Asus Xonar HDAV1.3 + TotalMedia Theatre3

[AcuDefTechGuy]

With the Asus Xonar HDAV1.3 + TotalMedia Theatre3, my HTPC was able to send BLU-RAY LPCM Uncompressed Audio and INTERALLY decode Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD MA into LPCM and send to my Denon receiver via HDMI.

It was also able to Bitstream regular DD & DTS on the blu-ray.

However, it was NOT able to Bitstream TrueHD & DTS-HD MA to my receiver.

Installation was a piece of cake. It took me maybe 5 minutes.

After installing the latest HDAV1.3 driver from the Asus website, everything was working, except for the bitstreaming of TrueHD & DTS-HD.

TMT3 was already installed prior to getting this soundcard.

Sound quality was excellent. Now I'm getting LPCM, TrueHD, & DTS-HD via LPCM HDMI.

TMT3 could still play HD DVDs, but I guess they did not care to enable TrueHD & DTS-HD decoding on HD DVDs.

So my experience so far was not perfect, but at least I was able to get TrueHD & DTS-HD via LPCM.

 

[GlocksRock]

Do they have plans to allow it to bitstream in the future? Not that there is a big difference, if any at all, between LPCM and bistreaming, but they should at least give you the option.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Do they have plans to allow it to bitstream in the future? Not that there is a big difference, if any at all, between LPCM and bistreaming, but they should at least give you the option.

The funny thing is, when I tried to bitstream TrueHD, my receiver actually reads "Dolby TrueHD", but I just get NO SOUND.

Of course, when I bitstream regular DD, it worked fine.

So I thought that it should already have the capability of bitstreaming TrueHD, but maybe not. Maybe it's the driver/software thing. Maybe one day soon, I will find out how to remedy this.

I'll have to do some more searching.

 

[GlocksRock]

Did you try contacting the manufacturer to see what they have to say about it?

 

[Ben_in_COSpring]

Now I'm getting LPCM, TrueHD, & DTS-HD via LPCM HDMI./QUOTE]

Isn't this already possible without the Xonar?

Eac3to will do TrueHD and DTS-MA -> LPCM conversion. I am pretty sure that MPlayer will do this on the fly. The XBMC project is working on incorporating this in their next version. I thought there were Windows apps that did the same thing.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Did you try contacting the manufacturer to see what they have to say about it?

When I try to bitstream TrueHD/DTS-HD, the video is put into slow-motion.

This does not happen when I bitstream DD/DTS or internally decode TrueHD/DTS-Hd.

So Asus tech support thinks it's the fault of my VIDEO/GRAPHICS card.
They think that bitstreaming TrueHD somehow is "pulling too much resources and slowing down the graphics". That is what they said.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Now I'm getting LPCM, TrueHD, & DTS-HD via LPCM HDMI./QUOTE]

Isn't this already possible without the Xonar?

Eac3to will do TrueHD and DTS-MA -> LPCM conversion. I am pretty sure that MPlayer will do this on the fly. The XBMC project is working on incorporating this in their next version. I thought there were Windows apps that did the same thing.

I know of programs that will CONVERT TrueHD to DD/AC3 and DTS-HD to DTS. But it is not DECODING TrueHD.

 

[GlocksRock]

When I try to bitstream TrueHD/DTS-HD, the video is put into slow-motion.

This does not happen when I bitstream DD/DTS or internally decode TrueHD/DTS-Hd.

So Asus tech support thinks it's the fault of my VIDEO/GRAPHICS card.
They think that bitstreaming TrueHD somehow is "pulling too much resources and slowing down the graphics". That is what they said.

I kinda doubt that bitstreaming audio is slowing down the graphics, that makes no sense. But then again who knows, a lot of computer stuff makes no sense to me.

But the real question is, can you hear a difference between standard dd or dts, vs. the LPCM lossless track?

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I kinda doubt that bitstreaming audio is slowing down the graphics, that makes no sense. But then again who knows, a lot of computer stuff makes no sense to me.

But the real question is, can you hear a difference between standard dd or dts, vs. the LPCM lossless track?

The obvious difference is on the Uncompressed LPCM & TrueHD sound.

Prior to the Xonar HD card, the uncompressed LPCM sounded terrible on my HTPC. Now it sounds totally awesome.

Before when I played a TrueHD soundtrack on my HTPC, I would get 2.0 audio, which stinks.

When I converted TrueHD to DD, I would sound okay, but not great. I also got some sound "artifacts" - like some dropouts, occasional static, and stuff.

Now, the decoded TrueHD sounds as awesome as the LPCM Uncompressed sound.

I noticed less difference on the DTS-HD vs DTS. It still sounds great. Maybe the DTS-HD sounds a little LOUDER than regular DTS.

Picture quality is 1080p and is great.

I don't think I'm buying a new Video card just to get bitstream - at least not yet. Maybe when I get bored, I'll get a new high-end Graphics card to match the high-end sound card.

Right now my graphics is an Integrated ATI 3300 HD card w/ the motherboard.

When I get a new card, I guess I need to disable this integrated graphics?

Is there a shut off switch or something?

 

[GlocksRock]

Yeah, disable integrated video when you install a graphics card, you do that in the bios.