Newbie to MePo - UK HD Channels - Missing Sound? (1 Viewer)

[CAPTAIN_CESSNA]

Had my first evening with MePo last night after several years of using WMC. Overall, the experience was very positive! I've posted on AvForums, however I realise this may be a better place to ask, so I'll link to the thread >>>>HERE<<<<.

I would, however, like to add a further query that I forgot about, and I don't seem to be able to find the answer. Last night, watching the footy on ITV HD, everything was great until the adverts came on. Certain adverts didn't have any audio. I'm connected via TOSLink to an old (Not HD audio) DTS/DD receiver. The receiver reports no signal during the offending ads, which make me think they may be encoded in a format my receiver is unable to decode. I never had this problem in WMC. At present, I'm using the stock settings except I'm not using the BASS engine.

Do I need to set something to output the audio on these programmes as 2ch PCM? I'm using a xonar DGX so it isn't DD Live, so surround isn't really an option for me at this stage. Soon I'll be taking the HTPC to the caravan as well, which will be using audio over HDMI through the GT430 to a Samsung Series 6 TV. The audio card will be removed altogether. Will I still have this problem then?

Cheers!

 

[Holzi]

I think the missing sound could be a codec problem. Which one are you using?
Thanks!

 

[CAPTAIN_CESSNA]

Wow, that reply was amazingly quick! I don't know what I'm using (not at home atm), just that the audio engine is set to Windows defaut, not BASS and I haven't changed any codec settings (LAV default?)

Thanks!

 

[Holzi]

To your AVForums post:

• On the 'Now playing' screen, is it possible to have a fanart screensaver? I think there should be something to prevent burn-in, as the information display remains static. I've found a way to turn off the screen after so long, but this seems a bit boring.

Should be possible by activating the fanart handler plugin. It allows you to download Fanart/Backdrops from the artist which is now playing and cycles the pictures. Most of the skins support this feature.

• Again on the 'Now playing' screen, the Artist/Album info is always blank. I tried MediaInfoPlugin, this didn't seem to work. I remember, though, the same thing happened on Avalon when I trialled MePo on my laptop and there was an obscure plugin buried somewhere deep in the forums that nobody knew about, that made the information and lyrics work. Now I can't find it, do you know how to make it work?

Did you tag your Music files? (fill in titel, song name, year, genre etc..)

• On the EPG, I'd still like an easy way to automatically number the channels as per a Freesat STB. Is there an easy way to do this? At the moment I don't have any categories or colours for programme types on the EPG, so it looks a bit plain. Any idea how to sort this? I plan to do some channel logos at some point as well, so any tips would be great! (Robbo, on your setup guide I noticed it said that for DVB-EPG you should tick the 'only for this channel' box on the Freesat Info radio channel. This stopped it working for me!)

What do you exactly mean with numbering? You can order channels by moving them in the TVServer Config (Drag & Drop should work) -> TV Channels

• I haven't tried recording or playing anything back yet, however I've added the .wtv extension to the backend ready to play my WMC recordings. Is there anything else I need to do, or will these just play?

Should be enough.

• Channel changes with the TBS6981 were pretty slow. I have this with TVSource a while ago, so I halfexpected it. There was a hack for this on the TVSource forum that made it better. Does anyone know of anything similar on MePo? Not a deal breaker for me.

You should disable IPv6 and do the same with Microsoft Security Essentials. Also exclude any MediaPortal stuff from AntiVirus software and other firewalls.

• Last off, I've noticed that the LAV filters by default aren't set up to do any hardware decoding. I have a GT430 installed, so I think I should use it, especially for HD content. I know WMC used hardware through DXVA, which is an option on the filter, but so is Nvidia CUVID. Which is best?!

With nvidia I would use CUVID. If there are any problems you still can try DXVA2.
Thanks!

 

[Vasilich]

you can use FFDShow audio decoder that has an option to encode all possible combinations in DD 5.1 and send it via SPDIF to your receiver (this is how it works for me with my 12 years old DD/DTS receiver)

 

[Holzi]

Wow, that reply was amazingly quick! I don't know what I'm using (not at home atm), just that the audio engine is set to Windows defaut, not BASS and I haven't changed any codec settings (LAV default?)

Thanks!

Audio Renderer set to "Default DirectShow Device" should be okay.

 

[CAPTAIN_CESSNA]

Thanks for the help, already it's great seeing there's such an active forum.

To your AVForums post:

• Should be possible by activating the fanart handler plugin. It allows you to download Fanart/Backdrops from the artist which is now playing and cycles the pictures. Most of the skins support this feature.

I know about the fanart handler, I have it installed and think it's great, it's the info box on the now playing screen that causes concern as it's static whilst the fanart cycles in the background. On 7MC, for example, they combat this by making the cover art and tag information swing from side to side. I'm using the Titan skin, by the way.

Did you tag your Music files? (fill in titel, song name, year, genre etc..)

That's exactly the problem... My tags are good enough to recognise the song, but other than that they're very unprofessional. I'm sure I had a plugin for Avalon a while ago that populated detailed Artist/Album info from the internet and didn't just show tag content.

What do you exactly mean with numbering? You can order channels by moving them in the TVServer Config (Drag & Drop should work) -> TV Channels.

I mean channel numbers to punch in on the remote, i.e. 101 for BBC One, 102 BBC Two etc. I know they can be organised and numbered manually, but I was asking if it's possible to do it automatically from the Freesat Info channel, so the numbering and order can match a Freesat STB. I've seen there's a plugin to follow a Sky EPG/STB but nothing for Freesat and was wondering if it's possible.

You should disable IPv6 and do the same with Microsoft Security Essentials. Also exclude any MediaPortal stuff from AntiVirus software and other firewalls.

I'm using Windows 8, which I know isn't officially supported at the moment, so I don't have an AV installed, just the built-in Windows Defender. I've made the necessary exceptions but haven't tried disabling IPv6 yet. I'll give this a go, though I think it may be more to do with how the TV Server deals with my TBS driver.

With nvidia I would use CUVID. If there are any problems you still can try DXVA2.
Thanks!

I'll give this a go. Thanks!

you can use FFDShow audio decoder that has an option to encode all possible combinations in DD 5.1 and send it via SPDIF to your receiver (this is how it works for me with my 12 years old DD/DTS receiver)

Will this work on any sound card? My card doesn't support DD Live or DTS Connect.

 

[Vasilich]

Will this work on any sound card? My card doesn't support DD Live or DTS Connect.

yes, as it is software encoding (made by CPU).
You can set it so that it use passthrough for formats that can go through SPDIF (actually mono/stereo PCM, DD and DTS only), and for all others use reencoding.

 

[CAPTAIN_CESSNA]

That's great, I'll give it a go. Does it put a lot of load on the CPU when encoding to DD? I have an i3 2100t.

 

[Vasilich]

Does it put a lot of load on the CPU when encoding to DD?

not much. I have old Atom 330, and it takes rough 5% of cpu, so you won't see it at all with your i3.