SPDIF dropout issues (2 Viewers)

[stuart reid]

The audio from my pc is routed through SP/DIF as supplied by an onboard Soundmax card. Everything works perfectly for AC3 & DTS pwhen watching movies, but the Problem is when I play music through the system: the digital signal drops between tracks for a brief moment meaning that I lose the first half second or so of every track I play. I'm guessing that my amplifier takes that half second or so to "lock" back onto the SPDIF output. Is there any way I can continually send a signal even though there's nothing playing?

Area: Media Portal Program
MediaPortal Version: 0.2.0.0 RC2 (2005-12-16)
MediaPortal Skin: BlueTwo
Windows Version: Windows XP (SP2)
.NET CLR Version: 2.0.50727
DirectX Version: 4.09.00.0904 (9.0c)
Audio Codec: MPEG/AC3/DTS/LPCM Audio Decoder
Video Codec: Mpeg2Dec Filter
CPU Type: Intel Pentium 4 - 2.53GHz
Memory: 2 GB
Motherboard: P4S8X-X (ASUSTeK Computer INC.)
TV Card Model: -
TV Card Type: -
TV Card Driver: -
Video Card Model: Nvidia Geforce 6600 (256 MB)
Video Card Driver: -
Video Card Resolution: 1280x768
Video Render Type: Overlay
Audio Card Model: SoundMAX Integrated Digital Audio
Audio Card Driver: -
Synopsis::

 

[sderuiter]

Problem is when I play music through the system: the digital signal drops between tracks for a brief moment meaning that I lose the first half second or so of every track I play. I'm guessing that my amplifier takes that half second or so to "lock" back onto the SPDIF output. Is there any way I can continually send a signal even though there's nothing playing?

I have the same issue, using a Chaintech AV-710 soundcard. I can also hear the clicking sound on my receiver when scrollin through the home screen.
Can you 'lock the spdif signal, so that my receiver thinks it's always receiving a signal, even if this is silence?

Thanks.

 

[CHli]

I think I used to have this problem once and I did found a workaround. What I did is activate the Microphone as Input in the Windows Sound Mixer.

But this seems more Hardware Depedent. I don't think MP can do anything for this.

 

[pierremenard]

I have the same issue, using a Chaintech AV-710 soundcard. I can also hear the clicking sound on my receiver when scrollin through the home screen.
Can you 'lock the spdif signal, so that my receiver thinks it's always receiving a signal, even if this is silence?
Thanks.

Try to set the input mode of your receiver to "manual" instad of "auto". When set to auto the receiver try to understand what kind of stream (analog, dts, ac3 and so on) is passing through spdif and this action takes a little time (some seconds for dts or ac3). I had this problem in movies with ac3, when losing sync it took several seconds befor syncing again and I resolved setting "manual" to the receiver. Obviusly when the stream change (from dts to ac3) you have to change the receiver accordingly.

F.

 

[sderuiter]

I have the same issue, using a Chaintech AV-710 soundcard. I can also hear the clicking sound on my receiver when scrollin through the home screen.
Can you 'lock the spdif signal, so that my receiver thinks it's always receiving a signal, even if this is silence?
Thanks.

Try to set the input mode of your receiver to "manual" instad of "auto". When set to auto the receiver try to understand what kind of stream (analog, dts, ac3 and so on) is passing through spdif and this action takes a little time (some seconds for dts or ac3). I had this problem in movies with ac3, when losing sync it took several seconds befor syncing again and I resolved setting "manual" to the receiver. Obviusly when the stream change (from dts to ac3) you have to change the receiver accordingly.

F.

Thanks. Unfortunately, I own a receiver without the possibility to change this (Philips Home Cinema Receiver).

In this HTPCNews.com post, someone discusses that 'silence over spdif' could be driver related. I am using the latest (v5.00b) drivers from Via.


Any other solutions?

 

[orencha]

After HOURS of experiences with SPDIF (I also have SoundMax onboard audio, and use the SPDIF out), here's my Quick-Tip:

For proper SPDIF operation, you should use your sound card directly (ie choose "Soundmax Digital Out", rather than "Directsound" or "System Default" options). This is true for most applications, including MediaPortal.

However... MediaPortal has its own "Internal" sounds (ie CLICK.WAV) and those sounds are probably going out through Default DirectSound Device (NOTE FOR PROGRAMMERS: THIS SHOULD BE CONFIGURABLE!). I found those sounds conflict with proper AC3/DTS pass-through SPDIF in MP.

So my solution: Delete the SOUNDS folder under your current skin (or just rename it). Example:
rename C:\Program Files\Team MediaPortal\MediaPortal\skin\BlueTwo\sounds
to _sounds.

This solved many SPDIF issues for me.

IDEA:
There should be a general "Audio Device To Use" config option in MP. Then, specific modules (like DVD, TV, Movies) can have their own Audio Device Setup (either choose "MediaPortal Default" or another device).

P.S:
There's currently no way to configure Audio Device for use with "My Music".

 

[moullas]

similar problem here.. also with soundmax audio

The problem i was having was that all the menu sounds were ok.
If watching a Video file the audio would come out fine, but if i fast-forward, pause or rewind the sound would be lost, till a restart of MediaPortal.

However, even if the sound was lost on the Video file, the menu sounds would still play after the loss...

Finally i gave up on SPDIF and reverted to my trusty analog 5.1 connectors (3 stereo cables) to my Logitech Z5500 speakers... and everything is fine now...

Btw, from what i've seen on Google, i think this could be also attributed to the Soundmax drivers, however the strange thing is the menu sounds still playing ..