Win 7 XBMC Dharma RC1 No AC3 when using HDMI Audio [debug log posted at #9]
#16
john.eyl Wrote:G|zO - what do you mean the DSP build? Are you referring to the DX build using DSPlayer? If so then what config are you using? Out of the box I still don't get AC3 on that - Cheers.

Hi

I was referring to the DSPlayer, I was a bit tired Wink
I can give you my settings tomorow, its a bit late for me to go into it now.

I just testet the Dharma rc2. When I set the audio to "analog" and the primary direct driver, i actually got audio output from ac3 movies (dvd´s and mkv´s) Its clearly a surround sound, but im not sure what I exactly get.

The strange thing is that all my movies work flawless with all other players than XBMC Dharma. I realy want this to work, XBMC is by far my favorite mediaplayer!
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#17
Does the same thing happen with AC3 soundtracks of different bit rates and channel count?

For example the commentary 2.0 track, a 5.1 downsampled to 384kbps, a 5.1 640kbps converted from Bluray?
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#18
Thnx CrystalP. I'll check tonight. I've also only tried this by playing VIDEO_TS.IFO files. I'll try playing tonight using a DVD disk (should be the same though) and also try mkv and divx content of varying bitrates and channel count.
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#19
Hopefully this will help troubleshooting this. I tried what someone else suggested and changed my audio output from HDMI to Analog, and after doing that all my MKV files were playing properly. I could even tell that it was coming out of the proper channels. I even downloaded an AC3 test file and verified that when set to Analog, each channel was coming from the proper source. I haven't dug much around to see what the ramifications of making this change, but at least it's usable for now.

If it helps, here is the AC3 test file I used:
http://slap.gotdns.org/Test_AC3.zip

And here is the logfile from XBMC. I set loglevel to "1", opened XBMC, changed the Audio Output to Analog, then played the test file (audio working). Then I changed the Audio Output to HDMI, played the test file again (audio not working), then closed XBMC. That's all contained within this log:
http://slap.gotdns.org/xbmclog.zip

Hopefully someone can help me make heads or tails of this.

Thanks.
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#20
it might not be the same but I have some "failed to inizialize audio device"
It does that on certain movies only and my HDMI output is Intel HD graphic, working on a Asrock Core 100-HT.
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#21
slizzap Wrote:Hopefully this will help troubleshooting this. I tried what someone else suggested and changed my audio output from HDMI to Analog, and after doing that all my MKV files were playing properly. I could even tell that it was coming out of the proper channels. I even downloaded an AC3 test file and verified that when set to Analog, each channel was coming from the proper source. I haven't dug much around to see what the ramifications of making this change, but at least it's usable for now.

The ramifications of doing this is that the audio is not bitstreamed to your receiver/amp. The AC3 sound is decoded by software on your computer, and then streamed precoded to the amp. If you have a decent amp then this will lead to inferior sound quality, as a decent amp will decode the AC3 stream better than a cheap/free software decoder does.

For me the ramifications of switching to Analog output in XBMC is even worse, as I'm somehow unable to get the sound driver to output anything but stereo in analog mode. The sound driver refuses to realize that the amp at the other end of the HDMI cable is capable of outputting more than two channels, and thus defaults to stereo no matter what I do. It's fully capable of bitstreaming, though, and when it does I off course get full surround if the bitstream has more than two channels. As such Analog output is simply not an option. It's digital bitstream or the highway... Wink
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#22
CrystalP Wrote:Does the same thing happen with AC3 soundtracks of different bit rates and channel count?

For example the commentary 2.0 track, a 5.1 downsampled to 384kbps, a 5.1 640kbps converted from Bluray?

It happens with all the ac3 tracks I have tryed, both 5.1 and 2.0. I have a movie with True-HD that works with the HDMI option, but when i change the audio to DD I have to change to the analog option.
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#23
Does boxee play the same files correctly?
DirectSound vs Wasapi makes a difference?

slizzap, you have no loss of quality. AC3 decoding is bitperfect and hdmi/wasapi is bitperfect too. The only thing you lose is the pretty Dolby light on the receiver.
If the receiver applies additional processing, that's another story.
Always read the Kodi online-manual, the FAQ and search the forum before posting.
Do not e-mail Kodi Team members directly asking for support. Read/follow the forum rules (wiki).
For troubleshooting and bug reporting please make sure you read this first.
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#24
CrystalP Wrote:Does the same thing happen with AC3 soundtracks of different bit rates and channel count?

For example the commentary 2.0 track, a 5.1 downsampled to 384kbps, a 5.1 640kbps converted from Bluray?

CrystalP - I've done some testing on different media files in my system. Note that in all cases I bitstreamed to the pre/pro using the WASAPI / ATI HDMI output. I also made sure that all media files with DD audio tracks worked (bitstreamed) in both MPC and WMP. Here is what I found (debug logs included):
1. DTS audio in no matter what format works.
2. DD audio did not work in XBMC Dharma Rc2. I tried the following DD
media files:
- 6 channel AC3, from VIDEO_TS.IFO on HDD
MediaInfo: http://pastebin.com/fRDWwNpK
Debug Log: http://pastebin.com/dkjQwdct
- 2 channel AC3, from dvd disk
MediaInfo: http://pastebin.com/a3GGgucQ
Debug Log: http://pastebin.com/LUufU20S
- 6 channel AC3, from MKV (converted bluray?)
MediaInfo: http://pastebin.com/wVzaq0PL
Debug Log: http://pastebin.com/TNNhkSaZ
- 6 channel AC3, from Xvid
MediaInfo: http://pastebin.com/S8nxTZ16
Debug Log: http://pastebin.com/U92MD0Ru

I get the same results whether I choose DirectSound or WASAPI. I do get sound if I choose analog, in which case I get multichannel PCM. This isn't an option for me as my pre/pro handles bitstreamed audio much better and produces a vastly different sound when bitstreamed - different sound levels, quality, etc. Any help with the logs would be appreciated. Is there a fundamental difference in audio rendering between Camelot and Dharma? Is dharma using different filters? If so then perhaps it's just a filter issue. I'm going to try loading the DX version of XBMC with DSPlayer again. I wasn't successful the first time but I didn't get a chance to experiment with the filter configuration. I have FFDSHOW 3562 installed and it is bitstreaming AC3, DTS, DTS-MA and TrueHD with no problems. I should be able to get DSPlayer working with it. Cheers.
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#25
Forgive my possible ignorance here, but is there a guide to getting AC3/DTS passthrough working properly with XBMC? Are there supposed to be any special steps? Any required plugins/codecs/software of any sort?

I purchased an ATI Radeon HD 5670 and did a complete rebuild of my HTPC last night. I did nothing other than install all the drivers for my hardware, do a few tweaks to Windows (7 x32), install the latest ATI drivers, verify sound was working (note: did *not* use Realtek ATI HDMI driver), and then install/configure XBMC. Didn't install any codec packs at all. I was hoping a clean start with new hardware might do me some good.

After XBMC was installed, I configured the audio output to use HDMI with 5.1 speakers. Music sounds beautiful, as do WMVs with WMAPro. When I have AC3 and DTS compatible receiver options checked, my MKVs with DD and DTS have no audio. My receiver switches to "Stereo" and acts like there's no input. If I disable the AC3/DTS options, I get sound but it appears to be sent as PCM. I didn't test TOO much here because it was getting late, but the channels sounded correct but I could've swore I heard *some* dialog coming out of the rear channels, which I don't think is correct. But I need to check that versus my dedicated DVD player. I'll be doing some more testing tonight. In any ase, it's not bitstreaming.

I've spent the past couple days doing some searching around these forums as well as avsforum.com. I never completely rule out that it's a problem on my end versus a bug in the software, so I just wanted to see if I was missing something obvious. I haven't really seen any guides on this forum or in the wiki, which leads me to believe there should be nothing special about this.

TIA.
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#26
XBMC uses its own codecs, so it doesn't require any codec packs installed. All it requires is DirectX, which it installs during setup if it doesn't find it previously installed. I don't think it makes any difference to XBMC if a codec pack is installed on the system or not, but I've never looked too deeply into that. But you'll need to install codecs if you want to play the video files in other players...
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#27
Yeah, that was what first prompted this. I had my HTPC working with audio/video working properly within Windows Media Player and Windows Media Center, but some audio just didn't work within XBMC. I've been using XBMC on the original Xbox since it's inception, and I still have one in my living room that I use mainly for music. I'm actually getting rid of it now that I have XBMC in Windows working properly (for music, anyways), and it would great to use it as my full time frontend and replace WMC. I used to follow XBMC on the Xbox, but I'm pretty far removed from the Windows version. Just needed to be sure if I just wasn't configuring something properly on my end.

I think I'll have to start working with the codecs again so I can use WMP/WMC as a backup while this gets sorted out.
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#28
slizzap Wrote:Forgive my possible ignorance here, but is there a guide to getting AC3/DTS passthrough working properly with XBMC? Are there supposed to be any special steps? Any required plugins/codecs/software of any sort?

I purchased an ATI Radeon HD 5670 and did a complete rebuild of my HTPC last night. I did nothing other than install all the drivers for my hardware, do a few tweaks to Windows (7 x32), install the latest ATI drivers, verify sound was working (note: did *not* use Realtek ATI HDMI driver), and then install/configure XBMC. Didn't install any codec packs at all. I was hoping a clean start with new hardware might do me some good.

After XBMC was installed, I configured the audio output to use HDMI with 5.1 speakers. Music sounds beautiful, as do WMVs with WMAPro. When I have AC3 and DTS compatible receiver options checked, my MKVs with DD and DTS have no audio. My receiver switches to "Stereo" and acts like there's no input. If I disable the AC3/DTS options, I get sound but it appears to be sent as PCM. I didn't test TOO much here because it was getting late, but the channels sounded correct but I could've swore I heard *some* dialog coming out of the rear channels, which I don't think is correct. But I need to check that versus my dedicated DVD player. I'll be doing some more testing tonight. In any ase, it's not bitstreaming.

I've spent the past couple days doing some searching around these forums as well as avsforum.com. I never completely rule out that it's a problem on my end versus a bug in the software, so I just wanted to see if I was missing something obvious. I haven't really seen any guides on this forum or in the wiki, which leads me to believe there should be nothing special about this.

TIA.
So what HDMI driver do you have installed? - there are 2 options available ATI HDMI Driver (which comes bundled with CCC) and which I would recommend as an install. or the seperately available Realtek HDMI Driver - which I wouldn't recommend.

No additional codecs are required for DD/DTS bitstreaming.
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#29
steelman1991 Wrote:So what HDMI driver do you have installed? - there are 2 options available ATI HDMI Driver (which comes bundled with CCC) and which I would recommend as an install. or the seperately available Realtek HDMI Driver - which I wouldn't recommend.

No additional codecs are required for DD/DTS bitstreaming.

I'm using the default ATI HDMI driver that installs as part of the CCC installation as you said. Before my rebuild last night I was using the Realtek ATI HDMI driver, but after doing some research on avsforum.com it sounds like a lot of people are getting away from that now. So I didn't install it this time around.

When I get home I'm going to do a quick backup and install the Realtek ATI HDMI driver to see if it makes a difference.
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#30
slizzap Wrote:I'm using the default ATI HDMI driver that installs as part of the CCC installation as you said. Before my rebuild last night I was using the Realtek ATI HDMI driver, but after doing some research on avsforum.com it sounds like a lot of people are getting away from that now. So I didn't install it this time around.

When I get home I'm going to do a quick backup and install the Realtek ATI HDMI driver to see if it makes a difference.
Personally I wouldn't I had no success at any time with it, the default one just works - for me obviously. For reference though there is only an ATI HDMI, or Realtek Driver, but no Realtek ATI HDMI Driver.

Purely out of curiosity, perhaps you should double check your Windows sound set-up - the only time I get 2 channel sound from my ATI HD5450, was and is when I forget to configure Windows sounds to 5.1 (I know you said that had been done in an earlier post, but might be worth re-checking):-

Control Panel/Sounds/Playback and Highlight ATI HDMI output, then press configuration button in the bottom left hand corner and follow the steps to configure to 5.1 set-up (or 7.1 if that is what you have) - the default value is 2 channel stereo.
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Win 7 XBMC Dharma RC1 No AC3 when using HDMI Audio [debug log posted at #9]0