Kodi Community Forum

Hey guys, I have a problem with audio on my Acer Revo RL70 (2GB Ram but will be upgrading to 4 shortly) running Win7 64 with the xbmc (12.2) program. I have my RL70 connected to my samsung UND58000 tv via HDMI cable and my TV has an optical out to my stereo. I can get perfect video quality with 1080p videos with xbmc and the audio plays via HDMI but doesn't appear to be playing through my surround sound system properly.

When I go to my audio playback devices menu in windows and select "AMD HDMI Output" and go to configure, I only see an option for stereo AND when checking the max number of channels in the properties tab it says 2. I have tried his with the original catalyst drivers that came with the system as well as the latest catalyst version (13-9_win7_win8_64_dd_ccc_whql I believe) and I get the same result.

I would just hook it up via optical cable but I don't have a spare input on my receiver. Any help would be appreciated.

Sounds perfectly normal to me, with your set up you will likely be restricted to Stereo audio only.

It's likely that you TV only accepts PCM 2.0 on it's HDMI input, so you can't send 5.1 to the TV. The number of channels is uncompress PCM channels and is the raw bandwidth, surround formats such as DTS are compressed are packed into the 2 channel bandwidth, therefore 5.1 is possible over the 2 channel PCM link, but your TV needs to support accepting DTS or DD 5.1 on the HDMI input and very few TV's do this.

A debug log_file (wiki) would show what the HDMI link to the TV supports.

Thanks for the input. I believe my TV is capable of 5.1 over HDMI, I have an Xbox360, PS3, and a cable box that are all hooked up the same way and play through the 5.1 system fine (or at least sound much much better than the RL70) so i think it has to be something going on with the RL70. I have tried using the drivers that came with the pc as well as the updated AMD drivers but I have the same result. I will post my log file if you can help me out, I would appreciate it.

No posting of xbmc logs direct onto forum, always use a paste site such as http://xbmclogs.com or http://pastebin.com/ however since you've done it using code tags I'll let it stay this time, please read the forum_rules (wiki)

As for your problem, the log reports a strange mixture of capabilities for your devices, have you been messing with drivers a lot? I'd advise deleteing all sound drivers under Sound, video and game controllers in Device Manager, use http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/171469...river.html

Then reinstall the AMD HDMI audio driver via the AMD Catalyst Install Manager custom option selecting only the HDMI/DP Audio Driver, see http://www.ghacks.net/2012/12/27/what-th...ions-mean/

Once that's done post a new log.

sorry, I didn't know about the log rule. At the time of that log I had installed the catalyst 8.89 (came with the pc) drivers and then I think I did upgrade to (only the audio drivers) catalyst 13.9. since then I have tried RealTek ATI HDMI Audio R2.70, RealTek High Definition Audio Codecs R2.71. At this point I think that all of my components are sending a 2 channel signal to my TV which is then being sent to my receiver and being decoded to AFD Multi or Dolby Pro Logic which is then sending it across all my speakers.

I think because my receiver only has the option of running an optical out to it I am stuck with this setup because for some reason it won't decode the signal from my pc. I will try those drivers tho, I would probably be ok with the sound being decoded like the rest of my components but if not I may be in the market for a new receiver/speaker setup. Mine are about 6 years old and not that great to begin with.

Looking at the log I think it'll be possible to do what you want, however there's some strangeness.

For example:

DirectSound: AMD HDMI Output reports it can do AC3 (Dolby Digital) but WASAPI: AMD HDMI Output reports LPCM only, I'd expect the WASAPI settings to include AC3 also.

You could try this:

Audio output: HDMI
Speaker configuration: 2.0
Dolby Digital (AC3) capable receiver: enabled
All other capable receiver items: disabled
Audio output device: DirectSound: AMD HDMI Output
Passthrough output device: DirectSound: AMD HDMI Output

In theory that should allow Dolby Digital 5.1 to the TV and maybe then onto the AVR. If still not working then go ahead and delete then re-install drivers as suggested above.

I will definitely give those settings a whirl when I get home tonight. I am thinking maybe its a decoding issue with my AVR also. The available options I have to select from are: AFD STD, AFD Multi, Pro Logic, PLII Movie, PLII Music, 2CH Stereo, HP 2CH, and HP Virtual. I was thinking probably either AFD Multi or Pro Logic, but not sure which to choose.