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 taking full advantage of Dolby TrueHD / DTS-HD Master Audio, 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]

[The Apple @ Jun 5th 2008 8:40AM]

Looks Sweet with case. Hope it sounds good.

[I LOVE THE CAPS LOCK KEY @ Jun 5th 2008 8:42AM]

Too bad it doesn't work with a MAC; it barely works with Vista.

[The Apple @ Jun 5th 2008 9:17AM]

How does it feel???

[Richard Lai @ Jun 5th 2008 9:21AM]

@I LOVE THE CAPS LOCK KEY: yeah, like you'd know, as a Mac user.

[I LOVE THE CAPS LOCK KEY @ Jun 6th 2008 12:26AM]

I am typing this message using Windows XP and haven't used a MAC since 1989.

[looseinthedeuce @ Jun 5th 2008 8:42AM]

But will it work with my current version of PowerDVD? And is it safe to assume the HDMI from a video card is looped back in?

[hlidotbe @ Jun 5th 2008 9:46AM]

Since one of the HDMI port is "in" I would say yes.

[looseinthedeuce @ Jun 5th 2008 8:53AM]

Looks like it might come with fully functional Blu-ray software...? That would be just too nutty if actually true.

[zargon @ Jun 5th 2008 8:52AM]

What, no display port or even better, some brand new propritarty DRM ladden connection?!?

[Zach @ Jun 5th 2008 9:16AM]

I don't quite get this. So it's a combo HDMI 1.3a compliant audio / video enhancement card. So how does the video side work of it? Someone please explain. Thanks.

[Neeko @ Jun 5th 2008 9:16AM]

Iam confused. I have a HTPC setup already. Where does the HDMI out go to? MY TV only has two HDMI ports. ONe used for Directv and OTHer used by my video card DVI-HDMI.

[Josh Warner @ Jun 5th 2008 9:20AM]

See the 2 HDMI ports? It's a loopback, it takes the video HDMI from the video card and adds audio to it.

That said, I don't want anything on my computer compliant with the latest "MAFIAA F**k Me Over Technology" (TM) (C) (R), so I'll pass on this crap.

[Erwos @ Jun 5th 2008 9:19AM]

From what I understand, you would loop your video card's DVI-HDMI (I hope it has HDCP!) output into this card's HDMI input, and then take the output from this card into your HDTV.

[Jason @ Jun 5th 2008 9:20AM]

It takes the places of your video card connection on your TV. The video card gets plugged into this asus card and then one cable carrying audio and video come out from the asus card to the TV.

[dj496 @ Jun 5th 2008 9:21AM]

I want this, so bad.

[Neeko @ Jun 5th 2008 9:35AM]

Thanks guys.. This has to be the first time someone asked a questions and got an honestly good adult answer back..

OK now this seems like the best thing since sliced bread.. now all i need is a PCI-e mobo..lol

Yeah yeah im still runnin on AGP..Radeon 3850AGP. which is a great card.

How much and when can i get it?

[dj-kenpo @ Jun 5th 2008 9:40AM]

I hope more companies make high end consumer grade fluff sound acards to knock creative out of the water.

after the last driver fiasco I just want them to burn and die and get buried.

all I see is a black and glod card that looks fancy, which is pretty much creatives trademark. so go asus, step in.

[McSwindle @ Jun 5th 2008 10:16AM]

Does anyone know if this can encode games to digital 5/7.1 on the fly, i.e. Dolby Digital Live?

If so this would be a seriously good buy.

[Peter @ Jun 5th 2008 11:19AM]

McSwindle asked "Does anyone know if this can encode games to digital 5/7.1 on the fly".

It's sound output is HDMI, which supports 5.1 or 7.1 PCM (digital). There's no need to encode it to something lossy like Dobly Digital or DTS.

[McSwindle @ Jun 5th 2008 12:38PM]

Yeh but isn't it the same as having an optical output which doesn't necessarily mean that 2.1 sources will be upconverted to 5.1?

[Mark @ Jun 5th 2008 3:01PM]

Would this card be HDCP compliant? Every link along the chain has to be HDCP compliant otherwise the video is downgraded..

[kapochek @ Jun 8th 2008 6:17PM]

Of course it would be HDCP compliant. In order for any TrueHD or DTS-HD signal to be used, all checkpoints in the path( including the cable), must meet the (minimum) full HDMI 1.3a standard which forces HDCP. This is the only reason that no sound cards to date (even the highest-end 7.1) have been capable of these standards. The standard does not allow for THD/ DTS-HD over any other media (optical, coax, component), because then you could (illegally, sic) steal the signal. F***'n DRM!

[man berry @ Jun 16th 2008 5:21PM]

The benefit of purchasing a likely expensive audio card like this? The ability to see and listen to a disk the way it was designed to be enjoyed. Something seems a little f*'d up about this.

You know, I never did anything that violated the DMCA until just recently when I couldn't f*ing hear the audio on a BluRay disk I purchased from Best Buy. I had to download some crap from a Hungarian web site that somehow allowed me to play my disk as it is supposed to on my Linux machine.

DRM doesn't prevent piracy, it prevents sales. I'm not buying any more BluRay disks until they pull that s* off so we can enjoy the products we buy without all this hassle.