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Mp3 playback over 5.1 via HDMI? Winamp or other?

3700 Views 10 Replies 8 Participants Last post by Joe Hendrix, Mar 12, 2013

Hrimnir

Discussion Starter · Jun 23, 2012

Hi guys, ive been doing some googling and searching but all i can seem to find is 5+ year old info that doesnt appear to be relevant.

Ive got a marantz sr5003 receiver which i output sound to via HDMI over the Intel HD graphics. Settings are configured properly for 5.1 in windows, and i have confirmed this via playing .mkv encoded in 5.1, etc.

What i'm trying to figure out is if there is a way to get winamp (or another good mp3 player) to "Upmix" for lack of a better term, the stereo of the mp3 to 5 channels. I.e. The receiver has this function built into it when i play the FM stereo and it sounds pretty good, but it wont work when its just getting digital data from the HTPC.

I've tried the AC3 filter plugin for winamp but it doesnt seem to want to work no matter how i configure it. I've read Dolby ProLogic II is bad because it tries to actually create a surround sound effect.

Basically im just looking to get at the very minimum quad stereo, and possibly some kind of 5 channel upmix.

Does anyone know if this is possible or am i up **** creek without a paddle?

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Andy_Steb

· #2 · Jun 23, 2012

Set Windows to stereo. You still will get 5.1 on your mkv if your bit-streaming

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Hrimnir

Discussion Starter · #3 · Jun 23, 2012

Quote:
Originally Posted by Andy_Steb /t/1417069/mp3-playback-over-5-1-via-hdmi-winamp-or-other#post_22159453

Set Windows to stereo. You still will get 5.1 on your mkv if your bit-streaming

That's all working fine, what im wanting to do is get stereo mp3's to play over all 5 speakers instead of just front left and front right.

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Andy_Steb

· #4 · Jun 23, 2012

should be able to set your HTPC input to the same sound field as your FM stereo

Whats the function called? "The receiver has this function built into it when i play the FM stereo and it sounds pretty good"

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Hrimnir

Discussion Starter · #5 · Jun 23, 2012

Found an MP3 player called Foobar2000, then found a plugin for it called "channel mixer".

Pretty badass, it also lets you set output so it will use your LFE channel too. So now my subwoofer actually turns on and gets used when playing mp3's.

Hell that alone was worth it, even if i was just gonna keep stereo output, but lets it use the LFE channel.

Here is a link for anyone else interested:

http://dailynetlife.com/foobar-2000-channel-mixer-dsp.html

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olyteddy

· #6 · Jun 23, 2012

MP3 by nature of being a lossy compression is inherently damaged goods. Therefore most matrixing techniques to produce channels that aren't there (like the Karaoke plug ins) won't produce the same results as when used on non-compressed stuff. Just saying, expect some artifacts from the up-mixing.

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SysopChris

· #7 · Aug 21, 2012

I want to do exactly the same thing. My 5.1 audio files & AVI movies with 5.1 audio work fine on all 5.1 channels but MP3's just play on 2. I'm using a Yamaha RX-V373 and the audio comes over my HDMI cable from my video card. GT610). I have not tried Foobar yet but I'm going to get it now. I'll let you now how it goes.

Thanks for the info.

Chris

This worked for me! I included a screen capture and a link to the channel mixer plug-in since it wasn't with the other downloads at the Foobar 2000 web site.

http://skipyrich.com/wiki/Foobar2000:Channel_Mixer
http://www.foobar2000.org/

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mencraker

· #8 · Mar 11, 2013

Quote:
Originally Posted by SysopChris /t/1417069/mp3-playback-over-5-1-via-hdmi-winamp-or-other#post_22326762

I want to do exactly the same thing. My 5.1 audio files & AVI movies with 5.1 audio work fine on all 5.1 channels but MP3's just play on 2. I'm using a Yamaha RX-V373 and the audio comes over my HDMI cable from my video card. GT610). I have not tried Foobar yet but I'm going to get it now. I'll let you now how it goes.

Thanks for the info.

Chris

This worked for me! I included a screen capture and a link to the channel mixer plug-in since it wasn't with the other downloads at the Foobar 2000 web site.

http://skipyrich.com/wiki/Foobar2000:Channel_Mixer
http://www.foobar2000.org/

It Works for me thxs.... I have the Avr 1565 and I cant make sound y winamp in 5.1 when I play my MP3 by HDMI.... Thanxs..

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pittsoccer33

· #9 · Mar 12, 2013

im a bit confused. you dont want a "surround sound effect" but you do want sound in your surround speakers. what is the difference to you? if it is just about getting the left and right tracks into the left and right surrounds why not try pro logic and/or pro logic 2 and see if youre happy with them?

thats a nicer receiver so id imagine it has some user tweaks to it to alter the way it matrixes sound (matrix is the term you are looking for to "upmix")

slightly related but i use ffdshow to covert the few 5.1 aac audio tracks i have into 5.1 ac3. perhaps someone could chime in with a setting applicable to you.

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ajkrishock

· #10 · Mar 12, 2013

I'm looking for a way of replacing the default media center decoder (which plays mp3's only in stereo) with one that will use 5.1. I'm familiar with a procedure ( http://www.hack7mc.com/2009/02/using-ac3filter-in-media-center.html ) that replaces media center's default decoder with one from ac3filter. I've tried that before with mixed results, but my mp3 playback sounds so bad that I'm going to revisit it. I wonder if the decoder from foobar2000 could be used in a similar manner?

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Joe Hendrix

· #11 · Mar 12, 2013

IMO you should use your receiver settings to spread the stereo source (your MP3's) to all speaker channels. I have a Dennon 6.1 receiver, and whenever it detects a stereo source, I have the receiver go into "6 channel" mode. This mode, unlike Pro-Logic, just distributes the sound source to all 6 (or 5 in your case). Pro-Logic will also distribute the sound accross all speakers, but before it does it goes through it's processing of the sound signal first. Some people like that, but I think that any of the processing will inherently degrade the sound quality and sqew the artists idea of what the sound should be. And since you're using MP3's with it's inherent low quality format, I would think you would want to do everything you can to limit further sound degredation.

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