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More => Old Versions => Media Center 15 (Development Ended) => Topic started by: northman on January 18, 2011, 08:03:05 am

Title: SPDIF signal
Post by: northman on January 18, 2011, 08:03:05 am

I was wandering if there is a way to output a silence stream all the time at the selected data rate while the music is not playing.  The reason for this is while using a Tascam Hi-rez digital recorder (RA-1000HD) as a DAC, the sonic results are simply fantastic but the Tascam looses digital input lock while the music stream is stopped.  This returns an error code on the recorder.  The recorder is a dual duty item because it can archive vinyls to the server basically as a carbon copy.

MC (last version) plays on a hi-end i7 Gigabyte based machine with Realtek ALC892 on board and sound is output via SPDIF.  Everything works impeccably otherwise.  Media Center is an impressive piece of software which, I have to admit, now makes the playback of vinyl quality sound possible, without vinyl if you have the right hardware too !!!

Title: Re: SPDIF signal
Post by: Alex B on January 18, 2011, 08:18:27 am

There is the "Play silence at startup for hardware synchronization" output option. It was invented to fix sync issues with some receivers and external DACs that may lose some of the inputted digital signal while the clock is initially synced, but probably this feature would not help if your device generates an error message always when the stream is interrupted.

Title: Re: SPDIF signal
Post by: Vincent Kars on January 18, 2011, 02:16:06 pm

A lot of audio drivers do mute the signal.
An obvious first is to consult Tascam.

A bit radical solution.
In the past, running Vista, I de-installed all Realtec drivers.
This forces Win to install the default MS High Def Audio Device.
If I remember correctly, this driver doesn’t mute.
Might apply to Win7 as well.
• System: Make a restore point so you can rollback
• Device manager: deinstall the driver (write down type, etc just in case you need to download them from the manufacturers website)
• Programs - remove the driver otherwise it will be installed again at the next step
• Reboot and Win installs the MS High Def Audio Device

http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=60928

Title: Re: SPDIF signal
Post by: northman on January 18, 2011, 02:29:33 pm

Thanks for your response Alex B.

I did try the silence at the beginning.  One second in the beginning works fine and everything gets synchronized properly with nothing missing.  But, I have to reset the Tascam everytime the stream stops when it emits an error message.  So far, I prepare a play list first or while playing and use the PAUSE button.  One has to definitely stay away from the STOP button...
This problem might appear with some DAC's as well, I would think.

Title: Re: SPDIF signal
Post by: northman on January 18, 2011, 05:25:45 pm

Thank You Vincent Kars,

Problem solved by flushing the drivers !!!!

Thanks again