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Author Topic: why is bit-streaming not recommended?  (Read 3121 times)

suppersready

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why is bit-streaming not recommended?
« on: June 27, 2012, 10:36:07 am »

Playing with the video settings, i see bitstreaming unchecked is recommended.

Why is this?

I use an hdmi receiver with surround sound and would like to use it. Doesn't unchecking it cause the sound to be decoded and outputted as stereo? why would any one want this? Obviously, if you don't have a dac capable of decoding the various formats then you'd want it off -- maybe that's what "recommended" refers to?

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Matt

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Re: why is bit-streaming not recommended?
« Reply #1 on: June 27, 2012, 10:41:09 am »

Welcome.

In my opinion, there's no reason to bitstream if you use HDMI.  If you bitstream, it disables any audio handling on the computer.

The computer is the best possible decoder, and using the computer to decode allows using VideoClock, internal volume, JRSS, room correction, bass management, volume smoothed pause and resume, etc.

There's a little more detail here:
http://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Audio_Connection_Type
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Matt Ashland, JRiver Media Center

Jong

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Re: why is bit-streaming not recommended?
« Reply #2 on: June 27, 2012, 10:47:54 am »

Others may have other reasons but this is why I don't like bit streaming:

- if you use HDMI for audio you can pass uncompressed multi-channel PCM audio to your receiver. Unlike with old s/pdif you do not need to bitstream to send full quality multi-channel audio.
- blu-ray formats used are almost always lossless. It makes no difference if they are decoded by your receiver or your PC. The result is exactly the same for True-HD provided you use red October and is for DTS-HD too if you have the Arcsoft DTS-HD decoder.
- PC graphics cards almost always have somewhat inaccurate clocks, which normally will lead to dropped repeated frames every few minutes, seen as judder. If you use red October HQ with non-bitstream audio then MC can subtly adjust video and audio timing (videoclock) to keep playback perfectly smooth for hours/days. It cannot do this with bitstreamed audio.

The big caveat, IMO, is you need that Arcsoft DTS-HD decoder. I would not want to lose high-def DTS audio. DTS is by far the most common audio format on blu-ray.
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lockdown571

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Re: why is bit-streaming not recommended?
« Reply #3 on: June 27, 2012, 10:53:40 am »

The big caveat, IMO, is you need that Arcsoft DTS-HD decoder. I would not want to lose high-def DTS audio. DTS is by far the most common audio format on blu-ray.

Can you clarify? Does JRiver not decode DTS-HD by itself? Do I need to put the DTS-HD decoder file from TMT5 (I have a copy) somewhere for JRiver to use it?
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CountryBumkin

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Re: why is bit-streaming not recommended?
« Reply #4 on: June 27, 2012, 10:55:56 am »



The big caveat, IMO, is you need that Arcsoft DTS-HD decoder. I would not want to lose high-def DTS audio. DTS is by far the most common audio format on blu-ray.

and you can get this decoder "free" - you just need to add it to your system files.
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Matt

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Re: why is bit-streaming not recommended?
« Reply #5 on: June 27, 2012, 10:56:23 am »

Can you clarify? Does JRiver not decode DTS-HD by itself? Do I need to put the DTS-HD decoder file from TMT5 (I have a copy) somewhere for JRiver to use it?

http://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Blu-ray#Decoding_for_DTS-HD
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Matt Ashland, JRiver Media Center

suppersready

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Re: why is bit-streaming not recommended?
« Reply #6 on: June 27, 2012, 10:58:05 am »

My concern was that my computer would decode the audio into stereo and i would lose multichannel. I guess not though, since you say "uncompressed multi-channel PCM audio to your receiver"

Do i just need to make sure my receiver is set to multichannel audio then? I have a denon receiver.
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Jong

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Re: why is bit-streaming not recommended?
« Reply #7 on: June 27, 2012, 10:58:53 am »

Can you clarify? Does JRiver not decode DTS-HD by itself? Do I need to put the DTS-HD decoder file from TMT5 (I have a copy) somewhere for JRiver to use it?
Without the Arcsoft decoder JRiver only decodes the DTS core. I.e. the lossy, old-style, DVD-quality audio stream. Still multi-channel, but not HD.

Matt's link tells you where to put it.
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Jong

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Re: why is bit-streaming not recommended?
« Reply #8 on: June 27, 2012, 11:02:09 am »

My concern was that my computer would decode the audio into stereo and i would lose multichannel. I guess not though, since you say "uncompressed multi-channel PCM audio to your receiver"

Do i just need to make sure my receiver is set to multichannel audio then? I have a denon receiver.
In JRiver's audio settings you need to set to 5.1, 6.1 or 7.1 channels. I have a Denon too and personally I prefer to send all 7.1 channels, if available, to my amp, and let the Denon manage the channel mapping to my 5.1 speakers.
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suppersready

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Re: why is bit-streaming not recommended?
« Reply #9 on: June 27, 2012, 11:07:31 am »

Thanks.

do you guys output in 24p for bluray/mkv? Tried it and found audio went out of sync pretty bad.



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lockdown571

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Re: why is bit-streaming not recommended?
« Reply #10 on: June 27, 2012, 12:43:36 pm »

Thanks.

do you guys output in 24p for bluray/mkv? Tried it and found audio went out of sync pretty bad.





I've been playing in 24p fine. No audio/video sync issues here, and I was using bitstreaming. I guess I should probably disable bistreaming, although I'm tempted to keep using it if no problems arise.
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suppersready

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Re: why is bit-streaming not recommended?
« Reply #11 on: June 27, 2012, 03:15:06 pm »

In JRiver's audio settings you need to set to 5.1, 6.1 or 7.1 channels. I have a Denon too and personally I prefer to send all 7.1 channels, if available, to my amp, and let the Denon manage the channel mapping to my 5.1 speakers.

so you have the output format to "Channels: source number of channels" and Directsound settings to "Default Channels"
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Jong

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Re: why is bit-streaming not recommended?
« Reply #12 on: June 27, 2012, 03:55:44 pm »

I use WASAPI. Totally bypasses Windows audio processing.
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NickF

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Re: why is bit-streaming not recommended?
« Reply #13 on: June 28, 2012, 03:35:02 am »

so you have the output format to "Channels: source number of channels" and Directsound settings to "Default Channels"

Yes, set it to source number of channels.  Don't choose a specific number of channels, particularly if you listen to stereo music, otherwise that will be converted to multi-channel too, which you don't want.

For Directsound, avoid if possible, depending on what your receiver or DAC supports.  Take a look at the wiki here:
http://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Audio_Output_Modes

Nick.
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