[digidigi]

Virtual Audio Cable - http://software.muzychenko.net/eng/vac.html

Does anyone have experience using VAC with XBMC? I have been unable to use XBMC's digital output with it- I always get the "Failed to initialize audio device" message. Analog works. I think there must be some VAC setting that I am not configuring correctly...? I have tried so many permutations of settings that I am beginning to wonder if it is even possible to get this working.

My reason for doing this is that I need to have both HDMI and analog output from my htpc going to my receiver. My receiver has a 2nd zone control which I rely on, but the receiver only supports analog input for the 2nd zone.

I have researched this extensively... Using Windows 7, I see no other alternative means of getting simultaneous digital (HDMI) and analog output from my system.

VAC makes it easy- set up one virtual cable (audio device), set xbmc's audio output to use that device... then tell VAC to connect that device to both HDMI and analog outputs.

But it doesn't work when xbmc is set to digital output.

Any ideas?

[wmcneil]

I have not been able to get VAC to work either. My experience:

To keep things simple, I have a VAC cable (line 2) that is being used as an output device only by XBMC. I have XBMC audio output device set to Directsound: line 2, audio output set to coax/optical,
and speaker configuration set to 5.1

The VAC cable is defined in VAC Control Panel as 6 channels max. I am using a VAC audio repeater (ks) with VAC line2 as input, and have tried using either hdmi or spdif device as the output. If I play mp3 files in xbmc, either hdmi or spdif work correctly. If I attempt to play a movie with 5.1 sound, I get the "failed to initialize audio device" when trying to use either spdif or hdmi. Here are some lines from the XBMC log file:

DEBUG: CWin32DirectSound::Initialize: Packet Size = 12384. Avg Bytes Per Second = 192000.

DEBUG: CWin32DirectSound::Initialize: Couldn't create secondary buffer (DSERR_UNSUPPORTED). Trying without CTRLVOLUME.

ERROR: CWin32DirectSound::Initialize: cannot create secondary buffer (DSERR_UNSUPPORTED)

ERROR: Creating a Null Audio Renderer, Check your audio settings as this should not happen

[wmcneil]

I am able to get VAC to work for simultaneous audio output, but only if the xbmc audio output type is analog:

I was able to get VAC to work for simultaneous hdmi/spdif/analog audio:
XBMC audio output: analog
XBMC speaker configuration: 5.1 (other values will work)
XBMC audio output device: DirectSound: Line 1 VAC

VAC Line 1 cable is defined in VAC Control Panel as 2 channels min and 2 channels max. I am using a VAC audio repeater (ks) with VAC line 1 as input, and Realtek HDA spdif as output. I am using a 2nd VAC audio repeater (ks) with VAC line 1 as input, and nvidia HDA hdmi as output. I am using a 3rd VAC audio repeater (ks) with VAC line 1 as input, and Realtek HD audio as output

When XBMC audio output is set to analog, my receiver shows that pcm audio is being received.

When XBMC audio output is set to digital, XBMC speaker configuration is 5.1, and XBMC audio output device is Realtek HDA spdif, my receiver shows that 5.1 digital audio is in fact being received when XBMC is playing a movie with 5.1 sound. However, if I use a 6-channel VAC cable as the XBMC audio output device, then I get the "failed to initialize audio device" problem. I tried using both the DirectSound and WASAPI drivers connected to the VAC cable. I've tried a bunch of different VAC cable options, including all channel sizes from 1 to 8, and none of them work as the XBMC audio output device when XBMC audio output is digital. I tested with no output device other than XBMC connected to the VAC cable input, and no devices connected to the VAC cable output.