A few questions about using my htpc with my receiver.

[rijnton]

Although I don't have problems, I have a few questions for better understanding and (maybe) optimizing.
My pc is connected to my receiver with a digital cable and analog cables as well. The latter go from the analog outputs of the soundcard to the multichannel inputs of the receiver. My soundcard is an Asus Xonar D2/PM, and for playback I use Winamp for music, PowerDVD for Blu-Ray (from harddisk) and MPC for other files. I mainly use the analog option, so DTS-HD and Dolby True HD are decoded by PowerDVD and sent to the receiver as analog signals. My questions are:
1) Does it matter how I set the volume control of the software players PowerDVD, MPC or Winamp and of the soundcard ? Can I set all to maximum for instance and adjust further with the receiver ? Or is it better to set the soundcard and/or the players lower than maximum ?
2) I still don't have a BD player, but is there a difference in sound quality between Dolby True HD/DTS HD, decoded by the receiver and the way I play it now, being decoded by PowerDVD and sent analog to multichannel ?
3) My video card has a HDMI output and there was a small cable supplied with it to connect it to a header on the sound card, which I didn't use yet. When I would make this connection, will I have the HD Audio through HDMI then (using the HDMI input of my receiver then of course) ?

 

[chjo100]

I can answer #3. Alot of the newer HDMI connections on PC can carry 2 channel (and some 5.1 channel) but there are none that can carry the HD codecs (DTS-MA, Dolby True HD etc...) However, Auzen is coming out with a soundcard which is supposed to be able to decode and send these audio formats. The HDMI from the video card is supposed to go into a HDMI input in the sound card, with the output from the soundcard carrying both the hd audio codec and video. Initially it was scheduled for a January release but now it lists as sometime in the first quarter.

 

[alexwakelin]

1) Does it matter how I set the volume control of the software players PowerDVD, MPC or Winamp and of the soundcard ? Can I set all to maximum for instance and adjust further with the receiver ? Or is it better to set the soundcard and/or the players lower than maximum ?

If it sounds good with the volume on the computer maxed out, then this should be fine. My HPTC has a Soundblaster Audigy card, and I always have the volume turned up all the way on that computer. I use the realtek onboard audio on my other computer, and I get some distortion if I turn the system volume up all the way.