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ComputerGuru269 · 2013-10-01, 10:22

I have a receiver that has a built-in FLAC decoder. It would be nice if I could set XBMC to not decode my files to PCM but send them to receiver untouched so receiver could decode them itself.

It seems, from what I can gather, XBMC decodes ALL 2 channel audio to PCM, why is that? We should have the option to pass-through commonly used audio files regardless of number of channels in XBMC if our receiver supports it. Examples would be: FLAC, MP3, WAV, AAC, ALAC....

**Memphiz** · 2013-10-01, 11:40

Which receiver is it.

ComputerGuru269 · 2013-10-02, 08:22

(2013-10-01, 11:40)Memphiz Wrote: Which receiver is it.

Yamaha RX-V473

FernetMenta · 2013-10-02, 08:57

With regard on quality there is ZERO advantage in passing through an encoded audio stream. It does not matter on what side decoding is done because decoding itself has no impact on quality. As long as no resampling or rematrixing is required it's still bitperfect when outputting PCM.

**Memphiz** · 2013-10-02, 15:23

Also i thought there are no receivers which can decode AAC for example. At least not physically available (while stated in some documents maybe ...)

ComputerGuru269 · 2013-10-02, 23:31

(2013-10-02, 15:23)Memphiz Wrote: Also i thought there are no receivers which can decode AAC for example. At least not physically available (while stated in some documents maybe ...)

Quote from page 50 of my units owners manual.

"This unit supports WAV (PCM format only), MP3, WMA, MPEG-4 AAC and FLAC.
This unit is compatible with sampling rate of up to 96 kHz for WAV and FLAC files, and 48 kHz for other files."

However, I'm not overly concerned about AAC, I was just listing it as an example. All of my music is in either FLAC or MP3 format. The only files I have that contain AAC audio are some of my movies.

jmarshall · 2013-10-02, 23:34

Can it actually support that over HDMI or whatever?

ComputerGuru269 · 2013-10-02, 23:43

(2013-10-02, 08:57)FernetMenta Wrote: With regard on quality there is ZERO advantage in passing through an encoded audio stream. It does not matter on what side decoding is done because decoding itself has no impact on quality. As long as no resampling or rematrixing is required it's still bitperfect when outputting PCM.

That may or may not be true, but I would still rather XBMC bitstream my FLAC's and let my receiver decode them.. If for no other reason, just so that my display on receiver shows input as "FLAC" and that I'm getting my moneys worth out of the features I paid for when purchasing receiver.

I'm assuming by your statement that sending FLAC untouched to receiver is not possible in XBMC. If I am mistaken, please let me know how I could achieve it. For example, could I use an alternative player that provides FLAC passthrough support via HDMI and tell XBMC to use it instead or something.

I DO appreciate the responses, just not getting what I was hoping to hear, LOL!

ComputerGuru269 · 2013-10-03, 01:13

(2013-10-02, 23:34)jmarshall Wrote: Can it actually support that over HDMI or whatever?

Manual doesn't give any specific limits as far as source or connection is concerned.

The previous quote from manual is stated in sections pertaining to connecting to an ipod and also under section for listening to files from PC/NAS.

As I said though, my main concern and reason for this thread pertains to FLAC files, not AAC. Not that it matters what receiver can do anyway since XBMC PCM's them regardless.

jpsdr · 2013-10-03, 10:47

In that case, there is a high probability that you're like me. I've also at least AAC (don't remember about FLAC) listed on my manual on the connect ipod section. But my receiver (Pioneer VSX-921) doesn't decode AAC via HDMI. It's very likely that FLAC is decoded but only from files. Of course, nothing to loose to try, but according the places in the manual your informations were, and my experience, i bet a 95% possibility that it's not working on HDMI.

ComputerGuru269 · 2013-10-04, 07:24

Again, I don't really care if AAC is decoded by XBMC or my receiver since the only files I have that use AAC are movie files. I however would prefer if I had the option for my receiver to decode my FLAC music files, EVEN IF the result is the same as FernetMenta states.

Perhaps receiver can't decode FLAC files via HDMI, but I know it can via SPDIF. Before getting into all this media center stuff, I was playing my FLAC's from my PC using Winamp and sending them to my receiver via Coaxial Digital cable and my receiver was decoding them then, verified by "FLAC" showing on display while playing.

Seems odd to me that an older and supposedly inferior standard like SPDIF could do something that the newer HDMI can't. However, apparently from what I've read from various places on the web, HDMI is not the greatest standard. Many people still suggest avoiding it if possible by using component video cables for video and SPDIF for audio. However I think the main complaint is HDMI's DRM compliance thanks to all the music and movie studios, particularly SONY. I used to buy strictly all Sony receivers, TV's, game systems, etc., but never again. PS4 looks bad ass, but they lost my sale. Hey, they protected their content on the $25 dollar Bluray I purchased though, LOL!!!

Sorry, went on a bit of rant there for a minute, lol! My Bad!

Anyhow, if anyone knows of a way for me to push my FLAC's to receiver untouched in XBMC I'd appreciate a heads up. If there currently is no way what-so-ever to do it, I'd still like to submit it as a feature request then.

jpsdr · (This post was last modified: 2013-10-04, 10:37 by jpsdr.)

You miss the point !! I was giving you the exemple of my case of an XXXX format (XXXX was AAC in my case) decoded by receiver, but only specified in the ipod section of user manual, resulting of finaly not being decoded via HDMI streaming. And as XBMC can passthrough AAC, it was easy to test...

Componant is analog, HDMI send directly the binary data, so, suggesting componant over HDMI, seems illogical to me, if you want to have the best picture quality. Problem of SPDIF is that it has lower bandwith than HDMI, so some HD audio format like DTS-HDMA can't be streamed passthrough.

**ashlar** · 2013-10-04, 14:20

Suggesting compenent over HDMI is completely illogical. RGBHV with quality cables on a properly setup monitor and on short distances can be really close to digital signal but component? There is really NO point. FLAC passthrough would have the only advantage of lighting up the light in your amp, which you correctly stated. And it certainly is a valid point if you are into that kind of things (although I expect you'll have a hard time in finding a developer for what amounts to a purely cosmetic code modification).

**popcornmix** · 2013-10-04, 15:20

There is no FLAC passthrough.
http://www.avsforum.com/t/1376533/faq-on...gh-reclock

Quote:As mentioned earlier in the thread, FLAC can only be decoded by AVRs (that support it) when playing a file directly from a USB device or the network. Even then, it must be an audio only FLAC file (no video like in an MKV container). It is not possible to bitstream FLAC because there is no specification that supports FLAC bitstreaming via SPDIF (which probably couldn't support more than 2 channel anyway) or HDMI. Even if the AVR could detect and decode FLAC via HDMI, there is no way to output it in bitstream format from the HTPC.

**Memphiz** · 2013-10-07, 12:36

Its a marketing gag ...