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**fritsch** · 2013-11-28, 08:03

@lmyllari:
Thx for reporting back. I had a bug in the referenced PullRequest. As i also reduced number of speakers for DTS-HD/TrueHD/EAC3 - which would return a layout of 6 channels, while 8 were needed. So if you find time, please retest both formats.

Shine · (This post was last modified: 2013-11-30, 23:25 by Shine.)

I recently found the new "Best Match" setting in ActiveAE (forgive me if I'm slow...). While trying it out, I noticed the following:

This and this problem from SoftAE is back, ie. "Best Match" apparently can't handle tracks with a BC (rear center) channel: For example, playing back 4.0/4.1 tracks (FC+FL+FR+BC with or without LFE) results in total silence, my AVR will display "PCM Null" as current audio format. 6.1 tracks (FC+FL+FR+SL+SR+BC+LFE) are played back at 5.1, ie. it looks like the rear center channel is completely ignored.
The advancedsetting <audio><resample> is apparently ignored now. Any chance to honor this advancedsetting again in the future? I'd like to be able to set a fixed sample rate while using best match speaker config.

I tested in Windows using Git rev. e3a145 (2013-11-30). Audio output is WASAPI via HDMI. My speaker setup is 7.1, ie. I do not have a BC speaker available myself, and my AVR doesn't report one via HDMI either, however it does accept streams with a BC channel.

stupid-boy · 2013-12-01, 13:20

just upgraded from alpha 8 to '13 alpha 10 compiled on Dec 1' and can't find stereo upmix. on 8 it works fine.
may be i miss something because of my absence for some time here, but how i can get upmix over spdif back? is it still supported?

**fritsch** · 2013-12-01, 14:04

Yes it is still supported, if you enable Passthrough and activate AC3, as spdif can only do 2.0 channels.

urio · 2013-12-01, 14:06

Hello all,

first of all sorry for my bad english...

I'm testing activeAE progress on Openelec git (almost daily) self compiled builds, what i'm reporting here perhaps would be better if exposed in a support forum, but activeAE is so new that i think only developers can properly explain things...

My HTPC audio interfaces are:

- ALC892 Analog
- ALC892 Digital
- NVIDIA HDMI

I own an old creative DTT-3500 equipment which allows only analog (FR, FL, RR, RL, no center, no sub) and optical inputs (i omit the digital din since my HTPC isn't equipped with a
Creative sound card). Using the optical interface, with old xbmc versions, i'm able to transcode all audio formats to AC3 then ear from all speakers (asound.conf hacks which let me to upmix stereo signals or control volume for ac3 streams)

Now, with activeAE i can only chose real audio interfaces, then this is what i obtain setting only the interface controls:

- DTS 5.1 audio from BD is transcoded to AC3 and sent via optical interface, the DTT-3500 decoder works decoding AC3 stream and all channels are active (these are the relevant settings i use for this:
- output device: HDA ATI SB, ALC892 Analog - with HDA ATI SB, ALC892 Digital, S/PDIF XBMC crashes when i try to play a BD
- speakers setup: 2.0 - other choises give me really low volume and no 5.1 out, this even if i set the upmix to all channels control
- output configuration: best match
- enable passthrough: yes
- passthrough device: HDA ATI SB, ALC892 Digital, S/PDIF
- AC3 capable decoder: yes)

- AC3 5.1 audio is sent directly to the decoder -> no volume control (before i had the softvolume provided by asound.conf)

- stereo 2.0 audio is sent as LPCM stream to the decoder and works only in 2.0 channels (i know this is an optical interface design, but before i'm able to use the alsa a52 encoder to upmix to 5.1). This, perhaps, only if i change the output device control from the above HDA ATI SB, ALC892 Analog to HDA ATI SB, ALC892 Digital, S/PDIF, otherwise no sound at all.

This is the status for that old equipment. I read in various forums that these limits can be passed by using a HDMI capable decoder, then i tried to use my TV toslink out to experiment a bit with activaAE:

- setting output and passthrough devices to HDA Nvidia, HDMI i can ear only stereo sound (no matter "speaker setup" and "stereo to all channels" controls status), BD play crashes XBMC, and AC3 streams return no sound at all (my SHARP LC32DH77 manual reports that spdif out send dolby digital streams if input is in dolby digital format, otherwise only PCM streams - this justifies stereo audio for mpeg files).

Now, before investigating why XBMC crashes with DTS audio, is clear i need a more recent audio equipment Sad

then, if i buy a recent AVR with HDMI input, am i able to control volume even in AC3 - DTS - whatever streams? And, the stereo to all channels control works? This at least solves actual problems and let me to convince my wife that the purchase is necessary.

Sorry for the confusion, but i'm arguing with audio controls. As linux user, i'm used to bypass these by acting directly on system...

stupid-boy · 2013-12-01, 14:06

Passthrough and AC3 are enabled. i can play movie with AC3 sound without problem. just stereo upmix is missing. i tried some mp3 stereo sources, i get PCM on all of them. advancedsettings audiophile is not set.

**fritsch** · 2013-12-01, 14:15

@stupid-boy: Can you post your logfile? Could very well be a bug in the settings, something like Show Stereo Upmix if channels > 2 || input == optical && ac3 available missing.

@urio: Device Selection and enumeration has not changed in any way from Frodo. We also don't plan to make user specific files available. Also there won't be volume control for passthrough / transcode formats, this also has not changed since frodo. One Reason: we cannot change volume of formats we passtrhough, but cannot decode, e.g. DTS-HD / TrueHD. Most TVs are too silly to passtrhough anything > 2.0 channels to their optical out.

Before investigation anything else. Get us a crashlog of the current situation.

margro · 2013-12-01, 14:22

@fritsch: I noticed the same problem as stupid-boy
After some debugging I saw that the internal m_settings.stereoupmix was false even while I had stereo upmix, passthrough and AC3 enabled.

This commit solved the problem for me (still missing the && AC3 part):
https://github.com/margro/xbmc/commit/97...7a700a7fe3
so your guess about a bug in the settings is correct.

**fritsch** · 2013-12-01, 14:31

@margro: Thx. I see you implemented the pseudo code. Do not hessitate to send a PR. But it only solves have of the problem, as the setting won't be visible. Have a look in: system/settings/settings.xml and see the condition.

Would be nice, if you could at that passthrough ac3 condition, combine it with IEC958 and make the option visible. Thanks much.

FernetMenta · 2013-12-01, 14:33

(2013-11-30, 23:05)Shine Wrote: I recently found the new "Best Match" setting in ActiveAE (forgive me if I'm slow...). While trying it out, I noticed the following:

This and this problem from SoftAE is back, ie. "Best Match" apparently can't handle tracks with a BC (rear center) channel: For example, playing back 4.0/4.1 tracks (FC+FL+FR+BC with or without LFE) results in total silence, my AVR will display "PCM Null" as current audio format. 6.1 tracks (FC+FL+FR+SL+SR+BC+LFE) are played back at 5.1, ie. it looks like the rear center channel is completely ignored.

The advancedsetting <audio><resample> is apparently ignored now. Any chance to honor this advancedsetting again in the future? I'd like to be able to set a fixed sample rate while using best match speaker config.

I tested in Windows using Git rev. e3a145 (2013-11-30). Audio output is WASAPI via HDMI. My speaker setup is 7.1, ie. I do not have a BC speaker available myself, and my AVR doesn't report one via HDMI either, however it does accept streams with a BC channel.

Here is a fix which allows BC to be mixed into BL/BR: https://github.com/FernetMenta/xbmc/comm...af9692611a

XBMC has no audio config for 6.1, hence it will be downmixed to 5.1

margro · 2013-12-01, 14:41

(2013-12-01, 14:31)fritsch Wrote: @margro: Thx. I see you implemented the pseudo code. Do not hessitate to send a PR. But it only solves have of the problem, as the setting won't be visible. Have a look in: system/settings/settings.xml and see the condition.

Would be nice, if you could at that passthrough ac3 condition, combine it with IEC958 and make the option visible. Thanks much.

I will update my fix and send a PR. I will also check the visibility condition of the setting. Right now, the stereo upmix setting is even visibile without passthrough and/or ac3 enabled.

FernetMenta · 2013-12-01, 14:54

I have fixed it already: https://github.com/FernetMenta/xbmc/comm...fb1b4dd06c

margro · 2013-12-01, 15:37

@FernetMenta: Thanks. You were faster... I was still trying to understand the <dependency> stuff in the settings.xml file.
I can confirm that your commit fixes the issue for me.

Shine · 2013-12-01, 18:18

(2013-12-01, 14:33)FernetMenta Wrote: Here is a fix which allows BC to be mixed into BL/BR: https://github.com/FernetMenta/xbmc/comm...af9692611a

XBMC has no audio config for 6.1, hence it will be downmixed to 5.1

Just tried it, but still getting silence.

Also, no change in the XBMC log:

Code:
23:12 T:4088   DEBUG: CActiveAE::OpenSink - trying to open device WASAPI:{B406A712-79CC-4DDD-9E95-D40D0B3B2EE5}

23:12 T:4088   ERROR: CAESinkWASAPI::InitializeExclusive: IsFormatSupported failed (AUDCLNT_E_UNSUPPORTED_FORMAT) - trying to find a compatible format

23:12 T:4088   ERROR: CAESinkWASAPI::InitializeExclusive: Unable to locate a supported output format for the device.  Check the speaker settings in the control panel.

23:12 T:4088    INFO: CAESinkWASAPI::Initialize: Could not Initialize Exclusive with that format

23:12 T:4088   ERROR: CAESinkWASAPI::Initialize: WASAPI initialization failed.

23:12 T:3648  NOTICE: Thread AESinkNull start, auto delete: false

FernetMenta · 2013-12-01, 21:55

please post full debug log (xbmclogs.com or pastebin)