INTERACT FORUM
More => Old Versions => Media Center 17 => Topic started by: Rudy81 on April 30, 2012, 02:49:00 pm
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I upgraded to MC17 at the same time I changed over to a new motherboard and win 7 in order to use the WASAPI mode vs. using the old win XP work around for bit perfect streaming.
I have an Asus E35M1-M, MC17, and Integra DHC 9.9 and an unRAID NAS to house the .flac encoded files. I set MC17 to use WASAPI mode and the .flac files play just fine. While using XP, I always tested the bit perfect stream by playing some DD and DTS files to ensure windows was not changing any of the stream. I played a DD 5.1 .wav file and it plays as expected.
However, when I attempt to play ac3 or certain .wav files encoded in DTS, MC17 will not play them. I can play them if I set the output to WAV, but then it is going through the windows 7 mixer. Is there something I'm missing or not understanding about the Win7 implementation of WASAPI mode? Do I need any plugins or other settings to make this all work as I think it should?
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Here's whats really confusing. I can play all the files, DTS, DD, ac3 etc on my laptop with MC17. I don't understand why I can't play them on my HTPC with the ASUS board. I would appreciate any help. Have yet to find anything on the subject by searching.
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Take just one of the formats you're having trouble with. Say DTS. To play that, you would have to "bitstream" to a device capable of decoding a DTS file. You'd need to have Bitstreaming set on. It's under Video in MC's options.
Or you would have to use MC's DSP Studio /Output to convert to something the device would play.
What happens if you try testing sound output to the device by using Windows / Control Panel / Sounds?
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JimH, thank you for the response. I have made some progress on the issue. The firs problem was that the driver Win7 installed was an HDMI 2 channel driver, with very few capabilities. I was able to find the AMD video drivers for this board, which include an HDMI driver as well. After install and reboot, I get a full 8 channel capability with 16, 20 and 24 bit support. I also get lots of sample rates and encoded format capability.
I now have all the dts and ac3 files running in WASAPI, but I suspect they are going through the DSP processor since my Integra tells me it is in multi-channel mode, not DD or DTS like it used to under WinXP.
Now on to try the bitstream trick....more to follow
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BTW, for those with this Asus board, I got the drivers here: http://sites.amd.com/us/game/downloads/Pages/radeon_win7-64.aspx#2
For the time being, I can play all my test files in WASAPI, but I can't get a direct stream to my Integra. I keep getting multi channel PCM as the format so I suppose that means my Integra is not doing the decoding....correct?
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You can see what MC is sending by hovering your mouse over the right most button of the three in the upper right corner of the window.
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My hardware seems to only support 16, 20 and 24 bit depths, with sample rates of 32, 44.1, 48, 88.2, 96, 176.4 and 192.0 kHz. Under encoded formats it has DTS, DD+, DTS-HD, Dolby True HD, DD, and max channels of 8 with HDCP supported.
With an input of 48kHz, 32bit, 6 ch. the output is 48kHz 8ch in WASAPI event style. Why is the system not passing the bitstream directly to my pre/pro and letting it do the decoding?
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BTW, if I disable the DSP in MC17, the files won't play and MC suggest 2 ch. mode. That mode only gives me 2ch.
I'm sure I'm just missing some settings, but can't seem to figure them out. I recall that setting up WinXP to send bit perfect was a major pain. I had hoped Win 7 would be easier so I upgraded to MC17 at the same time...now I have too many variables...
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If I set the DSP to 5.1 and have it send a Dolby AC3 to the pre/pro, the Integra does decode the sound as Dolby, so the pre/pro is working as it should. I just can't seem to get a direct bitstream. I have that selected in the video settings....still investigating.
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Are you using Red October? Are you SURE you've enabled bitstreaming under the video settings and not the audio settings?
Edit: If you're playing audio files, of course enable bitstreaming under audio.
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Are you using Red October? Are you SURE you've enabled bitstreaming under the video settings and not the audio settings?
Yes, I am definitely using REd October and tried bitstreaming on and off. I have spent several hours on the setup and am coming to the conclusion that it is a driver issue. I decided to load the file which contains both 32 and 64 bit drivers. That got me to the point where I can run all the dts, DD and AC3 files without major glitches. I finally got my DD test file to bitstream and it does come up DD on my pre/pro. However, the dts files still come up PCM multichannel. I would have expected that they should come up as DTS on my pre/pro.
I am going to look for a better video card that has a bit depth greater than 24 bit and see if that makes a difference.
I really hate dealing with windows drivers.
I suppose I am getting my .flac files streamed since they come up as stereo in my pre/pro and they are playing in exclusive mode.
I hate it when it takes this much troubleshooting to get windows to play nice with software.
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Well, after two days on this issue, I cannot seem to get a DD or DTS stream to my pre/pro. WASAPI seems to be operating just fine, but any AC3 or wav files in DD or DTS only come up as PCM and are played in multi channel.
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Try using WASAPI event-style.
Also, did you follow Jim's advice? "You can see what MC is sending by hovering your mouse over the right most button of the three in the upper right corner of the window."
If MC is sending out PCM, then you have it configured incorrectly. Bit-rate and sample-rate should be irrelevant if you are bitstreaming.
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Try using WASAPI event-style.
Also, did you follow Jim's advice? "You can see what MC is sending by hovering your mouse over the right most button of the three in the upper right corner of the window."
If MC is sending out PCM, then you have it configured incorrectly. Bit-rate and sample-rate should be irrelevant if you are bitstreaming.
I have tried both WASAPI and WASAPI event stye. When I hover over the right most button, it indicates that it is sending direct information. If I play a 2 ch. DD flac file, my pre/pro shows Dolby Digital. If I play any other multi channel file, DD or DTS, flac or ac3, it goes to multichannel pcm. The only change the DSP in MC makes is to output 24 bit to the hardware since it is the highest bit rate the hardware can read. Many of those files are higher bit rate. For some reason, the pre/pro only shows PCM in these instances, although the DSP in MC says it is direct and the only change is the bit rate.
I do have the latest drivers from AMD for this board installed and the HDMI audio indicates it is capable of 8 channel DD, DTS etc.
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I read somewhere on the forum that wav files are decoded as pcm by MC automatically. Is that true in MC17? Perhaps that is where the problem lies?
BTW, all the files I am trying to play are audio files, not video.
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Finally! I solved the supposed problem playing my DTS and DD multi channel files. The problem was that I wanted to verify my pre/pro is getting a bitstream and can decode all the formats. After reading this post: http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=69945.0 I tried changing the file type settings from automatic, to using the JRiver video decoding. That did the trick. With my board, the only setting I need in DSP is to set it to output 24bit due to my hardware. If I don't set that, and attempt to play a 48 bit file, MC17 crashes hard.
All along I have been getting bitstream once I updated the AMD drivers. I just did not realize that the automatic setting in file type, causes MC to decode the file and send a PCM signal to my pre/pro.
In summary, here is what I had to do with the Asus E35M1-M pro to get it to work properly for a HTPC.
Disable the HD audio in the BIOS. This will leave the system with the AMD HD audio hardware and remove the Realtek HD audio. I could never get that system to work.
Ensure the latest AMD video drivers are installed, which also contain the HD audio drivers.
Install MC17.
If you want your pre/pro to decode DTS and DD files vs. having MC send a PCM stream, modify the file types for wav and ac3 from 'automatic' to use JRiver video engine. With some files, If found that the JRiver audio engine must be used.
In the case of this board, if you don't enable DSP to output 24bit, and you attempt to play a 48bit file, MC17 will crash.