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[DanielBMe]

I'm trying to determine if Windows Control Panel has an effect on MC's sound.  I'm currently using my HTPC (Win 7) and outputting to my Denon 3808 via HDMI. Using WASAPI in MC 18.  I have a 5.1 system - well actually dual subs.

If I select 5.1 in Windows, Control Panel, Sound, whatever I set in MC 18 - DSP Output, 5.1, JRR Mixing, No Bitstreaming, VideoClock on, I only see Multichannel In on my Receiver and can't change it to DTS Master, Digital Dolby etc.  Normally this isn't a problem when watching dvd's or blu rays.  Everything sounds perfectly fine.  However, if I play a 2 channel source, I can't switch my receiver to 5.1 such as Dolby PLII.  All sounds come out of the left and right speaker only.

If I select 2 channel in Windows, Control Panel, Sound, whatever I set in MC 18 - DSP Output, 5.1, JRR Mixing, No Bitstreaming, VideoClock on, I only see Multichannel In on my Receiver and can't change it to DTS Master, Digital Dolby etc.  So same as above.  Everything sounds perfectly fine.  However, if I now play a 2 channel source, I can switch my receiver to 5.1 such as Dolby PLII.  

So I'm a little confused why in the first 5.1 setup, when MC detects 2 channel, it doesn't upmix and what should be my proper setup in Windows Control Panel?

[csimon]

If you are using WASAPI then MC controls the sound, and the settings in Windows have no effect. That's the way I understand it. I don't know why changing the Windows settings seems to alter things in your case. Check that you have WASAPI in Output Mode and your HDMI device in Output Mode Settings.

I suspect what you might need to do is set up two different zones to handle different audio mixing for different sources. In order for your receiver to get DTS Master, DD 5.1 or 7.1 etc, passed through from the source, you will need bitstreaming turned on. With bitstreaming turned off, JRSS is effectively Dolby Pro Logic, i.e. a stereo signal that can be interpreted as surround and you can change your receiver to various DSP or matrix modes. However,m you can then output this is Dolby Digital and your receiver will remain fixed like that.

What exactly do you want to do?

For example, for 2-channel sources do you want to mix as Pro Logic so that you can switch your receiver between 2-channel, 5-channel stereo, PL Cinema, PL Music, PLII etc?

And for multi-channel sources, do you want to output it unchanged so you get the original DTS soundtrack?

If so, as I said, I think I would suggest two zones. One which is set to output JRSS in 5.1, and the other has bitstreaming turned on and therefore no DSP settings. Then you can use ZoneSwitch to automatically play in the correct zone depending on the number of channels in the source.

Is that what you need?

[DanielBMe]

Well right now it seems to be working but not sure if it's correctly setup.  What I have now is Windows Control Panel set to 2 channel, MC 18 set to Audio
Channels = 5.1
JRSS
Subwoofer = send all frequencies to sub

If I play a 2 channel source I can switch to 5-channel stereo, PL Cinema, PL Music, PLII etc
If I play a track with Digital Dolby or DTS Master 5.1 my receiver lights up appropriately. 

I'm just not sure if with the above setup, if my movie has Digital Dolby or DTS Master, is MC18 doing anything at all to the audio or is it just passing it through and only altering is if it's 2 channel?  What I want is to be able to upmix 2 channel audio to 5.1 and do not alter the 5.1 tracks that are passed.

[DanielBMe]

Oops ok, it's not actually working how I want it to.  The only way to get it to work the way I want is to set Windows Control Panel to 2 channel, then uncheck DSP Output in MC, use Bitstreaming via HDMI.  If I do that then I can upconvert 2 channel to 5-channel stereo, PL Cinema, PL Music, PLII etc and when playing a blu ray, get my receiver to show the HD Audio signals. 

If using MC and I check DSP Audio and select 5.1 and JRSS Mixing no matter what I do I only see Multichannel on my receiver.  If I listen to a 2 channel source, I only get sound from the left and right speaker and not able to upmix to 5.1. 

Do I have this correct that if I check the DSP Output and select 5.1, JRSS Mixing, then MC 18 is handling the decoding of all audio and sending it to my receiver as Multi Channel PCM?  For anything 5.1 such as DD, DTS Master etc MC is doing the decoding? 

I tried Zones, but it didn't work. Not quite sure if I did it right though.  I couldn't figure out a way to get MC to upconvert my 2 channel sources unless I uncheck DSP Output.  Then for the other Zone I guess I could get MC 18 to do the decoding and pass to my receiver.

I'm really confused and not really sure how to best go about this...

[rec head]

I might have missed it but why don't you want to bitstream via hdmi?

[csimon]

Do I have this correct that if I check the DSP Output and select 5.1, JRSS Mixing, then MC 18 is handling the decoding of all audio and sending it to my receiver as Multi Channel PCM?  For anything 5.1 such as DD, DTS Master etc MC is doing the decoding?  

For Direct Sound output, Windows settings will interfere. For WASAPI output, MC handles it all. Check that you have WASAPI set and you have the corect audio device selected.

MC won't output DTS. You need to turn bitstreaming on in order to pass that through.

It looks like you require 2 different types of mixing to occur, depending on the number of channels in the source. I siuggest using two zones and using ZoneSwitch to automatically switch between them.

[DanielBMe]

I might have missed it but why don't you want to bitstream via hdmi?

It's not that I don't want to use bitstreaming but just wanted to test out some other methods.  If I don't use bitstreaming, I could use videoclock which requires that bitstreaming is turned off.  I thought I read a thread where it was recommended to let MC do the decoding.  Not really sure anymore.  My MC can decode DTS as I copied a file from TMT as indicated in a different thread.

I have now created two zones, one for audio and one for video (which uses bitstreaming).  However, I just ran into one small problem.  Netflix audio is only coming out of my left and right speaker and not being directed to my center channel.  Is Netflix seen as media type = video in MC?  I was wondering if there's a way to create a zone for it so it uses the same zone as my audio?  I tried adding media type = other in my audio zone but that didn't work.

I just find it odd that WASAPI is supposed to bypass Windows Sound but I can see that depending on what I select in Windows Control Panel, Sound, it changes the behavior of my output in MC.  I have doubled check and WASAPI is definitely selected as is my output device my Denon Receiver.

[csimon]

Netflix audio is only coming out of my left and right speaker and not being directed to my center channel.  Is Netflix seen as media type = video in MC?  I was wondering if there's a way to create a zone for it so it uses the same zone as my audio?

Would it work using the number of channels, rather than the media type?  i.e. send 2-channel sources to teh upmixing zone, and multichannel sources to the bitstream zone?

I just find it odd that WASAPI is supposed to bypass Windows Sound but I can see that depending on what I select in Windows Control Panel, Sound, it changes the behavior of my output in MC.

Me too...

[DanielBMe]

Hmmm not sure how to do that...

Do I simply select Channels - Is - 2 ?
or
Channels - Is - 2-Channel?

Channels - Is - 5.1?

Not sure what I should be entering for the last drop down box as it doesn't contain anything to select.

[csimon]

I'm not at a MC PC at the moment so can't look extaclty what operators it allows you to use, but I would guess:

1. Less than or equal to 2
2. Greater than 2.

5.1 is 6 channels!

[DanielBMe]

I created my zones based on the channels but it didn't help with any Netflix videos.  Not sure why though.

[csimon]

Well...pass!

Just thought a little more about your issue. to be honest, I'm not completely clear on everything that MC can do, I was just going by my experiences which, it's just hit me, are clouded by the fact that I haven't got a DTS encoder for MC. So that's why I had to bitstream for multichannel DVD/BR sources.

Yes, I'm sure MC would be able to decode DTS and send it as discrete channels (downmixing to 7.1 if you've only got a 5.1 system). In that case, your receiver will display "multichannel" and you won't be able to change it.

I guess if the source is 2-channel and you've selected 5.1 as output then it will mix to that...but this is what I'm not sure about, whether it will also send that as discrete 5.1 or whether it will mix it into 2 channels as-per PL, which will allow you to change the processing on the receiver side.

[DanielBMe]

I already tried that.  2 channel sources even set to 5.1 in MC DSP Output, while it does send it as Multichannel PCM, which is what shows up on my receiver, sound still only comes out of my left and right speakers only.  The only way it will work is if I set my Windows Control Panel to 2 channel instead of 5.1 even though I have WASAPI selected.  Once I do that I can then upmix on my receiver.  Problem is then all my videos are only sent as Multichannel....something just seems very odd.  Can't figure it out.

[DanielBMe]

I also just noticed that when watching a Netflix video when I check the audio path in MC it indicates "not using JRiver Audio Engine".  So it appears Netflix bypasses it somehow. 

[csimon]

I had another thought that you could try, it probably won't solve the control panel issue, but just see if you can get the audio mixing without two zones...

Try setting the channels in DSP as Source number Of Channels, and use JRSS mixing, no bitstreaming. DTS and DD multichannel formats should then mix as several discrete channels and 2 channels should mix as 2 channels but effectively pro-logic and allow your receiver to choose how it's decoded.