Version 2012.1228.1447

[JAS]

Noticed a sound difference also. Most of the time my center speaker is used and surround works normal, then sometimes especially commercials it'll switch to front left/right speakers like stereo so it'll be way louder. Not sayings its wrong, just different. I'm HDMI AC-3... have full 7.1 surround Onkyo.

Also, noticed that on my TV recordings the video would lag after a while of watching and if I didn't stop/resume, it would eventually stop and I would have to reboot the Echo (locked up). Don't know if the previous versions had this issue or not but I noticed that I had menu animations on (typically don't). I turned them off and haven't had an issue since. Will have to play with it more to see if this is related to this beta or if the ECHO just needed a reset for other issues. (video = 720p)

Hopefully the next beta will bring 1080i and better color space.

I can help test omega's if you feel it would help. PM me if so.

[newfiend]

It could be related to dolby digital conversion... I'm not exactly sure, though. if its just a 2.0 sound system, try turning on "auto-volume" to see if that helps. Settings> TV> Volume. (Not entirely sure whether auto-volume exists on extenders, as I don't have an extender.

Auto-volume was/is turned on. Doesn't make any difference if the HTPC is connected to HDMI or VGA/analog sound.

Tried a couple different files, "The Matrix Reloaded (2003)" and "Planet of the Apes (2011)", also checked the TV sound settings---The TV is set to output RAW (pass thru original sound).

Recorded TV and Movies sound "flat", almost like they are being filtered. If I was able to view a spectrum analyzer on the TV at the same time as a recorded movie was playing through the Echo, I would expect to see "peaks cut off" and "valleys filled in". Live TV, on the other hand, sounds great.

Since no one else has reported similar, at this point, it appears to be a local problem.

In the Ceton Echo Extender "Settings Page",. What is the "Dolby Digital Audio Bitstreaming: On/Off" used for? I am presently set to "Off".

Ususally Bitstreaming (If I explain this correctly) is sending the audio out to be decoded by another device (AVR) instead of within the Echo itself. I Bitstream my audio over HDMI from my HTPC to my AVR and let it do all the Audio Decoding. So If you have an AVR inbetween your ECHO and TV and you want the Audio to be decoded by the AVR then you would turn ON DD Audio Bitstreaming.
newfiend~

[Crash2009]

Ususally Bitstreaming (If I explain this correctly) is sending the audio out to be decoded by another device (AVR) instead of within the Echo itself. I Bitstream my audio over HDMI from my HTPC to my AVR and let it do all the Audio Decoding. So If you have an AVR inbetween your ECHO and TV and you want the Audio to be decoded by the AVR then you would turn ON DD Audio Bitstreaming.
newfiend~

Oh, so if I turn on Bit Streaming in the Echo settings page that would enable that 4th output on the back of the Echo, I think it's called Toslink. Doing this would likely disable the sound going through the HDMI to the TV? Gotcha. Thanks.

[newfiend]

Well.. Basically Turning on Bitstreaming on the Echo will disable the echo from decoding the audio bits. It will just pass them through so another device can decode it (AVR, Sound Bar, or TV.) instead of it (echo) decoding the audio. The Toslink and HDMI Audio should always be available AFAIK it will just depend on how you want to transfer the audio to your desired audio decoder.

For instance if you have a TV and no AVR in between and you decide to play a movie you encoded with a DTS audio track. Without the proper audio decoder you will get no sound when playing the movie. You need a device to decode the bits so either an AVR that supports DTS would be needed or the echo would have to support DTS Decoding. Since at this time I do not believe the Echo handles DTS decoding (yet AFAIK) you would need to get a device (AVR or Soundbar) that supports DTS Audio decoding, then you would enable bitstreaming on the echo and pipe the DTS signal (untouched) to the AVR/Sound bar for decoding and playback.
I hope this makes more sense..
newfiend~

Sent from my Windows 8 device using Board Express Pro

[newfiend]

Bitstreaming Info here: http://hometheater.about.com/od/homethe ... stream.htm

Sent from my Windows 8 device using Board Express Pro

[Crash2009]

Bitstreaming Info here: http://hometheater.about.com/od/homethe ... stream.htm

Sent from my Windows 8 device using Board Express Pro

I think I am getting it now. Getting back to the reason I brought this up to begin with. I guess it wouldn't hurt anything to try/enable bit-stream, then try the movie that I had sound trouble with, "Master and Commander- The Far Side of the World (2003)" and see if the TV handles the sound better.

The real problem is that I have to turn up the TV sound to 85% to hear the movie. Then after the movie is over, and I change over to Live TV, I have to turn down the sound to 32%. I thought that maybe if I enabled Bit-streaming in the Echo Settings, this would pass through the sound to the TV. I think I have myself talked into it, I'll try it tonight.

EDIT Tried it, all I got was a bunch of static.

[newfiend]

The File you have "Master and Commander" has an audio track (possibly DTS or DD track) that can not be decoded by the TV. You will need to get a device to decode it (AVR/Sound Bar that supports Multiple audio codecs) to decode the audio properly. If it plays fine on the TV with Bitstreaming turned off on the echo then your file has an audio track that the echo can decode and pipe to the TV. If the Echo could not decode the audio you will get static at playback. If you turn bitstreaming on and you get Static through the TV speakers the TV can not decode the audio so once again you get static. Turning bitstreaming on on the echo basically tells it not to decode any audio and send the signal untouched to another device to decode. Since the TV can't decode the audio you get static.
You would need to somehow correct the sound leveling on the movie you have to fix the volume problem you are having. It's a problem with the Movie file not the Echo.
newfiend~

[Crash2009]

You would need to somehow correct the sound leveling on the movie you have to fix the volume problem you are having. It's a problem with the Movie file not the Echo.

Yeah I guess so. Likely the easy path would be to record or download a different copy. No sense re-inventing the wheel for a couple files. I have only found 2 (so far) that have this problem. Thanks for your advice.

[Sammy2]

The File you have "Master and Commander" has an audio track (possibly DTS or DD track) that can not be decoded by the TV. You will need to get a device to decode it (AVR/Sound Bar that supports Multiple audio codecs) to decode the audio properly. If it plays fine on the TV with Bitstreaming turned off on the echo then your file has an audio track that the echo can decode and pipe to the TV. If the Echo could not decode the audio you will get static at playback. If you turn bitstreaming on and you get Static through the TV speakers the TV can not decode the audio so once again you get static. Turning bitstreaming on on the echo basically tells it not to decode any audio and send the signal untouched to another device to decode. Since the TV can't decode the audio you get static.
You would need to somehow correct the sound leveling on the movie you have to fix the volume problem you are having. It's a problem with the Movie file not the Echo.
newfiend~

If it has dts you well get no audio at all as the echo does not support it right now. I believe the echo might even freeze up because of it. I have been unable to playback dts but they are also high bit rate too which may have more to do with it than dts.

[newfiend]

yup I think I pretty much said that above.. I have some files that produce audio static when it hits a file it can't decode. I haven't tried DTS tracks on the echo yet as I know it doesn't support it and my TV definitely can't decode it.

Sent from my Lumia 920 using Board Express.

[Crash2009]

Newfiend, Thanks for pointing me in the right direction. As far as the Master and Commander (The far side of the world) file I was working with goes, I finally got it working good tonight. Still don't know what kind of sound it has within it, but it doesn't really matter. Sounds great now! Not sure if you are familiar with the movie but Russel Crowe plays the captain of a ship back in the 1700's. Anyway he gets pissed off at this other ship, and the 2 ships chase each other around the world trying to blow each other up. Lots of cannons, and chunks of wood get blown up. Great sounding movie if you don't have it all ready.

As it turns out the file (I think) is OK. I think the problem was my TV's inability to play the sound correctly. I looked around at all you guys AVR's listed in your profiles, then decided I wasn't ready for a full blown AVR, and ended up getting something similar to Motz's old one. I got the Sony HT-CT150, spent a couple days reading that old Soundbar thread over at AVS.

Adjusted the settings to:
center +5
sub +5
drc std
bass +1
treble +5
dual mono main

then I cranked it up, put it back in the box, and left it blasting for 24 hours. Subs are broke in nicely now (whump whump). Today I ran the "supplied" optical cable from the Echo's (Opt out) to one of the Sony's (Opt in).

Made a little adjustment in the CT-150
Amp>>Audio>>Input Mode (was Auto) changed to Opt

Made a little adjustment in the Echo's web based settings.

Bitstreaming was all ready On. left it there.
Audio output was set to HDMI,,,I changed that to Optical and bam. The sound started working just as a couple ships were firing cannons at each other. Can hardly wait to hear Transformers.

Thanks again.