Win 10 HDMI Audio question

[Jeff G]

Does anyone know how to output audio via Bitstream over HDMI on Win 10?
PCM seems to be my only option.
I'd rather not have my computer doing the processing before sending it to the AVR (which then again processes it).

 

[EarthDog]

Wouldnt this be up to the sound card on your motherboard having that ability and its software?

What HDMI port are you using to output sound?

 

[Jeff G]

Wouldnt this be up to the sound card on your motherboard having that ability and its software?

What HDMI port are you using to output sound?

Its the igpu hdmi port on my htpc. It was working in the past, TrueHd content came through as TrueHD on the receiver (and other formats as well). I'm not sure when it changed, but i noticed now that it always comes through as 7.1 PCM. Looking at the audio options, i can't find anything that allows me to change that.

 

[EarthDog]

Cant you get optical out to do that?

 

[Jeff G]

Cant you get optical out to do that?

No optical out on the board :/
I think it's from my new receiver having the ARC function. Now the htpc actually sees the hdmi input as "Denon x4200w", whereas before it was just "HDMI Audio Out". So maybe if I can disable ARC somehow, the HTPC might revert to just standard Bitstream instead of forcing me to choose a PCM setting.

 

[wingman99]

Were you able to disable ARC?

 

[Jeff G]

Havent had a chance to try. We just discovered Stanger Things last night and have been binge watching it tonight. 4 episodes in and im liking it so far (even with the audio double-processed)

 

[wingman99]

I thought HDMI only transfers digital, It is surprising the source would convert a digital signal to analog signal then Digital HDMI signal. HDMI only transfers a digital signal.

 

[Jeff G]

PCM is still digital. It's just a decoded version sent to the receiver, whereas Bitstream is decoded at the receiver level. It's not doing any digital-analog conversions, just decoding the audio.

 

[wingman99]

So is PCM this?

Pulse-code modulation (PCM) is a method used to digitally represent sampled analog signals. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulse-code_modulation

 

[EarthDog]

No optical out on the board :/
I think it's from my new receiver having the ARC function. Now the htpc actually sees the hdmi input as "Denon x4200w", whereas before it was just "HDMI Audio Out". So maybe if I can disable ARC somehow, the HTPC might revert to just standard Bitstream instead of forcing me to choose a PCM setting.

There is optical/spdif out on your motherboard...

 

[Jeff G]

There is optical/spdif out on your motherboard...

I'm not currently home to look at it, but do you happen to have a picture with where that would be?

- - - Updated - - -

So is PCM this?

From the link in your quote, this is line two right after the part you quoted:

It is the standard form of digital audio in computers, Compact Discs, digital telephony and other digital audio applications.

So yes, it is a digital output.

 

[EarthDog]

Sits with the Audio (the 1/8" jacks) section. You can see pics from newegg/giga website, etc.

 

[Jeff G]

That's my G7 board, I'm looking at my htpc build with the ASRock H110M board.
Going off memory, there is no digital output on that board.

 

[EarthDog]

Sorry missed that... it does not.

 

[Jeff G]

Sorry missed that... it does not.

That's what I was thinking.

I think I found out my issue as it is. The ARC function is really messing up a lot of stuff, and I think this is one of them. The receiver is too smart for it's own good, it seems to be communicating with the htpc and tv. When I boot everything up, if I turn the TV on first it changes my input on the receiver from Computer to TV (so I have to change it back to use the HTPC every time). And now when I turn up the receiver volume, it's turning up the TV volume too (which is annoying with an actual surround sound setup). I'm hoping once I find out how to disable that feature, the HTPC will no longer recognize the receiver and allow me to output audio how I want it.
I'm sure it's a nice feature for people who use the smart tv functions, but I don't. My tv is literally just a display device and nothing more.

 

[wagex]

the bitstream coming out of your pc just depends on the content supplying said audio. on most receivers if said bitstream is not supported it will drop it to pcm. like mine it does dolby digital, dts, and a couple other odd jobs but AAC mp3 or anything else that isnt natively supported by it will be read by the receiver as pcm. are you sure the codex used in your content are compatible?

what are you using to play the media.

what media are you playing?

what codex does it use?

what other software have you tried?

 

[Jeff G]

the bitstream coming out of your pc just depends on the content supplying said audio. on most receivers if said bitstream is not supported it will drop it to pcm. like mine it does dolby digital, dts, and a couple other odd jobs but AAC mp3 or anything else that isnt natively supported by it will be read by the receiver as pcm. are you sure the codex used in your content are compatible?

what are you using to play the media.

what media are you playing?

what codex does it use?

what other software have you tried?

I forget what the software I use for Blurays, but Blurays, anything dowloaded and played with VLC, or anything streamed through Netflix, etc all shows the same.
The audio options on the HTPC does not have a Bitstream option only LPCM via Stereo, 2.1, 5.1, or 7.1. I tried overriding it through software (there's an option for that in Windows), but again it made no difference.

 

[wagex]

I forget what the software I use for Blurays, but Blurays, anything dowloaded and played with VLC, or anything streamed through Netflix, etc all shows the same.
The audio options on the HTPC does not have a Bitstream option only LPCM via Stereo, 2.1, 5.1, or 7.1. I tried overriding it through software (there's an option for that in Windows), but again it made no difference.

no, what i am asking. what audio codecs does the media use. dolby, aac, dts, ect.

also, what codecs does your receiver support. lets say for instance it only supports dolby, anything that is dts, aac, or any other codec is going to be pushed to 2.1 pcm.

the above is trying to make sure the receiver is capable of decoding what you are trying to send it in the first place, below are some stuff you can try once we rule that out.

also heres a link to something that sounds similar to your issue. http://www.avsforum.com/forum/26-ho...8986-windows-10-bitstreaming-not-working.html

 

[Jeff G]

no, what i am asking. what audio codecs does the media use. dolby, aac, dts, ect.

Blurays are using TrueHD or DTS-HD. I'm not sure what Netflix uses. The PS4 has output support for pretty much any of the current formats.

also, what codecs does your receiver support. lets say for instance it only supports dolby, anything that is dts, aac, or any other codec is going to be pushed to 2.1 pcm.

The receiver supports pretty much anything out (Denon x4200)