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HTPC connected to XBOX One only getting stereo sound


Red5ive

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Red5ive

@ SO I have replaced my Sky TV box and resurrected my old HTPC that used to run Windows Media Center.

 

My setup before was Sky+ HD box connected via HDMI to Xbox One via its HDMI in/pass through. The Xbox is then connected to my TV via HDMI for picture and by S/PDIF to my Panasonic surround receiver and that all worked fine. Using Kinect voice commands or remote you can switch between live TV  from the sky set top box and games/Netflix/Amazon/catch up apps on the xbox all coming though with 5.1 audio.

 

On the HTPC I had to upgrade the graphics card as my old one was not compatible with Windows 10 so I opted for a Nvidia Geforce GT710 as I only had limited space in my case.

It's running emby server and theater and the idea is that I am simply replacing the sky box with the PC being my new set-top box.

 

With the PC connected via the Geforce HDMI port to the Xbox I am only getting stereo output passed to the amp, indeed windows is only offering me stereo output via the Nvidia HDMI port.

 

If I go to the Nvidia control panel 'Set up digital audio' panel under HDMI the Xbox One is being recognized. The only option there is to turn off audio.

If I open Windows sound settings and click configure for the Xbox One Nvidia High Definition Audio I get the speaker setup screen but the only option under audio channels is to use stereo. See pic below:

post-525280-0-24282900-1574431804_thumb.jpg

 

If I right click the speaker icon in the system tray and select the speaker setup menu the option for 5.1 and 7.1 is greyed out.

 

Is there anyway to persuade windows to pass through 5.1 audio to the xbox that I am just not seeing?

 

I know I could connect the PC direct to the amp with SPDIF but then apps and games on the Xbox would not be going through the amp, unless I invest in a switch box or something and having to switch the audio source back and forth each time and that would be a pain.

I also know I could use the emby app on the xbox and forgo putting the PC in the passthru at all, but it seems silly to use the emby app to stream the recordings/live tv over the network when the PC is in the same TV cabinet and can run them natively, the xbox app is also a little clunky.

Edited by Luke
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Guest asrequested

WASAPI is going to pull the capabilities of the device it's connected to. My guess is that because you're using optical out from Xbox, Xbox is limiting itself to stereo, and that's what the PC is seeing.

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Red5ive

But Netflix and the like on Xbox are seemingly playing in 5.1 and so was the Sky TV box when it was connected through it.

Seems that the xbox is being identified as only stereo to windows though.

 

I did find this topic over on the Nvidia forums where you can try editing the EDID info of a connected device and add in the correct number of speakers and placement:

https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/forums/game-ready-drivers/13/133846/if-anyone-is-having-trouble-with-their-tv-passing-/2209040/

and the full thread here:

https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/forums/discover/133846/if-anyone-is-having-trouble-with-their-tv-passing-edid-through-their-receiver-to-nvidia-cards-th/

 

not sure it it will work for the Xbox but might be worth a punt.

Edited by Red5ive
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Guest asrequested

It'll be Windows rather than Nvidia, that needs to read the Xbox. You'd think that Microsoft reading a Microsoft device would work better, but the issue is that you're output is optical at the end of a chain that can't be read. There are devices that will let you alter the EDID, but what you're doing is unconventional. I would imagine you're going to have other problems, later.

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Guest asrequested

You could try forcing a bitstream from mpv. That might work. mpv uses an S/PDIF hack, so it could work. I would try disabling all bitstreaming options and add the ac3enc option on the mpv.conf with a 384 setting. That'll convert all audio to AC3 at a bitrate supported by optical. Depending on what audio you are playing and what you want it to do, you may need auto-profiles.

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Red5ive

Sorry to be a newb but what is mpv, is that the player built into Theater?

Could you walk me through the steps?

 

I am playing mostly HD and SD recordings made by NextPVR from DVBT UK freeview and probably some DVD and Blue Rays.

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Red5ive

So no joy so far  :(

I've created a mpv.conf in my mpv folder under my user/appdata/roaming

 

here is the contents:

 
audio-spdif=aac
 
[AAC to AC3]
profile-desc=cond:p["audio-codec"]==aac
af=lavcac3enc=yes:384:2
 
I've also copied the auto-profiles.lua from the thread above into a scripts folder in the mpv folder.
 
When playing back a HD recording in Theater (Video 1080p H264, Audio AAC_LATM stereo) I'm still only getting audio from just the left and right speakers.
 
When you say 'disable all bitstreaming options' where did you mean?
I have everything ticked under Theater-audio Enable audio passthrough.
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Guest asrequested

Well, the profile is working.

[   0.759][v][ad] Codec list:
[   0.759][v][ad]     aac_latm - AAC LATM (Advanced Audio Coding LATM syntax)
[   0.759][v][ad] Opening decoder aac_latm
[   0.759][v][ad] Requesting 1 threads for decoding.
[   0.760][v][ad] Selected codec: aac_latm (AAC LATM (Advanced Audio Coding LATM syntax))
[   0.760][d][user_filter_wrapper] Setting option 'tospdif' = 'yes' (flags = 0)
[   0.760][d][user_filter_wrapper] Setting option 'bitrate' = '384' (flags = 0)
[   0.760][d][user_filter_wrapper] Setting option 'minch' = '2' (flags = 0)
[   0.760][v][af] User filter list:
[   0.760][v][af]   lavcac3enc (lavcac3enc.00)
[   0.760][v][cplayer] Starting playback...
[   0.761][v][af] [in] 48000Hz stereo 2ch floatp
[   0.761][v][af] [lavcac3enc] 48000Hz stereo 2ch floatp
[   0.761][v][af] [userspeed] 48000Hz stereo 2ch spdif-ac3
[   0.761][v][af] [userspeed] (disabled)
[   0.761][v][af] [convert] 48000Hz stereo 2ch spdif-ac3
[   0.762][v][ao] Trying audio driver 'wasapi'
[   0.762][v][ao/wasapi] requested format: 48000 Hz, stereo channels, spdif-ac3
[   0.762][d][ao/wasapi] Init wasapi
[   0.762][d][ao/wasapi] Find device ''
[   0.767][v][ao/wasapi] No device specified. Selecting default.
[   0.774][v][ao/wasapi] Selecting device '{62e369fd-fd84-4d5c-8a0e-7bc837e97e86}' (Xbox One (3- NVIDIA High Definition Audio))
[   0.774][v][ao/wasapi] Monitoring changes in device {0.0.0.00000000}.{62e369fd-fd84-4d5c-8a0e-7bc837e97e86}
[   0.799][d][ao/wasapi] Init wasapi thread
[   0.799][d][ao/wasapi] Activating pAudioClient interface
[   0.803][d][ao/wasapi] Probing formats
[   0.809][v][ao/wasapi] Trying stereo spdif-ac3 (16/16 bits) @ 48000hz (exclusive) -> ok
[   0.809][v][ao/wasapi] Accepted as stereo spdif-ac3 @ 48000hz -> stereo spdif-ac3 (16/16 bits) @ 48000hz (exclusive)
[   0.809][d][ao/wasapi] Fixing format
[   0.809][d][ao/wasapi] IAudioClient::GetDevicePeriod
[   0.810][v][ao/wasapi] Device period: 10 ms
[   0.810][d][ao/wasapi] IAudioClient::Initialize
[   0.853][d][ao/wasapi] IAudioClient::Initialize pRenderClient
[   0.853][d][ao/wasapi] IAudioClient::Initialize IAudioClient_SetEventHandle
[   0.853][d][ao/wasapi] IAudioClient::Initialize IAudioClient_GetBufferSize
[   0.853][v][ao/wasapi] Buffer frame count: 480 (10 ms)
[   0.853][v][ao/wasapi] IAudioClock::GetFrequency gave a frequency of 48000.
[   0.860][d][ao/wasapi] Activating pEndpointVolume interface
[   0.860][d][ao/wasapi] IAudioEndpointVolume::QueryHardwareSupport
[   0.861][d][ao/wasapi] Entering dispatch loop
[   0.861][d][ao/wasapi] Init wasapi done
[   0.861][v][ao/wasapi] device buffer: 480 samples.
[   0.861][v][ao/wasapi] using soft-buffer of 10752 samples.
[   0.861][i][cplayer] AO: [wasapi] 48000Hz stereo 2ch spdif-ac3
[   0.861][v][cplayer] AO: Description: Windows WASAPI audio output (event mode)
[   0.861][v][af] [convert] (disabled)
[   0.861][v][af] [out] 48000Hz stereo 2ch spdif-ac3

So your Xbox is doing something with the audio when it receives it.

 

Can I ask, why are you connecting your devices, this way? It's an odd way of doing this.

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Red5ive

If you consider the HTPC is pretending to be a set-top box then it's just what the Xbox one was supposed to be, the center of your front room setup!

 

With a Kinect sensor attached it's great to walk into the living room and say "Xbox on" and have it turn on the TV, amp, and go straight to live TV (the Sky Box attached before, the Emby PC now)

With your set top box attached to the hdmi in and then the xbox attached to your tv you can switch from playing a game to watching tv, to watching an xbox app like Netflix or Amazon video.

 

Anyway, with a bit more research it's the PC graphics card as I stumbled upon this thread from the sonos forums:

https://en.community.sonos.com/home-theater-228993/can-t-get-5-1-audio-only-stereo-from-htpc-6761648

and the author of the thread discovered the the Nvidia GT710 cannot output 5.1 audio over hdmi, only stereo. So I either need to replace the graphics card or use the spdif out of the motherboard and get a spdif switcher for the amp.

The bloke in the thread got himself a Zotac nVidia GTX-1050 but that looks like a 2-slot card and wont fit in my HTPC without loosing a tuner card. + the 710 is fanless. I'm unlikely to find a fanless card that can do both 5.1 audio over hdmi and is only one slot but if anyone know of one then please let me know!

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Red5ive

It's finding one that is single slot and has the hdmi port. Preferably passive to keep things quiet but not having much luck.

This seems to be a good bet and should squeeze into my case:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/MSI-2G-LP-OC-Graphics/dp/B072BQ2JGS/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=GeForce+GT+1030+single+slot&qid=1574679752&sr=8-4

 

if we are sure that it outputs 5.1 audio that is.

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