Surround sound for all videos in XBMC

[MrWolf]

Hello mate. It's an internal sound card.

Tried setting XBMC to 5.1 just now, no luck I'm afraid.

-P

[Kalle]

Hello mate. It's an internal sound card.

Tried setting XBMC to 5.1 just now, no luck I'm afraid.

-P

If you have a chance to get a external usb audiocard (like terratec or creative) use it. Sometimes you can find a cheap one on ebay. A terratec Aureon 5.1 or 7.1 is a good one.

[jitterjames]

If you want to get the real deal and your video source file contains 5.1 audio you should set XBMC to use optical and passthrough audio and it should give you true surround sound, and no you won't be able to hear TTS from VC any more because XBMC will simply be sending the original audio bitstream to the amp, unmolested.  When this happens, no other pc sounds can play.  Sometimes they will get "stored up" and play when you stop the movie.  It sucks but I don't know of any solution, except that I use two audio outputs.  I send my TTS to my TV and XBMC to my Amp.  This will only happen if your source is digital multichannel. It should not be an issue when listening to stereo stuff unless you use WASAPI which also takes over the audio and does not allow other sounds through.

If you send two channel audio to your amp through optical, then I think your amp should still be able to upconvert it to surround sound, or at least to all-channel-stereo, but without knowing your amp or being there to play with it I can't say for sure.

Are you using the generic XMBC Eden?

Here are my audio settings for Frodo, but Eden is similar:

[MrWolf]

Thanks mate,

I tried setting mine like that but I just got a stuttering picture (for no apparent reason) and no sound.

I tried literally every 5.1 configuration possible, but the only thing that worked properly was when I set it to analogue 2.0.  Why analogue would work when optical is digital I really don't know.

I'm happy with the sound now though, tried it out for gaming and XBMC, so thanks for all the help.  The only remaining issue is the lack of TTS and sounds for Vox

My projector has an inbuilt speaker and is connected via HDMI to the graphics card, could I send the TTS to the projector's little speaker?  How are you sending it to your TV?  I thought the PC's audio would have to be sent via the sound card to whatever it was connected to, I don't know how you could send all programmes audio via one card to one unit, but send Vox to another?  Is it a setting in Vox somewhere?

I have a nasty feeling you're going to tell me you have two separate PC's for the two different tasks.

-P

[MrWolf]

Think I got it.  It's in TTS settings I can send it via HDMI, will try it when I get home.

I guess I can't tell VOX to send the wav's to the projector though?  I presume you have him speak to you when you call his name, where as I have star trek sound.

Just to clarify though, I don't have the "real deal" at the moment, so shouldn't I be able to play both VOX and XBMC simultaneously?

-P

[Kalle]

Think I got it.  It's in TTS settings I can send it via HDMI, will try it when I get home.

I guess I can't tell VOX to send the wav's to the projector though?  I presume you have him speak to you when you call his name, where as I have star trek sound.

Just to clarify though, I don't have the "real deal" at the moment, so shouldn't I be able to play both VOX and XBMC simultaneously?

-P

question: If you want send the TTS to your projector speaker or to an separate speaker for TTS here is a perfect solution.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/LINDY-Portable-Wireless-Audio-System/dp/B00475XR9U/ref=sr_1_68?ie=UTF8&qid=1357292126&sr=8-68

without a mic funktion: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lindy-USB-Wireless-Audio-Extender/dp/B006NYG7UY/ref=pd_sim_sbs_computers_6

I use it sometimes by my self and it works great. The range is max. 30 feet and you can use it also as Wireless headset.
If you need more info ask me  
It is a review here in the forum available (only in german but you can use google translater):  http://voxcommando.com/forum/index.php?topic=595.0

[MrWolf]

Hi Kalle,

Thanks for all your advice!

I think the projector should be able to receive the audio via the HDMI cable that is already connected to it from my graphics card, so I think it will at least send the TTS.

My question to James is whether he knows of a way that I could send the Wav files to the projector also.

That audio extender looks absolutely awesome though and I will be buying at least 2 of them so that I can talk to the PC from any room when I get my new house.  Might buy a couple of them now!

-P

[Kalle]

Hi Kalle,

Thanks for all your advice!

I think the projector should be able to receive the audio via the HDMI cable that is already connected to it from my graphics card, so I think it will at least send the TTS.

My question to James is whether he knows of a way that I could send the Wav files to the projector also.

That audio extender looks absolutely awesome though and I will be buying at least 2 of them so that I can talk to the PC from any room when I get my new house.  Might buy a couple of them now!

-P

you can send the real TTS voice from VC to HDMI with audio settings.

[jitterjames]

you can set the TTS output device on the fly from VC using the action:

TTS.SetOutput

Wav files will probably play on whatever is set as the default audio output device as defined in windows sound settings.  Make sure you have HDMI enabled and working and then set it as the default.

[jitterjames]

Just to clarify though, I don't have the "real deal" at the moment, so shouldn't I be able to play both VOX and XBMC simultaneously?

Confuso say: "All fish can swim, but not all swimmers are fish".

There are too many variables.  If the stars should align correctly then maybe we can both find a free moment to take a look at your system together using skype and/or teamviewer.  For me the stars will be all out of whack for the next little while though, so here are some things to look at:

If your playback is jerky in XBMC try setting XBMC to use "true" fullscreen.  This has it's own problems of course because then VC OSD does not work!  For me I am forced to use True fullscreen (don't know why) in order to play back 24p content (which is about 95% of my library.) at true 24p instead of at 60p.  This means I don't see OSD messages when using XBMC.  It's not a huge deal for me since I only use XBMC for video and have it closed the rest of the time.

If you are only getting 2 channel stereo even though you are using optical then either you don't have pass-through set up correctly, or your receiver is not able to handle the origianl audio data from the file you are playing. (I suspect your receiver may be the weak link here since it seems that it is not a "real" receiver, or that's the impression I get.)

If you are only getting stereo sound but you can't hear TTS, wav or other windows audio then make sure you have XBMC set to use a directX audio device and not WASAPI.

[MrWolf]

The Logitech system is probably one of the best PC speaker systems you'll ever find according to a lot of forums, though they maybe perhaps talking about the speakers not the control console, I still find it difficult though to believe that the Logitech system could be the cause of my fault as it is a reasonably expensive set designed specifically for interaction with a PC.

Thanks to everyone for their advice, it led to a few really good sounding setups, specifically SPDIF sounded great and when connected via Optical I was able to get the system to accurately decide whether to bother to apply Dolby ProII or whether it was a genuine HD 5.1 source and didn't require it.  Main problem with that was that XBMC soft mute wouldn't work because XBMC is allowing the Logitech to control literally everything including volume.  Secondly there were issues with the wav sounds and TTS whenever watching a genuine 5.1 movie (they would queue up as previously described).  I managed to get the PC to send TTS and Wavs to the projector via HDMI whenever a 5.1 movie was playing, but with regard soft muting so that the Mic can hear me properly; the logitech has no IR codes to set specific volumes (I can only get it to dial down very gradually by sending 'volume down' multiple times) I decided SPDIF pass through was just not feasible and went back to the drawing board.

Right then, following hours and hours of testing and swapping settings I believe I have found the best possible setup for Logitech z-5500's when used with XBMC and if you intend to have Vox commando perform soft mute (being as that doesn't work with SPDIF pass through).  You wouldn't believe the amount of seemingly unrelated and even seemingly more accurate settings that have resulted in the following symptoms...

Odd hissing when nothing is playing
Barely any surround in the rear speakers
No Wav or TTS sounds
Soft mute not working
Stereo only in anything not 5.1 instead of Dolby conversion
No center speaker in any true 5.1 sources but everything else working
Unnecessary Dolby applied to full 5.1 sources

The settings are included below for my own reference and for anyone that may be struggling and googling for an answer...

XBMC
Direct sound Primary sound driver
Analogue 5.1

Xonar DG Audio Center
2 Channels
PCM 96khz
2 Speakers
SPDIF Out ticked

Logitech speakers
Effect 6 channel direct
Input Direct

Sound (Control panel)
Default Device set to Speakers
Speakers configured for 2.0
Properties -> Advanced -> Set Default format to 24 bit 192000 Hz

Right then, time to go try out the wireless audio box that Kalle recommended to see if I can get audio from the upstairs PC in the kitchen, it arrived today

Thanks again everybody, as always you have pandered to typical ineptitude.

-P

[MrWolf]

Just an update on this.

Moving to XBMC Frodo ruined all this hard work because they removed the option for default audio device in their sound properties.

I have literally just tried every combination of settings again to get back to having decent surround whilst still getting TTS and Wavs through the same speakers as XBMC.

I thought I'd share my settings again being as they are randomly different from the last set and once again seem to be the only working combination...

XBMC
Direct sound SPDIF Passthrough device (Asus Xonar DG Audio Device)
Analogue 5.1
Play GUI sounds always

Xonar DG Audio Center
2 Channels
PCM 96khz
2 Speakers
SPDIF Out ticked

Logitech speakers
Effect PLII Movie
Input Optical

Sound (Control panel)
Default Device set to S/PDIF Pass-through Device
Properties -> Advanced -> Add Supported format for DTS Audio, Dobly Dgital, Sample rate 96khz, set default format to maximum (2 channel, 24 bit, 48000 Hz, (Studio Quality)
Exclusive mode both boxes ticked


It has once again been a total nightmare, but it now sounds great.  I may be imagining it but it sounds better than with Eden so perhaps it was worth the stress, just gotta finish re-coding all my VOX XBMC commands that the upgrade to FRODO screwed up!  Thank god for James!

-P