MediaPortal Audio renderer - better video playback quality (2 Viewers)

[HakanThn]

Strange, when I tried SPDIF out before, I think that MP audio renderer worked, but I got no sound.
Trying it now, I have sound, but MP audio renderer doesn´t start. It shows in Graphstudio as a grey, non-connected box. Instead "Default Directsound Device" is being used. I´ve attached logs (first zip file)

If I use "ForceDirectSound", then MP audio renderer will be used (still using SPDIF), and everything seems ok besides I can´t use 5.1 sound since no AC3encoding.

I tried again using HDMI. As before, when using "UseEventMode" I get no sound output.
Sometimes MP freeze in HDMI mode, I haven´t figured out what settings cause this. When I first start MP the file plays well, but after I stop the video, MP will freeze when I try to start again. I attach two logs from such freezes (with different settings in audio renderer).
Note: Not 100% sure that the no sound issue when "UseEventMode" in HDMI is consistent. It´s getting to late for accurate testing Hope this can still help your development!

 

[tourettes]

Strange, when I tried SPDIF out before, I think that MP audio renderer worked, but I got no sound.
Trying it now, I have sound, but MP audio renderer doesn´t start. It shows in Graphstudio as a grey, non-connected box. Instead "Default Directsound Device" is being used. I´ve attached logs (first zip file)

SPDIF can only support stereo sound when you are using uncompressed audio formats (technical limitation of SPDIF in general). You need to enable the AC3 encoding if you want to use multichannel sound formats with the SPDIF interface. See first post for more info.

From log:

12-02-2011 23:23:19.745 [ 1460] EnableAC3Encoding: 0

I tried again using HDMI. As before, when using "UseEventMode" I get no sound output.
Sometimes MP freeze in HDMI mode, I haven´t figured out what settings cause this. When I first start MP the file plays well, but after I stop the video, MP will freeze when I try to start again. I attach two logs from such freezes (with different settings in audio renderer).
Note: Not 100% sure that the no sound issue when "UseEventMode" in HDMI is consistent. It´s getting to late for accurate testing Hope this can still help your development!

Try opdating the Catalyst drivers. ATI has had issues with the HDMI audio side in many drivers.

Also you can check with the ASAPI compatibility tool what is supported and what not by the drivers and audio HW: https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/637142-post4.html

 

[HakanThn]

SPDIF can only support stereo sound when you are using uncompressed audio formats (technical limitation of SPDIF in general). You need to enable the AC3 encoding if you want to use multichannel sound formats with the SPDIF interface. See first post for more info.

Yes, I knew that, but thought that I would at least get stereo PCM out through SPDIF. But it causes MP AudioRenderer to be loaded but not used then?

Try opdating the Catalyst drivers. ATI has had issues with the HDMI audio side in many drivers.

Also you can check with the ASAPI compatibility tool what is supported and what not by the drivers and audio HW: https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/637142-post4.html

Thx, I will try that later. Right now I don´t want to update any driver, as everything else seem to be working and I´m trying to get a stable, wife-accepted system. I´m nearly there now

Did some more testing. The MP crash also happens with SPDIF:
With SPDIF, UseEventMode=off, AC3Encode=on, sound and video works. But, when I stop video and then restart, MP will crash (sound is playing, but MP window freeze before video is shown). See attached log. I get the same crash also when I put AC3encode=off, i.e. when MP AudioRenderer is started but not used (shown as grey box, not connected, in GraphStudio).

Tested also UseEvenMode=On, AC3Encode=on with SPDIF. Now I get no sound. MP AudioRenderer is used (shows as connected in GraphStudio), video is smooth, but no sound. See attached second log.

 

[pilehave]

I have a simple question, can MediaPortal Audio render output a stereo signal from ie. DVB-T as multichannel SPDIF? I like to watch TV in pseudo 5.1 because it gives me sound in the centre-speaker in my 5.1 setup.

Currently I use AC3 filter to output everything as 5.1, except for AC3 and DTS which are passed through.



EDIT: Should I use FFDShow to do the recoding of channels?

 

[tourettes]

I have a simple question, can MediaPortal Audio render output a stereo signal from ie. DVB-T as multichannel SPDIF? I like to watch TV in pseudo 5.1 because it gives me sound in the centre-speaker in my 5.1 setup.

If you want to create a fake channels (which most likely cause the audio to sounds worser than the original) you should use ffdshow (or some else audio processor) in the directshow graph that can handle the upmixing.

Currently I use AC3 filter to output everything as 5.1, except for AC3 and DTS which are passed through.

Remember that passthru cannot be used with the MP Audio Renderer since it needs to be able to process the stream.

EDIT: Should I use FFDShow to do the recoding of channels?

You mean the decoding or re-encoding? Or upmixing? Maybe for decoding (currently ffdshow is the most compatible audio decoder with the MP Audio Renderer) yes for upmixing and no for re-encoding.

 

[tourettes]

Yes, I knew that, but thought that I would at least get stereo PCM out through SPDIF. But it causes MP AudioRenderer to be loaded but not used then?

Depends on HW and drivers if the PCM format is supported.

Try opdating the Catalyst drivers. ATI has had issues with the HDMI audio side in many drivers.

Also you can check with the WASAPI compatibility tool what is supported and what not by the drivers and audio HW: https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/637142-post4.html

Thx, I will try that later. Right now I don´t want to update any driver, as everything else seem to be working and I´m trying to get a stable, wife-accepted system. I´m nearly there now

We know already that old ATI drivers aren't compatible - there is no point in trying to get those work perfectly

Just check what WASAPI support tool says, it will tell what modes and formats are working and what not with the currently used driver.

 

[tourettes]

Did some more testing. The MP crash also happens with SPDIF:
With SPDIF, UseEventMode=off, AC3Encode=on, sound and video works. But, when I stop video and then restart, MP will crash (sound is playing, but MP window freeze before video is shown). See attached log. I get the same crash also when I put AC3encode=off, i.e. when MP AudioRenderer is started but not used (shown as grey box, not connected, in GraphStudio).

Tested also UseEvenMode=On, AC3Encode=on with SPDIF. Now I get no sound. MP AudioRenderer is used (shows as connected in GraphStudio), video is smooth, but no sound. See attached second log.

Logs didn't show any errors related to audio renderer.

 

[edterbak]

Hi Tourettes,

Can you help me a bit with settings?
Could you make more clear in the first post when editing the regisry, what the value should be set on. Hex or Dec?

Other thing Id like some 'light' on

DevicePeriod
Device side buffer size, the samller the more often the audio renderer needs to write to the buffer. 500000 (50ms) by default.

0 = default from the audio driver
1 = minimum from the audio driver
others -> user specified (default 500000 -> 50 ms)

After installing a fresh MP. the default settings are back again at 500 000. I was struggling to get rid of an audio/video sync and could get rid of it.
I set the device poriod to 50 000, and the problems seems to be gone now. What would you recommend for this devicePeriod? What can be expected if set to....

Keep in mind I am using a Xonar DX, like Red5. Settings are: WasapiExclusive:Yes / WasapiUseEventmode:No / HWbaseRefClock:Yes / ChannelMaskOverride_5_1:1551(Hex/Dec??)

Thank you very much for the renderer. It is working very well!!!


(PS. Are there any new releases/features planned? status? )

 

[Sinbe]

If I upmix 2ch audio to 5.1 with FFDshow, the AC3 encoding isn't enabled on the MP Audio Renderer and I only get 2ch audio. However if I select AC3 output from FFDshow, it does work, but the sync goes bananas after a few minutes. I guess this has something to do with the the renderer checking the input channels from the file rather than the decoded stream coming from FFDshow. Can anyone confirm this bug? This is a small annoyance because I'd like to be able to set a negative delay on sub channel and I cannot do this on my receiver.

 

[tourettes]

If I upmix 2ch audio to 5.1 with FFDshow, the AC3 encoding isn't enabled on the MP Audio Renderer and I only get 2ch audio. However if I select AC3 output from FFDshow, it does work, but the sync goes bananas after a few minutes. I guess this has something to do with the the renderer checking the input channels from the file rather than the decoded stream coming from FFDshow. Can anyone confirm this bug? This is a small annoyance because I'd like to be able to set a negative delay on sub channel and I cannot do this on my receiver.

Please post log MPAudiorenderer.log. Renderer is only using the information that the audio decoder provides, it has no clue what is the actual video file (or even less what it contains).

When AC3 output is selected from the ffdshow it "effectively" disables the MPAudioRenderer since it will reject all encoded audio types.