HDMI Audio TV Stutter & Fail - List of settings combinations

[curtis]

I recently hooked my new setup that was the first time connecting my HTPC via HDMI to a receiver and have run into some of the audio issues it appears that folks have been dealing with for some time with both Win 7 & 8 Media Center and a number of different video cards & HDMI audio controller drivers. My goal was to output all audio via bitstream and let the receiver do it’s decoding but that doesn’t appear to be possible due to the fact that FLAC isn’t an option to bitstream (at least not to my receiver though it supports it) and Windows seems to have the show stopping audio bug where MCE and Windows audio settings can’t both be 5.1 w/ exclusive mode enabled or TV audio playback will stutter for a few seconds and playback will then fail entirely.
As I couldn’t find any one place that was talking about what settings were producing what results, I thought I would summarize the results I’ve had when trying to play back my media while trying to work around the Windows bugs.

I’d appreciate any feedback from folks that are seeing different results or have figured out other workarounds that would allow me to bitstream & still have (unadulterated) 5.1 PCM output for FLAC.

Equipment:
- Relevant Software (fully patched): OS Win 8.1 w/Media Center, Arcsoft TMT 6 (Output HDMI Audio, M) , LAV filters, MediaBrowser & My Movies for MKV & ISO playback initialization, Virtual Clonedrive for ISO (3D discs), Anydvd off. Unless otherwise noted, LAV filters had all bitstream options checked. HDMI audio set at 100%
- Hardware (latest available drivers & bios): Intel NUC Haswell Core I5 w/ HD 5000 video card, Pioneer SC-1223 receiver ('Pure Direct' on), and (likely irrelevant to the issue) Vizio M series TV (M601d-A3)

General notes:
- When Windows is set to anything but stereo and Exclusive mode is on, I’m able to set WMC Audio but it will not correctly play test tones. With Exclusive mode off, setting WMC to 2.0 plays tones but plays them in the rear speakers. 5.1 & 7.1 play correctly.
- PCM output of DTS-HD MA (unchecking LAV passthrough filters) has a notably lower volume output from the receiver. Unable to discern any difference in quality but does continue to make me wonder if/how Windows is modifying lossless-output-as-PCM audio.

Playback audio output results of different combinations of setting Windows Speaker Config, Media Center Speaker Config and Exclusive Mode check box:

Win 5.1, WMC 5.1, Exclusive Mode On
TV = Fail
MKV w/FLAC = PCM 5.1
MKV w/DTS MA, TrueHD = Bitstream
Total Media Theater BR = Bitstream

Win 5.1, WMC 5.1, Exclusive Mode Off
TV = PCM 5.1
MKV w/FLAC = PCM 5.1
MKV w/DTS MA, TrueHD = PCM 5.1* *LAV bitstream must be unchecked or no audio + video issues
Total Media Theater BR = PCM 5.1* *LAV bitstream must be unchecked or no audio + video issues

Win Stereo, WMC 5.1, Exclusive Mode On
TV = DD 5.1
MKV w/FLAC = PCM Stereo
MKV w/DTS MA, TrueHD = Bitstream
Total Media Theater BR = Bitstream

Win 5.1, WMC 2.0, Exclusive Mode On
TV = Reciever says PCM 5.1 but audio is 2.0
MKV w/FLAC = PCM 5.1
MKV w/DTS MA, TrueHD = Bitstream
Total Media Theater BR = Bitstream

Win 5.1, WMC 2.0, Exclusive Mode Off
TV = Fail
MKV w/FLAC = PCM 5.1
MKV w/DTS MA, TrueHD = PCM 5.1* *LAV bitstream must be unchecked or no audio + video issues
Total Media Theater BR = PCM 5.1* *LAV bitstream must be unchecked or no audio + video issues

[ewtaylo]

Curtis-

That is a nice, concise list. I am rather new to the whole audio aspect of WMC. Which of those setups is closest to what you consider optimal?

[curtis]

For me, unless someone posts a workaround or other fix I'm missing to the issue, only "Win 5.1, WMC 5.1, Exclusive Mode Off" works as that is the only way I can get (hopefully) full bitrate 5.1 audio without having to grab the keyboard/mouse out of the cabinet to change settings depending on what type of content it is.
My content is too mixed. As I am decisive about being indecisive, about half my ~400 BR's are stored with audio as Flac and the other half is native DTS-HD MA & TrueHD so it would be a massive undertaking to change them to the one thing, which to work with TV being 5.1 (for now), would have to be native audio not flac. I've not yet tested how Netflix, Vudu, Amazon Prime, etc streams are affected but I'm assuming they wouldn't all be something I could bitstream unaffected by Windows Audio settings.

[garnuts]

For ATI HDMI audio, this post worked for me in this thread:

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/wind ... bdb?page=1

"For anyone else who happens to stumble on to this (incredibly helpful) post, you don't need to set Windows to ~2~ speakers (and lose out on 5.1 in non-MCE applications).

Instead, I set windows to 7.1 in the control panel, and then disabled the optional 2 surround speakers (basically telling it to demote the 7.1 down to 5.1).

Then in MCE, set the speakers to good old fashioned 5.1, and everything works!

Your mileage may vary, but it worked for me."