Since a few days ago I finally upgraded to an older AVR from around 2007 - the yamaha rx-v661.
Got it really cheap too since it doesn't do the new HD codecs (DTS MA, True HD) - but who cares rite ? as long as we have full 7.1 LPCM support
It also only have 2 x hdmi 1.2a inputs. More than enuff
I wanted a setup that gave me true multichannel PCM option (LPCM) as I've been using spdif for ages and the only viable option was an AVR with proper HDMI LPCM support.
So if you are looking for a secondhand bargain please be aware of any old AVR with HDMI needs to officially support 5.1/7.1 LPCM.
Having a HDMI enabled AVR does not automatically give you LPCM support - so before forking over your hard earned cash do your google research.
What I really love about this new setup is how well it works for playing games in clean digital multi channel audio. Say 'bye bye' to those analogue soundcard outputs for multichannel gaming
I just set the speaker configuration for the HDMI audio device to 7.1 speakers in windows.
Back to MP.
I quickly realized that playing back any media containing audio (video file, dvd, bluray etc) would have the most benefit using an audio renderer with full wasapi support, such as the 'mediaportal audio renderer'
Obviously wasapi doesn't care what speaker configuration you have defined in windows.
If the audio source is 2 channels, then you will see 2 channel PCM in the AVR's display.
If the source is 5/1 you will see LPCM 5/1 in AVR, same for 7.1.
So this is all nice for any audio source being output to the 'MP AR' especially when you have configured windows for a multichannel surround setup like eg. 7.1
So in other words wasapi will auto adapt its output speaker configuration based on the audio source.
wonderful.
In the heat of battle I then forgot all about TV, as this uses the default directsound device (in my setup atleast).
In this case the AVR would light up with LPCM 7/1 everytime - even for normal AAC 2.0 tracks. Not optimal at all :/
A real bummer, as I would have liked to have it come out as 2 channels PCM on the AVR and then have the AVR apply proglogic2 to it.
Instead I only have sound in left and right speakers (basic stereo).
So as an experiment I tried using MP AR (with WASAPI support enabled ofc.) for TV usage.
It sort of worked. It did want I wanted. AAC 2.0 came out as 2 ch. PCM, and DD 5.1 or AAC 5.1 came out as 5.1 LPCM. niice indeed
but a few channel changes later and i quickly realized that I was suffering from lipsynch issues.
Since I use MP AR for it's time stretching capabilities mainly for static video material, it would seem foolish to permanently disable it.
Disabling it would no doubt cure the lipsynch issues I have with live TV.
But to my knowledge there is not way to have MP AR enable/disable time stretching in a dynamic way.
I then downloaded reclock, as this supports wasapi aswell (you will have to enable it in reclock config).
I also disabled it's time stretching feature of reclock.
In MP config I re-configured audio output for the TV codec section to use reclock.
Result ?
nice wasapi audio output for TV usage in 2 pcm as well as lpcm 5.1/7.1
and better yet, the audio lipsynch issues were gone.
although I think it would be better if we could have MP AR adapt it's time stretching feature to the content.
meaning, we could move some of the MP AR settings into MP config. and then let MP player code decide what to do (it would communicate with the MP AR directly).
I now have a HTPC which handles games in 7.1, it also correctly handles the audio for MP related media playback, all using bitperfect wasapi.
And better yet I don't have to constantly change the windows speaker config. between 2.0 and 7.1 when going from a gaming session and then back to MP.
Regarding the yamaha rx-v661.
I know a lot of peple have issues with AVR's in general.
And I was a bit scared as well. Introducing a new HDMI unit to the fray would seem like asking for trouble.
Well, so far it plays ball with my ATI HD5750 card.
Constantly changing resolutions within MP using dynamic refresh changer does not cause any HDMI issues.
I can turn the TV on/off with live TV running without playback stopping etc.
HDMI audio device seems to be present when resuming standby as long as I dont use those dreaded CCC 12.4 drivers.
Back to the topic of wether or not to get an AVR with full bitstreaming support for DTS MA/ True DD.
In my case I use MP AR, and this works by resampling the audio on the fly. And since it only offers LPCM or realtime encode to dolby digital, I obviously opted for LPCM
So when using MP AR, there really is no use for those bistreaming capabilities I would say.
/gibman
Got it really cheap too since it doesn't do the new HD codecs (DTS MA, True HD) - but who cares rite ? as long as we have full 7.1 LPCM support
It also only have 2 x hdmi 1.2a inputs. More than enuff
I wanted a setup that gave me true multichannel PCM option (LPCM) as I've been using spdif for ages and the only viable option was an AVR with proper HDMI LPCM support.
So if you are looking for a secondhand bargain please be aware of any old AVR with HDMI needs to officially support 5.1/7.1 LPCM.
Having a HDMI enabled AVR does not automatically give you LPCM support - so before forking over your hard earned cash do your google research.
What I really love about this new setup is how well it works for playing games in clean digital multi channel audio. Say 'bye bye' to those analogue soundcard outputs for multichannel gaming
I just set the speaker configuration for the HDMI audio device to 7.1 speakers in windows.
Back to MP.
I quickly realized that playing back any media containing audio (video file, dvd, bluray etc) would have the most benefit using an audio renderer with full wasapi support, such as the 'mediaportal audio renderer'
Obviously wasapi doesn't care what speaker configuration you have defined in windows.
If the audio source is 2 channels, then you will see 2 channel PCM in the AVR's display.
If the source is 5/1 you will see LPCM 5/1 in AVR, same for 7.1.
So this is all nice for any audio source being output to the 'MP AR' especially when you have configured windows for a multichannel surround setup like eg. 7.1
So in other words wasapi will auto adapt its output speaker configuration based on the audio source.
wonderful.
In the heat of battle I then forgot all about TV, as this uses the default directsound device (in my setup atleast).
In this case the AVR would light up with LPCM 7/1 everytime - even for normal AAC 2.0 tracks. Not optimal at all :/
A real bummer, as I would have liked to have it come out as 2 channels PCM on the AVR and then have the AVR apply proglogic2 to it.
Instead I only have sound in left and right speakers (basic stereo).
So as an experiment I tried using MP AR (with WASAPI support enabled ofc.) for TV usage.
It sort of worked. It did want I wanted. AAC 2.0 came out as 2 ch. PCM, and DD 5.1 or AAC 5.1 came out as 5.1 LPCM. niice indeed
but a few channel changes later and i quickly realized that I was suffering from lipsynch issues.
Since I use MP AR for it's time stretching capabilities mainly for static video material, it would seem foolish to permanently disable it.
Disabling it would no doubt cure the lipsynch issues I have with live TV.
But to my knowledge there is not way to have MP AR enable/disable time stretching in a dynamic way.
I then downloaded reclock, as this supports wasapi aswell (you will have to enable it in reclock config).
I also disabled it's time stretching feature of reclock.
In MP config I re-configured audio output for the TV codec section to use reclock.
Result ?
nice wasapi audio output for TV usage in 2 pcm as well as lpcm 5.1/7.1
and better yet, the audio lipsynch issues were gone.
although I think it would be better if we could have MP AR adapt it's time stretching feature to the content.
meaning, we could move some of the MP AR settings into MP config. and then let MP player code decide what to do (it would communicate with the MP AR directly).
I now have a HTPC which handles games in 7.1, it also correctly handles the audio for MP related media playback, all using bitperfect wasapi.
And better yet I don't have to constantly change the windows speaker config. between 2.0 and 7.1 when going from a gaming session and then back to MP.
Regarding the yamaha rx-v661.
I know a lot of peple have issues with AVR's in general.
And I was a bit scared as well. Introducing a new HDMI unit to the fray would seem like asking for trouble.
Well, so far it plays ball with my ATI HD5750 card.
Constantly changing resolutions within MP using dynamic refresh changer does not cause any HDMI issues.
I can turn the TV on/off with live TV running without playback stopping etc.
HDMI audio device seems to be present when resuming standby as long as I dont use those dreaded CCC 12.4 drivers.
Back to the topic of wether or not to get an AVR with full bitstreaming support for DTS MA/ True DD.
In my case I use MP AR, and this works by resampling the audio on the fly. And since it only offers LPCM or realtime encode to dolby digital, I obviously opted for LPCM
So when using MP AR, there really is no use for those bistreaming capabilities I would say.
/gibman