# HTPC Audio



## popcamp (Jan 22, 2012)

Greetings all. I have a Samsung LN52A550 52" LCD 1080p TV, a Pioneer VSX-D912K receiver and a Bose Acoustimass 6 speaker system. I have a cheap Insignia NS-2BRDVD Blu-Ray player, but it freezes a lot especially with rented videos. Instead of buying a new BR player, I am planning on building a HTPC that will play Blu-Ray discs amongst other video formats and music. I don't plan on using it to play games, just video and audio. 

Are there any motherboard/processor combos currently out there that will handle this without additions or do you think will I need a video card and/or sound card? 

Currently my TV is connected to the receiver with a TOSLINK cable and the BR player is connected with coax.

What would be the best way to connect an HTPC into my setup (assuming it will replace the BR player).

Should my receiver be able to decode dolby coming from movies being played on the computer? 

Thanks in advance for all your comments and assistance!


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## chris71478 (Dec 2, 2011)

Get a sandy bridge (1155) motherboard. Integrated graphics will be fine. Make sure the motherboard has an optical out for audio.


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## fusseli (May 1, 2007)

I would be most worried about what blu-ray software you get to watch your movies with. I wasted money a couple times on DVD software in the past, I'm not sure if anything's changed... hopefully it has.


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## hgoed (Mar 22, 2010)

I've been using an Intel Sandy Bridge processor's integrated graphics for BluRay for a while without any problems, and the quality and performance are at least equal to my dedicated BluRay player (Panasonic BDP210). Even the lowest end of these processors should work fine, but personally (without any real research done into the limitations) I'd get one with the HD3000 graphics over the HD2000, so something like the i3-2105 or i3-2125. I've been using an i5, but I also do some gaming.

The main difference will be seen with which features the motherboard has. Since your receiver doesn't have an HDMI input, you'll need either a digital audio output (almost always available) and/or analog audio outputs (often an option, and some motherboards have pretty good analog audio). Also, beware that depending on the chipset used in the motherboard, Intel integrated graphics may not be supported. The chipsets I know work are H61 and Z68, but maybe some others have come out recently. For the graphics interface, there's nothing to worry about, because everything available can be interchangeable with a cheap adapter.

As far as non-Sandy Bridge, I don't know.


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## hgoed (Mar 22, 2010)

RE: software-- I've used PowerDVD11 for the past year or so without a hitch.

Well...until yesterday...but I think that's 'cause I hooked up a bunch of additional monitors.


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## popcamp (Jan 22, 2012)

Thanks for the replies everyone. You've all been very helpful.


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## vann_d (Apr 7, 2009)

There are many AMD boards that work too. Mine is a Gigabyte with AMD 785G. It works great. I use Powere DVD 11, mainly because I got PowereDVD 9 free with the disc player and the upgrade was cheap. I also use toslink out to my receiver from the MB and HDMI to the TV.


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## CdnTiger (Feb 16, 2007)

I don't yet have a HTPC myself, but I plan on building one. From my limited reading so far, it seems a lot of people like ArcSoft TotalMedia Theater.

Also check out Assassin's HTPC blog, guides, and forum posts. Google is your friend. :T


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## popcamp (Jan 22, 2012)

Question about TrueHD/DTS-HD audio. My receiver only supports Dolby Digital and my plan is to connect the HTPC to my receiver using a TOSLINK cable. What will happen when I try to play TrueHD audio? Will my receiver play it as DD?


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## CdnTiger (Feb 16, 2007)

popcamp said:


> Question about TrueHD/DTS-HD audio. My receiver only supports Dolby Digital and my plan is to connect the HTPC to my receiver using a TOSLINK cable. What will happen when I try to play TrueHD audio? Will my receiver play it as DD?


Yes. If your AVR doesn't support the hi-res formats, it will only play the standard ones, albeit at a technically slightly better quality then standard DVD.


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## assassin (Jan 31, 2012)

CdnTiger said:


> I don't yet have a HTPC myself, but I plan on building one. From my limited reading so far, it seems a lot of people like ArcSoft TotalMedia Theater.
> 
> Also check out Assassin's HTPC blog, guides, and forum posts. Google is your friend. :T


Agreed.

That Assassin guy is a great resource! :T


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## popcamp (Jan 22, 2012)

Thanks! I've gone and ordered the parts to build my HTPC:

Case: Silverstone GD05B
Power Supply: PC Power & Cooling Silencer MK III (500W)
Motherboard: ASRock Z68M/USB3
CPU: i3-2105
Memory: GSkill Ripjaw 8GB
HD1: Corsair 60GB Sata3 SSD
HD2: Seagate Barracuda Green 1.5TB 5900RPM Sata3
BD-ROM: Asus BC-12B1ST Sata

I probably spent more than I had to, but I didn't really have a budget in mind. 700 for the above parts from Newegg and I bought a few other goodies with it too. I've also got an old 8811 remote so I ordered a USB-UIRT as well... and for giggles one of those mini-keyboard/mouse combos.. and while I was feeling good about clicking the Add to Cart button, I threw in one of those Western Digital Live TV boxes for the bedroom. I don't plan on doing any TV/DVR or gaming with the HTPC, just playing DVD/BluRay discs, miscellaneous rips and some MP3 tunes. Should be fun! :bigsmile:


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## CdnTiger (Feb 16, 2007)

assassin said:


> Agreed.
> 
> That Assassin guy is a great resource! :T


Welcome to HTS! I hope to make use of your knowledge/guides in the not too distant future.


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## CdnTiger (Feb 16, 2007)

Congrats on your HTPC purchase, popcamp! I'm sure when I get to that point I'll follow in your footsteps and spend more than I "need"! :spend:


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## Gregr (Nov 2, 2010)

I have an AMD system as well, with ASUS K9A2 plat MoBo and Asus 4890 video card. I had some issues early on with Cyberlink 9, I also bought PowerDVD10 to play BD but after a half dozen plays..., nothing. 

In the beginning Cyber-Link was very slow to non existing in updates and now-a-days copyright protection changes codecs often. I could probably go back to CyberLnk PowerDVD10 and with a few updates play Blue Ray DVD' but I just bought a Sony BDP-S580 for less then I paid for PowerDVD10. The Sony has WiFi and notifies me when I need to update. In the past 6-8 months I've updated twice. 

I am going to use this until the new OLED tv's hit the shelves at a better price. 

Keep in mind..., if you are from the old school you probably have some nice copper/silver interconnects. I do not like the thin wires in HDMI. I use HDMI for video only and nice old school silver digital interconnect and copper (Furutech) interconnects. Also my old school video card does not have HDMI out I use DVI to HDMI adapter from the computer to the LCD TV and silver digital from the computer to the Denon AVR. I have tried several pricey toss-link interconnects and I do not like the sound..., it is not musical. 

I like the idea of components in one box, but I feel the each play better when isolated in seperate heavy gauge aluminum box.

Hope you are havin' some fun!!!!! :sn:


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## RTS100x5 (Sep 12, 2009)

One option to keep in mind IF your AVR wont decode the newer HD MASTER formats is to buy a BluRay player that decodes and has 5.1 or 7.1 analog out > Multi Channel in on your receiver. I use this setup even over HDMI on my HTPC as the analog sound from my ASUS HDAV 1.3 is much more open and dynamic than the HDMI sq....


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## RTS100x5 (Sep 12, 2009)

Hows your HTPC coming along ??


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## Sprinty (Jan 27, 2012)

popcamp said:


> Question about TrueHD/DTS-HD audio. My receiver only supports Dolby Digital and my plan is to connect the HTPC to my receiver using a TOSLINK cable. What will happen when I try to play TrueHD audio? Will my receiver play it as DD?


If you are not using a video card (or discrete audio card) that supports bitstreaming via hdmi, your audio will be downsampled to dolby 5.1


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