Operating System Windows 7 & half fullscreen (5 Viewers)

[scott_mckenzie]

Hi,

Sorry if this has already been answered, but Scythe42 will the fix that is in progress also fix the audio issues?

My setup (lg 42" 1080p tv , htpc with win7 and MP 1.2.2 with AMD catalyst driver 12.10, and a Yamaha rx-v773 avr connected via HDMI cables) doesn't seem to have the display issues any more with the latest catalyst driver but when turning the avr and TV back on still results in loss of audio, but the strange thing is that the HDMI audio driver is showing as active, it's not muted, and if I do test sounds I hear audio though the speakers, just not in mp.

Thanks - Scott

 

[Scythe42]

It's not possible to solve this audio problem during playback without using a custom audio renderer (exception are HDMI switchboxes that always present a connected device even if it is disconnected. But these are pricey. I personally use a DVDO Edge from day one one for these reasons).

But back the what happens inside Windows:

Here's the long story:

A HDMI audio renderer is an external device from an Windows point of view (the receiver is not inside your HTPC).

When you turn off your receiver (or switch inputs) the connection to your HTPC gets separated This triggers a plug and play event that notifies the system of the removal of the HDMI audio renderer (also reference clock and related classes). This is perfectly fine. The device is not connected to the HTMP anymore.

Once it is gone the current DirectShow Graph cannot play any audio anymore as the audio renderer isn't connected anymore. Fine also (bad drivers, like on my system can cause a crash of MP).

But now the sad part: DirectShow is not capable of "re-initalize" an audio renderer on the fly once it is reconnects to the system. Only stopping/starting playback can use the newly connected HDMI audio renderer.

With additional audio renderes (like MPAR) as an abstraction layer, it is possible to disconnect/reconnect an audio renderer as it is not part of the DirectShow graph.

So when MPAR supports re-inits of the final audio-renderer on demand this issue can be solved and playback can continue even if a device is disconnected as MPAR is the receiver of the audio stream inside Direct Show. But as long as you use any of the DirectShow Audio Renderers, you are stuck. This is a limitation of DirectShow and nothing much we can do about it.

MPAR will support re-inits of audio renderers in future.

Only fix I am doing is: current used audio render gone -> stop playback (as audio will never come back).

Reason is that DirectShow was designed before HDMI came up and MS never updated it in regards to this issue as it wants people to move away from DirectShow. Would be fine for us, but the huge number of existing filters (read codecs) is the issue here why we can't move away from it at this point in time.

Testing audio works for you, because when you open the settings app it actually connect to the audio device at this time when it is available again. So this is not related and it never experienced the loss. It would be like restarting MP.

If you have a general problem that once your the HDMI audio device was removed (when depends largely on the receiver) it can NEVER be used for playback again, that might be a different and solvable issue!

But this seems more or less a driver issue. Plug and Play for HDMI devices should work without hickups. But not during playback without an audio renderer that supports plug and play events.

Also if you have sounds enabled in a skin these are affected as well because the sound device is pulled under our feet. This one can be solved but isn't high on our priority list.

Can you provide a few more detail when and how you loose audio and under which circumstances it never comes back?

Also your configuration in regards to audio inside Windows as well as inside MP?

If it is just a matter that the plug and play event doesn't come through to MP, we could force a re-enumeration of audio devices to workaround a potential driver problem on the arrival of audio devices. Basically re-enumerating stuff. But that shouldn't be necessary as we just use a "filter name" stored in the configuration that doesn't change and is used every-time we build a Direct Show Graph.

 

[scott_mckenzie]

Hi Scythe,

Firstly thanks for going to the effort of outlining the whole issue. It's frustrating that you have to code around this windows 'feature' , especially when there are so many different issues with which while on the surface are similar, are not exactly the same.

I formatted/reinstalled since my last post as I had a number of other issues starting to occur with my HTPC, but am still having the same HDMI issues. I'll go through the details of my setup as well as the tests I have just done:
- My HTPC connects from the onboard HDMI output to the HDMI input on my AVR - a Yamaha RXV-773 via a HDMI cable.
- My AVR connects from the HDMI output to The HDMI input on my TV a a 42LG70YD via HDMI cable.
- My key HTPC specs (see my signature For The Rest) are:
- Motherboard is an Asus m3a78-emh HDMI with a Radeon 3200 graphics chip set.
- I have Catalyst driver 12.6 installed - this is the latest compatible version for my chipset. I know I previously mentioned that I had 12.10 installed - it must have let it install successfully even though it is not compatible.
- I have AMD High Definition Audio Device driver 7.12.0.7706 installed as well as Realtek High Definite ion Audio driver 6.0.1.5504. I believe these are the latest drivers.
- I have SAF 6.1.9 installed using ATi Video Recorders for Video, LAV for Audio decoders, and Default Direct sound Device for the Audio renderer.
- I have MP 1.2.3 installed with the Mustayaluca skin.
- I have tried the following fixes on my current install:
- https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/threads/windows-7-keeps-muting-sound.101244/) - see the 3rd post re Moninfo.
- Update the resolution in the registry (see first post here): “ - http://experts.windows.com/frms/win...nnected_home/f/115/p/80853/401754.aspx#401754

OK now for the testing I have done:
Scenario 1 - Leave MP on (nothing playing or recording) turn off AVR, and TV, and then just turn the TV back on.
- outcome: MP half screen issue. Audio is fine. See Scenario 1 log. I need to flag here that when I went to my system tray to check the audio devices MP did switch back to full screen while I was doing this.
Scenario 2 - Leave MP on (nothing playing or recording) turn off TV then the AVR, and then turn the AVR back on first shortly followed by turning the TV back on.
- outcome: MP is full size vertically (1080) but looks to be only 1600 across horizontally as opposed to 1920. No sound. Checked Playback Devices and AMD HDMI output is showing as not plugged in. See scenario 2 log. NOTE: I repeated this scenario and while the issue with 1600 pixels across still exists, audio is working - see Scenario 2b log.
Scenario 3 -Leave MP on (nothing playing or recording) turn off the AVR then the TV, and then turn the AVR back on first shortly followed by turning the TV back on.
- outcome: MP is full size vertically (1080) but looks to be only 1600 across horizontally as opposed to 1920. Sound is working and shortly after pressing the arrows on my remote, the screen realized to 1920x1080. See scenario 3 log.

Well that's it from me - I hope this helps. Note that I didn't want to write this whole thing after running these tests so I will be attaching the logs soon.

Cheers - Scott

 

[scott_mckenzie]

Hi,

Just in case some people don't know of any workarounds to this problem I thought I would provide what I am currently doing until there is a long term solution for this.

What seems to help minimise issues is having MP restart after resume. This is a setting in MP Configuration under General -Startup/Resume Settings.

In addition to this I have a harmony remote and have set things up in the following orders when putting multiple devices to sleep / wake up:
- Sleep: HTPC sleep, amp sleep, TV sleep
- Wake: TV wake, amp wake, HTPC wake.

The reason why I did it in this order is so that the HTPC pretty much doesn't realise the other HDMI devices have been turned off.

Thanks - Scott

 

[FreakyJ]

thanks to sythe there is a longterm solution
https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/threads/call-for-tester-for-1-3-1-release.114566/
Some testers needed

 

[davidf]

@Scythe42 - you might want to take a look at this thread http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...r/1653aafb-848b-464a-8c69-1a68fbd106aa?auth=1

 

[kiwijunglist]

@Scythe42 - you might want to take a look at this thread http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...r/1653aafb-848b-464a-8c69-1a68fbd106aa?auth=1

^ another user reported success with above

One issue I am having however is the small screen on resume if I don't switch on the TV first.

The developers are working on a fix. But what worked for me is this. In the 3rd reply it went clear for me. There is a simulated monitor (The regkey starting with SIMULATE) wich is switched to when the HDMI connection is temperary broken while switching your monitor ON/OFF.
So just set PrimSurfSize.cx PrimSurfSize.cy to your current resolution and voila.....

regards Pepijn

 

[Scythe42]

@Scythe42 - you might want to take a look at this thread http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...r/1653aafb-848b-464a-8c69-1a68fbd106aa?auth=1

Nope, doesn't solve the problem. The registry keys are used to define a standard minimum resolution a display supports. This can prevent Windows to fall back to 1024x768 when no display is connected anymore (this it the resolution guys, with the problem are seeing).

But if this works depends a lot of the GPU driver and the receiver. For example. My NVivdia GPU does not go to 1024x768 but instead reports maximum supported resolution. Also various receivers announce a different "connected" resolution when a display is disconnected or they are in standby.

It is just a dirty fix for some people at the moment.

A proper way already has been implemented in an Area51 build. This issue is solved. The current Area51 build does additional enhancements in the the area and requires more testing, though.

 

[kszabo]

Here's a variant of what proposed in the first post.

1) Use VNC to login remotely.
2) Right click desktop and select 'Screen Resolution'. Or goto Control Panel\Appearance and Personalization\Display\Screen Resolution.
3) Click 'Detect'.
4) Select 'Another display not detected'.
5) Set 'Multiple Displays:' to 'Try connect anyway on: VGA'.
5) Select 2nd display, set 'Multiple Displays:' to 'Show desktop only on: 2'
6) Set correct resolution (1080p in my case).
7) Select 1st display, set 'Multiple Displays:' to 'Show desktop only on: 1'
8) Select 2nd Display, click 'Multiple Displays:' select 'Remove this display'.

This behavior is related to Windows 7multi monitor detectection feature. What happens here is when the the HDMI display is lost Win 7 tries the VGA display (1024x768) and then switches back to the HDMI (1080p) display. With the workaround above there will be no resolution changes thus XBMC will stay in full screen.

^ IOW this. (Which will not be last post forever ):

Hey,
this one works for me.... BUT the only problem is that I cannot choose 1920x1080 for this VGA display, the maximum is 1600x1200. Any ideas? Like how to add this resolution manually?

 

[radical]

Before you set the resolution, you have to set refresh rate to 30hz. Then you should able to choose Full HD resolution