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Full Version: Surround Sound issues on Mavericks and XBMC 12.3
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Hey everyone,

first of all, Happy New Year, and many thanks for the new Frodo release for Mavericks, nice Christmas present! Smile

I've read all the relevant forum threads, tried everything whatever was mentioned, still no luck with my case, which is:

- had a Macbook Pro Mid 2010 with Mountain Lion (10.8.5)
- have a new Macbook Pro Late 2013 with Mavericks (10.9.1)

On my old MB Pro, everything (playing movies with DTS or Dolby Digital) was working with the following configuration:
- Macbook connected with an LG TV through MiniDisplayPort-HDMI converter => HDMI cable
- LG TV connected with an Onkyo 6.1 receiver with optical audio cable
- using XBMC 12.2 with audio config:
-- audio output: hdmi
-- speaker configuration: 5.1
-- boost volume on downmix: on
-- output stereo to all speakers: off
-- dolby digital capable receiver.: on
-- dts capable receiver: on
-- lpcm capable receiver: on
-- audio output device: default

The config above (but using XBMC 12.3) doesn't work on my new machine. If HDMI is selected as default audio output, there's no sound, and the video (containing DD or DTS) is choppy (2-3 frames/sec). If Analog Audio is selected, the video is ok, and there's audio, altough it's only stereo PCM.

I've tried all combinations of the audio setup, tried nightly builds and even gotham, I wasn't able to get digital surround sound on my new machine. Audio Midi setup is set to 2 channels (all others are disabled).

Any help would be appreciated!

UPDATE:
I've tried 12.3 with my old machine, and I'm experiencing the same problems (choppy video with no sound when HDMI is selected; working video but stereo audio if analog audio is selected)
output to HDMI, device to "default", disable lpcm, enable ac3, enable dts and set speaker config to 2.0
(2014-01-06, 03:13)Memphiz Wrote: [ -> ]output to HDMI, device to "default", disable lpcm, enable ac3, enable dts and set speaker config to 2.0

Memphiz, thanks for your reply. I've tried the settings you mentioned, but no luck, the problem is still present. My settings:

Image
debug log (wiki)
I had the same hdmi issue in my 2010 Mac mini. I changed to the 1/5 nightly build and the issue was fixed for me.
Im also having an issue with the surround sound, however on my Mac Mini 2012 model im getting intermittent sound, it breaks up every 5-20 secs.

On the previous version it was fine, but i was getting the red lines on playback.

Any ideas, should the above solution work for me, currently it's set to use Built-In Output, which as I say was working fine??
IronMaiDean - please re-read your post and verify the usefullness of your given information. Crystal ball is broken - so i can't tell which versions of XBMC you are talking about. "previous version" <- most exact specification ever *narf*.
Hi Memphiz, fair point well made!!

Im currently on the Frodo 12.3 stable build. Was previously on the Frodo 12.2 stable build, but this gave me red line some video, however all sound surround or otherwise was working as it should.

Only since updating to the Frodo 12.3 stable build have I encountered the intermittent surround sound.

I am also running Mac OS X Mavericks, which is 10.9.1.

Hope that clears things up slightly!! Big Grin
And you tried my suggested settings already? In that case - what type of video and audio are we talking about (ac3, dts, aac, mp3, number of channels in the files and so on). Also what is your audio setup (direct into TV - which tv, passthrough via optical to receiver, via HDMI to receiver, via HDMI to TV -> from TV to receiver via optical).

There are a dozens of possible configurations in the world and i have to ask all the time Sad - sorry that this hits you now - but its getting worse latly.
To be fair I haven't tried changing the settings to use 'Default' as you suggested, as I only saw this thread this morning so wil try later when i get home.
All my other settings are as you advsied.

Appreciate the lack of information is a pain, and I apologise.

Im running the video directly from the Mac Mini via HDMI into the TV, the optical output then goes directly to the amp.

The files, at least the ones i tried are all DTS, most of my stuff is to be fair. Have a 5.1 setup, but as above it's set to 2.0 in XBMC and 2 Channel in OSX on the Mac Midi Setup.

Thanks for the speedy responses, I will update later today/tomorrow once i have changed my settings.

The reason for the post was mainly to see if it was worth my while in installing a nighly build, as a few threads seem to have sorted sound issues with that but mine seems to be different??
Your issue is most likely caused by your TV. Most TVs don't decode and don't passthrough DTS data from HDMI to optical because of licensing issues. For getting DTS to your receiver you either need a direct optical connection from the mini to the amp (not sure how well this setup would work as audio would go via optical and video via hdmi), or HDMI from mini to amp.

Else you should disable DTS capable receiver and let XBMC decode and downmix it to 2.0.

You could in that special case also try to set speakerconfig to 5.1 and enable LPCM while having DTS disabled - also setting osx-audio-midi-setup back to 8 channels when you try this - but i doubt this will work as most TVs can't handle more then 2 PCM channels.
Sorry, perhaps I wasn't clear, the optical is coming from the Mac Mini direct to the amp. I have had it working on Frodo 12.2 and on previous versions just fine with the settings using 2.0 and device set to "Built-In Output".

The setup works fine, my amplifier is only used for audio, I don't pass any video through it as it only has two HDMI input anyway, my TV has four!!
(2014-01-06, 23:14)Memphiz Wrote: [ -> ]debug log (wiki)

here it is: http://xbmclogs.com/show.php?id=107307
thanks in advance

(2014-01-07, 05:26)noone Wrote: [ -> ]I had the same hdmi issue in my 2010 Mac mini. I changed to the 1/5 nightly build and the issue was fixed for me.

I'm not sure which version you're referring to, I've tried xbmc-20140105-b2dbf01-master-x86_64.dmg, but it's still the same
Memphiz: All working now for me, changed the Audio Output Device to "Default" and that sorted it.

Thanks again for your help, and keep up the good work!!
memphiz, were you able to check my debug log? did you find anything in there?
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