[hobeguy78]

Hey guys, yes I'm new only by force.

So here's my dilema. I've been running XBMC Frodo 12.1 inside WMC (Integration tool). I like using XBMC to view my MKV's and most other video files because it syncs the video with my display properly (I get 24p when it's 24p content) . Also XBMC seems to handle switching my audio with ease! Well, in Frodo it does, not so much in Gotham. What gives?

I have a dedicated HTPC I put together from an old HP media desktop. Dual 2.4ghz 4gb ram, Hauppage WinTV Dual tuner card (OTA PVR) and tons of HD space. I have mostly MKV's, and some other formats for video, varying from TV shows to movies to concerts, whatever. I have an NVidia GT-640 video card with HDMI pushing into my Yamaha RX-V475 and into a Samsung 55" F6400. I also have the digital coax audio running from the HTPC into the AVR because we all know that lovely issue with audio over HDMI. Basically, windows doesn't like when you turn things off then back on other than the computer. Part of my reasoning for using XBMC was to get around that, if I switch between Coax and HDMI for audio, it works perfectly fine and carries the audio through the HDMI. Since some audio signals don't pass through Coax I'd rather just let XBMC use the HDMI. So I can do this with ease through Frodo.

I upgraded to Gotham as per the little ticker down below and the option was gone. I did a search and did the recommended expert mode, enabled all the different audio processing my AVR does and things were only coming through 2 channel. No matter what I switched the output device to. DirectX or Waspi, Coax or HDMI, it was all 2 ch.

So I just uninstalled Gotham and re-installed Frodo and it's working fine again. What gives? Why fix something that wasn't broken and break it?

[Martijn]

I'm getting a bit tired of people saying we broke something. Seriously.....
What gives?

[teeedubb]

I have a similar problem with turning on my avr while windows is running and have automated a workaround: http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid...pid1731124

[jjd-uk]

Audio settings were indeed broken in that many people found them confusing plus there was some bad choices made for the defaults in Frodo, so the new settings are an attempt to fix that.

I doubt that anything is broken and it's more likely a case of you not configuring things correctly, did you at any point read the wiki which includes detail on the settings and example configs, see http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=Audio

A post from you before reverting with your settings and a debug log and maybe this could have been very quickly sorted out. If you want to give it another go then install Gotham and run it in portable mode so you can experiment while keeping your existing Frodo install unaffected, then when you're confident all is ok with Gotham switch to it for main usage.

[nickr]

I am actually struggling to work out what the problem is.

Another poster with an unclear statement of problem, no logs, and no screeenshots of his settings.

[jjd-uk]

Basically it seems they only get 2.0 out of XBMC, so no 5.1 which they say they got with Frodo, hence why in all likelihood it was incorrect settings.

[hobeguy78]

Basically it seems they only get 2.0 out of XBMC, so no 5.1 which they say they got with Frodo, hence why in all likelihood it was incorrect settings.

Exactly. I tried to explain it best I can. I didn't think a log or debug was needed since I get no errors, it's just the options were BROKEN as in you changed them and made it confusing coming from one version to the next. Kind of like Windows 8 from windows 7 totally confused us who have been using windows since well, it was the first PC GUI OS.

So don't get an attitude because I didn't bombard you with a log and debug. The dev's should know what they did and realize that people who have been using this software long enough should not have to dig through a WIKI or the web to figure out the ridiculous changes they made to a perfectly working system. Wow guys, sorry I even bothered.

[Ned Scott]

ridiculous changes? Better defaults and easier to understand settings are ridiculous changes? No options have been removed from Frodo to Gotham, and if anything, there are more options and situations where things now work correctly.

Heck, I would even agree with you that some people are not responding in a very polite way, but you are making this assumption that we're the one that broke something, only because it's not exactly how it used to be. You haven't seemed to even take a moment to consider what settings would be needed, why the changes were made, or how to resolve the issue. Maybe it was a bug, maybe it was an unanticipated situation, who knows, but you start right off the bat insulting people. That's called being a dick, and people don't respond positively to those who act like a dick.

The devs know what they did, and they know that the vast majority of people are not having the issue you describe. Guess what? You're special!

[jjd-uk]

So all you want to do is vent and not get any help? then it would appear you're the one with the attitude as I was quite prepared to help you sort the problem out.

[hobeguy78]

Ok so first off, I apologize for that. I was having a bad day and frustration added on from this didn't help. No ones fault.

I did some reading on the options and followed some suggestions. I installed XBMC Gotham on a USB stick so I don't mess with what works. I went through the settings, trying both Direct Sound and WASAPI. I either get no sound at all or I get sound but only in two channel. No, I don't have debugging logs or screenshots because I figured the problem I'm having can be articulated through my explanation.

Basically, if you read what I wrote at first, you can see how my setup is. COAX carries the signal by default in Windows because if I turn the TV/AVR off, Windows turns the HDMI down to two channel once I turn them back on, unless I reboot the computer. But XBMC Frodo was able to use the HDMI for playing videos and the decoding worked on all channels. Now I can't figure out how to get Gotham to do this. I've enabled all the coding my AVR is capable of, I've tried Direct Sound and WASAPI in all three (NVidia HDMI, Realtek Digital Output ((Coax)), Default) and no luck.

I've gone through issues like this in the past with codec installs and it's a pain, even when you read Wiki's and forums. I do have Shark Codec pack installed, since I had to do something to get Windows Media Center to play MKV's right in the first place. Could this be conflicting? I thought XBMC runs its own codecs?

[nickr]

Xbmc doesn't need codecs packs. Please do a debug log from startup of xbmc and post it to pastebin, and post here screenshots of your audio settings screens. Prtscr takes a screenshot, upload it to somewhere like infuriated and then the links go in the forum.

I use spdif out to my amp and HDMI to my TV for the video signal, so I can assure you that I (and probably thousands of Gotham users) have it working.

[Martijn]

I use spdif out to my amp and HDMI to my TV for the video signal, so I can assure you that I (and probably thousands of Gotham users) have it working.

same here

[black_eagle]

Same audio / video connections as nickr with Gotham, and my audio is fine.

@hobeguy78, is your AVR telling you it's only getting stereo or are you assuming it's stereo because you have 2 channels selected in XBMC ?

The problem may well be able to be articulated without any screenshots or a debug log (wiki) but the solution will likely be impossible for anyone to figure out without that information being forthcoming from you.

[jjd-uk]

I take it you've not heard the saying "a picture is worth a thousand word", simply a screenshot is far better than even the most articulate description and removes any room for doubt in how things are configured.

Getting sound out of a digital co-ax should be trivial, all you should need to do is:

1. Select Realtek co-ax as "Audio output device"
2. Turn on "Enable Passthrough"
3. Select Realtek co-ax as "Passthrough output device"
4. You should find that Dolby Digital is enabled so enable DTS as well.
5. For other formats such as DTS-HD that can't be passed through co-ax then turn on "Enabled Dolby Digital transcoding"

That's it, if you're still having problems then we really need a debug log to see what's going on.

[hobeguy78]

Same audio / video connections as nickr with Gotham, and my audio is fine.

@hobeguy78, is your AVR telling you it's only getting stereo or are you assuming it's stereo because you have 2 channels selected in XBMC ?

The problem may well be able to be articulated without any screenshots or a debug log (wiki) but the solution will likely be impossible for anyone to figure out without that information being forthcoming from you.

I'm not home right now and probably won't get a chance to do this but I'll give it a shot? Getting the logs and screen caps that is. Though honestly I don't think it's necessary. My AVR displays the audio processing (DTS, DTS-HD, Dolby, etc...) and it shows me what speakers are active I.E. FR./FR/Sub, Rear, so when I play a movie through Gotham, all I get is "PCM" and only 2 speakers are lit up (along with the sub, naturally). I had this problem when setting up Shark Codecs in WMC where I had to set it to just process what the video has. I have many video formats, but I'm testing this with direct MKV Rips of Blu Ray discs I have. I also know the DTS and DTS-HD audio tracks are ripped with the video. In Frodo, it all works and displays fine on the AVR, I just can't get Gotham to do it. Which is baffling me, I try different combinations of Direct Sound & WASAPI, different pass through options as well. Like I said before, my HTPC runs directly into my AVR before hitting the TV. Because of Windows and HDMI I have to have the COAX/SPDIF for audio for WMC to not choke. But when I'm in Frodo, I tell it to use the HDMI for movies/videos and it works perfectly. So if you can think of something obvious before I get home to mess with it later, I'd greatly appreciate it.

---

I take it you've not heard the saying "a picture is worth a thousand word", simply a screenshot is far better than even the most articulate description and removes any room for doubt in how things are configured.

Getting sound out of a digital co-ax should be trivial, all you should need to do is:

1. Select Realtek co-ax as "Audio output device"
2. Turn on "Enable Passthrough"
3. Select Realtek co-ax as "Passthrough output device"
4. You should find that Dolby Digital is enabled so enable DTS as well.
5. For other formats such as DTS-HD that can't be passed through co-ax then turn on "Enabled Dolby Digital transcoding"

That's it, if you're still having problems then we really need a debug log to see what's going on.

Yeah, I know. I haven't had time to do the screen cap and debug though. I'll try to do it this weekend. But I'll also try what you said first. I'd rather it use the HDMI because a lot of my videos are Blu Ray rips with DTS-HD, which I know can't pass through coax.