MSI intros new motherboard with True Blu-ray audio support
By Steven Kim 
posted May 3rd 2009 12:16PM
posted May 3rd 2009 12:16PM
If you're building out your own HTPC rig, add the new MSI X58 Pro-E motherboard to the list of contenders for your dollars. The board packs an Intel X58 Northbridge / ICH10R Southbridge combo alongside Realtek ALC889 audio to deliver "True Blu-ray" audio. It's not terribly clear exactly how the marketing-speak plays out, but between the 24-bit, 192kHz audio specs and our cynical selves, we'd wager that this is all about sending Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD MA downstream via LPCM rather than bitstream. All things considered, that's not a bad way to go (and not without precedent), but we'd really like bitstreaming support for HTPCs that's a little more streamlined than the current offerings; we want to see the fancy logos we paid for in our receivers light up, after all!
I just read the specs, no HDMI. FAIL.
Agreed. FAIL.
read the X58 chipset specs. no integrated video. it targets enthusiasts who are using discrete graphics. using an i7 for integrated video is so much overkill (and needless amounts of heat and/or power consumption at idle) it's not even funny. you could offload 1080p AVC decoding onto a (high low end or low midrange) HD3000+ or Geforce 8000+ and run an Athlon 64 3000/Pentium 1000/2000 series.
Agreed. Before I clicked on comments, I got a little excited until I found a hi-res image here sans HDMI:
http://media.photobucket.com/image/X58%20Pro-E%20Mainboard/tititeahenry/MSI-News/MSI-X58M-3D.jpg
Unless a mobo has HDMI and offers non-downsampled audio during 24p video playback and play Blu audio with no downsampling and have TrueHD, DTS-HD Master Audio bitstream, then FAIL. And by the way, where the hell is Auzentech with their magical HDMI solution that was supposed to materialize in October 2008?
Looks like it decodes the BD advanced audio codecs internally, and outputs them over 7.1 analog.
I'd really prefer to see a solution that decodes to bitstream and sends it out over your video card's HDMI output. Maybe someday.
I still think having decoding capability in the receiver is a waste. That's old school thinking.
$200 motherboard / $300-500 up to $800 (for a "somewhat sane" A/V amp) ... there's a bit more room for a higher quality DAC on the A/V amp.
i wouldn't expect HDMI on a mobo (at least til the HD4000 hits mobos or a GeForce 9400+ ever does hit LGA1366). it would be better on a discrete graphics solution...
Analog. Xonar is my solution, but keeping an eye out.
"All things considered, that it's a bad way to go (or wihout precedent)"
Even if we were to ignore the misspelling of the word 'without', that sentence doesn't really make much sense.
I think you meant to say, "All things considered, that's not a bad way to go (or without precedent)"
Thanks - fixed.
I'm not sure if I am the only one, but, I am just waiting for motherboards to start coming out with a higher maximum bandwidth so when the 8 core processors start coming out from Intel, the motherboard won't be bottlenecking it. I think at the moment, the current standard is 4.0GT/Sec?
I forget the exact units but 8 would be preferably if your going to double the cores and that or some kind of guarantee from the motherboard manufacturer it would work with 8 core processors. 4 cores would probably do be plenty, but, I already have a 4 core Q9550 and going from a 4 core to a 20% better 4 core processor doens't seem worth buying a whole new motherboard, new ram, new power supply, new case(might as well), etc.
In that case, I'm virtually making a new build and if I am making a new build, I want it to at least be twice as fast as my old pc. 20% faster cores + double the cores would do the trick for sure probably.
And how is this new MSI? Most motherboard manufacturers use the ALC889 chipset already. No software player can take advantage of Realtek's proprietary driver. Cyberlink and Corel have stated they will support the chipset in a future update to their current products. ArcSoft has yet to commit anything, as they still support the Xonar.
sweet
FAIL, Asus already offers mobos with HDMI. I have on for my HTPC that streams LPCM through HDMI to my receiver.
HDMI? That is a fail? Whatever. I use the HDMI on my Video card. The Mobo is a sweet deal for the included specs.
Overzealous fail fail.