2013-10-13, 20:48
Have you got XBMC volume set to 100%? If so try backing it off with remote or minus key, just a couple of notches down maybe enough
2013-10-17, 05:08
Yes, it is set to 100%. I will try this, I uninstalled the card because I perturbed. I'll reinstall it and let you know the resuts.
If you dont mind me asking, why would XBMC be clipping the audio when Foobar isnt?
If you dont mind me asking, why would XBMC be clipping the audio when Foobar isnt?
2013-10-17, 13:31
I'm not a dev so I don't fully understand all the details but I think it's to do with the format XBMC uses internally.
Frodo contained a totally new audio system (with the central core called SoftAE) that was built from scratch, this was a huge project and unfortunately some mistakes were made along the way and due to the many variety of systems it was not possible to eliminate all the bugs, so while there were many improvements there were also some regressions.
Since Frodo there's been a lot of work done in re-writing & improving the audio system (there's a new core called ActiveAE) which has seen massive improvements over Frodo and many of bugs squashed. So you might also want to try a nightly XBMC build or the last alpha 8 build as an experiment (you can install in a separate directory from your existing install and run portable mode so it's a self contained install) to try out the new Active AE based audio system and see if there's any improvement with that. It would certainly help us to know whether the work done fixes the type of issue you have.
Frodo contained a totally new audio system (with the central core called SoftAE) that was built from scratch, this was a huge project and unfortunately some mistakes were made along the way and due to the many variety of systems it was not possible to eliminate all the bugs, so while there were many improvements there were also some regressions.
Since Frodo there's been a lot of work done in re-writing & improving the audio system (there's a new core called ActiveAE) which has seen massive improvements over Frodo and many of bugs squashed. So you might also want to try a nightly XBMC build or the last alpha 8 build as an experiment (you can install in a separate directory from your existing install and run portable mode so it's a self contained install) to try out the new Active AE based audio system and see if there's any improvement with that. It would certainly help us to know whether the work done fixes the type of issue you have.
2013-10-18, 05:53
I will check those options out, although I am not very active in community so I will have to do some research regarding what those are. I dont mind trying things out and posting logs, but just venturing into the Active AE thread I think they are looking for testers with more experience than I have.
FWIW, lowering the volume from 100% to 94% or lower did eliminate the source clipping on that track and a couple others. I was having big problems with the audio on "Looper" last night though, it was clipping a certain scene and I cant lower the XBMC volume because its DTS and on passthrough. I also notice more issues in general with what is most likely faint clipping when running a soundcard and WASAPI vs on board out and directsound on (and therefore HD Audio in the Bios). Another issue with the former setup is problems in between songs. It 'skips/pauses' during the last second of the song before going to the next.
I have always been a big proponent of XBMC and do not mean to seem unappreciative to all those that give there time for free, but these audio issues are a deal breaker for me. Is there at ETA to any of these fixes?
FWIW, lowering the volume from 100% to 94% or lower did eliminate the source clipping on that track and a couple others. I was having big problems with the audio on "Looper" last night though, it was clipping a certain scene and I cant lower the XBMC volume because its DTS and on passthrough. I also notice more issues in general with what is most likely faint clipping when running a soundcard and WASAPI vs on board out and directsound on (and therefore HD Audio in the Bios). Another issue with the former setup is problems in between songs. It 'skips/pauses' during the last second of the song before going to the next.
I have always been a big proponent of XBMC and do not mean to seem unappreciative to all those that give there time for free, but these audio issues are a deal breaker for me. Is there at ETA to any of these fixes?
2013-10-18, 11:50
XBMC should not cause any clipping on a DTS track, particularly if you are using WASAPI for passthrough.
Clipping should primarily be with PCM & WASAPI where audio is sent direct to the soundcard and XBMC has set the levels too high, whereas Directsound goes via the Windows audio layers thus clipping is normally prevented as levels are adjusted in Windows. The song transition thing is also a known problem and should now be sorted in development builds with ActiveAE.
The improved ActiveAE system will officially come once stable Gotham is ready, the beta's might become available before the end of the year with Release Candidate and Final build likely early next year, can't be any more precise than that.
Please try a nightly or monthly alpha if you are able and report back here if you don't feel comfortable venturing into the development thread, no one on the team uses dedicated soundcards thus it's easy for us to miss something, so I want to try and prevent a repeat of Frodo and get it tried out on as many different types of systems as possible.
Clipping should primarily be with PCM & WASAPI where audio is sent direct to the soundcard and XBMC has set the levels too high, whereas Directsound goes via the Windows audio layers thus clipping is normally prevented as levels are adjusted in Windows. The song transition thing is also a known problem and should now be sorted in development builds with ActiveAE.
The improved ActiveAE system will officially come once stable Gotham is ready, the beta's might become available before the end of the year with Release Candidate and Final build likely early next year, can't be any more precise than that.
Please try a nightly or monthly alpha if you are able and report back here if you don't feel comfortable venturing into the development thread, no one on the team uses dedicated soundcards thus it's easy for us to miss something, so I want to try and prevent a repeat of Frodo and get it tried out on as many different types of systems as possible.
2013-10-19, 18:59
Hi there
What sort of fixes does this activeae audio design bring ? Also has it fixed the audio lip sync problems.
Cheers.
What sort of fixes does this activeae audio design bring ? Also has it fixed the audio lip sync problems.
Cheers.
2013-10-19, 20:46
(2013-10-18, 11:50)jjd-uk Wrote: XBMC should not cause any clipping on a DTS track, particularly if you are using WASAPI for passthrough.
Clipping should primarily be with PCM & WASAPI where audio is sent direct to the soundcard and XBMC has set the levels too high, whereas Directsound goes via the Windows audio layers thus clipping is normally prevented as levels are adjusted in Windows. The song transition thing is also a known problem and should now be sorted in development builds with ActiveAE.
The improved ActiveAE system will officially come once stable Gotham is ready, the beta's might become available before the end of the year with Release Candidate and Final build likely early next year, can't be any more precise than that.
Please try a nightly or monthly alpha if you are able and report back here if you don't feel comfortable venturing into the development thread, no one on the team uses dedicated soundcards thus it's easy for us to miss something, so I want to try and prevent a repeat of Frodo and get it tried out on as many different types of systems as possible.
After further research, I think the distortion on the DTS track was either because I am transporting it over SPDIF or a problem with the rip. I assume the former though. I shouldnt have brought it up, as its not my main concern here, it was an isolated incident.
If you want to make my life easier and post a link to a thread, post or anything of the sort to get me on the right track in regards to trying a nightly or monthly alpha I will do that.
2013-10-25, 07:02
Ive been using Jriver, no issues. Their Audio and Video processing capabilities are much better than XBMC. Too bad their interface is horrible.
I still dont mind spending some time helping out, but I'd appreciate it if you pointed me in the right direction first.
I still dont mind spending some time helping out, but I'd appreciate it if you pointed me in the right direction first.
2013-10-25, 11:47
There is no formal instruction on what to do so here is an outline:
- Download latest Alpha Build from http://mirrors.xbmc.org/snapshots/win32/ The latest Alpha currently is Alpha 8
- Install to a different directory from your exiting install, for example assuming your current installation is in a folder named XBMC install the Alpha to a folder called XBMC-Gotham
- Once installed open folder and look for the XBMC.exe file, right click on it & select Create Shortcut
- Right click on newly created shortcut and select Properties you'll see something like
Code:"C:\Program Files (x86)\XBMC-Gotham\XBMC.exe"
add a -p on the end to run XBMC in portable mode, so it becomes something like:
Code:"C:\Program Files (x86)\XBMC-Gotham\XBMC.exe" -p
- Open XBMC with the shortcut then once opened close XBMC, you should now see a portable_data folder in the installation folder, this is where Userdata for this install running in Portable mode will reside.
- If you wish to import your existing XBMC configuration, open existing Userdata folder by:
Selecting Run from Windows Start Menu and enter %appdata% this will open the Roaming folder for your Windows user, go to XBMC folder where you'll see the userdata folder, copy this into the portable_data folder to overwrite existing portable_data\userdata folder
