Menu Audio Over HDMI (1 Viewer)

[csapollo]

MediaPortal Version: 1.1.3
MediaPortal Skin: StreamedMP
Windows Version: Windows 7 Ultimate
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-MA78GPM-S2H
Video Card: ATi HD5450
Video Card Driver: Catalyst 11.5
TV: Samsung UA55B6000
TV - HTPC Connection: HDMI

Hi All,

I've been using MediaPortal for a few years now, and ever since I moved to a receiver/TV setup over HDMI I have just put up with the audio skipping over in the menus. What I mean by that is, when navigating through the menus, each "click" seems to send an individual stream to the receiver and some of them get lost if you're navigating quickly.

My flatmate was trying to show me XBMC yesterday and I noticed that in the menus, the audio is one single stream and does not skip at all.

Hope the above makes sense, is there any solution to this?

cheers,

callsignapollo

 

[Spooky]

Hm, that's weird. There are issues where the first part of an audio signal is omitted (in general, not just in MP), because the receiver was in idle mode, but this shouldn't happen if you navigate quickly, since then it would be a steady audio stream.

 

[csapollo]

Hm, that's weird.

I agree. As I said, in XBMC, the menu audio is constant. In MediaPortal, it says "STEREO", but I see PCM flick up in a small font in the corner each time I press a button in the menu.

Playback of any sort of media has no issue at all. It's just the menu sounds.

 

[Spooky]

What does the receiver say when XBMC is used? What's the exact name of the HDMI audio output device that you set in the sound configuration of Windows 7?

 

[Andrew H]

I use StreamedMP and SPDIFer for DD/DTS audio passthrough and experience as you've described. It's something in the PCs audio switching between passthrough and PCM audio... in fact, if I disable passthrough and force PCM audio (in the PC) I get CONSISTANT menu-click audio because (whether it's in the PC or AVR) the audio is fully PCM and I hear every click! Of course, my audio is now 2-ch stereo being matrixed into Dolby Pro-Logic by my AVR - no longer the 5.1 DD or DTS I desire. Given the tradeoff I recognize if I miss a few menu-click audio streams I'm good having DTS/DD program audio!

Oh, and my Onkyo 803 is set to strip the audio from HDMI, and Auto decoding (whether PCM or DD). The HDMI audio is set to 2-channel and passthrough. YES, my mobo had Dolby-LIVE which can create a 5.1 audio stream from 2-channel "system" audio but that causes my Onkyo to do a bunch of internal clicking of relays as it switches between decode modes... not what I want to sit next to - it's 4' away from my easy-chair in the equipment rack.

Does this help?

 

[csapollo]

What does the receiver say when XBMC is used? What's the exact name of the HDMI audio output device that you set in the sound configuration of Windows 7?

I will check that for you.

I use StreamedMP and SPDIFer for DD/DTS audio passthrough and experience as you've described. It's something in the PCs audio switching between passthrough and PCM audio... in fact, if I disable passthrough and force PCM audio (in the PC) I get CONSISTANT menu-click audio because (whether it's in the PC or AVR) the audio is fully PCM and I hear every click! Of course, my audio is now 2-ch stereo being matrixed into Dolby Pro-Logic by my AVR - no longer the 5.1 DD or DTS I desire. Given the tradeoff I recognize if I miss a few menu-click audio streams I'm good having DTS/DD program audio!

Oh, and my Onkyo 803 is set to strip the audio from HDMI, and Auto decoding (whether PCM or DD). The HDMI audio is set to 2-channel and passthrough. YES, my mobo had Dolby-LIVE which can create a 5.1 audio stream from 2-channel "system" audio but that causes my Onkyo to do a bunch of internal clicking of relays as it switches between decode modes... not what I want to sit next to - it's 4' away from my easy-chair in the equipment rack.

My issue overall is very similar. I agree that overall it is better to suffer the issue for the sake of DD/DTS, but as I said, when I trialled XBMC it did not suffer this issue even though none of my Windows config changed (and HDMI audio was selected inside XBMC).

I might try another skin tonight in case it is something skin specific (also using StreamedMP).

 

[Andrew H]

For me it's good enough. As I said, there was that one time they ran consistantly and then I realized I had non DD/DTS audio during playback... You mentioned XBMC selecting the sudio internally - it might be that instead of selecting the Default Audio Renderer within MP (as I have) that picking a specific device may bypass MP relying on the Windows audio device entirely which might be the source of the delay (in getting the PCM audio "tones" out the HDMI). If you find a solution please post!

 

[tourettes]

Cause for the issue:

Some drivers / audio HW behave differently when it comes to keeping the audio stream "active". Just test with the inbuild speaker test in Windows 7. The beginning of the test sounds are cut of with some HW / drive / amp configurations.

Difference between MP and XBMC:

XBMC is most likely keeping the audio device / stream open constantly.

Audio renderer setting on MP side wont change anything. MP is always using the default audio device for the GUI efects.