[Windows] AudioEngine testers - Windows platform only

Okay. When I choose 7.1 the receiver has to do the downconverting to 5.0? In other words, the most untouched signal I get when I configure XBMC for 7.1?

Thanks,

Chris

I think I found a bug in the recent AE build:

When I pause video playback and switch to a different receiver input (e.g. BD-Player) and then switch back to the XBMC-HDMI input, XBMC crashes.

http://db.tt/tNywT8jc

After quitting and re-starting XBMC afterwards, XBMC can't find the HDMI-output for audio anymore. In the settings it says then 'Error: No device found'.

Starting a new playback results in problems then:

http://db.tt/bxb3VhhI

Hope the log files help.

Chris

(2012-04-28 18:47)DDDamian Wrote:  - Exclusive mode is absolutely necessary for HD bitstreaming. Loekf - glad you are good now. I've come to the conclusion that Wasapi share mode is just not worth supporting, and plan on removing support for it in the next day or two, along with the GUI button. It's just going to cause more user issues like Loekf had. It offers none of the advantages of Exclusive mode nor any of the compatibilty of DirectSound, and with our event-based methods it does not support the preferred pull mode, only push. Short answer - it's out of there and won't be missed

Hi DDDamian

Little concerned about this one! Saw your post and realised I'd not been using exclusive mode.

I'm not currently at home so can't test this on my own kit, but connected up to the TV where I'm staying at the moment when I enable exclusive mode and attempt to play any media I've brought with me I see 'Failed to initialise Audio Device' in the top left. However if I leave exclusive mode disabled I don't have any issues.

I'm currently running the version you compiled on March 31st, so not the latest version you released in the last couple of days - has anything been updated that would potentially help with this?

Just thought I should ask now, given that you mentioned it could be removed within the next few days! Can provide a log if that will help, though will have to track down a keyboard and mouse to use first

Then use DirectSound and not WASAPI.

(2012-04-29 15:37)Maxoo Wrote:  Then use DirectSound and not WASAPI.

Not entirely sure how I do this as none of my device have a WASAPI/Directsound prefix - looking at Audio Output Device I only have two options:

'AMD HDMI Output (AMD High Definition Audio Device)'

or

'Realtek Digital Output (Realtek High Definition Audio)'

Are you saying I should be using the Realtek Device instead?

you should have 4 devices, 2 wasapi and 2 directsound. what he means is use amd hdmi direct sound. at starting xbmc with wasapi exclusive it connect with your screen. when you switch the hdmi chain you break the connection. i start my htpc at last one and it works fine. not the easiest way but perfect sound

(2012-04-29 17:17)Nimo Wrote:  you should have 4 devices, 2 wasapi and 2 directsound. what he means is use amd hdmi direct sound. at starting xbmc with wasapi exclusive it connect with your screen. when you switch the hdmi chain you break the connection. i start my htpc at last one and it works fine. not the easiest way but perfect sound

Thanks for the reply!

I've just tried starting the HTPC after turning on the TV and selecting the appropriate input, that doesn't seem to make any difference.

I only seem to have two device with no prefix at all, perhaps that is the issue. I've managed to get my hands on a flash drive, keyboard and mouse now so will try a clean install with the latest build and see what happens.


*** UPDATE ***

Using the latest build (AE-20120425) and I do now have 4 devices with the correct prefixes. Have tried using exclusive mode with the audio output devices set to those with the wasapi prefix and everything seems to work perfectly now!

Not really sure why the new version found double the number of devices, but regardless all seems to be OK.

Thank you for pointing me in the right direction Nimo!

Nice to see ppl helping others here

Really, the choice of DirectSound vs Wasapi to open the same device depends on your system capabilities. If your card/OS allows it always select Wasapi for the best sound. You have only three reasons to select DirectSound: you are running WinXP which doesn't support Wasapi, your audio device is incompatible with Wasapi's event-driven mode (will always fail to initialize and say format not supported in log), or you wish to allow sounds from other applications.

On my local build I have a small change that puts the WASAPI or DirectSound prefix first - will add to what you guys see soon, just makes it easier/faster.

@ix400 - your question really depends on your receiver, and whether it drops or downmixes the other channels, XBMC will attempt to downmix the rear channel content to the sides/fronts. If you can't hear any difference (and any difference would be small) I would do as gnif advises and set XBMC to 5.0

(2012-04-28 18:47)DDDamian Wrote:  - @trash - glad most things are working. The audio glitch at the end of an mp3 is a known issue mentioned in the post for this release, along with a crash I was getting on DVD menus. You may notice some odd behaviour on crass-fading too. Thx for the log and the report - it's now officially on the to-do list

I am seeing a similar issue with ALAC rather than MP3. Audio drops out ~5s before end of songs and amp resyncs.
Log is here: http://xbmclogs.com/show.php?id=2060

I don't have similar dropouts with FLAC.

With a hi-res FLAC file, I am seeing clamping messages from AE and hear occasional clipped audio. It is most noticeable on the center channel but there is some on FR and FL. I've played the same track using DanielA's HD-audio branch, regular Eden, and foobar and don't have the same issue.

Debug log shows clamping occurring around line 780
http://xbmclogs.com/show.php?id=2062

Volume level in guisettings is 1.0, no other sound is playing, and the clipping starts in the same place each time as the track gets louder. If I turn the volume down in XBMC then the clipping does go away.