AMD 780G -- The Birth of a New HTPC?

[Polypro]

Just built a client using this board...so far, so good.

P

[bialio]

I've got one in the mail also - hopefully will have fat better results than I did with the last integrated graphics I tried (NVidia 7050). If it can handle BluRay then it should be able to handle anything Sage throws at it.....

btl.

[m1abrams]

Well I am currently installing my new GA-MA78GM-S2H board. One thing I noticed on this board is the front panel connector is a little different than every other board I have built. On every board I have used in the past 15 years (probably messed with more than 30 mb) the power LED connector was 3 pins wide with only the outer 2 pins connected. This board it is only 2 pins wide. Which is a problem for my case because the power led pins are in a single connector 3 pins wide, some cases the pins are separate in which case those would be easy to adjust for spacing. Now one thing I also noticed is a header just next to the panel connector that is 3 pins wide, I do not see any silk screen identifying the connector nor is it even marked in the manual. Not knowing what it is I am not connecting anything to it. Wonder though if it is for the power led?

However all of that is not really important because I actually do not normally have the power led connected because it is too bright for the TV room, but was going to have it connected while I test the machine. Oh well.

[stanger89]

You sure? I'm almost positive mine has the 3/spaced power LED.

[m1abrams]

Originally Posted by stanger89

You sure? I'm almost positive mine has the 3/spaced power LED.

Positive. I checked it several times. The manual even shows it as only 2/spaced. However the manual mentions nothing of the header right next to the front panel header.

EDIT: I stand corrected on the page next to the front panel page, they do mention the other header and it is PWR_LED connector and is 3 spaced. Different than other boards that it is NOT part of the front panel header.

[bialio]

The propoganda for this board mentions this :
"Full Rate Lossless Audio support for Blu-ray™ HD media"

What does that really mean? How does one take advantage of Full Rate Lossless Audio?

[m1abrams]

Originally Posted by bialio

The propoganda for this board mentions this :
"Full Rate Lossless Audio support for Blu-ray™ HD media"

What does that really mean? How does one take advantage of Full Rate Lossless Audio?

I take that to mean that its analog output on the audio card does in fact support the Full Rate Lossless Audio. It does NOT support sending the bitstream or LPCM of Lossless Audio. Neither of these are much concern for me, since my Receiver does not support HDMI and I do not plan to upgrade it for a few years. The card does however support DTS connect which can basically transcode those lossless formats to a 1.5Mbps DTS stream that my receiver can handle and that is what I plan to use.

[bialio]

So in theory DTS Connect will take any sound format - from stereo MP3 on up to 7.1 LPCM - and transcode on the fly to DTS 5.1 @ 1.5Mbps?

I wonder how well that will work - or even better, how to tell that it is working!

btl.

[m1abrams]

Originally Posted by bialio

So in theory DTS Connect will take any sound format - from stereo MP3 on up to 7.1 LPCM - and transcode on the fly to DTS 5.1 @ 1.5Mbps?

I wonder how well that will work - or even better, how to tell that it is working!

btl.

That is the theory, I have not gotten any Blurays in yet to test. I do have DTS connect turned on and am happy with what it does with 2channel stereo from SDTV. I use to just send 2 channel PCM to my receiver which has DTS:Neo. DTS Connect I actually like better it seems to center the voices a little better. Now for music I would not like it but I do not use my SAGETV machine for music. I did notice that it does not touch Dolby Digital streams which I prefer. I could probably tell AC3Filter to decode the DD and then the card would convert it to DTS.

[bialio]

That's good to hear - I was worried about it messing with AC3 source un-necessarily.

The other thing I have to contend with is that I do a good bit of listening via headphone (after the family goes to bed) - so I either use the Dolbly Digital Headphone Mode on my amp or the same from PowerDVD (when going out analogue) to simulate surround on a stereo feed. I don't think my amp would do anything with a DTS signal on the headphone processing.

[m1abrams]

Note for my sound decoder I am using AC3Filter, however I have it set to pass thru DTS and AC3 streams so they are not touched. Note sure if the same behaviour would exist with other decoders.

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by bialio

So in theory DTS Connect will take any sound format - from stereo MP3 on up to 7.1 LPCM - and transcode on the fly to DTS 5.1 @ 1.5Mbps?

To be perfectly precise about it, DTS Connect will take 16 bit, 48kHz PCM (up to 5.1) and encode it to DTS on the fly. So whether DD or DTS get "touched" is a function of the player software I believe, not "DTS Connect". I "believe" if you have your player configured to pass DD/DTS it should be left alone and only PCM (ie decoded AAC, WMA, TrueHD, DTS-HD, etc) should be encoded.

[bialio]

I haven't had a chance to play much, but here's what I've seen so far.

Was watching Cars on BD. It has a DD track, and a LPCM 5.1 track. Switching DD was passed through as is to the AVR. When I switched to the LPCM, it did start sending DTS to the AVR. However, the rear channels almost completely disappeared. It was noticably different - and my AVR is calibrated in both DTS and DD mode.

I'm think that the Stereo Track that PowerDVD puts out for LPCM was being transcoded into 5.1 DTS. No way to prove this, but that's what it felt like.

btl.

[stanger89]

Is PowerDVD configured for 6 speakers?

[bialio]

It wasn't, but that was the next thing I tried. It seems to be working now - although everything from PowerDVD is now DTS'ified. I'm not sure how I feel about that.

From in Sage it works nicely. AC3Filter sets up cleanly to let AC3 pass through.

btl.

[jiggles]

Originally Posted by stanger89

You sure? I'm almost positive mine has the 3/spaced power LED.

Originally Posted by m1abrams

Positive. I checked it several times. The manual even shows it as only 2/spaced. However the manual mentions nothing of the header right next to the front panel header.

EDIT: I stand corrected on the page next to the front panel page, they do mention the other header and it is PWR_LED connector and is 3 spaced. Different than other boards that it is NOT part of the front panel header.

It has a 2- and a 3-pin PWR LED connector, the former is part of the larger FP connector, the latter is on its own. There are numerous boards which do this, it helps improve compatibility. Very useful.

[Slipshod]

Originally Posted by m1abrams

I take that to mean that its analog output on the audio card does in fact support the Full Rate Lossless Audio. It does NOT support sending the bitstream or LPCM of Lossless Audio. Neither of these are much concern for me, since my Receiver does not support HDMI and I do not plan to upgrade it for a few years. The card does however support DTS connect which can basically transcode those lossless formats to a 1.5Mbps DTS stream that my receiver can handle and that is what I plan to use.

Keep in mind that PowerDVD will downconvert your audio on you automatically, so you're still kind of screwed. The only way to really get the full audio is to rip and remux the file, while converting the lossless audio formats (TrueHD or whatever) to something like flac. MKV works for this, and eac3to is pretty handy for the audio conversion and the demuxing.

[m1abrams]

Originally Posted by bialio

I haven't had a chance to play much, but here's what I've seen so far.

Was watching Cars on BD. It has a DD track, and a LPCM 5.1 track. Switching DD was passed through as is to the AVR. When I switched to the LPCM, it did start sending DTS to the AVR. However, the rear channels almost completely disappeared. It was noticably different - and my AVR is calibrated in both DTS and DD mode.

I'm think that the Stereo Track that PowerDVD puts out for LPCM was being transcoded into 5.1 DTS. No way to prove this, but that's what it felt like.

btl.

Also are you using the OEM PowerDVD? Cause that only supports 2channel, however it seems to pass DD/DTS through untouched even though it is only 2ch. I suspect that the OEM 2ch limit is only for converted audio.

As to PowerDVD downconverting, I thought this was something that PowerDVD planned on fixing? http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2007/10...ng_explained/1

Anyhow though, downsampled or not I seriously doubt I would be able to hear a difference while watching the movie. So much is going on during a movie that noticing if the audio has been downsample and compressed can be very difficult to tell, particularly on just moderate gear in a non optimized room.

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by bialio

It wasn't, but that was the next thing I tried. It seems to be working now - although everything from PowerDVD is now DTS'ified. I'm not sure how I feel about that.

From in Sage it works nicely. AC3Filter sets up cleanly to let AC3 pass through.

btl.

Well if you're only used PowerDVD for Blu-ray, it doesn't really matter, most every BD has TrueHD, DTS-HD MA, or PCM tracks, very few have only DD or DTS.

Originally Posted by Slipshod

Keep in mind that PowerDVD will downconvert your audio on you automatically, so you're still kind of screwed. The only way to really get the full audio is to rip and remux the file, while converting the lossless audio formats (TrueHD or whatever) to something like flac. MKV works for this, and eac3to is pretty handy for the audio conversion and the demuxing.

And if you can tell the difference between the non-downconverted 16/48k and the native 16/48k maybe 20-24/48k, I'll be impressed (and skeptical unless it was in a blind test ).

[Slipshod]

Originally Posted by stanger89

And if you can tell the difference between the non-downconverted 16/48k and the native 16/48k maybe 20-24/48k, I'll be impressed (and skeptical unless it was in a blind test ).

TrueHD and DTS-HD can be 24/96k, and will get downconverted to 16/48K. Not really relevant for him since he's not using HDMI, though. And I doubt I could tell. The wife has WAY better hearing than I do and was musically trained - she might stand a chance.