ASUS Debuts Worlds First HDMIReady Sound Card

The Xonar HDAV1.3 can decode lossless audio formats from Blu-ray films including Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio at 24-bit, 96-192 Khz. The card runs on a PCI Express x1 slot and can deliver up to 7.1 surround sound.

http://www.dailytech.com/ASUS+Debuts+Worlds+First+HDMIReady+Sound+Card/article11987c.htm

Finally a real lossless digital solution for htpcs. :yippee:

Let me get this straight. This is a sound card with video capabilities? I have been away from computer hardware for way too long.:o :helpme

To handle the video portion of Blu-ray discs ASUS integrates a Splendid HD video processor that provides a clear image form Blu-ray titles without having to rely on the CPU of a computer.

This means that users of desktop systems that don’t have a discrete graphics card or a high-end CPU can enjoy Blu-ray movies and high definition sound by installing one card into their computers.

Actually i think it is the first videocard with full HDMI support. :D From what i read in the article, it has the video hardware acceleration chip that has been available for Ati cards for about a year now. And "real" HDMI high-res audio.

The video cards so far didn't have "real" HDMI. There was a dongle that added the limited spdif audio to the DVI video signal. Sort of a "fake" HDMI, that wasn't able to do bitstream or multichannel PCM. Until now you had to use analog outputs to have high res multi channel audio on a htpc.

So basicly now you can connect the pc to a receiver / HDTV like you would with a standalone player with HDMI out, and get all the high res audio goodness. :thumbsup: