How about audio for serious Home Theatre

[BenP]

It seems that not too many people have posted questions or comments about the audio side of Media Centre and their use of the system as the heart of their home theatre set up. My goals for the build was to extend the functionality of my Home Theatre / Entertainment experience. As a result when planning the build of my system it was imperative to plan a quality audio output as I have spent a pretty penny (around $8k) on my Home Theatre Receiver and speakers to ensure that I get a real cinema experience and also have quality sound for listening to music.

I chose a Denon 7.1 channel Dolby Digital DTS receiver with self room calibration to ensure that the home cinema set up was as easy as possible. I chose B&W (bookshelf sized) speakers for the front, side and rear speakers and continued with B&W for the front centre channel and rear centre channel speakers and a fairly large B&W active subwoofer.

At first I was looking at all of the very fancy audio cards on the market to compliment the audio set up, (and there are some very fancy ones out there!) But decided to see what the motherboards have to offer before going for the seperate audio card. I was delighted to find that the Gigabyte GA-8IPE775 Pro is supplied with a seperate SPDIF (digital Optical) audio output and the board comes with drivers that support 7.1 channel pass through to the amplifier.

After hooking the media centre up and listening to both the cinema quality sound for movies and how both cd's and mp3's sound on the system I have no compulsion to go out and spend more on a seperate audio card, on top of this the ability to have all of my music stored on my server and use media centre to access it without the thought of handling a CD really gives me reason to shout the glories of Media Centre as a truley integrated part of my home theatre / entertainment experience.

Does anyone have any comments about the use of media centre as an integral part of Home Theatre?

Also there are many PC cases now on the market that complement Hi-Fi components so I think we'll probably see more people getting into media centre that probably have very limited knowledge of PC's so there may be a market out there for the Entreprenuerial Audio Consultants to cross over to the PC market and make a few bucks.

Cheers All

Ben

[Mike]

Now that sounds like a real hi-fi system Ben (as we used to call them).* I took exactly the same view, but was quite nervous about MCE's ability to duplicate the music and DVD audio quality that I was used to from a sound system I bought 1n 1996 for $5,200!* Back then I nearly got into a pair of B & W DM6's but the budget wouldn't quite make it so I settled for a pair of Wharfedale Modus One-Threes.

To start with I also went the SPDIF route but maybe it was my mobo - I just couldn't quite "hear" the right sound, especially with DVD 5.1 surround, so I bought a Soundblaster Audigy ZS Platinum Pro and whilst music quality isn't much different, I'm sure there's been an improvement in channel separation in DVD movie audio.

I still have my DVD player, CD player and tape deck in my rack (just in case), but now I run my TV, CD Hi Fi, DVD movies, personal videos and photos (I just love Photo Story 3 - FREE!), through my Media Centre and frankly - pausing, rewinding and fast forwarding live TV still blows me (and my visitors) away!

I totally agree that there's a real market for some creativity in case design.* Right now I think I lack a smaller (secondary) screen for working in the OS given the fuzz using normal TV.* Clearly a plasma/lcd TV would solve that, but I do like JB's set up having the components hidden, so I guess a second screen will become a "must have" by the time I get to that, I do like the Teatro featured on the front page, yes - that would do very nicely.

So which Oz case maker/case importer can duplicate that unit? - I'll buy one tomorrow!

[BenP]

Hi Mike,
I found the same issue with the sound until I upgraded to Power DVD 6, after this is loaded you can go to more programs setting in MCE and you will find a cyberlink control panel that lets you set the audio control from MCE, I have selected SPDIF pass through and have flicked back and forth from my Denon DVD1600 (high end DVD Player) and cannot hear an ounce of difference from both Movie or Audio.

However this is probably only relevant if you have an amplifier/receiver with optical audio in and Dolby Digital Decoding on board. The SPDIF pass through setting removes all encoding or decoding normally done by the PC.

Hey I love the look of the teatro case on the front page. I have a second display set up for normal xp use, but I am thinking about trying to set up the xp remote operation via the network so that I can use my laptop to control all XP functions on the Media Centre, I'll let you know how I go.

Cheers

PS sounds like you have the home theatre bug too!

Keep up the great work with the site it is really coming along nicely...

Cheers

Ben

]

[better]

Most of the top end motherboards have incredible sound. They certainly have SPDIF out (some have SPDIF in) and combined with the software that comes with the motherboard they sound great.

The real problem lies not with the sound quality, but with having a decent video card, TV cards and so on.

----
Luke
www.bettercomputers.com.au

[ExtremePC]

Hi guys,

I thought I'd add something here too, It gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling that there are serious Home Theatre emthusiast among us. Us refering to MCE users. I too went the more serious setup using a high end Onkyo receiver and a set of Wharfdale 5.1 speakers, Video is taken care of by a Sanyo PLV-60 native WS projector with an image set up about 4m wide.

I found the test DVD made by Video Essentials a great tool in setting everything up just right, and so I thought I'd pass the info on. Here is a link to their website. http://www.videoessentials.com/

[arkay]

You're not alone there either.

Have been using an Onkyo TX-DS 777 with 4 x Jensen DX90's (all with inbuilt sub) + 1 big ass center speakers and MCE for while now. Had the Onkyo and Jensens for about 5 years (pre children). Hence why I haven't yet been able to purchase anything better than my Sony Wega 80cm 4:3. Though I do have the home made PJ that throws up a nice 10 foot image

Cheers,
Arkay.

[ozbear]

I have my MCE run into a Yamaha RX-Z1. It is linked via SPDIF to the MCE rig which now
handles most of the playback of everything except Foxtel (separate IQ box for that) and the VCR which is mainly used as a clock these days

I use JMI Labs speakers in a 8.1 configuration.

Video Essentials is useful to get it all balanced.

Oz

[barnsey_00]

This is the big picture for me as well.

I have plans to make my MCE box push the sound out to a kicking theatre system, but i'm not at that stage yet. You have to start at the heart (mce box), then look at the latest home theatre componants offerings.

Anyway just wanted to add my two cents.

[eepunk]

This is almost dated now, but from what I read in a recent review, this new chip is the ducks guts.

From the Creative website. Looks like the average Audigy is about to get a whole lot cheaper.

Ccomponent-wise whether you are thinking of upgrading or even just moving up from AC'97, there are gonna be a whole lot more choices very soon.

E.E.

[ozbear]

Originally Posted by barnsey_00

This is the big picture for me as well.

I have plans to make my MCE box push the sound out to a kicking theatre system, but i'm not at that stage yet. You have to start at the heart (mce box), then look at the latest home theatre componants offerings.

Anyway just wanted to add my two cents.

I disagree with what the "heart" is. In my opinion, the heart of any home theater system is the amp/AV processor. It makes little difference if your MCE rig can process 5, 6, 7, or 8 channel audio if your amp can't drive that many speakers. Ditto for switching video.

Oz

[pabster]

I agree with Ozbear the amp is key.

I'm investigating building my first MCE box and am happy to see the optical audio out is so common in motherboards with built in audio, thanks very much for the post it's a big help.

[AshW]

Guys,

I'm building a new house at the moment just near you BenP! I'm doing the AV and CAT6 install next week! If you'd like to come and be the supervisor let me know as I am only a novice at this!

I'm planning 5.1 in wall speakers in the main room (Jamo have package deal with sub for $1399 at the moment, sound like a good deal?).

Amp - Looking at a Marantz, Onkyo or Yamaha. I would like a second zone if possible.

My question is - Do you guys run the DVI output through the A/V reciever then to the TV or direct from the PC to the TV?

Cheers,

Ash

[GlenR]

What a great thread. I have a real interest in this area as I love my home theatre and actually do DVD reviews for a web site. As such audio and video quality are really important to me. I did assume that, once I take the MCE plunge (if I do - see the emerald thread ), I would continue to do my reviews on my dedicated DVD player but now I'm rethinking that.

Using an Abit AN8 Ultra MoBo with the SPDIF output should give as good a sound as my Yamaha amp can give I think, the only other concern is video quality. If I play a DVD via an MCE box's dvd drive, will I get the best possible video, and if so what brands should be looked at (or avoided)?

BTW, good luck with the network / AV distribution install Ash. Love to hear how it goes and what you ended up installing.