[mythtvnz] New Amplifier

[Dylan Hall]

Hopefully this isn't too far off topic :)

I find myself needing a new home theatre amp because my current one has
died after many years of loyal service...

It seems in the intervening 9 years a lot has changed. The amps no
longer seem to be trying to differentiate themselves on sound quality or
power output, but rather codec support, DSP prowess, number of
connectors, quality of their GUI, and video handling.

After a little research and some foot work I find myself with two
choices, a basic "old school" audio amp ($1000-1500) or a flash does
everything amp ($2000-3000).

In my mind the two main differences are codecs, and video handling.
These are the topics I'm after peoples opinions on :)

Codecs:  

The flash news amps have introduced new versions of Dolby Digital (DD+
and Dolby True HD) and DTS (insert acronym). The new codecs provide
native 7.1 encoding (upto 14 channels I think, and I think higher bit
rates), and also lossless encoding. The caveat seems to be that these
new codecs are only supported via an HDMI cable. They won't work over
SPDIF. I've heard of, but never seen or played with PC hardware that
allows your sound card to insert it's audio into an HDMI port on the
video card.

Has anyone played with the above? Does it work? Does HDCP rear it's ugly
head?
What are the chances of actually finding myself with media on the media
PC that uses one of the above codecs?  I think currently the only source
is Blu-ray disks.

Video Handling:

The other new feature of the flash amps is video handling. Most of them
will convert/upscale an analoge video source to HDMI (720p/1080p) and
some will also upscale HDMI inputs. The upshot is that you only need one
cable (HDMI) to your TV and you can change video sources with a single
button press. They also seem to throw in an onscreen GUI for good
measure.

Has anyone played with running a media PC through the above? I'm
particularly interested in how the amp will handle an HDMI input that
actually comes from a DVI on a video card. The specific concern is that
the video card output isn't "standard", e.g. it's running at 1360x768
rather than 720p/1080p etc. Again, does HDCP rear it's ugly head?


Thanks,

Dylan

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.ourshack.com/pipermail/mythtvnz/attachments/20080618/cb93053a/attachment.htm