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[jrlx]

I'm using MC 17 /18 Beta as the player in a DIY HTPC connected via HDMI to a Marantz SR7001 AV Receiver.

I'm able to play bit-perfect all sample rates up to 192kHz in stereo, and up to 96kHz in 5.1 multichannel.

However, if I try to play 5.0 multichannel files, MC offers to play them as stereo. This should not happen, since my AVR is capable of receiving up to 7.1 channel configurations. My speaker configuration is 5.1 and I want the AVR to perform channel mixing and bass management.

My DSP configuration is:

- sample rate: no change for all entries except "greater than 192kHz" which gets downsampled to 88,2 KHz (so that multichannel SACD files get played)

- bitdepth: 24 bit

- Channels: source number of channels


In order to be able to play 5.0 files I have to change:

- Channels: 5.1 channels
- Mixing: No upmixing or downmixing


However, then I'm not able to play stereo files above 96 kHz (the receiver doesn't support higher sample rates in 5.1)

The only solution I found to avoid changing DSP configurations back and forth depending on file is to keep the 5.1 channels configuration in DSP and simultaneously downsample sample rates above 96 kHz to 88.2 or 96 KHz. Then, of course, playing is no longer bit-perfect, which is very annoying since I chose MC due to its ability to play all sample rates bit-perfect.

I've also created an override for the EDID info provided by the AVR, so that the 5.0 configuration is explicitly present but this didn't solve the problem.

Changing from MC 17 to 18 Beta also didn't solve the problem.

I've seen similar problems reported elsewhere in the MC 17 forum, but no solution was provided:

http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=70786.msg477808#msg477808   (see reply #4)

Am I missing something? I would like to keep the initial DSP configuration (no changes to sample rate or source number of channels, except for combinations above the AVR capabilities) in order to keep a bit-perfect audio path up to the AVR.

Thanks for your attention

[Matt]

Welcome.

If Media Center is offering to play 5.0 as stereo, it's because your output device (HDMI in your computer) doesn't support 5.0.  This isn't too surprising, as I'm not sure I've ever seen a device that does support 5 channel output.

I would recommend selecting the number of speakers you have in DSP Studio > Output Format > Channels, and let JRSS do the up and downmixing.  If you prefer 2 channel to stay as 2.1, that's an option.

This gets a little complicated since your hardware doesn't support high sample rates at 5.1.

I suppose another solution would be for 5.0 SACD to always get output as 5.1 with no subwoofer, but this would goof up JRSS (or other downstream upmixer) because it wouldn't know to build a subwoofer.

[jrlx]

Thanks for the reply, Matt.

I believe I'm already doing what you suggest: selecting the number of speakers as 5.1 and "no upmixing or downmixing". The problem is being unable to play 176.4 KHz and 192 KHz files in this way due to my AVR limitations.

It would be very useful if MC allowed selecting specific output modes for specific combinations of bit depth/ sample rate/ number of channels.

In this way MC could be configured to play files with 5.0 channels as 5.1 with no upmixing and downmixing and all other combinations would be treated as presently (no modification of sample rate or number of channels).

[Matt]

It would be very useful if MC allowed selecting specific output modes for specific combinations of bit depth/ sample rate/ number of channels.

We've committed to adding exactly that to v18:
http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=74442.msg505027#msg505027

I don't know when it will happen yet, other than during the v18 cycle.

[jrlx]

That's great to know!I'm looking forward to it.