Live TV / Recorded playback - crackling sound in some scenes

[andy_d]

Seems like any scenes with fire (I can replicate the issue with the last two episodes of Game of Thrones) will lead to crackling / popping sounds. I'm not exactly sure how to handle this. I can't seem to replicate the issue in any other player no matter how loud I make the video. I also have no issues while playing games. It's just isolated WMC and TV viewing.

Anyone have dealt with this and know of a solution?

[JazJon]

Do you use Analog, HDMI digital or Toslink/SPDIF digital audio?

[andy_d]

I use HDMI connected to a Yamaha receiver

[bmblank]

I really don't mean to insult, but are you sure its not the sound of the fire that I'd on the screen?

[andy_d]

No worries. I've considered this myself as well. You could be right but it really sounds more like cracking sound than it is fire. I've heard in two separate episodes of game of thrones. Then again it could be there effect sounds foe the fire. I guess I should wait to see if it manifests itself in other ways

[adam1991]

Can you find those episodes online somewhere and view these specific scenes to see how they sound?

I'd guess that some idiot sound engineer went overboard with SFX...

[andy_d]

Yeah, let me see if I get the same thing when I use hbo go on my other pc.

I probably should have done that instead of spending time messing with codecs and stuff. Oh well.

[andy_d]

So I was starting to think it was isolated with that show but I now know that it happens in XBMC and with different file types.

Not sure what to think about it. I may test some of the blurays on my PS3 to make sure it's not my pc

[Shackleford]

Might try swapping hdmi cables and hdmi inputs as well.

[andy_d]

Yeah I'll try that. I actually did test some blurays on my ps3 and they seem to not have an issue

Thinking about it some more - the sound is like audio clipping when audio is too loud. I was going to go through the audio settings on my receiver since there isn't much to adjust in Windows. I already turned off sound enhancement in sound properties

But yeah I should rule out the cable and input

[andy_d]

Actually, I'm pretty convinced it's due to audio clipping now

There is an option in XBMC labeled "boost volume on downmix". My dolby digital files are not bitstreamed to my receiver because of a XBMC bug. Because of that, looks like XBMC is boosting the volume. Assuming anyway because after I disable it I no longer hear all that clipping

I'm not sure how to handle this in WMC, though? If there is volume enhancements of some sort throwing things off.

[Shackleford]

The only WMC setting I'm aware of is the Auto Volume option found in Settings> TV> Audio.

[CubsWin]

I don't know if this will help diagnose the problem, but I am experiencing the same crackling in Game of Thrones (most noticeable in the fire scenes as you said). It is definitely a speaker crackle and not an intended sound effect. I am not using Windows Media Center at all though. I am watching it on my Dish Network Hopper receiver connected to a Yamaha RX-V663 receiver by HDMI. The common theme seems to be our Yamaha receivers, so is there a setting on the receiver itself that could help with this?

[andy_d]

Shackleford - that option is off

CubsWin - I'm actually thinking it's the videos. After I isolated the issue with XBMC, I started testing Game of Thrones again. I played a mkv of the video on my main pc - same results as playing it on my htpc using a recorded video in WMC. I didn't hear it when I played the video on HBO Go but I might have not upped the volume high enough

[barnabas1969]

Sometimes I hear crackling when I'm sitting on the throne too.

Oh... now I see what you're talking about. Sorry.

[andy_d]

Hah :p