost of the fermi cards...

I think the budget side of my brain has changed its mind from ATI

Is this the go to card? I dont understand the difference in these three cards from newegg?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... -_-Product

vs

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... -_-Product

vs

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... -_-Product

 

[Huberer]

Ok, I just made a quick look through the three cards.
The first one has only 64bit DDR3 ram (the others 128bit) and an effective memory clock of 1200 MHZ.
The second one has an effective memory clock of 1400MHz whereas the third one has 1600MHz. I think that is the only difference between these two.

Hopefully toleda can give us a hind which one to choose.

 

[nemix]

Thanks, not sure how i missed the memory clock speed, was caught up in the gpu specs i total ram i guess...

So the question remains, which of these three should i grab for a htpc living room application, vlc and plex, 5.1 1080p stuff

 

[toleda]

Regarding which GT430, I have the third version. I use it in the half high configuration and haven't ever heard the fan. It's very good for Plex, VLC, 5.1 and 1080p. I play mostly blu-ray content and don't recall missing a frame.

 

[Red Chief]

Well, if you can't get bitstream audio on OSX, I don't really understand why so many people bother with DSDT editing: I have audio via DVI (yes, DVI) on my GTX 275, thanks to the spdif internal connector from my EP45-UD3P to the GTX275. It works OOTB.
You get both DTS and DD 5.1, as long as you use a DVI=>HDMI cable and have the proper connectors on your hardware, of course.