I am looking into backing-up my blu-ray movies as mkv, avi or mpg files with HD audio (dts-hd, dolby trueHD, etc.) I have a dell M1130 laptop (w/HDMI1.3 out & SigmaTel HD on-board soundcard) and want to play the mkv, avi, or mpg files through my Pioneer vsx-21txh AV Receiver via hdmi to get the HD audio. Will I need special software to playback the HD audio? Thanks in advance!
I don't think that you will need any other softwares to play the audio file to get the HD audio output, as you have already converted the music files to an extension that's recognised by the receiver. Just connect it and see if your receiver is compatible to play the avi and mkv files specifically as there are some that don't support these two music files.