[57]

If you have one, put a CD into the BD player. That's PCM. Again, you should have no issues with that. Does the RX-V1700 indicate on the display the incoming signal, or does it say it's LPCM or PCM when you press the "info" (or similar) button on the AVR's remote...

 

[e268]

I just plug my htpc hdmi out to my Sony hdmi in. Set Sony sound to pcm and use its optical output to my RX1200. I get 5.1 on netflix, dvd player(hdmi output to Sony). I remember seeing 5.1 on some channels, but don't remember which channel and program. My point is that I do not need a sound card (my htpc has APU, and motherboard has built in video).

 

[ExDilbert]

Buying a gaming for card an HTPC is a waste of money and electricity. The same goes for high end CPUs. A lot of people make the same mistake. If you are going to be playing a lot of PC games then it makes sense but very little CPU or GPU power is required for watching video. What matters most is that the GPU will display the required resolution at the desired refresh rate and supports HDCP 2.1 or higher for 4K. It would be nice to also have HDR10, Dolby Vision HDR or HDR10+ but PC hardware sometimes lags in supporting new video features. As I stated before, integrated APU video is often as good as or better than a discrete video card for HTPC.

There is little or no need for audio decoding with a HTPC and an A/V receiver. As I stated before, set the audio to pass through on the HDMI output and the HDCP protocols should handle the rest. The HTPC software and hardware should determine what audio the A/V receiver can handle and pass it directly. It may be necessary to tell the playback software (KODI) which audio formats the A/V receiver can handle.

Dolby or DTS should be available with almost all DVD and HD sources. I've yet to see a DVD or BD disk that didn't have at least DD2.0. I get DD+ with Netflix. That's with a 5 year old AMD A8-7600 APU configured in low power 45w mode using the integrated video and audio.

 

[Danno1005]

I agree.

I use an AppletTV with Infuse connected to a NAS and it works beautifully. I used to have a HTPC but would go back and forth between it and the AppleTV until I tried Infuse. I no longer use the HTPC.

Mr.6

I also decommissioned all of my three Windows HTPC's and moved to a mac Mini a number of years ago. In addition, I have three NAS devices (two Intel Terramaster, and one WD Ultra). The Mac Mini and each NAS runs Plex and Emby natively. On the device side I have a few Firestick 4K's and an Apple TV. I ripped my movie collection using MakeMKV and convert OTA recordings (dual tuner HDHomerun) using Handbrake. Compared to my Windows environment, maintenance is negligible and power consumption is way down.

 

[ExDilbert]

I switched to Chromecast with Google TV. The only maintenance is adding new apps when they are needed. It has Plex, Emby and Kodi apps plus apps for most streaming services. (The notable exception is Ignite TV but that's on Rogers.) The picture and sound are better as well. They cost about $60 each with a promotion and take up very little space or power. A former HTPC acts as a Plex server.

I still have a couple of HTPCs connected but now spend more time on maintenance than watching them. It seems like every time I try to use them something no longer works and needs to be fixed. I have to log into the streaming sites in the browser almost every time as well. The Chromecast just works without issue whenever it's turned on.

 

[Dwayne Gorniak]

If you have one, put a CD into the BD player. That's PCM. Again, you should have no issues with that. Does the RX-V1700 indicate on the display the incoming signal, or does it say it's LPCM or PCM when you press the "info" (or similar) button on the AVR's remote...

My remote does not have an info button. The more I look at this, the more I know the video card was a waste of time. But I have another issue that requires me to take the btpc back to the computer shop. I cannot get the motherboard HDMI connection to work. When I go into bios, the computer crashes. So I am dropping the HTPC off at the computer shop tomorrow morning. There is something really wrong with it.

 

[57]

If you want to hear what the director intended, you do not use some of the DSPs that the Yamaha has to offer. I believe you press the Sur Decod button (6) on the remote to get Dolby Pro Logic II for incoming DD2.0 signals and DD5.1 for incoming DD5.1 signals, but it's been a decade since I owned a Yamaha . I suggest you read the operating manual for the AVR to properly listen to audio. I'm sure somewhere in there it mentions how to show the incoming signal, and it may even show on the display itself.

 

[Dwayne Gorniak]

If you want to hear what the director intended, you do not use some of the DSPs that the Yamaha has to offer. I believe you press the Sur Decod button (6) on the remote to get Dolby Pro Logic II for incoming DD2.0 signals and DD5.1 for incoming DD5.1 signals, but it's been a decade since I owned a Yamaha . I suggest you read the operating manual for the AVR to properly listen to audio. I'm sure somewhere in there it mentions how to show the incoming signal, and it may even show on the display itself.

That is correct. And then utton 7 (select) to toggle between the decoding settings.

 

[57]

There is a button labelled "display" in blue above the 3. That may be your "info" button. I'm not sure what the "audio" button does to the right of the right arrow...

 

[Dwayne Gorniak]

There is a button labelled "display" in blue above the 3. That may be your "info" button. I'm not sure what the "audio" button does to the right of the right arrow...

That Display/parameter button takes me into the screen listed below. Gives me the same options as button 6.

 

[ExDilbert]

My experience is that the A/V receiver is best set to digital surround or its equivalent and all special effects turned off. Different audio modes such as stereo can be selected later, if required by a specific source, but full surround (5.1, 7.1) is the best default. The A/V receiver DAC should be able to detect the type of digital audio input and adjust its mode as necessary. That goes for everything including PCM, various DD and DTS modes, DD+ and uncompressed audio. If the receiver cannot handle certain digital audio protocols they need to be deselcted in the playback software.The correct digital audio assignments need to be made in the A/V receiver setup though the default may be correct for HDMI. (That could be an issue it it was changed or ARC is being used.) Once done, if DD is not present it will be a HTPC misconfiguration. As I said before, audio passthrough needs to be set in several places, the correct audio drivers need to be installed and the correct windows and playback software audio output device needs to be selected.

 

[Dwayne Gorniak]

Alright! Success! It didn't matter what setting I had the surround decoder set to, I could not get sound out of the GTX 1650 graphics card. Installed a Sound Blaster Audigy 5 sound card with optical output and I have sound.

This has been a learning curve for me as I haven't built any computers for over 10 years since I started my own business 10 years back. Just been too busy.

With that said, I believe I spent more money on some things than I needed to. In the last few weeks I've gotten back into learning about builds with my son as he's taking technology in school and learning this stuff. I'm thinking if I remove the graphics card and the audio card I should be just fine with the I5-10600 processor graphics which has 4k 60hz graphics: Intel® UHD Graphics 630. I should be able to get sound out of the motherboard hdmi.

I relied too much on a local computer shop I've been using over the last 10 years to build me diagnostic laptops for diesel and automotive diagnostics that I sell. As an ex - Ford master tech by trade I always think about specifications and I got hung up 120hz specs. But I need to remember that in the electronics world specs don't mean what they do in the mechanical world. Electronics specs can have software and drivers missing such as I've found with the GeForce GTX 1650 graphics card.

I'm going to try removing both the graphics and sound card to prove my theory. Expensive experiment! Lol!
That's where I'm at for now and I've got sound!

 

[Dwayne Gorniak]

That Display/parameter button takes me into the screen listed below. Gives me the same options as button 6.

View attachment 11844

Neo 6 (dts) or Neural (PCM) is what I usually run on. PCM most.