Sage client has no sound on new recordings, but does on existing ones

[bstowers]

I switched from DirecTV to a digital cable service today. I'm now using a SA 3250HD box as my video source, but my recording device did not change at all (HD PVR). On my main system where Sage does the recording, new stuff sounds fine, no adjustments were made to the volume in any way. But, on a PC in another room with the client software installed, the volume of new recordings is only just barely audible when turned all the way up. Old recordings that were made when it was still hooked to DirecTV still sound fine on the client system, only the new stuff suffers the sound problem.

I have no idea where to begin with this one, any tips?

--Brad

[bstowers]

After a few hours Googling around, I figured out what was happening. I think the DirecTV box only put out 2 channel sound, but the new digital cable box is putting out 5.1 sound. My main system has a full 5.1 speaker set, but my PC that runs Sage client software only has a dual speaker setup (although it does have a sound card capable of 5.1). In a codec playback FAQ I found (http://www.codecguide.com/faq_playback_issues.htm), I read this:

"This is a common problem that is usually caused by playing 5.1 channel audio on stereo speakers. As a result only two channels are send to your speakers. This means that the center channel, which usually contains the dialogs, is not outputted to your speakers."

One of the proposed solutions was to use the "Codec Tweak Tool" to tweak a setting to deal with just this issue. It's working for me better now. The old recordings are still very loud in comparison to the new ones, but the new ones at least usable now.

Does anyone know of a better way of dealing with this? I guess I could just go spring for a cheap set of 5.1 speakers and not worry about it.

[gplasky]

Configure you client PC to use the AC3 filter that comes with Sage and configure that audio decoder for 2 channel sound.

Gerry

[rickgode]

I am having the EXACT same problem, but I can't think of any changes I might have made because it "used" to work just fine.



On both my media extenders the audio is just fine, but on my SageTV Server (which is hooked up directly to my TV via S-Video and the audio via headphone jack from the back of the computer) I'm getting the symptom:

"This is a common problem that is usually caused by playing 5.1 channel audio on stereo speakers. As a result only two channels are send to your speakers. This means that the center channel, which usually contains the dialogs, is not outputted to your speakers."

But on my server I cannot get it to just do 2 channels. I just want it to play out of the two stereo speakers that are on my TV. I know the audio is there because it plays fine in the MPVs. I did change the audio filter to AC3 in the sage detailed setup, but don't know how to configure it to just 2 channels.

Maybe it is something simple that I'm overlooking out of frustration. This doesn't happen with any recordings, just DVD's that have been ripped and are in the imported media/videos section of SageTV.

Ricky

[Fuzzy]

As mentioned in the previous post, choose the AC3Filter in sage, then run ac3config.exe (in the sagetv directory), and configure it for 2 channels. It should downmix everything to 2 channel stereo.

[rickgode]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

As mentioned in the previous post, choose the AC3Filter in sage, then run ac3config.exe (in the sagetv directory), and configure it for 2 channels. It should downmix everything to 2 channel stereo.

Thank you so much. I never knew that ac3config.exe existed. I was also able to adjust the gain! Now I don't have to have the volume turned up so high on my TV.

I love SageTV and its Forum!

Ricky