Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[comox]

This (apparently) has been reported in the past and is easy to reproduce.

Simply double click to play some audio files in rapid succession from a drives and devices view and maybe once out of 5-10 times MC will hang saying it is buffering for about 4 seconds. Not sure, but FLAC may be more prone than MP3.

Problem seems to appear in waves. If you can't reproduce it, try again with some different files a little later.

FYI, I know this is not caused by my drive spinning up.

Someone suggested to unclick Output Format in DSP settings but I don't like to fiddle with the defaults in this area because I do not understand them and when I do I usually break something.

[jack wallstreet]

Yes, this has been reported before.  I wouldn't hold my breath that it is going to get addressed, and since many people probably don't use output format, it is no problem to uncheck it and make the problem go away.  You can always recheck it if need be.  I have attached image.   I was having a lot of problems using MC for audio file checks because of the severe buffering issue.   But not many people have reported this issue so it may be very difficult for JRiver to feel it is a priority, even though it is easily reproducible (on my system).  And maybe it is system dependent.  Can't tell for sure.

[comox]

Thanks Jack.

I unclicked Output Format and I now remember why I left it enabled.

With Output Format disabled MC cannot play my audio and reports the error:

"Playback could not be started on the output WASAPI using the format 44.1 kHz 2ch.
This output format may not be supported by your hardware. You can use DSP Studio to change the output for a compatible format.
This format would work 48 kHz"

Then it offers to re-enable Output Format which I accept and my audio plays again.

[jack wallstreet]

Ok,  While I am a bit over my head on this solution, it is what I do to solve the problem you describe.   Remember it is very easy to switch these things back to the way they were. 

Go to audio options, audio device and select "direct sound" as your audio device instead of WASAPI.  Works great for me and then, hopefully you can uncheck that box and it will work fine for you.   Others may be able to explain better the difference between the audio device options.    Hope that works for you.  The buffering problem with the "output format" checked is awful (and previous suggestions to play with buffering delays, etc. did not work, but unchecking the box did).

[comox]

Help says to preferentially use WASAPI or ASIO for best quality.
Can't use WASAPI as explained above.
Can't use ASIO because it locks out other apps from playing audio at the same time.
So I am using Direct Sound as you suggest with Output Format turned off. Can't hear any loss of quality.
Will be interesting to see if this fixes the buffering problem that has been irritating me for years.

[JimH]

Can't use ASIO because it locks out other apps from playing audio at the same time.

Uncheck exclusive mode in audio device settings.  [wiki]

[comox]

Uncheck exclusive mode in audio device settings.  [wiki]

I don't see that option for ASIO. (It is available for WASAPI).

https://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Audio_Output_Modes

To get the best audio quality, your software should communicate directly with your sound hardware, without Windows or any other layer doing resampling or other processing of the signal.

Core Audio, ASIO, WASAPI, and Kernel Streaming are all hardware direct.

There are some things to be aware of when using hardware direct communication:
- During audio playback, the soundcard will be locked. You will not be able to play sounds from a web browser or other program while audio is playing.
- Playback of sample rates your soundcard does not support will not be possible. Use Tools > Options > Audio > Settings > DSP and output format > Output Format to allow Media Center to convert to a supported sample rate.