How to Bitstream HD audio from HTPC/Laptop

Can someone help me with laptop and potPlayer settings to play local video content to my AVR from my laptop.
laptop<avr<epsonProjector

Laptop HP 15 r014tx with core i5 4gb ram and nividia 820m gfx card. Is this laptop capable to bitstream 1080p blu Ray rip without any lag to Yamaha 2071 AVR through hdmi?

Does potplayer bitstream audio only ? Or does it bitstream video also as raw? I am new to this don't have a clue.
See if you can get DVD FAB 5 ULTRA. That's the best one can get for a HTPC
 
Recently I have installed Tidal and Spotify on my Window 7 laptop. I have connected laptop with Denon AVR through HDMI connection. Now laptop stream bitstream data when playing through Spotify and PCM data when playing through Tidal.
Spotify interface show two options for playback
  1. Through laptop
  2. Through Denon AVR.
When first option selected laptop stream PCM data and when Denon AVR selected laptop stream bitstream data. Bitstream data sounds much better than PCM . Little open and fuller sound stage with better bass control. Certainly noticeable difference in sound quality. May be in second option Denon DAC is used rather than laptop
Tidal interface doesn't have such selection of streaming and always stream PCM . No bitstream from laptop. How shall I stream bitstream data from Tidal to AVR through laptop.
 
Recently I have installed Tidal and Spotify on my Window 7 laptop. I have connected laptop with Denon AVR through HDMI connection. Now laptop stream bitstream data when playing through Spotify and PCM data when playing through Tidal.
Spotify interface show two options for playback
  1. Through laptop
  2. Through Denon AVR.
When first option selected laptop stream PCM data and when Denon AVR selected laptop stream bitstream data. Bitstream data sounds much better than PCM . Little open and fuller sound stage with better bass control. Certainly noticeable difference in sound quality. May be in second option Denon DAC is used rather than laptop
Tidal interface doesn't have such selection of streaming and always stream PCM . No bitstream from laptop. How shall I stream bitstream data from Tidal to AVR through laptop.
Tidal launched in India? I tried subscribing but India not listed
 
Please help me to bitstream audio from tidal desktop app on my Dell laptop to Denon av receiver via HDMI port.
If you already have Tidal desktop app setup on your laptop which is connected to AVR via HDMI, then it's already done. Is it not working?
 
I already have Tidal app on laptop connected through HDMI port. Input signal shows PCM+Digital on AVR. When I play Spotify through desktop app it also shows PCM+Digital. When I play Spotify through AVR app input signal shows only Digital and there is huge difference between sound quality from desktop app to AVR app as AVR process the signal. AVR processed sound quality is much better. In other case window process the signal and send to AVR for amplification..I wanted to use AVR internal DAC and processing and laptop will just bitstream the Tidal.
 
Hi friends,

I know that this topic is very old,still I saw that many of our new members find it difficult to Bitstream HD audio from PC/Laptop.
So I thought of writing about some Video players which does this job well and you get those Free.

First you have to check if your Hardware supports HD audio over HDMI.ATI HD series(5***)and above.Nvidia GT 4** and above does support it.
popular Video players are Media Player Classic for Home Cinema(MPCHC), Pot Player,XMBC.I will write about first two as XMBC details you can find in forum elsewhere.

Also you have to change few settings in Windows.

Right click on volume symbol(Right side bottom)and select "Play back device"-


Then on top of window,click Configure Speaker.You get this-

Here you can set to "5.1 or 7.1" according to your speaker setup.

Also select"Set as Default Device"as "AMD HDMI out"


using Media player Classic -

Download MPCHC from here-
Downloads &ndash; MPC-HC

You need some filters like LAV filters or FFD show-
LAV Filters 0.60.1 - VideoHelp.com Downloads
Free Download LAV Filters 0.60.1 : LAV Filters are a set of DirectShow filters

ffdshow 1.3.4530 - VideoHelp.com Downloads
You need to install either of it.

Also get Haali media splitter-
Haali Media Splitter 23/06/2013 - VideoHelp.com Downloads

Lets start step by step.
Star MPCHC and go to options (View> Optios)

Then Playback> Output. Here select the correct "Audio Renderer" option.In my case its HD5570,so "Direct sound AMD HDMI Output" selected.
If it doesnt works,set it as "system default".


Then go to Internal filters setting and untick DTS,DD,FLAC,MPEG options and select same in Transform Filters.See the image below how it looks.


Now go to External Filters.Here you need to select Haali Media Splitter,LAV Video decoder and Lav audio decoder by clicking "Add Filter".


Double click Lav audio decoder and select Bitstream option in Lav audio decoder setting like below.


Then LAV video decoder and select correct Hardware acceleration.I have selected "DXVA2(copy back)"due to ATI card.You can select "Nvidia CUVID" if you have nvidia card.
Also tick "Codecs for HW decoding"and select "H.264,VC1,MPEG2" MPEG4 if your card supports.


Also make sure that you select "prefer" option before each filter like below-


Haali splitter is used for MKV files and also help to select different audio streams from source video file.

Thats it.Your MPCHC is ready to Bitstream perfectly.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Potplayer is just similar to set with some tweaks.
http://www.videohelp.com/tools/PotPlayer

Potplayer has edge as it can play 3D perfectly.Also Bluray discs easily.Please follow the images below.
First you have to disable internal processing.
Go to Preferences (F5)> Filter Control and you can see like image below.
Here in Condition,select "Disable with following Conditions"And just below that "MPG1 MPG2 WMV2 WMV3 H264 AVC1 WVC1"in Fourcc.
Also untick use "audio processing Filters"at bottom.Else Potplayer will downmix audio.



Then select filters like MPCHC.Click "Filter Management"at bottom and you can see the window like this-

Click "Add registered Filters" there to select from the list.


Then click "Built-in codecs/DXVA setting" and select necessary options like in image-
Video setting


Like you go to Audio Filter option and again Click
"Built-in codecs(S/PDIF,HDMI)setting".Where you can see audio options.Select like I did-


Also check that main window of each Filter should look like below-



Make sure you select Lav filters in audio video settings here.

Also Audio output option like below-


It should work perfectly now.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Finally few setting regarding VLC media player which can send Dolby digital and Dts sound as "Raw" to AVR.
http://www.videolan.org/vlc/index.html

Once you did setting in windows like MPCHC, some more tweaks you need.

Go to tools> preference and select "Audio".Here select "Output module"as "DirectX audio output"
Also tick option "S/PDIF when available".Device option can be "Primary or AMD-HDMI out "


Also got to advance setting by clicking show setting to ALL at left side bottom.Make sure you select "5.1"option in Speaker Configration (DirectX option)as below.


Common Video setting can be like below-


Same in advance settings, select Video output modules options as "DirectX(Direct Draw) video output"-


Now Vlc is ready to stream audio correctly.
If you noticed,we have also learnt to set Video Hardware acceleration.So CPU load should be less now.
Hope this helps you in simple way.Thanks for reading such a long post.Also if I have missed some more settings,please do post in this thread.

Cheers.
Does DVXA copyback force to enable hardware acceleration, because even though I have selected it, I still feel the CPU is being used.
 
Does DVXA copyback force to enable hardware acceleration, because even though I have selected it, I still feel the CPU is being used.
Which graphic card do you have?
For nvidia , there is 'cuda" option. Also if using MPCHC, you need to config DXVA in certain conditions.Video filter settings can be checked if any option is left.After doing all, check CPU uses(℅).It should be lower than other settings as some MPCHC may not show DXVA while playing.
 
I'm facing too many audio clipping issues on truehd audio tracks in movie files which are sampled at 96khz. My AVR is Onkyo NR686 and I connect my laptop through HDMI cable and bitstream audio. According to specs, AVR supports sampling rates upto 192khz. Any feedback will be appreciated.
 
I'm facing too many audio clipping issues on truehd audio tracks in movie files which are sampled at 96khz. My AVR is Onkyo NR686 and I connect my laptop through HDMI cable and bitstream audio. According to specs, AVR supports sampling rates upto 192khz. Any feedback will be appreciated.
Did you try different hdmi cable? Is it happening for different movies or some of them.

MaSh
 
Did you try different hdmi cable? Is it happening for different movies or some of them.

MaSh
It is happening only for movies with TrueHD track and having 96khz sample rate. I didn't try with a different cable though. I will give that a shot.

is your laptop able to play other truehd movies smoothly?
Yeah, I watched many movies with TrueHD + atmos tracks as their audio and they all played fine without any clippings/distortions.

Thanks for your replies. From what I've read, movie tracks for blu ray usually have only 48khz sampling rate. The ones I watched were korean movies and that was the first time I heard something with higher rates. I will do some more testing with other audio sources with higher sampling rates.
 
In that case you can monitor CPU load.If it touches 100%, then it can happen.
Thanks, will monitor it. My setup is latest MPC-HC with built in lav filters and using bitstreaming option in lav audio decoder and MadVr as video renderer with upscaling/downscaling set to dxva. If I use any other upscaler, that will usually increase overall cpu usage. So I tend to use the least taxing option.
 
Thanks, will monitor it. My setup is latest MPC-HC with built in lav filters and using bitstreaming option in lav audio decoder and MadVr as video renderer with upscaling/downscaling set to dxva. If I use any other upscaler, that will usually increase overall cpu usage. So I tend to use the least taxing option.
Using any kind of processing will increase load on the CPU.

MaSh
 
Thanks, will monitor it. My setup is latest MPC-HC with built in lav filters and using bitstreaming option in lav audio decoder and MadVr as video renderer with upscaling/downscaling set to dxva. If I use any other upscaler, that will usually increase overall cpu usage. So I tend to use the least taxing option.
I guess you have set DXVA option in Lab video decoder too.
 
Using any kind of processing will increase load on the CPU.

MaSh
Right. But using hardware decoder has benefited by reducing overall CPU usage.

I guess you have set DXVA option in Lab video decoder too.

Yeah. I use DXVA2 native. I honestly didn't notice any difference between other decoders (copyback and cuvid) though I didn't test the actual CPU/GPU usage while watching movies. I have downloaded some files with higher sampling rates but they're of different format. Will see how it goes.
 
Purchase the Audiolab 6000A Integrated Amplifier at a special offer price.
Back
Top