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More => Old Versions => Media Center 16 (Development Ended) => Topic started by: Mr. Natural on February 10, 2012, 03:22:40 am

Title: Single cracking sound before track change
Post by: Mr. Natural on February 10, 2012, 03:22:40 am

Hi all,

I have a slight problem when playing MP3s via my HTPC. I run MC 16.0.181 on a Thinkpad X200 sitting in a docking station conntected to a Soundblaster X-FI HD USB sound card. My files are stored on a Synology DiskStation DS212+ connected to a Cisco E4200 router that streams to the Thinkpad via WiFi-N (@ around 280 mbps).

Everything runs smoothly without any lag or hickups up until around 5 seconds before tracks change. Then there is a single crackling sound that can also be invoked by skipping tracks manually (via Gizmo or via MC on the screen).

In another post Matt recommended changing the Output Mode to Resample Everything in DSP Studio, which I already did. I also stopped playback afterwards and even restarted MC.

Edit: I tried increasing the buffer from 6 seconds to 10 seconds and now that crackling sound comes a little earlier...  ?

Is there anything else I can try to get rid of that noise shortly before track changes?

Cheers,
Matt
  

Title: Re: Single cracking sound before track change
Post by: Mr. Natural on February 15, 2012, 03:54:45 am

Anybody?

I'd really appreciate any input on this... I set the buffer back to 6 seconds, and as expected the skip/crackle comes shorter towards the end of the track now.

Cheers,
Matt

Title: Re: Single cracking sound before track change
Post by: JimH on February 15, 2012, 06:40:00 am

Try turning off Windows sounds.

Title: Re: Single cracking sound before track change
Post by: Matt on February 15, 2012, 06:43:38 am

Make sure you have memory playback off (Options > Audio).  If your NIC worked hard at a track switch, it could fight with the USB sound.

If this isn't it, try increasing the primary buffer size in Options > Audio > Output mode settings...

Title: Re: Single cracking sound before track change
Post by: Mr. Natural on February 16, 2012, 01:51:30 am

Hi,

thanks for your feedback and ideas. Now that I managed to log back in here, I can tell you that I followed all suggestions... I completely disabled the chipset soundcard of the Thinkpad, increased the buffer size to the max. (1 second) and made sure, that memory playback is off (was off before).

Unfortunately my problem persists and that crackle is still there at the end of each song.

Just to make sure, that Gizmo isn't the problem I tried skipping track directly via the HTPC, but it's exactly the same story.

So, if you have more ideas, just let me know. Even if not, I really appreciate the dedicated and swift support that all of you guys offer here, which is unsurpassed in my experience. I'm happy that I've been using MC from Version 10 onwards...   :)

Best regards from crackling Germany,
Matt