Maddogg6

Ok, I tested this before, and since forgot about it, until I was in contact with a user using 3538I indicating they had the same problem.

edit: Problem seems to exist in 3538I & J

Using Livedrive COAX SPDIF IN - Feeding this is a 'Dolby Digial 5.1' encoded signal

Effects:
1) No FXBuss 5 output
2) Intermittant - massive stuttering.

If others can verify this condition using OTHER SPDIF inputs would be appreciated.

BboyDubC

I can confirm this bug using optical in from my Xbox360. There is intermittent stuttering at random times, and also i tappears that the sound is out of synch with the picture. This is decoding a dolby digital 5.1 signal. It seems that at some points after the massive stuttering that the delay is gone. The whole thing seems random and sketchy.

Maddogg6

This has been greatly improved in 3538L - only occasionally - (like durring chapter changes) - will it start to stutter and 50/50 it fixes itself - other times I need to stop/play on my DVD player to fix it.
And one time I caught it out of sync with video - stop/play fixed that too.
I have only played 3 DVD's thus far.

But MUCH MUCH better

Maddogg6

Ok - I thought I would bring this up again - I just tried another set top DVD player - and AC3 (Dolby Digital) doesnt decode correctly by KX.

It appears kX decodes fR as rL - and fL as fR - this is consistant with my cable TV box that outputs Dolby Digital.

BUT - my other DVD player - when set to output DTS - kX decodes this properly... ???

Russ

I tested some stuff out using 3544a and thought I would add some info:

With DD 5.1, kX appears to decode the channels correctly for me.

With DD 2.0, it seems that the right channel is sent to the wrong bus.
i.e. (with DD 2.0)
Left Channel -> FxBus 2
Right Channel -> FxBus 6

It also seems the wrong bus is used with DD 1.0 (mono sources).
i.e. Center Channel -> FxBus2

I tested with input from the cable box connected to SPDIF In (SB0090) with the 'S/PDIF-In AC-3 Decode' mode enabled, as well as AC3 files on my hard drive (using VLC and PowerDVD for playback).

Also, when changing TV channels (while decoding from SPDIF-In) from a channel with DD 5.1 (for example) to a channel with less audio channels (DD 2.0 for example), the unused audio channels do not always get completely flushed, resulting in a constant DC signal (whatever the last value happened to be) on the unused audio channels.

I imagine the above stuff is about the same for everybody, but maybe not the following:

The 'S/PDIF-In AC-3 Decode' mode switch does not seem to work quite right for me. Decoding does not start as soon as the switch is enabled, but rather only starts if the SPDIF signal is restarted. Also, once started, disabling the switch does not stop the decoding, only quitting kxmixer (after decoding is disabled) seems to stop the decoding from SPDIF In.

Another odd thing: Decoding from SPDIF-In gives me an instant BSOD, unless I use kX to decode something else first (i.e. an .AC3 file on my hard drive (which never gives me problems)).

i.e.
After booting up, if I try to decode from SPDIF In, instant BSOD.
However, if I play an AC3 file (with VLC for example), and have kX decode it (even for just a second), and then stop that, and decode from SPDIF In, it works OK until the next time the system is booted up.

(the BSOD mentions kx.sys and something like: The driver has mistakenly marked a part of its image pageable instead of non pageable).

WinXP
SB0090
kX 3544a

-Russ

dj_stick

if possible, set your source device to transfer pure spdif when working with stereo signals - that should prevent that problem while a bug fix is sorted out

__________________

Russ

Good advice, but unfortunately that is not possible with my cable box, SPDIF output from it is always DD.

In any case, my BSOD work around seems to work consistently for me (thus far anyway), and it is easy enough to redo the connections in the DSP for DD 2.0 content.

Maddogg6

I get instant BSOD when trying A/52 in VLC - no kX pop-up - while for SPDIF in - I'll see a popup (audio goes from the 'clicking sound' like ac3 no being decoded to silence when enabling AC3 decode from SPDIF in switch in mixer) then, when I restart the AC3 stream (change channel on Cable Box) I instantly get the BSOD.

A possible difference - I am feeding SPDIF from my second card to my CD_Digital in, I now wonder how that would be handled..?? Maybe why I get BSOD with A/52 in VLC and Russ does not.. ?? I dunno..??

@Russ - possible workaround for ya (I know, everyones got ideas )
Can you make something that detects AC3 on SPDIF input, and load a DSP config (with speaker correction, then, load last DSP config upon lost AC3 on SPDIF IN.
??

Just an idea, seems like it could be possible.

Russ

Yeah, that is basically what I mean (although I have SPDIF muted on the Ins and Outs page, so that I do not have to hear the raw AC3 data (the clicking sound that you mention)).

Well again, I am using VLC for playing .AC3 files on my hard drive, not for hardware SPDIF inputs.

I am not sure if that is possible, since I do not think that plugins get notified of such events (i.e. AC3 input + format (i.e. 5.1 vs 2.0), etc).

Maddogg6

I am probably confused here - doesnt the A/52 in VLC cause kX to decode AC3 files on the HDD?
When I tried with VLC, playing a 5.1 AC3 file, then enabled A/52 device in VLC - instant BSOD for me.

I guess Im not sure how you use kX to decode AC3 from AC3 files on your HDD (as opposed to a DVD using the CD_Digital SPDIF input for instance)

What my intent was to point out - that; if I have multiple SPDIF inputs - which one will kX try to decode Ac3? I dont see anything in kX Mixer to select which SPDIF input to ac3 decode. One may be AC3 encoded, while another is never AC3 encoded.
Does that make any sense (it does when I type it )?
Maybe not a plugin alone... how about an addon - can that retrieve kX Console info (-istat in particular) - and cause a .kx DSP config file to be loaded based on that info - then send a message to a 'routing' plugin that re-routs audio as needed)

OK - I'll stop with all these 'great' ideas I get now

Russ

That is right, the difference is that one comes from the OS to kX, and the other comes from the SPDIF Input to kX. My point was that since VLC is used for playing files on the hard drive (in my case), then as far as it is concerned, it should not make a difference how your DVD player (or whatever your external SPDIF source is) is connected to the sound card.

As for why one method gives me a BSOD while the other doesn't (when both use the same kX decoder), I have no idea (that is why I said it was an odd thing), nor do I have any idea why my work-around prevents (for me) the BSOD when decoding from SPDIF In (,nor why you get a BSOD when using VLC and I do not).

And BTW: I am not trying to decode from both sources at the same time (if that is what you mean).

Yeah, I have no idea how kX decides which one to decode if there are multiple... For signals that are not encoded, the kX decoder probably just ignores them since there is nothing for it to do.

Hehe, again I am not sure, I would have to look in to it more... But you would not want to constanly poll for the SPDIF status, so you would really need some kind of notification that tells you that there is an SPDIF source, etc. It would probably be failry complicated to do such a thing with a plugin or addon.

Russ

BTW: I thought I should mention that it is possible to decode AC3 from SPDIF In using AC3Filter instead of kX [COLOR=Gray](I mention this because I have seen some other posts in the forum indicating that people did not think it was possible)[/COLOR].