EDID Overrides to solve bitstreaming issues for ATI 5xxx's

Ok, the bitstreaming issue with ATI 5xxx's cards and some AVR's has been fixed in CAT 10.4.

[UPDATE 1/3/2014]
 
A DIY EDID OVERRIDE THAT FIXES THE AMD HD-AUDIO BITSTREAMING BUG WITH 5.1 AVRs
 
The problem is with the 6LPCM descriptor in the audio block (0x0D) of the AVR EDID. Just change it to 0x0F (8LPCM). E.g.:
 

0x38,0x09,0x7F,0x07,0x0D,0x7F,0x07,0x17,0x07,0x50,0x3F,0x06,0xC0,0x4D,0x02,0x00,0x57,0x06,0x00,0x5F,0x7E,0x01,0x67,0x54,0x00

0x38,0x09,0x7F,0x07,0x0F,0x7F,0x07,0x17,0x07,0x50,0x3F,0x06,0xC0,0x4D,0x02,0x00,0x57,0x06,0x00,0x5F,0x7E,0x01,0x67,0x54,0x00


Capture the real-time EDID of the AVR with the TV connected (PC-AVR-TV), i. e. the merged EDID by the AVR from the TV EDID. The audio block is in the 'HKR,EDID_OVERRIDE,"1", ...' line. If needed use Extron EDID Manager to find it.
 
 
[UPDATE 12/6/2013]
 
The problem with the driver reverting to 2 channel audio (or no audio) due to hotplug detection (switching inputs on TV or AVR, HTPC waking from sleep, or powering up order of components) can be fixed by following the procedure explained by Ryan L in this post.
 
Check also this possible solution first posted by idividebyzero:
 

 
Of course the Gefen HDMI Detective or Doctor HDMI devices will work, but are expensive.
 
UPDATE[04/30/2012]

Not a guide but here you'll find some information to try modding yourself. A straight procedure to merge the audio block of the AVR into the TV EDID is outlined.

UPDATE[12/29/2011]

There're many requests of EDID overrides to override the 2 channel limitation of TVs used to passthrough over S/PDIF, that is:

HTPC -> [HDMI] -> TV -> [S/PDIF] AVR

Please note that:

1. S/PDIF has not enough bandwidth for uncompressed 6 channels LPCM. Thus the EDID limitation to 2 channels.
2. Only passthrough of compressed audio (e. g. AC3, DTS) is possible, so it's for the application (Video Player setup, encoding, filtering, like with AC3Filter, or even DDL = Dolby Digital Live for games) to take control of how audio is sent through the HDMI link.
3. NO EDID override can "fix" the bandwidth limitation, and it willl only be required if there is a bad EDID detection of DD or DTS capabilities, but never for the 2 channels limitation.

 
 
UPDATE[12/29/2011]

Everyone with a 3DTV + HDMI1.3 AVR: please check first this post by renethx.

In sum, 2 separate connections and NO EDID Override needed.


UPDATE[2/5/2011]

So, according to this case an EDID override can be used to pass full 3d through an HDMI1.3 AVR. Then a 3DTV and a 3D capable graphic card are all you really need to get 3D with an HTPC.

Without an EDID override solution would be, of course, 2 connections, one for video to the 3DTV, and one for audio to the HDMI1.3 AVR.


UPDATE[8/31/2010]:

===============================

There's still an issue with EDIDs with no 8-LPCM SAD. So if your AVR is 5.1 only or the EDID lacks an 8-LPCM SAD an EDID override will be required to bitstream.

================================



This is a general working setup for bitstreaming of HD audio now:
 
 
 

1. Catalyst 10.4 or later with native ATI HDMI audio driver.
2. NO EDID override
3. PDVD 9/10, TMT3 > .170, WinDVD 2010 as commercial players, or latest versions of MPC HC and ffdshow for bitstreaming of HD audio.

 
Any other use/combination is still buggy (e.g. WMP/WMC + ffdshow).

If installation is messed up somehow, a clean install with minimum codecs (just ffdshow) + MPC HC or one of the commercial players is the best way of making sure that bitstreaming of HD audio works.

Then add other applications and test one by one so as to be able to successfully debug each particular issue.


However, EDID overrides are still needed for dealing with other EDID issues. As this first post has general information for installing/uninstalling, capturing and troubleshooting EDID overrides, and to not replicate the same information elsewhere, I will be using this post to address these. For general EDID overrides requests there's already a dedicated thread.

I will leave the rest of the information in this post, even the table of EDID overrides, as they can be used in fact for specific configurations. Only modified info in most cases is the TrueHD SAD, so they shouldn't affect video functionality.




1. EDID CAPTURE
the full REAL-TIME (no registry entries) 256-byte EDIDs are required (for Moninfo check that a 'HKR,EDID_OVERRIDE,"1", ...' line is present in the generated .inf file). There are 2 tools for capturing the full 256-byte EDID:

1. Entech utility Moninfo. New version of Moninfo (2.44.0.825) can now capture the full 256-byte EDID on 5xxx cards.
2. GetEDID, kindly developed by AVSForum guru, vladd, who's also author of EDID Editor, an indispensable tool for doing these mods (EDID Editor is the only tool that I know that can calculate the EDID checksum ... double thanks, vladd,
   ). This utility works for all ATI cards. To download it and for a description of the utility and how to use it see this post by vladd.

WARNINGS: getEDID does not currently capture the REAL-TIME EDID, but the EDID of the active display device(s). Use preferably moninfo to capture the REAL TIME EDID.

If UAC is active Moninfo must be run as administrator.

Here's the procedure for connecting and capturing the full 256-byte EDID.

Display Device EDID Capture

1. Connect the graphic card HDMI to your display device HDMI.
2. IF using Moninfo THEN
   Launch Moninfo
   "[Real time ...]" entry on top left "Display IDs" window [Select]
   File [Select]
   Create INF [Select]
   SAVE TO [Your display device name].inf. (e.g. Samsung LN-S4095D.inf)
   ​

vladd's post for more details)AVR/AVP EDID Capture

1. Connect the graphic card HDMI to your AVR/AVP HDMI.
   [Optionally] Connect the AVR HDMI port to the display device HDMI-out.
2. IF using Moninfo THEN
   Launch Moninfo
   "[Real time ...]" entry on top left "Display IDs" window [Select]
   File [Select]
   Create INF [Select]
   SAVE TO [Your display AVR/AVP name].inf. (e.g. DENON AVR988.inf)
   ​

vladd's post for more details) 
2. INSTALLATION
 
 
Easy Method

1. Go to Start
   Computer [Right-click]
   Properties [Select]
2. Device Manager [Select]
   Monitors[Expand]
   Monitor ID [Righ-Click] (usually "Generic PnP Monitor")
   Properties [Select]
   Driver tab [Select]
   Update Driver button [Select].
3. Make sure that the .inf driver is the ONLY one in its dir
   Browse my computer for driver software [Select]
   Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer [Select]
   Have Disk [Select]
   Browse to the directory where .inf driver is located.
   Click on .inf file and then on the Open button
   OK [Select]
   Next [ Select]
   Confirm installation if necessary ([Windows Security] Install this driver software anyway)
   Close [Select]
   REBOOT

Alternate method

If you have more than 1 monitor setup you most probably will have more than one "Generic PnP Monitor" device in the Monitors tab. Use this alternate procedure for these cases.

1. Mouse on Desktop [Right-click]
   Personalize [Select]
2. Display [Select] (Select the display device corresponding to your AVR)
   Change display settings [Select]
   Screen of the display device to override [Select]
   Advanced settings [Select]
   Monitor Tab [Select]
   Properties button [Select]
   Driver tab [Select]
   Update Driver button [Select]
3. Follow step 3 from Easy Method above

 
 
3. TIPS FOR TROUBLESHOOTING BISTREAMING AFTER INSTALLING THE OVERRIDE.
 
 
 
 
4. UNINSTALLING THE OVERRIDE.
 
 
 
5. EDID OVERRIDES
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
APPENDIX. THE PROBLEM WITH BITSTREAMING TrueHD & DTS HD over ATI 5xxx's prior to CAT 10.4 (Just for reference)

The bitstreaming issue with ATI 5xxxs cards was due to 192kHz audio sample rate being DISABLED in the EDIDs of DENON, SONY, and some ONKYO AVRs/AVPs (for an excellent introduction to the EDID standard read this page by Extron).

An AVR EDID is a 2 128-byte data blocks structure: a Base block and an Extension block. Within the Extension block an Audio Data block is located, made up of individual Short Audio Descriptors (SADs):

Audio Data block
 
 
 
 
SAD
SAD
...
SAD 
 
 
So, for instance, here's the Audio Data block of my DENON 988:

Audio Data block
 
 
Audio Format #7 : MLP/Dolby TrueHD, 8-Channel
Sampling Frequency : 96 kHz, 88.2 kHz, 48 kHz, 44.1 kHz

Audio Format #8 : DSD, 6-Channel
Sampling Frequency : 44.1 kHz 
The problem - NO 192khz sample rate - as you can see, is in SAD #7 (MLP/Dolby TrueHD, 8-Channel).

SONYs and the DENON 2808CI have the DTS_HD descriptor wrong too. Here's the 2808CI case:
 
 
Audio Format #5 : DTS-HD, 8-Channel
Sampling Frequency : 96 kHz, 88.2 kHz, 48 kHz, 44.1 kHz 
Again, NO 192khz sample rate.

Here's how different AVR/AVP brands are so far affected (bad) or not affected (OK) by this problem:
 
Not all ONKYOs in a failing series exhibit the TrueHD problem.So if you own a DENON (except the AVR 2808CI) or a failing ONKYO, checking DTS HD bitstreaming (with MPC-HC, TMT3 .170 or WinDVD2010, but not possible with PDVD9/10 though) is a first test to make sure that your installation is OK. You will then require an EDID override only for bitstreaming of TrueHD.

But if you own a possibly failing ONKYO, as not all ONKYOs in a "flawed" series exhibit the TrueHD problem, check that TrueHD works first.

So even if the issue is not ATI's, they could still produce a fix so that everyone can bitstream on the 5xxxs without needing an EDID override. So post a feedback to ask them for the fix, and even leave a link to this thread, by going to the following page:

http://www.amdsurveys.com/se.ashx?s=5A1E27D27E29B0E3

Of course DENON and SONY should be contacted about this problem and also be referred to this thread, so that they fix it for future products, and release firmware updates ASAP for current AVRs/AVPs for which it can be applied.



WHAT THESE MODS FIX FOR BITSTREAMING
 
 
DO YOU REQUIRE A CUSTOM MOD FOR YOUR DISPLAY DEVICE-AVR/AVP?
 
 
 
For most cases the (*) mods will work, so if you don't find the specific mod for your HDTV/AVR combination, try these first.

Please understand that I'm currently the only one doing these mods so ask for a mod only if:

1. Of course your AVR is a DENON, SONY or a failing ONKYO (see point 3).
2. PDVD9 is your only player and you don't get the third option on PDVD9 audio settings.
3. You can bitstream DTS HD (no TrueHD) on either MPC-HC, TMT3 .170 or WinDVD2010 without the override. If you can't there's an install problem to troubleshoot or that the AVR HDMI has to be set to "AMP" (no TV audio pass-through). So DO NOT ask for a mod if you use any of these players and you don't pass the DTS HD test first.
4. You have video issues as your Display Device, or a similar Display Device (LCD, Plasma or Proj.) and AVR/AVP combination for your setup is not listed.

Problems requiring a custom mod are all video related as the audio block is the same in all mods. If video data from EDIDs on the list conflicts with your display device specs, then you could run into video issues such as:

1. Not all resolutions and/or refresh rates available on CCC.
2. Handshake issues (like losing detection of display device) when switching sources on either display device or AVR/AVP).
3. Wrong color depth.

If any of the above conditions apply, or you run into these, or any other video issues, ask for a mod and I will gladly do it for you . 
 
 
 
EDID Overrides.zip 88.file 88671875k .