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[madbrain]

I have an nVidia GT1030 GPU in my HTPC with latest drivers (388.71) . It's hooked up to a Marantz SR7011 AVR via HDMI (2.0) .
Using the WASAPI device in MC23, if I enabled bit streaming, all playback of compressed high definition audio failed - such as DTS-HD or Dolby TrueHD from Blu-ray. I got a pop-up dialog from MC.

Finally, after much googling, I found a recommendation to enable disable WASAPI event style for old devices. That actually fixed the bit streaming for me.
But this is off by default.

The GT1030 is not an old device, rather, a fairly new GPU, so I find it odd that I had to enable this setting. Other apps like PowerDVD (I have old version 14 paid, also 17 trial) have no problem bitstreaming without having to mess with device settings, other than enabling bitstreaming itself.
Would be nice if MC bitstreaming could work without tinkering too.

[JimH]

Event Style has been the default for WASAPI in MC for several years.  The checkbox in Audio > Device Settings allows you to disable it.

[madbrain]

Event Style has been the default for WASAPI in MC for several years.  The checkbox in Audio > Device Settings allows you to disable it.

Thanks. I'm glad that is the case. I hadn't tried to uninstall/reinstall to check that. But somehow it wasn't set on my system with MC23. Maybe something happened as a result of the upgrade process if defaults were changed at some point.

[JimH]

It was probably using the setting from a previous version you installed.  MC won't change it.

[fitbrit]

OP, can you clarify whether things worked with event style disabled or enabled, please?
Some old devices want event style disabled, and what you wrote is confusing here. Certainly the Marantz isn't an older device, and it uses the same class of DAC chip as another system I had trouble with recently.

[Hendrik]

Note that event style or not would depend on your graphics card driver (or more generically, the audio device driver in the PC), not whichever device was hooked up down the line through HDMI.

[madbrain]

OP, can you clarify whether things worked with event style disabled or enabled, please?
Some old devices want event style disabled, and what you wrote is confusing here. Certainly the Marantz isn't an older device, and it uses the same class of DAC chip as another system I had trouble with recently.

Yes. I should have posted while I was actually on the machine experiencing the issue so I could report the problem accurately.

The settings that work for me for bitstreaming are the ones pictured in the attachments, ie. with the checkbox "disable event style (required by older hardware)" checked. I believe this is not the default setting.
I have also attached some relevant screenshots of device manager and driver versions.
If I uncheck the checkbox, bitstreaming does not work and I get the error dialog pictured in the last screenshot. It took me quite a bit of googling to figure out the setting that needed to be changed - it was in the WASAPI device settings, not in DSP studio.

I have upgraded software and hardware a lot in the last year on my HTPC, so hard to say what settings worked before, but I don't recall ever having to check this box before.

My HTPC used to be on Win7 with a GT430 and then GT630 GPU. It was upgraded in the last year to Windows 10 and a GT1030 .
Receiver used to be a Yamaha RX-A1000 but is now a Marantz SR7011.

The oldest component is probably the CPU which is an old AMD FX-8120. But hey, at least it's not vulnerable to Meltdown. I have a 17 year old LSI PCI SCSI card too in that box.

I think most likely it was an nVidia driver HDMI update that broke the bit streaming with JRiver Media center and caused the non-default setting to be required. I was using PowerDVD most of the time for Blu-rays and Media Center for audio - I am trying to use Media center for all now.

If anyone at JRiver has a recent (1000 series) nVidia card with AVR, it would be nice to see if that issue can be reproduced and maybe have the software work out of the box with bitstreaming.

[madbrain]

Event Style has been the default for WASAPI in MC for several years.  The checkbox in Audio > Device Settings allows you to disable it.

Actually, it turned out I misreported the issue initially - I have to disable WASAPI event style to get HDMI bitstreaming to work with my GT1030, ie. I have to check that checkbox .

[fitbrit]

I have a GTX1070 in one of my HTPCs. It works fine with event style enabled (box unchecked). It worked fine with the box checked too. Connected to an Onkyo TX NR-3010 receiver via HDMI. Bitstreaming worked just fine in either mode.

[madbrain]

I have a GTX1070 in one of my HTPCs. It works fine with event style enabled (box unchecked). It worked fine with the box checked too. Connected to an Onkyo TX NR-3010 receiver via HDMI. Bitstreaming worked just fine in either mode.

Which version of the nVidia drivers are you using ?

And what content are you bitstreaming ?

I only get the error if I try to bitstream compressed formats like DD, DTS, etc and the box is unchecked.
For playing PCM content, I don't get error. Ie. Media Center can bitstream PCM regardless of the checkbox setting, but it cannot bitstream these other formats unless the box is checked.

[fitbrit]

Which version of the nVidia drivers are you using ?

And what content are you bitstreaming ?

I only get the error if I try to bitstream compressed formats like DD, DTS, etc and the box is unchecked.
For playing PCM content, I don't get error. Ie. Media Center can bitstream PCM regardless of the checkbox setting, but it cannot bitstream these other formats unless the box is checked.

The device manager says driver version is 23.21.13.8813
I know that's not the format most people quote when listing their drivers.
I tested using 8-channel DTS-HD MA

Using LPCM is not bitstreaming in this use of the term, as the sound track is already PCM and there is no need to decode/decompress.

[madbrain]

The device manager says driver version is 23.21.13.8813

OK. I am on 23.21.13.8871 . This is the driver for the Geforce.
There is another driver for nVidia HDMI audio , which is 1.3.35.1 .
See my screenshots posted earlier.
I think I am on slightly newer drivers than you are. But the bit streaming never worked with the default settings in MC since the day I got the card. I only figured out how to fix it recently , by checking the box.

Using LPCM is not bitstreaming in this use of the term, as the sound track is already PCM and there is no need to decode/decompress.

That could be argued. IMO the term "bit streaming" can still be used even for PCM, if it means the PCM stream does not get modified in any way (no software volume control, software effects, etc, just straight passthrough). Of course from the hardware point of view, there is no difference whether a modified or unmodified PCM stream gets passed.

I only mentioned this because PCM works for me when "HDMI bitstreaming" is selected and regardless of the "WASAPI event style" checkbox, but the compressed formats don't.

Maybe this bug is specific to my combination of GT1030 / Marantz SR7011 receiver / nVidia driver version / Media Center. Either way, it means I had to tinker with MC settings to get it fixed. Would be nice if the responsible party could at least be identified so the bug could be reported.

[fitbrit]

I just upgraded to the latest drivers from a few days ago. The audio driver is now newer than the one you showed. Same deal - all worked for bitstreaming, with or without event style.

[madbrain]

I just upgraded to the latest drivers from a few days ago. The audio driver is now newer than the one you showed. Same deal - all worked for bitstreaming, with or without event style.

Sigh. I guess the nVidia driver is not the same for the 1030 as the 1070, though the package appears to be. Are you on Windows 10 also ?
Apparently a new nVidia package version 390.65 came out on 1/8, and I don't think I have that one.  Will try it now.

I don't know what else could be different between our systems. Maybe some other software setting.

Obviously, we have different receivers. I could try hooking up the HTPC to my old Yamaha receiver, since I still have it - right now it's just used as a secondary amp for the last 2 channels, but I have also set it up as a switch to give 7 more HDMI 1.x inputs to feed back into the main receiver. ... I will lose 4K when trying this, and the signal will go through 2 HDMI receivers vs just one.

[madbrain]

Sigh. I guess the nVidia driver is not the same for the 1030 as the 1070, though the package appears to be. Are you on Windows 10 also ?
Apparently a new nVidia package version 390.65 came out on 1/8, and I don't think I have that one.  Will try it now.

Tried 390.65 and that was no help.

Obviously, we have different receivers. I could try hooking up the HTPC to my old Yamaha receiver, since I still have it - right now it's just used as a secondary amp for the last 2 channels, but I have also set it up as a switch to give 7 more HDMI 1.x inputs to feed back into the main receiver. ... I will lose 4K when trying this, and the signal will go through 2 HDMI receivers vs just one.

Tried it this way too, no help. The audio device was still listed as "Marantz" in Mediacenter, even though the PC was connected to the Yamaha AVR, which was then connected to the Marantz AVR. I guess only the final AVR in the HDMI chain "counts".