5450 HTPC Help!

[anttotarella]

I was looking to changing the graphics card in my HTPC from a X1650 to a HD 5450 since now I got a 4 year old 5.1 sound system from my dad. I know that the HD 5450 supports bitstreaming over HDMI but I know that my sound system does not support that and I don't have a BluRay reader so it isn't needed. Now my question was if I had the HDMI go from the 5450 to my Sony Bravia TV and then connect the Optical audio out from the TV to the Panasonic 5.1 receiver would I be able to get 5.1 sound(not hi-def albeit)?

By the way, the receiver supports DTS 5.1, Dolby Digital Pro Logic II 5.1.

Thanks in advance.

PS: I also looked into the idea of just adding a sound card that supports Optical out but if the 5450 supports what I asked than it would make more sense to get it since I could have better quality over HDMI than VGA.

 

[rwpritchett]

It will depend on your TV model. Some pass through the 5.1 just fine. Some (like my older Samsung), will not and instead downsample to 2-channel stereo.

 

[nforce4max]

This is why I am glad having landed a XFX 780i for peanuts ($38.77 us) since it has optical audio out. The AP (above poster) has good advice as to get this working so I'll loiter for now till I have better input.