ATI 2600 Pro and HDMI

[rrockliff]

Hi MCE Folks

I was just looking at making a move to a Yamaha AV Receiver to complete my home theartre rig. I recently pruchased an ATI 2600 Pro with the HDMI adapter, great card cannot complain. My aim is to purchase the AVI receiver and connect to it via HDMI and optical for Audio (My MB has optical Audio, Its an Intel Home theatre board)

I suppose this is more to get some feedback than to ask questions.
Hopefully the Yamaha AMP will work just fine with this Video Card, the ATI card boasts native HDMI support via a DVI to HDMI plug.

The plan is
Video
Vista MCE > Yamaha AV Receiver via HDMI.
Yamaha AV Revceiver > Samsung HDMI Input via HDMI.

Audio
Digital Optical out from MB > Yamaha AV Receiver optical in.

Hopefully this will all work a treat, minimise cable clutter ans give me great picture and sound.

If anyone is aware of any issues with this setup I welcome your comments.
Thanks in advance

[dgaust]

Does the Yamaha amp strip out audio from HDMI or simply a passthrough of HDMI?

If it can strip out the audio, you'd minimise cable clutter even more by utilising that function instead of sending audio via optical out.

[rrockliff]

As far as im aware, the Yamaha AMP is full HDMI, so I assume the Audio would be passed through from a standard HDMI component. However, im not sure the video card passes the audio though the HDMI port. If it doesnt, that not really a big issue.

The ATI site states

ATI Avivo™ HD Video & Media
Enjoy stunning big-screen entertainment with advanced hardware HD video processing and HDMI with built-in 5.1 surround audio. Home theater aficionados will be mesmerized by ATI Avivo™ HD technology that delivers sharp images and vibrant color fidelity from 1080p playback of Blu-ray and HD DVDs.

Does this mean the Video card will pass through audio from the MB via the HDMI interface

Thanks for the responce

[dgaust]

The ATI 2600PRO cards (and I think all ATI HD series cards) have onboard 5.1 audio chips, so it will send the audio through the DVI-HDMI dongle that comes with the card (you have to use an ATI dongle as generic ones don't seem to work).

What brand card are you getting (have you got)?

[rrockliff]

I already have the ATI HD2600 Pro with Zalman Silent cooler. This card is already installed in the rig. Was supplied with the ATI DVI to HDMI dongle, Compoent Adapter and some other bits i wont use.

If i was to connect this to the Yamaha AMP just with HDMI, I loose the 7.1 audio that the MB and AMP both support, Correct.

[dgaust]

IIRC, SPDIF (coaxial or optical) don't support 7.1 audio anyway. The only way for 7.1 audio to be passed is via HDMI. So in either case you will only get 5.1, so you might as well use the single HDMI cable.