Hello all, any help on this topic greatly appreciated.
Bottom line:
When I try to play my music (collection of FLAC and MP3 files, at various bitrates), Media Center occasionally says Playback Problem: Play back could not be started on the output 'XYC' using format 'ABC'. The mixing format of your hardware does not support the current output format." And then sometimes a recommendation to use a different driver or mixing format.
I'm using MC26, Win10 64-bit, and a SoundBlasterX AE-5. But to be honest, I saw it even before MC26 (and before MC24 before that), and before I got the SoundBlaster AE-5.
I know the "XYC" and "ABC" above are important. But that's where it get weird, and why this problem is so frustrating -- it appears to happen randomly, no matter which drivers I use (ASIO, WASAPI, DirectSound). Two days ago, I was using WASAPI and it worked, then I read that ASIO was potentially better (but required hardware that supported it) so I tried that. AE-5 ASIO has the "AE series ASIO" and "ASIO AE DSD" -- tried both -- both worked. Used those for a day. Changed nothing, but the next day, I got the Playback Error above, no matter what source music I selected. Swtiched back to WASAPI.... then WASAPI didn't work. Same error. Gave up and did other things. Tried again today (changed nothing, just started MediaCenter) and ASIO works again, but WASAPI still doesn't...
I've seen this pattern for years. Every couple days or weeks, I need to shuffle through all the options under "Audio Device" in Options to get something that works. Saw it with earlier versions of MC, different sound cards, and entirely different computers (but all Win10).
In theory, the same music file, using the same hardware, and using the same settings, should work consistently, I would think.
Can anyone explain why this happens (and with such a wide range of hardware)? And why a particular selection starts and stops working, even when nothing at all changes?
Thanks for any advice.