Skip to Content

Massively looks at the best free to play games
AOL Tech

XonarHdav1.3 posts

S1Digital to roll out Xonar-equipped HTPCs

S1Digital P500 HTPC
We've seen (and heard) ASUS's Xonar HDAV1.3 HDMI card that is able to pass along lossless digital Blu-ray audio up close and personal, so it was only a matter of time before the hardware found its way into a custom-install HTPC. In this case, the first to market might just be S1Digital's P500 Media Center HTPC. As we said after our demo at CES, the ArcSoft + Xonar setup is a little involved, so it's probably a good fit for the custom-install world where integration legwork carries a high premium. S1Digital's free Windows 7 upgrade offer will remove the "instantly obsolete" barrier to entry, so really the only one remaining is that pesky $6,000 entry price. Any other OEMs are welcome to jump in and try to beat S1Digital to market, but we wouldn't count on a much cheaper option just yet.

ASUS demos Xonar HDAV1.3 HDMI Deluxe sound card


One might assume that it'd be easy to forget a device that was introduced way back at the front end of this year, but for HTPC owners looking for a reliable way to bitstream Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio via HDMI, this one would be impossible to shake from the memory bank. Reportedly, the card went on sale (at least in some parts of the globe) this September, but early adopters were deeply saddened by the unit's inability to bitstream. Thankfully, ASUS has heard the weeping, and it has conjured up new drivers (and the Xonar HDAV1.3 HDMI Deluxe) in order to remedy the issue. The crew at TweakTown was able to video a live demonstration in Taiwan, and they came away emphatically impressed. Shoot on down to the read link for a look at what they found.

ASUS intros HDMI-equipped Xonar HDAV1.3 sound card


Worried about getting lossless digital audio from your BD-playin' HTPC via HDMI, are you? Fret no longer, as ASUS has just introduced your solution at Computex. Hailed as the "world's first HDMI 1.3a compliant audio / video enhancement combo card," the Xonar HDAV1.3 is both Protected Audio Playback Systems (PAPS) and Advanced Access Content System (AACS) certified, enabling it to pipe out bitstreamed multi-channel HD audio from Blu-ray Discs through a single cable. Yep, with some help of a special version of ArcSoft's TotalMedia Theater, it's also fully capable of decoding BD titles and taking full advantage of Dolby TrueHD / DTS-HD Master Audio -- not limited to 16bit like previous solutions -- and just so you know, the firm is also offering up a Xonar HDAV1.3 Deluxe (shown after the cut) which allows users to get 7.1-channels of audio the analog way. Pricing? Pssh -- this is ASUS we're talking about here.

[Via DailyTech]




    AOL News

    Other Weblogs Inc. Network blogs you might be interested in: