No 5.1 audio

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Drunkard #1

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My setup is simple: a Marantz SR6004 being fed over s/pdif from an HTPC running VLC.

The problem is playing certain "linux distros", for example, The Grand Tour (Amazon, obviously), or the AMZN WEBRip of Elementary by FGT. They're listed, and show up in VLC's Media Information tab, as 5.1, but only play as 2.0

Any ideas on what could be causing this? Is the amp getting too old for these fancy new audio codecs (EAC3)? Is there a firmware update or a way for VLC to output a different codec on the fly?

Thanks in advance.

edit: The video is sent straight to the monitor via HDMI.
 
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D

Drunkard #1

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saor said:
Just to be clear it's only certain files that don't work - you've got other 5.1 files that do work?
Click to expand...

Modern Family 1080p web-dl (for example) works just fine, but that's AC3 according to VLC.
 
Bewlen

Bewlen

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Might be you need to install some codecs. Try installing the K-Lite codec pack
 
Rickster

Rickster

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Use a program called MediaInfo, it will tell you if its true 5.1 or 2.0.

EG Batman TDK Blu-Ray:

60beef67af.png
 
D

Drunkard #1

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Bewlen said:
Might be you need to install some codecs. Try installing the K-Lite codec pack
Click to expand...

Tried it, didn't work. I also tried playing it through the player it installed, Media Player Classic, but got no audio at all from that.

biometrics said:
Eww

Dodgy and old codec pack. Btw VLC doesn't use external codecs.
Click to expand...

Thought as much when it tried to sneak another program into the install. Tried it anyway. It's gone now. I hope.

biometrics said:
Try updating your VLC.
Click to expand...

Will try, but it should keep itself up to date.

Rickster said:
Use a program called MediaInfo, it will tell you if its true 5.1 or 2.0.

EG Batman TDK Blu-Ray:

View attachment 404782
Click to expand...

I don't see it giving any different info to VLC:

Untitled.jpg
 
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biometrics

biometrics

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You've got 5.1 media that works so this isn't going to help but you never know. On my media player (a HP Microserver N40L) I had trouble getting 5.1 to work. Just check that it is set up in Control Panel/Sound/Playback/Configure. Is 5.1 listed and selected?

Also on my Yamaha AVR I had to press the "Sur Decode" option on the remote to switch the AVR to surround sound.
 
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Drunkard #1

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biometrics said:
You've got 5.1 media that works so this isn't going to help but you never know. On my media player (a HP Microserver N40L) I had trouble getting 5.1 to work. Just check that it is set up in Control Panel/Sound/Playback/Configure. Is 5.1 listed and selected?

Also on my Yamaha AVR I had to press the "Sur Decode" option on the remote to switch the AVR to surround sound.
Click to expand...

I don't think much of that applies since I'm streaming the raw digital audio straight to the amp, but while I was there I noticed that the driver doesn't list EAC3, so I'm busy downloading new drivers. 200+MB! Will report back.

Edit: 2014 version off Intel's website didn't help. Trying the 2 day old version off Realtek's website.
 
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biometrics

biometrics

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Drunkard #1 said:
I don't think much of that applies since I'm streaming the raw digital audio straight to the amp, but while I was there I noticed that the driver doesn't list EAC3, so I'm busy downloading new drivers. 200+MB! Will report back.
Click to expand...

Ok, yes in my case audio and video is over HDMI->AVR->HDMI.
 
D

Drunkard #1

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biometrics said:
Try doing it like my setup:
Click to expand...

I'll continue troubleshooting tomorrow. I think I'm going to move my primary desktop to the theatre and test with that.

Have you got a small EAC3 sample to try and I can test it here? I haven't heard of (or downloaded) that before.
Click to expand...

I'm not much of an expert, and won't know where to find one. My files came off Rarbg - if you've got a webrib of The Grand Tour, it might be EAC3.
 
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sgs

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I've noticed the same on my old Yamaha DSP-A595 amp.

After some reading up, it looks like EAC3 is not directly backwards compatible with AC3, without some intelligence from the player. Part of an EAC3 stream still contains a normal AC-3 encoded stream for this reason, but it is up to the player to decide to send this to the amp/tv.

If you use HDMI to connect your devices, in theory the player should be reading the receiver/TV's capabilities, and then pass the relevant stream to it. And via SPDIF, it isn't technically possible to transfer most EAC3 streams anyway, so it should default to AC3. (But that does require a playback device that knows what it is doing. I see references that Apple TV does this correctly.)

In my case I use SPDIF, and my player (an old NMT A-110) has no clue about EAC3, so it just tries to output it all raw via SPDIF. Which fails horribly.

Hopefully PC / Android based players will wake up to this and implement settings so that one can configure which stream to output. But in my case the only option seems to be to throw the player out the window, or go back to the old reliable fallback: Stereo :crying:
 
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biometrics said:
I tried "matrix2_english_5.1_640.eac3" and it works with my setup with VLC.
Click to expand...

I tried the same one, and one other - both failed to play in 5.1. I also tried my main desktop PC, and that failed to play anything in 5.1.

sgs said:
I've noticed the same on my old Yamaha DSP-A595 amp.

After some reading up, it looks like EAC3 is not directly backwards compatible with AC3, without some intelligence from the player. Part of an EAC3 stream still contains a normal AC-3 encoded stream for this reason, but it is up to the player to decide to send this to the amp/tv.

If you use HDMI to connect your devices, in theory the player should be reading the receiver/TV's capabilities, and then pass the relevant stream to it. And via SPDIF, it isn't technically possible to transfer most EAC3 streams anyway, so it should default to AC3. (But that does require a playback device that knows what it is doing. I see references that Apple TV does this correctly.)

In my case I use SPDIF, and my player (an old NMT A-110) has no clue about EAC3, so it just tries to output it all raw via SPDIF. Which fails horribly.

Hopefully PC / Android based players will wake up to this and implement settings so that one can configure which stream to output. But in my case the only option seems to be to throw the player out the window, or go back to the old reliable fallback: Stereo :crying:
Click to expand...

This is what I suspected. For now I'll probably re-encode the few shows I can't find in AC3, but I need to find a solution,[-] and rather than replacing my receiver with a new receiver, I might look at getting a sound card with XLR outputs and a receiver-free amp. All the receiver does at the moment is decode the SPDIF signal, amplify it, and push it out to the speakers - I don't use any switching or equalising - I use the power and volume buttons only.[/-] OK, new solution - 3 x 3.5mm to RCA cables to run analogue 5.1 to the receiver. Will test when they arrive, but I don't see why it shouldn't work.
 
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