On Nov 12, 2013 7:32 PM, "Stan Hoeppner" <stan@hardwarefreak.com> wrote:
>
> On 11/12/2013 5:37 PM, Jon N wrote:
> ...
> > There is one an area that I'm pretty unsure of. I am planning on
> > purchasing a Nvidia video card and disabling the built in Intel video
> > support. Since I plan to use this computer as a MythTV
> > frontend/backend (as well as for general web browsing/email) getting
> > the audio out on the Nvidia card's HDMI port is important to my
> > particular setup. So will the audio automatically be switched to the
> > Nvidia cards HDMI connector?
>
> No, it won't be automatic. And frankly I don't believe nVidia supports
> HDMI digital audio pass through, nor any discrete GPU card. For
> argument's sake, let's say it does. Then you run into the problem that
> the onboard audio chip can't pass digital audio through PCIe to the
> nVidia HDMI port. None of them are designed to do this, that I'm aware of.
Wow, I'm glad I asked that question :-). If I understand this correctly it it doesn't matter if there is any video hardware on the mainboard, in the processor, or none at all, you still can't get sound from a audio chipset on the mainboard to the video card's HDMI connector anyway.
> If I were you I'd get a mainboard with with HDMI out and use the CPU's
> GPU. Mobos that have onboard HDMI have their audio chips wired to the
> HDMI port, the chips support PCM/AC3 digital output, and selecting the
> HDMI output for digital audio is pretty straightforward.
I think pretty much all the Mobos have HDMI in them, especially since they support a processor line that all has built in video. I was planning on Nvidia simply because a) I use it now and b) I am
under the impression that they have better overall support (i.e.: just
work better). But I may be underestimating how well the built in Intel
video solution works. And it would same me money by not purchasing a
new board, use less electricity (love that), and maybe even make the system quieter
(no fan on a separate video card). I will check over at the
MythTV mailing list about it.
> The Intel GPU should be plenty powerful enough for HD1080 output. If
> you decide it's not, and want to add a discrete card, you'll need a mobo
> with coaxial digital SPDIF output, or Toslink optical digital output,
> and a TV or A/V receiver that is cable of using an HDMI input for video
> while using coax or Toslink for audio. Nearly all modern A/V receivers
> support this. WRT LCD/Plasma TVs I have no idea how many support this.
I currently use my DVI out to HDMI in on my receiver, and s/pdif for the audio, it works fine. I thought it would be nice to have it all in one. I think the HDMI supports higher bandwidth for the audio, but I'm not sure anything I'm playing would need it anyway.
Thanks,
Jon