[mythtvnz] New Amplifier

[Stephen Worthington]

On Wed, 18 Jun 2008 09:27:58 +1200, you wrote:

>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

I personally am old school about audio quality.  I can not stand the
bad quality you get from some of the integrated "digital" amps out
there, and as I do not physically have enough room for rear speakers,
I do not need more than the front channels.  So what I did was to get
a new CD player that has two extra digital inputs so I can use it as a
DAC also.  It handles a wide range of digital input signals.  I have
the MythTV box on one DAC input (SPDIF), and the notebook PC I am
using for Freeview HD (Vista and GBPVR) on the other DAC input
(mini-TOSLINK).  The TV has two HDMI inputs, and I have one connected
to the notebook.  The MythTV box is still using S-Video switched with
my two S-VHS VCRs and my ancient DVD player using an old Parasound
preamp that handles S-Video also.  When I finally manage to get the
right X config so I can make the MythTV box do HDMI properly without
half the picture jittering around, I will connect its HDMI directly to
the second HDMI on the TV.

So the HDMI video feeds the TV directly, and I switch pictures with
the TV controls.  The audio is switched using the CD input selects,
and the preamp input selects.  The old S-Video sources are switched
with the preamp also.  All of which means I need to press a lot of
buttons to change sources, but I get the audio via only components
that are real audiophile stuff.

The notebook (Asus G1S) is one of the new ones that does HDMI and
TOSLINK and analogue outputs for its audio.  All are selectable using
the software or it detects use of its sockets.  The headphone socket
has the mini-TOSLINK connector in the middle (laser in the centre of a
the headphone socket), so the software uses the fact that something is
plugged into that socket to switch the digital audio from HDMI to
mini-TOSLINK.  The switch between analogue and digital audio output is
done using the Realtek HD audio software.  In analogue mode, plugging
into the headphone socket mutes the builtin speakers.  I have not used
the analogue line output, so I do not know if headphone use also mutes
that.

When I get Blu-ray, it will most likely be by putting a Blu-ray drive
in the MythTV box, or possibly updating the DVD writer in the notebook
to Blu-ray.  Either way, the sound and video will still follow the
existing paths and I will not need any more switching capability.