audio renderer vs system default

[jam_zhou]

I've finally resolved my MKV sound problem playing in GBPVR and I'd just like to ask a few questions on why it works.

Here's the problem: I've got a couple of MKV movies that when played in GBPVR the sound would "buzz" which I think is actually clipping or at least some kind of distortion. Using the same filters and renderers (so I thought) Media player classic plays it just fine. Also, when these files are played the lastgraph.grf would not open.

The solution: instead of telling GBPVR the audio renderer explicitly I just told it to use system default and set the device through windows.

Other observations:
- after doing this the overall sound seemed to have reduce noticably and I had to adjust some volume boosting and stuff like that but now my mkv files play properly
- before making the changes a change in volume would invoke the OSD while playing a video and now it doesn't.
- one file actually caused stuttering which it now doesn't do

My question is: what's the difference between system default audio renderer and telling GBPVR which renderer to use despite them being the same.

Side quetions: I'm only using my onboard sound but I get like 4 different entries for audio renderer some of which have the same name except with directshow, defaultwave or something like that in front.

Other details - using CCCP as my decoders for everything except for MPEG2 which is AVIVO

[gazoo]

I've finally resolved my MKV sound problem playing in GBPVR and I'd just like to ask a few questions on why it works.

Here's the problem: I've got a couple of MKV movies that when played in GBPVR the sound would "buzz" which I think is actually clipping or at least some kind of distortion. Using the same filters and renderers (so I thought) Media player classic plays it just fine. Also, when these files are played the lastgraph.grf would not open.

The solution: instead of telling GBPVR the audio renderer explicitly I just told it to use system default and set the device through windows.

Other observations:
- after doing this the overall sound seemed to have reduce noticably and I had to adjust some volume boosting and stuff like that but now my mkv files play properly
- before making the changes a change in volume would invoke the OSD while playing a video and now it doesn't.
- one file actually caused stuttering which it now doesn't do

My question is: what's the difference between system default audio renderer and telling GBPVR which renderer to use despite them being the same.

Side quetions: I'm only using my onboard sound but I get like 4 different entries for audio renderer some of which have the same name except with directshow, defaultwave or something like that in front.

Other details - using CCCP as my decoders for everything except for MPEG2 which is AVIVO

I'd like to know the answer to this too. I've had a similar thing but with the video codecs.

[dennit]

I've finally resolved my MKV sound problem playing in GBPVR and I'd just like to ask a few questions on why it works.

I know how you feel - It's no good just fixing it, we've got to know why it's working so we can fix it faster/better next time.

Here's the problem: I've got a couple of MKV movies that when played in GBPVR the sound would "buzz" which I think is actually clipping or at least some kind of distortion. Using the same filters and renderers (so I thought) Media player classic plays it just fine.

I had a similar experience, and it turned out that MPC was not using the same filters/renderers as PVRX2. I'll assume you know that MPC options sets up the internal vs external filter it will use and that you were set to use the external filters that were the same as what were reported in the logs of PVRX2.

When I did that, even though I set PVRX2 to system default, I still didn't get the same playback in MPC or GraphEdit because they used ffdshow and sub taught me that ffdshow has a setup/config that lists programs for the filter to operate with. PVRX2.exe is not on that list by default.

Also, when these files are played the lastgraph.grf would not open.

Where did you get lastgraph.grf. Is this a plugin or have I missed it?

The solution: instead of telling GBPVR the audio renderer explicitly I just told it to use system default and set the device through windows.

And even this doesn't necessarily produce the same output as GraphEdit due to the ffdshow issue above.

My question is: what's the difference between system default audio renderer and telling GBPVR which renderer to use despite them being the same.

Great question. I'd like to know the answer too.

[jam_zhou]

Dennit,

I'm still using 99.12 of GBPVR, but it should be the same, so if you want to see the last graph, go into config.xml and set savelastgraph or something like that to true. Then you play your media file and look for lastgraph.grf in the gbpvr directory.

As for using ffdshow, I'm actually using the ffdshow directshow filters (with no post processing) and I'm pretty sure that they are being used as when I play a media file in GBPVR the ffdshow icons appear on the toolbar. Also, if I change the settings in ffdshow, they do affect the playback mode. As for media player classic, I also know for sure that it's using the filters as the player can tell me explicitly (right click--> filters).

I'm in video tweaking mode as my MPG2 play back and non MPEG2 playback are controlled by two different things. MPG2 play back is controlled by my ATI video card which affects all video playback in terms of colour, saturation, gamma and the like, but FFDSHOW is independent so now I have to tweak my FFDSHOW filters. Once I changed my video card gamma output, my MPEG2 playback was so much better than before - but then non MPEG2 play back got "over-gammaed".

[dennit]

Dennit,

I'm still using 99.12 of GBPVR, but it should be the same, so if you want to see the last graph, go into config.xml and set savelastgraph or something like that to true. Then you play your media file and look for lastgraph.grf in the gbpvr directory.

I'm using v 1.2.13, and I've been using the logs to see what filters PVRX2 used. I'll look for the savelastgraph option.

As for using ffdshow, I'm actually using the ffdshow directshow filters (with no post processing) and I'm pretty sure that they are being used as when I play a media file in GBPVR the ffdshow icons appear on the toolbar.

Did you add PVRX2 to the list of programs in ffdshow's config? There's a place to do it for audio and another for video. Also, there's an exclusivity checkbox for ffdshow to only provide filter services to the listed programs. I think it's on by default.

Also, if I change the settings in ffdshow, they do affect the playback mode.

Sure sounds like it's being used.

As for media player classic, I also know for sure that it's using the filters as the player can tell me explicitly (right click--> filters).

Yes, I'm familiar with this (right click--> filters). Do you know what happens if you have an internal filter turned off in MPC, and do not have a corresponding needed external filter listed in MPC's options? Does it go to default Windows? What if there is a needed external filter listed for MPC, but it's not the one that the default Windows DirectShow merit would have selected? Does MPC go with the external defined in MPC?

Last Q: MPC lets you set merit. Do you know if that setting is sent on to change the default Windows merit, or is that an internal merit system used by MPC to control what MPC uses without affecting the defaults? (All the questions I wanted to ask, but didn't think it was fair to bother sub with as they aren't really GB-PVR Q's)

I'm in video tweaking mode as my MPG2 play back and non MPEG2 playback are controlled by two different things. MPG2 play back is controlled by my ATI video card which affects all video playback in terms of colour, saturation, gamma and the like, but FFDSHOW is independent so now I have to tweak my FFDSHOW filters. Once I changed my video card gamma output, my MPEG2 playback was so much better than before - but then non MPEG2 play back got "over-gammaed".

I'm not in that mode yet - I'm still in basic setup and configuration. I decided I needed HDTV support for the Olympics, and I'm close to having what I want. My biggest problem is the wife's frustration as I change remotes, plugins, TV inputs, sound etc. trying to get it perfect, but swapping things under her feet every other day, just as she starts getting it figured out.