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[IAM4UK]

Upon upgrading from 26 to 27, I can no longer play video files with typical audio CODECs like DTS-HD MA.

AVR:  Marantz 7013
Connection:  HDMI
Bitstreaming:  Yes (HDMI)
Audio Device set as marantz-AVR [WASAPI] as always
DSP Output Encoding:  None
Channels:  Source number of channels

None of the DSP Studio Output Format settings have changed from 26 to 27, as far as I know.

[IAM4UK]

Although I have not been using Direct Sound in MC, I did switch to Direct Sound to troubleshoot this problem. In that case, the same error occurred. "Playback could not be started on the selected audio output"

[IAM4UK]

Update:  I switched "buffering" back to 100ms, and the problem went away.

I had switched buffering to 250ms because music playback was skipping. Apparently, doing that broke other kinds of audio playback. This is a problem.

[RoderickGI]

You are Bitstreaming over HDMI to the Marantz, so the Marantz is doing all the decoding and playback. That error and skipping of audio playback sounds like an HDMI communication error.

Try turning off Bitstreaming, restart MC, and turn Bitstreaming back on.

If that doesn't work, reboot all devices involved. Power down and restart, don't just put them into Standby Mode and then wake them.

[IAM4UK]

You are Bitstreaming over HDMI to the Marantz, so the Marantz is doing all the decoding and playback. That error and skipping of audio playback sounds like an HDMI communication error.

Try turning off Bitstreaming, restart MC, and turn Bitstreaming back on.

If that doesn't work, reboot all devices involved. Power down and restart, don't just put them into Standby Mode and then wake them.

Thank you, RoderickGI; that is a valuable troubleshooting procedure. I will try it.

[IAM4UK]

This problem persists. It never happened on any version I've used (~14 through 26).

[RoderickGI]

But you said:

I had switched buffering to 250ms because music playback was skipping. Apparently, doing that broke other kinds of audio playback. This is a problem.

So playback does work with buffering set to 100ms. So it likely isn't a MC27 problem. Unless the 250ms buffering worked with MC26. Also, how many videos did you have with DTS-HD MA when MC14 was around? Not many I suspect.

Cables can be damaged, or just get old. Drivers can be updated. Firmware in AVRs can get updated. When changes happen, things can stop working.

I think you need to step back and start troubleshooting the audio skipping.
You could also turn on logging and recreat the problem with 250ms buffering, and see if there is more information in the logs, beyond the error seen.

Diagnosing skipping audio is hard, and usually specific to the hardware and environment. You need to look at local issue, I think.

[Musicmusic]

So playback does work with buffering set to 100ms. So it likely isn't a MC27 problem. Unless the 250ms buffering worked with MC26. Also, how many videos did you have with DTS-HD MA when MC14 was around? Not many I suspect.

Cables can be damaged, or just get old. Drivers can be updated. Firmware in AVRs can get updated. When changes happen, things can stop working.

I think you need to step back and start troubleshooting the audio skipping.
You could also turn on logging and recreat the problem with 250ms buffering, and see if there is more information in the logs, beyond the error seen.

Diagnosing skipping audio is hard, and usually specific to the hardware and environment. You need to look at local issue, I think.

You do not need to be so hard on a paying customer, and belittle the like they were unintelligent. If the only thing they did was upgrade one would think that one cannot just blindly blame their set up.

There is alot animosity in the answers on the forum. You have pretty sophisticated program with many options where some change in setting could be overlooked. Help where you can, and if you cannot then be polite in your replies at least.

[RoderickGI]

Wow. 

First, I don't work for JRiver, and don't represent them in any way. I'm just another user, and I give my time freely to help people on the forum.

Second, in what way was I belittling IAM4UK, being impolite, or blaming his setup?

I was suggesting steps he could take to diagnose the issue.

If you think there is a lot of animosity on this forum, you must not spend much time on other forums, Facebook, Twitter, or any other Social Media. That is where you will find far worse than just a little animosity. This forum is a very nice, friendly forum, compared to any other I have participated in.

Solving problems remotely via the forum is quite difficult. I know, because I have done it a lot. I don't remember everyone's setup, or how technically competent they are. So I have to start answering questions at some level, and adjust it up and down based on responses. IAM4UK's first post was very good in that he provided some information, and I have seen a lot of his posts, so I know he can handle the suggestions I made. I could ask all the possible questions, and write a book on diagnosing the issue, but that would just take a very long time, and wouldn't speed the process at all. Most often my questions don't get answered anyway, so why ask them?

In fact, it is extremely common for people to have an issue, decide what the cause is (MC27 upgrade) and what the solution is, then come to the forum asking how to implement their solution. It is also extremely common that their diagnosis and the solution is wrong.

Solving a problem involves not only identifying changes, such as an upgrade from MC26 to MC27, but also doing discovery on the whole setup. Even in this case, where the upgrade was blamed, it turns out there was another change, that could be the cause of the problem. i.e. The buffering was changed, which could indicate that the Marantz AVR doesn't like that, although normally the buffer in MC shouldn't cause an issue. However it is possible, if MC overruns the AVR with a data stream it can't handle.

The problem may also only have been noticed because IAM4UK has new movies with DTS-HD MA, which he didn't have before. So DTS-HD MA audio may have always been an issue, just unnoticed.

So suggesting that IAM4UK change back to the setting that caused the problem, so that then some diagnosis can be done, makes perfect sense.

Finally, the "Playback could not be started on the selected audio output" message is almost always associated with the capability of the playback device. When a user isn't Bitstreaming that means settings can be changed in MC to ensure it plays a format that the playback device can handle. When a user is Bitstreaming audio to the playback device, there are few settings to change, as the encoded audio is sent unchanged. But the buffer setting could have an effect. That has to be determined by testing. In fact the first step I would take is to set the buffer back to 250ms in both MC27 and MC26, to confirm the problem only happens in MC27 with the same settings and other conditions.


So, thanks for your feedback Musicmusic. You have been a user for a very long time. How about instead of criticising me, you help IAM4UK solve his problem?

[JimH]

Musicmusic,
Please don't give personal advice.  It's very unwelcome.  I think English is not your first language and you may be mis-understanding some of what is said.

If you continue in this, your forum privileges may be reduced or removed.

I would have removed your post, but RoderickGI's reply is so well stated, I left yours.

Things can easily go wrong on a forum when people start making critical remarks about others.  In fact, it's a big part of our problem in what passes for civilization these days.

Please try to enjoy the good parts, help when you can, and let some of it go.

[IAM4UK]

Further update:

The stuttering I had experienced, which had caused me to change the buffering, may have been caused by a motherboard setting. I got a new graphics card that can do PCIe 4.0, and it is possible that my motherboard doesn't really do better than PCIe 3.x for GPUs. So, I told the mobo to limit its communication on those slots to PCIe 3.x... the stuttering mostly went away.