Video vs. Audio (1 Viewer)

[Lynn Johnson]

I just asked this question over at AVS Forums, but I thought I'd bring it here too.

Well, I'm seriously considering my next upgrade to include a push towards the HTPC side of things. My biggest concern is that the audio side will suffer, and maybe I'd be better off with sticking to the stand alone DVD player with the receiver doing the sound decoding. Is this a legitimate concern? Here is my current setup:

Panasonic 47" Rear Projection(no DVI of course)
Denon 1802 receiver
Denon 1600 DVD-A player
Denon 3 channel amp
M&K 750 THX speaker package
Xbox(gotta have it)

Anyways, I've read reports saying how much better the receiver/processor handled the sound than a pc's sound card(recently the M-Audio 7.1 - I have a Creative Audigy EX). What do you guys think? I'm very interested in the custom resolutions for video, but don't want to sacrifice sound quality. Thanks!

 

[Lynn Johnson]

As a side note, for a while, I was running optical out from my Audigy to my receiver, just to play mp3's. Well, I heard way too much hiss, so I just burned a couple cd's full of mp3's. Well, playing the cd's in my Denon 1600 eliminated that, so that increases my concern for using the Audigy for digital out. Can anyone explain why I heard so much hiss in comparison to using the cd's? THanks

 

[Ken Chan]

The hiss is probably because the PC is mixing a bunch of audio inputs. Open up the Volume Control (either in the tray, or under Accessories | Entertainment). On this PC with XP, I see Wave, SW Synth, CD Player, Line In, and PC Beep. (If you have a fancy sound setup, it probably has a custom volume control with more stuff.) You can try muting the ones you're not using. Note that CD Player is likely to be an analog connection.

This should not be an issue with Dolby Digital or DTS DVDs, because (a) the data is read right off the disc and (b) you can't mix other things in those bitstreams without corrupting them. A digital connection (optical or coax) should not introduce hiss.

//Ken

 

[Robert_Gaither]

BTW, what are x-over points for most of the computer soundcards, I've emailed several companies and never received anything beyond the we received your email and will respond shortly type of answers.