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Upgraded directx 9 to the March 2009 update to see if that would help, unfortunately, nothing fixed. Does anyone have any idea what could be wrong? I know that it has something to do with not being able to create a secondary buffer (at least that's what the debug log says), but I can't find this kind of problem anywhere else. I hope someone can point me in the right direction.
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natethomas
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Oh darn. I'd typed out a whole thing, then forgot to post the reply. Anyway, XBMC is reporting a failure to initialize a secondary buffer. I have no idea what that means, so I'm gonna let a dev help you out.
One suggestion though. It looks like you might have two audio drivers. One motherboard and one PCI card. If that's the case, you might consider disabling the motherboard audio chipset from the BIOS. I'm not sure if it'll help you, but it's worth a try.
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Hey natethomas, thanks so much for the suggestion. I did notice that as well, but I don't actually have a secondary audio card. So, I'm not sure why there is a secondary device there. I am worried that if I go through the bios I might just break audio all together (I've done this before, and it wasn't pretty). I hope a developer can help me, but I understand that they are very busy people. I've been trying for 3 days straight now.
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natethomas
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Next question: do you have any problem when you change the audio output to analog?
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phi2039
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Failure to create the secondary buffer is just a fancy way of saying that we cannot open the device with the requested parameters. On Vista, there will always be at least one message like this, because the buffer is created in software, not hardware.
Usually, a complete failure to initialize the device is indicative that the device does not support the requested format.
@Jayquility: How is your PC connected to your stereo? Also, how are you verifying that 5.1 works correctly with other players? Many times they will fall-back to down-mixing or Dolby Pro Logic if they are unable to use true 5.1.
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2009-06-09, 23:42
(This post was last modified: 2009-06-10, 04:14 by Jayquility.)
I can verify that the audio does work in analog mode (although it obviously down mixes the output to stereo).
My PC is hooked up to a receiver (that can accept Dolby Digital and DTS) via an optical cable. I can verify that all other players properly play 5.1, because Dolby Digital / DTS both display prominently on my receiver when viewed through alternate players, so no down mix occurs. I know it's a strange problem and even stranger in light of everything else working. I really appreciate all the prompt responses and help. Thanks again.
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So, I spent some additional time working on this and still haven't had any luck. Does anyone else have any suggestions for me? I'm beginning to become tempted to just do a complete reinstall of windows just to get this to work, but I'd appreciate anybody coming up with a less drastic solution. As always, thank you in advance.
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phi2039
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Ignore the 2-channel message. That is how AC3 and DTS are passed over S/PDIF (optical/coax/hdmi). If you want to know more, google IEC61937.
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Will do, any idea what's wrong here phi? I've already downloaded new drivers and had no luck, uninstalled every codec, and had no luck, then installed new codecs, and still had no luck.
I just wish I knew where in the process things broke. I would appreciate any thoughts you have.
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I chased this Problem a bit further today and installed an XBMC on my Ubuntu Hardy Laptop, set up the USB Sound Device and everything works perfect. Seems to be a Windows only Problem...
This way I was at least able to proof its no limitation of the soundcard/system... but windows wise I´m not further getting 5.1 to work. If there is no other solution to this for the windows port I´ll set up my media pc on ubuntu, but i´d still prefer windows (other reasons).
Maybe one of the devs has a good Idea how to locate this problem on the windows install?
PS: I tried the Windows port on the same hardware... :p