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More => Old Versions => JRiver Media Center 19 for Windows => Topic started by: pgfiore on May 30, 2014, 10:47:27 am

Title: WASAPI & Win8(.1)
Post by: pgfiore on May 30, 2014, 10:47:27 am

Dear developers, is there a tech reason to move from Win7 to Win8(.1) regarding on WASAPI?
Microsoft stated that WASAPI layer had been modified/improved, did it impact JRiver 19 in any way?
Which is your suggestion?
Thank in advance, ciao

Title: Re: WASAPI & Win8(.1)
Post by: Zero_G on May 30, 2014, 11:08:37 am

I run JRiver MC19 on Win8.1 with WASAPI with no problems.

Title: Re: WASAPI & Win8(.1)
Post by: JimH on May 30, 2014, 12:19:37 pm

WASAPI in Win8 (all versions) works fine.

Title: Re: WASAPI & Win8(.1)
Post by: glynor on May 30, 2014, 12:24:52 pm

Quote from: JimH on May 30, 2014, 12:19:37 pm

WASAPI in Win8 (all versions) works fine.

I don't think that's what he was asking. I think he wanted to know what was better about it, if anything.

In other words, Microsoft says WASAPI is better in 8.1. Worth upgrading?

Title: Re: WASAPI & Win8(.1)
Post by: Frobozz on May 30, 2014, 02:19:17 pm

In my case the upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 8 was worth it for the better (less glitchy) audio.  In my experience the low level changes Microsoft has made in Windows 8 were for the better.

Admittedly, my audio playback related experience with a change from Windows 7 to Windows 8 is with just one laptop that gets used for audio playback duties.  It's an HP g7 with an i5.  Bought just before the Windows 8 release.  It came with Windows 7 installed.  A few weeks after the Windows 8 release I upgraded it to Windows 8.

With Windows 7 I had problems with glitches during audio playback to USB DACs.  Tried tweaks and optimizations to get the audio working better.  Used LatencyMon to find problems.  Main problem was due to the WiFi causing latency spikes.  Can't use a laptop without WiFi so disabling WiFi was not an option.  Upgraded the laptop to Windows 8 and those problems went away.  No tweaking necessary.  The audio with WASAPI just worked.  I can't even remember the last time I had an audio glitch while using Windows 8.

I like Windows 8 for audio playback.  Install a Start Menu replacement like Start8 or StartIsBack and I'm all good with Windows 8.

Title: Re: WASAPI & Win8(.1)
Post by: stewart_pk on June 01, 2014, 08:30:40 pm

I found windows 8.1 better than 7, less clicks and pops through my USB to SPDIF device when using skipping forward and backward and when sample rate changes. Seems like Microsoft might have "smoothed" some stuff out regarding WASAPI.

Title: Re: WASAPI & Win8(.1)
Post by: Zhillsguy on June 02, 2014, 09:08:40 pm

Quote from: stewart_pk on June 01, 2014, 08:30:40 pm

I found windows 8.1 better than 7, less clicks and pops through my USB to SPDIF device when using skipping forward and backward and when sample rate changes. Seems like Microsoft might have "smoothed" some stuff out regarding WASAPI.

My experience is similar. I just installed 8.1 (x86) on my 4 year old Asus laptop over the weekend, runs flawlessly for audio and video (Intel T6400/4 gig ram/WD Black 750gig/7200 drive) . I had Win 7 before, and 8.1 is at least as good, probably better. Playing uncompressed blu-ray is between 8-15% CPU.

Come to think of it I haven't heard the occasional pop when changing bit rates, audio to video, etc. like in Win 7. Nothing fancy here, either a UCA202 or HiFimeDIY USB DAC with WASAPI for output. Networking and everything else I use it for just works.

For my purposes it is definitely a keeper, but couldn't handle 8.1 without Start8 or some other similar 3rd party app.

Title: Re: WASAPI & Win8(.1)
Post by: pgfiore on June 05, 2014, 01:43:26 am

Thank for all the reply.

I think of moving to 8.1, unfortunately audio Asus Xonar Essence STX and expecially the Soundgraph iMon Manager (for my Thermaltake DH102 7" touch monitor) drivers are a pain.

Pops and gliches could arise from all the program running on the machine... My HTPC is dedicated to audio (and few videos) and uses a quite-optimized Win7.

I wonder if JRiver had been tailored to new Win8 audio environment or simply it relies on backward compatibility...

Title: Re: WASAPI & Win8(.1)
Post by: glynor on June 05, 2014, 03:17:27 pm

I'm pretty sure it is developed on Windows 8.1 x64.

I don't believe there are substantial API differences for WASAPI between Win7 and Win8 (that doesn't mean that they're identical internally, but it means there is no change for 3rd party developers like JRiver).

But, either way, Windows 8.1 is their dev environment (again, I'm pretty sure).

Title: Re: WASAPI & Win8(.1)
Post by: Hendrik on June 05, 2014, 03:24:36 pm

Like glynor said, there is no difference in how applications use WASAPI in Windows 8.1 compared to Windows 7.
Any changes/improvements are entirely under-the-hood.

Personally, I'm not aware of any real improvements on the audio side, however.
I did read that they cleaned up the WASAPI stack with Windows 8, but what that really means for real-life experiences, I couldn't tell you.

For me the reason to switch to Windows 8.1 even on my HTPC was video reasons entirely, since they vastly improved the Desktop Compositor (the DWM, Desktop Window Manager, also commonly referred to as "Aero"), and all of the issues I attributed to it simply went away after the update (and yes, it still exists, despite people believing it went away because we no longer have Aero-Glass effects)

Title: Re: WASAPI & Win8(.1)
Post by: pgfiore on June 13, 2014, 07:33:39 am

I'd certainly move if only could upgrade the Soundgraph iMon Manager (for my Thermaltake DH102 7" touch monitor) which became such a sort of abbandonwere long ago :-(