I am new to JRiver, on Windows 10 PC.
I came across a problem running DVDs from within JRiver Media Player, whereby the dialogue is far too low compared to the effects, and it is a hopeless balance to listen to. My initial thought is in how JRiver is downmixing the DVD audio track, but it could just as well be other setting such as in Windows Sonic Surround Sound, or sample rate settings. Video part is fine, set Red October JRVR. Under Encoder, I have the FLAC encoder selected.
If I restart my PC and run the same movie outside of JRiver with VLC Media player, with the same driver settings path (described below) the dialogue audio (dialogue and effects) is nicely balanced.
I have arrived, apart from internally run DVDs with a setup that seems excellent ie all audio, whether run from outside or inside JRiver can have the DSP Studio effects applied:
I load the JRiver Media Centre WDM Driver (a virtual audio driver) at startup, with JRiver also to open at start up.
With in JRiver>Tools>Options> I select the audio driver to my Digital Interface (RME BabyFace Pro). I tried the WASAPI and ASIO options, and the system works well for either. I have been playing eg Netflix in a browser and music from within JRiver, and both are benefiting from EQ or effects set in the JRiver DPS Studio.
I notice the Surround effects (Available from Windows 10) can be selected from the windows audio settings, and engages into this audio path. So, I set up Adobe Atmos for Headphones, which appears as an option. This means I can watch Netflix from a browser with my headphones, with Adobe Atmos for Headphones engaged, and I can use some EQ for my headphones (that I made with an EQ VST plugin, based on a frequency chart for my headphones), or similarly, I can use SoundID for Headphones as a VST plugin. Great.
Thinking for the DVD, I changed the Windows Sonic Surround settings to Stereo.
But, when I came to run a DVD from within JRiver, I hit this issue with the dialogue (perhaps center channel info from the DVD metadata) not coming through [its very quiet with echo - maybe just into from a surround sound L and R channels], and being drowned out by the music and effects of the movie.
When I ran the same movie, (after restarting my PC) outside of JRiver through VLC Media player, with those same driver settings the dialogue audio (dialogue and effects) is nicely balanced. My testing is a bit sporadic, but I think I still had the issues if I switched from JRiver and tried VLC Player without restarting my PC. That I imagine has to do with memory.
Is this something I am doing wrong with the settings, or is it an issue to do with how JRiver downmixing the surround sound metadata from the DVD? I would expect it would down mix to 2.0 for the signal it sends to the Digital interface, maybe not, and maybe that explains it. Maybe it does not because maybe some people attach an AVR to their computer (via HDMI) and so want all channels sent. I cannot see a setting in JRiver to send audio out as 2.0 - would that help? In my case I am going out to by digital interface via USB.
I am not sure how the Windows Sonic Surround sound engages with the audio flow of the JRiver virtual driver, It seems no matter the Windows driver, if it initially gets surround sound data, which I guess it gets from a DVD which has one of the surround sound formats, then it uses it. So, maybe Windows Sonic Surround sound catches the audio and does its processing before passing it to whatever audio driver is set up, in this case JRiver Media Centre WDM Driver.
I looked at the codec for the DVD audio from the VLC Player>Tools>Codec information, which is: A52 Audio (aka AC3) (a52), stereo, sample rate 48000 Hz bits per sample rate: 32
Checking "AC3 is a compression technology term, which is used in place of Dolby Digital. It is essentially Dolby Digital." a52 means the same thing, I think. Dolby digital is 5.1 channels I believe.
Anyway, thank you for any help.
PS. Just in case it matters, my PC, being an HP also comes with dts Sound+, which seems to open automatically on start up in the taskbar up arrow section. When I mouse over it it says, "Controls DTS audio settings . I don't even know how that fits into a system, but I'm mentioning it in case that somehow needs to be disabled somehow?
My Setup:
play music etc within JRiver, Netflix from browser (hoping to play DVD inside JRiver).
Windows 10, from HP laptop to external screen via Display port cable.
JRiver virtual drive in Windows audio.
sometimes Adobe Atmos for Headphones engaged.
JRiver selects audio driver to digital intefrace (Babyface Pro).
Using EQ from DSP Studio in JRiver.
Headphones: Babyface pro set to play out of headphone jack 1 of 2
No headphones: Babyface pro set to play to monitors placed each side of extended screen; also, out of headphone jack 2 of 2, to external amplifier which has stereo hi-fi speakers and RELs subwoofer (High Level input ) attached. Volume balance can be set in Babyface Pro and on external amplifier.
