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Author Topic: Praises, one video question, and one audio hardware question..  (Read 4146 times)

MuseChaser

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Praises, one video question, and one audio hardware question..
« on: January 11, 2016, 06:39:18 pm »

First, I'm KNOCKED OUT by this software.  One of the few pieces of software that I've downloaded on a "trial" basis that I knew after an hour or two that I'd definitely purchase it.  For the most part, it works intuitively, the audio and video output are excellent, and it's highly customizable and tweakable.  Kudos!

Now.. two questions..

As one of my audio out devices, I use a Cambridge Audio Dacmagic USB interface.  If I use the ASIO driver that Cambridge Audio recommends, I can't get any resolution higher than 24/96.  When I choose CAUSBAudio [direct sound] or something like that then the output uses the full capability of my DAC, up to 24/192.  Why?

AND..

I have an episode of a television show I purchased and downloaded from Amazon a year or so ago when they still allowed downloads via UnBox.  It plays fine on WMP, but only displays frozen frames in MC 21 (on a Win 7 laptop). I can cursor through the entire video frame by frame, but it won't play.  ALL other video, even files that WMP can't play, plays and looks gorgeous on MC.  What's that all about, Alfie?

Thanks.. great software for the most part! 

Barry
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MuseChaser

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Re: Praises, one video question, and one audio hardware question..
« Reply #1 on: January 11, 2016, 06:43:20 pm »

Oh.. and another question...

AmazonPrime video and Hulu work fine, but within the browser window.  Is there a way for them to be accessed/displayed, especially in theater-view, as they are on a ROKU, for instance?  No need to sign in every time, easy to cursor through with a simple remote instead of a keyboard, etc?

Thanks..

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Matt

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Re: Praises, one video question, and one audio hardware question..
« Reply #2 on: January 11, 2016, 08:35:52 pm »

Using Direct Sound will output at the Windows sound card sample rate and resample everything to that.

So even if a super high sample rate plays, it's just being converted at playback time.

ASIO has no up or down sampling so you need to use MC's resampling or the hardware needs to support the rate.

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Matt Ashland, JRiver Media Center

MuseChaser

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Re: Praises, one video question, and one audio hardware question..
« Reply #3 on: January 11, 2016, 09:25:51 pm »

Matt,

Thanks for the reply.  Let me try to explain the audio situation again; it's complicated to describe and I may have done so poorly. 

Hardware Flow - Win 7 laptop to USB DAC (Cambridge Audio DacMagic) w/ 24/192 capability and indicators for what resolution signal it's currently processing, then analog output to my audio preamp and the rest of the system.

Software flow - 24/192 file (happens with both WAV and FLAC files) played back w/ MC.

Audio options - When using the CambridgeAudio 2.0 ASIO driver, the file is downsampled to 24/96 or 24/48 PRIOR to the DAC.  When using the CambridgeAudio [direct] driver, the DAC sees a 24/192 file and processes it as such, resulting in obviously better sound. 

Sooo.. my question remains.  Why isn't MC and the ASIO driver playing nicely?  In the Cambridge Audio support literature, it states that the 2.0 USB ASIO driver is NEEDED for 24/192 playback.  Weird. 

Not a BIG deal.. I can play back at 24/192 and it sounds great.. I just need to remember to use a driver that isn't the one anyone would choose intuitively.  Any further thoughts?

Thanks again.

Barry
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RD James

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Re: Praises, one video question, and one audio hardware question..
« Reply #4 on: January 11, 2016, 09:38:01 pm »

1. Did you switch the DAC into USB Class 2 mode?
2. Does 192kHz work with WASAPI?
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blgentry

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Re: Praises, one video question, and one audio hardware question..
« Reply #5 on: January 11, 2016, 09:46:05 pm »

The DSP module seems to default to down sampling everything above 96kHz down to 96.  You can change this of course.  Open the DSP studio (Player > DSP Studio).  Look at:

Output Format > Sample Rate

You'll see a mapping of input sample rates to output sample rates.  Check on 192.  If it's set to 96, then you've found the issue.  Set it to 192 and it should play without down sampling that rate.  Change any others that you are interested in playing also.

Hopefully that will do it.

Brian.
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MuseChaser

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Re: Praises, one video question, and one audio hardware question..
« Reply #6 on: January 11, 2016, 10:05:59 pm »

1. Did you switch the DAC into USB Class 2 mode?

Yes.  I made sure of this before even downloading and installing MC.

2. Does 192kHz work with WASAPI?

It does now... didn't before... see the next post.. sigh.. :)
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MuseChaser

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Re: Praises, one video question, and one audio hardware question..
« Reply #7 on: January 11, 2016, 10:09:55 pm »

The DSP module seems to default to down sampling everything above 96kHz down to 96.  You can change this of course.  Open the DSP studio (Player > DSP Studio).  Look at:

Output Format > Sample Rate

You'll see a mapping of input sample rates to output sample rates.  Check on 192.  If it's set to 96, then you've found the issue.  Set it to 192 and it should play without down sampling that rate.  Change any others that you are interested in playing also.

Hopefully that will do it.

Brian.

Bingo.  I HAD reset all of those fields to not change any of the files native sample rates when I first downloaded MC, but at the time I was using a different outboard USB DAC (tascam 366).  When I switched over to a different driver for the Cambridge Audio, those fields must have reset themselves back to the defaults and the "Output Format" box was checked again.  Sigh.  Thanks for the insight.  Should have been able to figure that out for myself.  The ASIO driver works fine now, as does the WASAPI.  Hence the reason why the [direct] option was the only one earlier that had passed the 24/192 signal. 

Thanks, Brian!

Barry
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JimH

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Re: Praises, one video question, and one audio hardware question..
« Reply #8 on: January 12, 2016, 01:29:06 am »

I have an episode of a television show I purchased and downloaded from Amazon a year or so ago when they still allowed downloads via UnBox.  It plays fine on WMP, but only displays frozen frames in MC 21 (on a Win 7 laptop). I can cursor through the entire video frame by frame, but it won't play.  ALL other video, even files that WMP can't play, plays and looks gorgeous on MC.  What's that all about, Alfie?
Welcome to the forum.  Try Red October Standard as your video setting.  If that works, it's possible to set up a different Zone that uses RO Std. 

It could also be DRM (copy protection).
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MuseChaser

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Re: Praises, one video question, and one audio hardware question..
« Reply #9 on: January 25, 2016, 06:03:59 am »

Thanks for the reply, Jim.  I purchased JRMC21 a few days ago, near the end of my trial.  Great program, and I'm in the process of builind a NUC-based HTPC to fully take advantage of it.  Right now, it's still residing on my laptop.

Re/ the Amazon TV episode we were discussing.. I've read elsewhere that WMP does play back DRM-encoded material, so that's probably the problem.  Not to open a can of worms, but is there a way to use the wmp engine from w/in MC in order to play it back?

Thanks again..

Barry
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