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Dolby Atmos on PC cutting out

conqueeftador

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Anyone using a PC into a receiver for dolby atmos? Mine seems to constantly cut out, no rhythm, every 10 or 50 seconds, loses audio for 1 second or 2. Does it on both Dolby test tracks on MPC and Forza Horizon 5. All I've tested so far.
 

JayGilb

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What are you using for an audio card on your PC ?
Some process might be getting executing via a scheduler every n number of seconds and is causing an cpu interrupt resulting in a buffer underrun.
 
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conqueeftador

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Wish there was a dolby atmos/HDMI audio card, would solve alot of my issues. It is fed from an RTX3090, which is just like an old voodoo but warms your room up a bit better.

How do I find out if some process is getting executed?
 

JayGilb

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Windows has a built-in event tracer called procmon, where you can watch events in realtime. Network, thread, process, registry events will be displayed inside a window. It has the ability to filter events via pattern matching and can be useful when trying to view scheduled events.

From the windows search bar, you should be able to type Procmon and then double click on the executable. Maybe something will be displayed every time you get a dropout.
 
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I used to have this problem (GTX 1080 Ti to Marantz SR6014) where the sound would cut, and it would take a few seconds to get back.
Using this fixed the problem though.


If you don't want to use a third-party software, is tech-savvy and knows how to modify a registry, there's also a registry hack on Comment #16 (Page 1 of the comment section in the link).
 
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conqueeftador

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I'll take a look at procmon, cheers, but it does seem like this is an Nvidia/D&M/Dolby issue.

Westsidewarrior, thanks for that, were you using dolby atmos in that setup?
 

FrantzM

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Hi

I have been under the impression that advanced codecs such as Atmos weren't available for PCs? What am I missing?
 
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I'll take a look at procmon, cheers, but it does seem like this is an Nvidia/D&M/Dolby issue.

Westsidewarrior, thanks for that, were you using dolby atmos in that setup?
Yes, my setup is a 7.1.2.

I'm using the latest version of clsid2's MPC-HC (1.9.20 at the time of this post) on Windows 10. Here's a "Dolby Nature's Fury" demo as a reference.
You want to make sure that all compatible audio formats are bitstreamed from the PC to the receiver. Going to "Options -> Internal Filters -> Audio Decoder" and tick all the formats. That way, the receiver does all the decoding. Note that Windows volume control will not work so turn down the receiver volume and gradually raise it up to prevent "startling" moments.

1649160528370.png


Here's what the receiver sees.

1649160757746.png


Help this helps!

P.S. - I haven't had a chance to try Atmos-enabled games on PC (all of them were running on PCM 7.1).
 
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conqueeftador

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Thanks for that, I didn't have bit streaming enabled, working now but it also threw up that this issue isn't limited to dolby atmos and it is doing it in everything spotify included.

Sound keeper has not resolved the problem either. Good to know about that though.
 
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conqueeftador

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Did a factory firmware reset. Still the same. Enabled EARC on the TV and it seems to be better, still doing it, but less frequently.
 
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It also only happens when using 120hz.
I don't have HDMI 2.1 compliant devices so I don't know if this is the same or isolated issue.
I assume that this dropout doesn't happen on 4K60? If so, it could be the cable not having enough bandwidth or maybe a firmware issue on the AVR.

I also have quite an eccentric setup, since I'm using the PC with an Ultrawide (3440x1440) 144Hz monitor. The AVR does not support that resolution and refresh rate so I had to use an "Extended Display" option, with the DisplayPort on the GPU to the monitor, and the HDMI on the GPU to the AVR. The display is arranged like so to prevent mouse cursor from entering the second screen.

Display 1 (DP 1.4) gets 3440x1440 144Hz
Display 2 (HDMI 2.0) gets 1920x1080 60Hz

1649171804497.png
 

ThatM1key

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I don't have HDMI 2.1 compliant devices so I don't know if this is the same or isolated issue.
I assume that this dropout doesn't happen on 4K60? If so, it could be the cable not having enough bandwidth or maybe a firmware issue on the AVR.

I also have quite an eccentric setup, since I'm using the PC with an Ultrawide (3440x1440) 144Hz monitor. The AVR does not support that resolution and refresh rate so I had to use an "Extended Display" option, with the DisplayPort on the GPU to the monitor, and the HDMI on the GPU to the AVR. The display is arranged like so to prevent mouse cursor from entering the second screen.

Display 1 (DP 1.4) gets 3440x1440 144Hz
Display 2 (HDMI 2.0) gets 1920x1080 60Hz

View attachment 197827
I sort of did that when I had my PC hooked to my HT setup. I used 1 DP to HDMI adapter and hooked it up to my TV directly and then I used the an DVI to HDMI adapter and hooked up to my AVR (for audio). Fun fact I discovered while playing around, GTX 10 series cards that have DVI can output 4K/60 when using an DVI to HDMI adapter.
 

policeman0077

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I used to have this problem (GTX 1080 Ti to Marantz SR6014) where the sound would cut, and it would take a few seconds to get back.
Using this fixed the problem though.


If you don't want to use a third-party software, is tech-savvy and knows how to modify a registry, there's also a registry hack on Comment #16 (Page 1 of the comment section in the link).
Tried the registry mod, still have random cut out 1-2 seconds time to time.
Especially TrueHD tracks
 

L337fool

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Using Atmos via Directsound seems to be the problem. When running Kodi with WASAPI selected Atmos runs without issue (RTX 3090). Nvidia acknowledge the problem last year but then claimed they fixed it in a later driver release (they didn't). It's really annoying.

I wish there was a magic bullet for this issue but haven't found one yet. SoundKeeper does help reduce the duration of the drops.

Edit: I take it back, @JayGilb is right about checking processes. I went into the Killer Intelligence Center on my PC (part of my network adapter suite) and enabled "Game Fast" which shut down 29 services. Now Dolby Atmos is rock solid and my Computer is running much faster. Looks like I need to clean house.
 
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