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I have a nVidia RTX3060 card with dual HDMI outputs, one HDMI going to a Marantz Pre/Pro for audio the second HDMI going to the TV. All was working fine with my previous six year old LG OLED. In Kodi's Audio Output Device settings both the LG and Marantz WASAPI were shown available.
Since replacing the LG with a Hisense U8K, my Marantz Pre/Pro is not shown in the Audio Output Device settings in Kodi 19.x, only the Hisense is shown and selectable.
HDMI Control is set to off in the Hisense settings, and just for grins, I have tried using a CEC less adapter on the HDMI cable going to the Hisense. Also tried different HDMI inputs on the Hisense. No matter what I do as soon as the Hisense is connected, the Marantz disappears from Kodi's Audio Output Device settings. If I run a single HDMI cable from the nVidia card to the Marantz Pre/Pro, and then from the Marantz to the Hisense, the Marantz is selectable in the Audio Output Device settings.
Has anyone else run into a situation like this? Any way to get the dual HDMI setup working again before I go through the hassle of changing all of my wiring and remote control settings?
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What does Kodi debug log show for WASAPI and DirectSound? I assume Windows and nVidia both show all outputs?
scott s.
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I finally had more time to investigate what is going on, and it seems that it is not a Kodi issue.
The nVidia driver is showing the exact same issue. When the Hisense TV and the Marantz pre/pro are both connected directly to the video card, the Marantz pre/pro is not selectable, and naturally when the Hisense HDMI cable is removed from the nVidia video card the Marantz pre/pro is selectable and configurable within the Windows sound settings.
It seems that I need to dig further into what is causing this issue in Windows rather than Kodi.
I still would appreciate any feedback if anyone else has run into a similar situation with Windows 10 or 11!
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Do you have your monitors set to extend the display?
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Does the Marantz have HDMI out connected to the TV?
i remember when I was using dual outputs to TV and AVR I had to disable the HDMI output on the AVR that was connected to the TV.
With the HDMI out port enabled both connections would appear with the same name in the windows control panel > sound > playback devices and windows would switch randomly between them. I could tell which was which as the TV only supported 2 channels PCM.
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Assuming your setup is like this:
PC -> AVR 'for Audio'
PC -> TV 'for Video'
+
[Bluray/AppleTV/Shield etc] -> AVR -> TV
In my experience with an LG TV and a Yamaha AVR, when connecting the PC to the AVR it would not be called 'Yamaha v685' but rather 'LG TV' but with the additional audio capabilities of the AVR.
This caused problems when switching from [PC -> AVR -> TV] to [PC -> AVR] + [PC -> TV] as now I had 2 sound devices called 'LG TV' one supporting 2 channels the other 8.
Thankfully the Yamaha AVR allowed setting HDMI out for each quick-select, so on the HTPC quick-selects I could select HDMI-1, HDMI-2, Both or None.
Selecting None renamed the 'LG TV' device supporting 8 channels to 'Yamaha v685'.
On my Denon X3400H I have the option under Video / Output Settings/ HDMI Video Out = Monitor1, Monitor2 or Dual.
Selecting Monitor2 if the TV is on Monitor1 might have the same effect.
Not sure if this is a global setting or input specific or if the Marantz supports quick-select HDMI Video out settings if it is global.
Best way to test this theory would be to simply disconnect the hdmi cable between the AVR and TV, and probably restart the AVR & PC and see it detects the 2 devices properly.
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OK just double checked my denon and the HDMI Video Out setting is not input specific. however it is saved with the quick-selects.
so i could set quick-select-1 to Game+Monitor2 and quick-select-2 to Media Player+Monitor1.
and i just tested the behaviour when connecting my PC through the denon to my LG TV.
looks like i wasted both our time...
The connected device showed up as 'Denon AVR' in windows, no mention of the LG TV.
So the Denon behaves differently in that regard to the Yamaha, where the Denon forwards its EDID with the Video support from the TV, while the Yamaha forwards the EDID from the TV with its audio support.
Switching the video out from Monitor1 to Monitor2 did have the effect of removing the 2160p resolutions of the LG TV. So could be worth trying if it is indeed the loop that is causing the problem.
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Your assumption on the setup is correct the way I used to have things connected.
I thought that you were on to something. I disconnected the Pre/Pro to TV and left only PC HDMI 2 to TV and PC HDMI 1 to the Pre/Pro. The nVidia control panel now shows both the Hisense and Marantz in the 'Set up digital audio' as it used to do with the LG OLED. BUT now each the Hisense and the Marantz show; No audio capable display available where I could setup the digital audio for the Marantz when the LG OLED was connected.
So, I cannot configure the Marantz as I did before, however, Windows Audio settings now recognizes the Marantz and I can configure those audio settings. Yay progress! Then I launch Kodi and try a TV show that I have recently watched with no issue. Well, it's now all 100% issues, the video only shows a partial frame every 10 seconds or so and the audio is playing every 4 seconds or so. The PC is completely unresponsive to the point that I have to hold the power button to turn it off. 1 step forward, 3 steps back!
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I would suggest starting with the basics.
start with just the hisense connected and verify everything works as expected in windows and kodi.
enable the 2nd monitor as extended.
leave the hisense as the default audio playback device and see if simply having the marantz connected breaks things.
disable the hisense playback device in the windows control panel, make the marantz the default device.
set the speaker config in the control panel to stereo and run the test chimes, change to 7.1 and test again.
test youtube in a browser.
(Optional if you are familiar with these words/programs:
test wasapi exclusive pcm 2.0/5.1, DD/DTS passthrough with mpc-be + mpc-audio renderer.
test refresh rate and hdr switching with mpc-be + mpc-video render or madvr.
)
if not working in windows properly:
1. install latest nvidia drivers and select 'Perform a clean installation'
2. try a DDU of gpu drivers (include amd/intel if used previously)
3. perform a fresh windows install to a $20 ssd from amazon.
once you confirm windows is working as expected you can start the process again in kodi.
starting with the default settings (no refresh or hdr switching, direct sound 2.0, no passthrough, fullscreen window etc) and gradually engage features to find the culprit.
Of course before bothering with all that you need to make sure the temporary fix of removing the cable between the AVR and TV can be replicated in the AVR settings for just the PC input with a quick-select or manually.
Good luck.
I will add that even if you get it working, in my experience running kodi with dual monitors when one has no display attached will provide endless headaches of kodi and other programs randomly switching to the wrong display. Sometimes i needed to VNC into the HTPC to set things straight.
I used 'Dual Monitor Tools' to alleviate as many of the issues as i could, but it still wasn't as smooth of an experience of going through one display.
of course i had issues with PC -> AVR -> TV that made the switch necessary.
now that i have an eARC tv i get to experience all the new problems of going PC -> TV -> AVR.
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Thank you for all of the advice.
