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[phil1331]

Hello all, any help on this topic greatly appreciated.

Bottom line:
When I try to play my music (collection of FLAC and MP3 files, at various bitrates), Media Center occasionally says Playback Problem: Play back could not be started on the output 'XYC' using format 'ABC'.  The mixing format of your hardware does not support the current output format."  And then sometimes a recommendation to use a different driver or mixing format.

I'm using MC26, Win10 64-bit, and a SoundBlasterX AE-5.  But to be honest, I saw it even before MC26 (and before MC24 before that), and before I got the SoundBlaster AE-5. 

I know the "XYC" and "ABC" above are important.  But that's where it get weird, and why this problem is so frustrating -- it appears to happen randomly, no matter which drivers I use (ASIO, WASAPI, DirectSound).  Two days ago, I was using WASAPI and it worked, then I read that ASIO was potentially better (but required hardware that supported it) so I tried that.  AE-5 ASIO has the "AE series ASIO" and "ASIO AE DSD" -- tried both -- both worked.  Used those for a day.  Changed nothing, but the next day, I got the Playback Error above, no matter what source music I selected.  Swtiched back to WASAPI.... then WASAPI didn't work.  Same error.  Gave up and did other things.  Tried again today (changed nothing, just started MediaCenter) and ASIO works again, but WASAPI still doesn't... 

I've seen this pattern for years.  Every couple days or weeks, I need to shuffle through all the options under "Audio Device" in Options to get something that works.  Saw it with earlier versions of MC, different sound cards, and entirely different computers (but all Win10).

In theory, the same music file, using the same hardware, and using the same settings, should work consistently, I would think.

Can anyone explain why this happens (and with such a wide range of hardware)?  And why a particular selection starts and stops working, even when nothing at all changes?

Thanks for any advice.
     

[JimH]

You can use MC's DSP Studio > Output Format to force everything to some bitrate / samplerate that the device plays well.

https://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Output_Format

[phil1331]

Hi Jim,

Thanks for the response.  Unfortunately, the source and output format settings don't help.  The same source material, with the same Output Format settings, with the same hardware, with the same option selected under 'Audio Device', works one day and then, another day, gives the error in my original post.  That's the confusing part. 

I'm successfully (right now) using "Creative SB/SBX AE Series (ASIO)" to play a 44.1 kHz /16 bit FLAC file (Coldplay song).  Output is set at 44.1 kHz / 32 bit.  It's working.  Switching to WASAPI fails, but the same file, with same settings, worked yesterday for WASAPI but not ASIO.

Is there a universal setting for DSP studio that should work, for all source material, using the ASIO audio device? 

I'm definitely ignorant of the details of this.  I just don't understand why I'd get the "Playback Error", playing the same song, without adjusting the settings, when I just close and reopen MC the following day.

Thanks





   

   

[Matt]

Check for updated drivers.  Seems like a device being overly picky.

[RoderickGI]

I'm using MC26, Win10 64-bit, and a SoundBlasterX AE-5.  But to be honest, I saw it even before MC26 (and before MC24 before that), and before I got the SoundBlaster AE-5. 

I've seen this pattern for years.  Every couple days or weeks, I need to shuffle through all the options under "Audio Device" in Options to get something that works.  Saw it with earlier versions of MC, different sound cards, and entirely different computers (but all Win10).

In theory, the same music file, using the same hardware, and using the same settings, should work consistently, I would think.

Can anyone explain why this happens (and with such a wide range of hardware)?  And why a particular selection starts and stops working, even when nothing at all changes?

If these statements are correct, I would say that there is a 110% chance that you have some other software on the PC that is locking whatever output device you are using in Exclusive Mode, and therefore preventing MC from accessing it.

Next time this start happening, simply reboot the PC and see if the problem goes away.

If not, start investigating which other applications might be locking the output device.

Another approach would be to set the Windows Default Audio Device to something other than the SoundBlasterX AE-5, and MC to use the SoundBlasterX AE-5 in Exclusive Mode, whether ASIO or WASAPI.

[phil1331]

Thanks Matt and Roderick for your suggestions.  Sorry for the deal in my response.

I saw the same behavior once or twice in last few weeks, but generally the WASAPI was working -- once or twice I had to switch it around a bit.

Drivers seem to be up to date. 

I'll investigate, based upon Roderick's suggestion.  If some other software is locking the output device, would I receive the "this device isn't compatible" error message, rather than a "something else is using the device" error?

[wer]

If some other software is locking the output device, would I receive the "this device isn't compatible" error message, rather than a "something else is using the device" error?

The other possibility is that other software might have locked the device at a certain sample rate or number of channels.  You could identify this case, when you start getting this error, by trying playback at different sampling rates; if one of them works, it's the sampling rate that's locked, not the device.

But regardless, there's some other piece of software provoking it, as Rod said.