HTPC

[Peter Korsten]

11110111001 schreef:
> I've been pretty good in past years with Boxing day sales but this year 
> the Boxing day maddness got me.
> I walked into the shop with the intent to just get a LCD TV but somehow 
> walked out with a 46" XBR, a complete Energy 7.1 RC series speaker set, 
> Yamaha receiver along with a Sony PS3, Monster cables, TV stand, the 
> works.... Pure joy :)

That salesman must get commission fees. :)

> I want to build a Home Theatre PC (HTPC) for this purpose but had some 
> questions for those already running a similar setup:
>  
> If I run an Optical audio out from the HTPC into the Yamaha 6290B 
> receiver can I get full 7.1 control?
> I know 7.1 is possible through blu-ray via HDMI but how about Optical?

If the bit stream from the media (blu-ray disc) is sent directly to the 
optical output, the HTPC doesn't need to know what the contents are: it 
just streams the bits, which get then decoded by the receiver.

The problem is, apparently, whether the bit stream can accommodate 7+1 
HD channels, whatever 'HD' may mean in the context of sound. Blu-ray 
seems to be using 192 kHz, but that sample rate is a bit useless. As far 
as I know, you can run 7+1 channels over an optical or an S/PDIF connector.

> If not, will a soundcard with HDMI like the Asus Xonar HDAV1.3 work with 
> the Sequencer?

Probably, but there you'll probably be paying a lot for the licenses for 
decoding.

- Peter