Blue Disc, the 780G, and HDA…

[cgsheen]

I’m the guy who has always thought 5.1 digital audio via S/PDIF (and having my little receiver decode it) was [i]more than good enough[/i]!!  Crap!  Wrong again!   ::)

I got my second Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H 780G motherboard for [i]My[/i] HTPC.  I love the one we used in Mrs’ Sheen’s HTPC…  For mine I paired it with a new Phenom 9550 (2.2GHz, quad core – I’ll list the full specs below).

I have it’s ALC889a connected to my modest 5.1 receiver with optical S/PDIF and 6-channel analog outputs.  As soon as I reloaded Vista and various Blue Disc player softwares, I set out to see how the audio sounded using every mode I could.

I found that the HD-DVD “Aeon Flux” has BOTH DD+ and DTS HD audio tracks (at 1.5mbps) – SO – I fired it up still using S/PDIF in Vista and PowerDVD.  Sounded real nice.  So, I switched to 6-channel analog in Vista, and set PDVD for 6 speaker audio and restarted Aeon Flux using the DD+ track.  OH MY GOSH!  Notice the difference???  It was amazing!

THEN I switched to the DTS audio track and restarted the movie!  (DTS HD is EVEN MORE amazing!)  Do you realize how well you can hear the fly buzzing around during the opening credits – even before you see Aeon catch it with her eylashes?  OK, the action scenes were [i]one thing[/i], BUT – here’s what floored me:  During the marketplace scene with Aeon and her Sister – you can actually HEAR the background conversations – clearly!  It’s not just muddy, general crowd noise – the speaker seperation and clarity is awesome!  And, I didn’t have to crank up the volume so I could distinguish it…

Dude…  Now I’m wondering how this stuff would sound[i] if I had a GOOD receiver[/i]…  This is the coolest thing since HDTV!  Seriously…

edit:

[i]The new-and-improved “His HTPC”:[/i]

* Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H AM2+ 780G motherboard
— Onboard ATi Radeon HD3200 IGP video (D-sub, DVI, & HDMI connectors)
— Onboard Realtek ALC889a audio (optical S/PDIF and 8-channel analog outputs)
==== using both S/PDIF [i]and[/i] 6-channel analog to receiver
— Onboard 1394a (2 ports via T.I. TSB43AB23 chip)
— 12 available USB 2.0/1.1 ports
— 6 available SATA ports (5 SATA, 1 eSATA)
— Onboard Realtek RTL8111c gigabit LAN

* AMD Phenom 9550 AM2+ CPU
* 2GB Kingston HyperX DDR2 PC6400 dual channel RAM
* 320GB Maxtor SATA hard drive
* 500GB Maxtor SATA hard drive
* LG GGC-H20L Blu-ray / HD-DVD, DVD+-RW, LightScribe optical drive
* DViCO FusionHDTV3-T PCI ATSC tuner
* DViCO FusionHDTV5 USB ATSC tuner
* Hauppauge PVR-150 PCI NTSC tuner

– Vista Ultimate x64
– Cyberlink PowerDVD Ultra versions 7 & 8
– Corel WinDVD 9 plus Blu-ray
– Nero 8 Ultra Edition

“Her HTPC” is much the same only with an A64 X2 4200+, single 320GB HD, Vista Home Prem x64, FusionHDTV5 PCI & USB ATSC tuners, and a PowerColor ATi Theater Pro 550 analog tuner.

“Franken HTPC” got the Gigabyte 690G MB from “old Her HTPC”, an A64 X2 5600+, 300GB HD, Vista Home Prem x64, Avermedia M780 ATSC/NTSC tuner card (had to put the PVR-250 out to pasture – no 64-bit drivers), and a $30 KWorld ATSC PCI tuner (for S&G…)

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