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[rec head]

Up until now I have been bitstreaming from my PC to my AVR and everything works nicely. I would like to be able to use the EQ while watching video so I turned off bitstreaming.

Now when I try playing some movies I get the following message:
Playback could not be started using the format: 48kHz 32bit 7ch.
This format would work: 48kHz 32bit 2ch.

The original format is DTS HD 6.1 on the Return of the Jedi Bluray.


My equipment is Intel HD3000 sound/graphics connected HDMI to a Denon X4000 AVR.

In Output Format if I change the Channels option from Source number of channels to 7.1 then it works. I am happy with the bass management and channel decoding in the AVR (I usually use DSX NeoX for 9.1).

Anything I can do?

[Hendrik]

This is somewhat of a annoying problem. Some Hardware cannot play 6.1/7 channel, but there is no easy way right now to solve it properly.

One thing you can do is set the number of channels in the Output Format DSP to your actual speaker configuration, for example 7.1, then it'll convert your 6.1 to 7.1 and you'll be able to play the files properly.
However, it is important to note that it'll also upmix all files then - no matter if stereo, 5.1 or 6.1.

Personally, I let MC upmix everything using its JRSS algorithm, which sounds at least as good as the algorithms used by my old A/V Receiver. If thats OK for you, than that is your solution.
Some people prefer however to output the audio without upmix to an external audio processor or AVR, and in this case, you're stuck.

I keep wondering how we can solve this properly. Ideally it would automatically notice the problem and then convert 7 channel to 8 channel automatically, while not converting anything else. Or maybe there should be an option to do this, then we wouldn't have to invent auto-magic in all output plugins.

One way to get it all right now is to use the Zone Switch feature, which allows you to use separate zones with separate configuration, and you can setup the rules for 7 channels to go to a 7.1 upmix zone.
It is of course a bit of extra work to set it up and keep it maintained in case you do any changes.

[Pkartti]

Hi
Likewise, some hardware can not play 5 channels / 5.0 that you get from those multichannel SACD.ISOs or DFF/ DSF files that have been produced without a .1 channel. Then also the solution is to choose 5.1 as number of channels (with no up/downmixing if you do not want any of that)

[rec head]

Seems like a set of check boxes to let us select the offending output format to a suitable format seems like an easy way. It could be similar to the Sample Rate menu. I don't know why my AVR wouldn't handle it. It is a new model and actually has 11 speaker outs. Right not I'm running a 9.2 setup. I'll try the zone switch option when I can.

[mykillk]

Do you get the same issue with 24-bit output? It's rare to see an AVR with a 32-bit DAC.

[rec head]

I have not done much experimenting but so far it has only happened with the 6.1 format. Everything else I have tried has worked. If it does only end up being the 6.1 then I will probably just deal with the few files as I watch them.

[Hendrik]

I don't know why my AVR wouldn't handle it.

Its actually the graphics cards in your PC which fails at sending 7 channels over HDMI. Some models suffer from this, sadly.

In the long run, I hope we can bake some automatic fallbacks for the common error cases into MC, but it probably won't be too soon.