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[TheShoe]

I've noticed JRiver does not adjust the output to match the source for video, e.g. I play back 24Hz video but the display stays locked at 60Hz (which is what the Mac Mini is configured for; however i would think JRiver would adjust the refresh rate as other media players do to match the source).

In regards to Audio, I have several 2.0 and 5.1 channel flac files in various sample rates.  The sample rates are always correct but the output channels are always locked to "7.1" which is my setup, but should JRiver not set the output channels to match the source?

This is less a problem than the video refresh rate however.

--

Kudos on subtitles by the way

[Arindelle]

Hi not a video geek, but for your audio you should (depending on your audio system) be able to set this up by creating different zones and then setting up a zoneswitch rule.

Note/ not on Mac I'm just assuming that DSP/zoneswitch is now part of your audio settings options. I might be misleading you so sorry in advance if this is the case

[JohnT]

If you're using DSP - Output Format you can select channels to be "Source number of channels".

[DocPMD]

I have the same questions - doesn't appear that the questions were really answered.

In DSP - Output Format I have it set to "Source number of channels" and it still outputs everything as 7.1 over HDMI.

And the video output is locked at the desktop resolution/refresh of 1080p/60. I want the video to match the source, but can't find a way to change that.

I'm brand new to JRiver, and this may be a deal killer for me if there is no way to change this.

[JimH]

I have the same questions - doesn't appear that the questions were really answered.

In DSP - Output Format I have it set to "Source number of channels" and it still outputs everything as 7.1 over HDMI.

Is the receiver set correctly?  It may be doing this.

Did you also turn on the DSP?  You need to check the box.

And the video output is locked at the desktop resolution/refresh of 1080p/60. I want the video to match the source, but can't find a way to change that.

The video should change automatically.  What is your setup?

[DocPMD]

Is the receiver set correctly.  It may be doing this.

Did you also turn on the DSP?  You need to check the box.The video should change automatically.  What is your setup?

Not sure exactly what you mean by "setup" but I think this is what you mean: I have a 2015 Mac Mini running the latest OS X connected via HDMI to an Emotiva XMC-1. Desktop resolution is set to 1080p/60Hz and output device in the sound control panel is set to HDMI.

One point of reference is that I currently run Plex on the Mac Mini and it has no problem changing the video resolution properly. Frankly, I'm happy with Plex, but I'm considering migrating to JRiver for two reasons: main reason is that I'd like to try running Acourate filters, and the second is that it would get me away from having to use a different program for music. I currently use Audirvana for music.

I may not have checked the box on DSP, but I think I did. I checked the "Output Format" box in the DSP Studio window. Is there another box to check?

As far as receiver setup goes, it automatically adjusts to whatever audio signal it gets. I'm confident it is set up correctly.

I should also probably mention that I tried changing to send the audio as bitstream from JRiver and that didn't work, either. Plex works either way - I can send LPCM or bitstream without problems. So that tells me that there isn't an inherent problem with the Mac or the receiver.

I appreciate your help.

[blgentry]

Disclaimer:  I use my Macbook Pro with it's built in display:  No external monitor.

I don't think the video resolution mapping functions do anything in the Mac version of MC21.  But you can try them on your system and see.  On my system, I don't have any options.  It just says "Desktop settings" in all of the pulldown menus.  Go here to check yours:

Tools > Options > Video > Display Settings

Brian.

[DocPMD]

Disclaimer:  I use my Macbook Pro with it's built in display:  No external monitor.

I don't think the video resolution mapping functions do anything in the Mac version of MC21.  But you can try them on your system and see.  On my system, I don't have any options.  It just says "Desktop settings" in all of the pulldown menus.  Go here to check yours:

Tools > Options > Video > Display Settings

Brian.

Yes, I see the same thing. But since the program is supposed to automatically change the resolution, I just figured I must have a setting goofed up somewhere.

[JimH]

Not sure exactly what you mean by "setup" but I think this is what you mean: I have a 2015 Mac Mini running the latest OS X connected via HDMI to an Emotiva XMC-1. Desktop resolution is set to 1080p/60Hz and output device in the sound control panel is set to HDMI.

That's what I meant.  I have some questions.

Where is the video played?  

Where did you set "1080p/60Hz"?

What is beyond the Emotiva?  Does it feed a receiver or DAC?  And is it used for both audio and video?  

The whole picture might help.

[DocPMD]

That's what I meant.  I have some questions.

Where is the video played?  

Where did you set "1080p/60Hz"?

What is beyond the Emotiva?  Does it feed a receiver or DAC?  And is it used for both audio and video?  The whole picture might help.

The Emotiva XMC-1 is a pre/pro - so in essence it is the "receiver". It drives a bank of Crown amplifiers - which, of course, have nothing to do with the processing. The Emotiva handles all audio functions: DAC, equalization, bass management. There is no video processing in the Emotiva, video is true pass thru to a Panasonic plasma TV.

The setting for 1080p/60Hz is in the Display control panel on the Mac Mini.

[JimH]

There are a lot of moving parts here, but if MC is sending video and the Emotiva is truly doing pass through, then the TV should be making the decisions.  Theoretically, it can play whatever you send it.

[DocPMD]

There are a lot of moving parts here, but if MC is sending video and the Emotiva is truly doing pass through, then the TV should be making the decisions.  Theoretically, it can play whatever you send it.

Exactly - and it does play whatever it is sent. But the difference is in what it is sent.

For example, all of my Blu-Rays have a native format of 1080p/24Hz. When I play them using Plex on the Mac Mini through the exact same setup, the TV receives and displays a 1080p/24Hz signal. I have DVD's ripped on the Mac, too, and the Mac Mini/Plex combo sends the native 480p/24Hz signal to the rest of the system.

When using JRiver on the same Mac to play the same ripped Blu-Rays, the Emotiva and the TV are receiving a 1080p/60Hz signal no matter what the native format of the source files are. So the Mac or JRiver must be converting the signal to 1080p/60Hz.

[DocPMD]

Messed around a bit more last night with MC on my Mac Mini and still couldn't figure out how to get it to work properly. I guess I'm stuck for now unless anyone else has any ideas.

[blgentry]

Well, I hate to always be this guy but...

Why do you want your display to switch in the first place?  It's going to scale the video internally to it's native resolution.  That's how all fixed pixel displays work.  If it's a 1080p display, everything is going to be scaled to that resolution by the display's electronics.

Is it the refresh rate that you're interested in?  24 Hz *does* have a certain look but, to be honest, I generally find 24 Hz to look bad on some material; particularly on big pan shots.  You see lots of "judder" as the camera moves.  I'm speaking from experience in large movie theaters.

Are you seeing problems with your video currently?  Or things you want to correct or change?

Brian.

[DocPMD]

Well, I hate to always be this guy but...

Why do you want your display to switch in the first place?  It's going to scale the video internally to it's native resolution.  That's how all fixed pixel displays work.  If it's a 1080p display, everything is going to be scaled to that resolution by the display's electronics.

Is it the refresh rate that you're interested in?  24 Hz *does* have a certain look but, to be honest, I generally find 24 Hz to look bad on some material; particularly on big pan shots.  You see lots of "judder" as the camera moves.  I'm speaking from experience in large movie theaters.

Are you seeing problems with your video currently?  Or things you want to correct or change?

Brian.

Thanks for the response. I'm not having any problem with the video. It displays fine at 1080p/60Hz.

And it is the refresh rate that I am interested in. I prefer 24 Hz to display at 24 Hz. It's not a total deal killer, but that's my preference.

But there are still the other problems, too. No matter the source, audio is output in 7.1 LPCM. I'd really like it to adjust to match the source. MC is supposed to be capable of making that happen, but that's not working either.

And finally, although this doesn't really matter to me, I can't get it to send bitstream, either. Seems like none of the features are working properly.

[blgentry]

On the audio front, I'm pretty darn sure that MC can send different numbers of channels, etc.  I'm going to take a guess and say that maybe you have Output Encoding turned to Dolby Digital.  DSP Studio > Output Format > Output Encoding .

It would be helpful if you would post a screenshot of the DSP > Output Format window.

Brian.

[DocPMD]

On the audio front, I'm pretty darn sure that MC can send different numbers of channels, etc.  I'm going to take a guess and say that maybe you have Output Encoding turned to Dolby Digital.  DSP Studio > Output Format > Output Encoding .

It would be helpful if you would post a screenshot of the DSP > Output Format window.

Brian.

I can post a screen shot when I get home. But output encoding is definitely turned off. And Channels is set to match the source.

[blgentry]

I'm assuming you're sending audio via HDMI.  Is that a good assumption?

If so, definitely post a screenshot of the Output Format window and the Audio window (Options > Audio) so we can see the audio device and the bitstreaming setting.

Like I said, I'm pretty sure MC can do what you're asking for.  People do it with the windows version constantly and that part of MC is practically identical between Windows and Mac.  We can probably get you sorted out. 

Brian.

[DocPMD]

I'm assuming you're sending audio via HDMI.  Is that a good assumption?

If so, definitely post a screenshot of the Output Format window and the Audio window (Options > Audio) so we can see the audio device and the bitstreaming setting.

Like I said, I'm pretty sure MC can do what you're asking for.  People do it with the windows version constantly and that part of MC is practically identical between Windows and Mac.  We can probably get you sorted out. 

Brian.

Yes, both audio and video are output over HDMI. I will get some screenshots when I get home.

A longshot occurred to me - is MC fully functional during the trial period? I assumed it would be, but making assumptions is dangerous sometimes.

I appreciate you taking the time to help.

[blgentry]

A longshot occurred to me - is MC fully functional during the trial period? I assumed it would be, but making assumptions is dangerous sometimes.

One of the many great things about MC is that it is 100% functional during the trial.  So what you see is what you get.  

I appreciate you taking the time to help.

Cool.  Hopefully we can get it all working.

Brian.

[Hendrik]

Switching the output monitor refresh rate is not supported yet on the Mac.

[DocPMD]

Switching the output monitor refresh rate is not supported yet on the Mac.

Thanks for the info. Guess I can check that off the list.

[blgentry]

^ Yes but... MC is under constant development.  You never know what they are going to add.  Hendrick mentioned there is a coming "feature push" for video on Mac.  But he didn't say what would be in it.  De-interlacing is on my list.  Not sure if it's on JRiver's list.  Output format mapping might be on the list.  Or not.

Just saying, MC isn't a piece of software that's developed with the "big release once a year" model.  It's under CONSTANT development.  They release new versions all the time.  Mostly with minor changes.  Occasionally with new features that are important to some people.  We'll see.

Brian.

[DocPMD]

What I meant was that I don't need to keep trying to figure out what was wrong with the video output since it is behaving as it is currently designed.

Attached are two screenshots of how I currently have MC configured. Based on what I see, I would think that the audio output should change with the source material. But as I said in previous posts, the audio output is always 7.1 LPCM, regardless of how many channels are in the source.

[blgentry]

This is where I get a little bit confused about MC and multi-channel output.  I seem to remember reading that "source number of channels" isn't what you want in most circumstances.  Though that description certainly sounds like it's what would work best.

The Wiki says to set channels to the physical number of channels you have for playback.  So if you have a 5.1 speaker setup, set it to 5.1.  If you have 2 channels of speakers, set it to 2.  It's worth a try to see if anything changes.  Hopefully it will do what you are expecting.

A note in case you're not aware.  This was not obvious to me until I read about it:  By default MC is going to decode ALL formats into PCM and send them to your DAC.  When you're watching movies with Dolby Digital or DTS soundtracks, this means that MC itself is the decoder.  It will then pass along 5.1 or 7.1 channels of PCM audio to your receiver.  So the lights on your receiver that would normally say "DTS" or "DD" won't be lit up.  Because it's not getting that kind of signal!  It's getting multi-channel PCM.  Of course you can configure MC to bitstream DD, DTS, and others.  That's what the bitstreaming option is for.  Most here seem to recommend having MC do the decoding.

I'm off to bed.  Good luck; I hope to see positive results from your experiments!

Brian.

[DocPMD]

Brian,

I understand the difference between bitstream and PCM and how and where things are decoded. But thanks for the info.

As far as your suggestions goes, it's my turn to "be that guy". I don't see how setting it to a specific number of channels helps me. I haven't had a chance to give it a try, but seems to me that if I select 7.1 that MC would lock the output to 7.1.  That solves nothing. When I play a CD, I want MC to send a stereo signal. When I play a movie with 5.1, I want 5.1 sent. And for movies with 7.1, I want 7.1 sent.

Is this another feature that hasn't been implemented yet? Seems that I've made the correct selection in the "Channels" drop down.

[blgentry]

As far as your suggestions goes, it's my turn to "be that guy".

Sometimes it's your turn to be that guy! 

I don't see how setting it to a specific number of channels helps me. I haven't had a chance to give it a try, but seems to me that if I select 7.1 that MC would lock the output to 7.1.  That solves nothing. When I play a CD, I want MC to send a stereo signal. When I play a movie with 5.1, I want 5.1 sent. And for movies with 7.1, I want 7.1 sent.

I have some guesses about all of this, but I'd just be speculating and probably not helping you.  I've never used MC for Mac with a receiver.  My idea of helping you was mostly to verify your settings, which we seem to have done.  Because I don't have any direct experience, I can't guide you in a confident assured way.  I can make logical recommendations, but I don't want to lead you down the wrong path.

I hope someone else here can help.  In the mean time, here's the wiki entry on Mixing which discusses some of these topics:

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

It might be worth posting about this in the MC21 for Windows forum.  It gets LOTS more traffic than the Mac side.  Or maybe starting a new thread specifically about this audio issue.  It might be getting lost in the subject here about video.

I'm still willing to help in any way I can.  I'm just trying to avoid confusing the issue.  Good luck Doc!

Brian.

[DocPMD]

Thanks for pointing to that Mixing entry in the Wiki. I hadn't seen that one before.

But after reading it, I don't think that MC is going to be able to do what I thought.

Again, I appreciate the help.

[TheShoe]

Forgot I started this thread. 

Anyway I determined jriver did not set the output refresh rate for video properly.  And yes this does bother me.  I want as little conversion of the content as possible.  Maybe current release supports this.

As for audio iirc it did not set the output channels correctly (I have 7.1 setup) but it at least sent no audio to the unused channels.  More important was that it set the sampling rate and bit depth properly. 

For mac,  the way bitstream of hd formats will never work except lpcm since the core audio api does.not support it.  Thanks so apple.


Finally - the deal killer for me for now is lack of theater view and the poor library scraping for TV shows.   No option for DVD order astounds me to this day.  So back to kodi for now but I check in on jriver every so often.   You guys have my money - use it wisely.

Please bring theater view and proper refresh rate for video to the osx version

[blgentry]

Finally - the deal killer for me for now is lack of theater view and the poor library scraping for TV shows.   No option for DVD order astounds me to this day.

JRiver has supported "prefer DVD order" for TV series for something like 6 weeks now.  Not all that long, but the feature is here!!  Just download the latest and you'll see it.  Makes certain TV shows SO MUCH EASIER to correctly tag. 

Brian.

[TheShoe]

That is excellent - DVD order!!   Thanks team


Now about theater view....

I suppose if the ios jremote can control the computer app I may give on theater view because the jremote app for was simply stellar.   Android one not so much but I am headed back to ios anyway as I've had it with android stability and shoddy app quality across the board.  Plus Google keep is finally on ios. But I digress...

Seems I get to play aound over the Christmas holiday with jriver again.

Cheers

[blgentry]

I suppose if the ios jremote can control the computer app I may give on theater view because the jremote app for was simply stellar.

JRemote works with MC on Windows, Mac, and Linux.  I don't think it interacts with Theater View in any way, but I don't think you were looking for that.  JRemote should largely function exactly as you remember when controlling MC on a Mac.

Brian.