Audio output MP4 files multiple sound cards

[tmaddison]

Hi,

I have multiple sound cards on my media server - one for output from Sage (which feeds the TV and a surround receiver), the other for output from Winamp, which feeds the audio distribution system in the house. People can then watch video programming and listen to the audio through the TV or surround without affecting audio that may be fed to other rooms in the house.

Because of issues getting WinXP to feed the right audio to the right card (it isn't really capable of directing audio from specific apps to specific cards, it's up to the individual apps themselves or other workarounds like VirtualCable or IndieVolume), I need to have the "audio only" sound card set as the default for the server.

That's not generally a problem because within Sage I can tell it to use whichever sound device I want, so I set that to output to the right card for the theater systems.

When I play back MOST video programming in Sage, the audio flows through properly to the right card, EXCEPT when I play back a video recorded on my camcorder, in "MP4" format.

I suspect this is an issue because some codec being used to decode the audio is directing the audio to the default sound card. G spot reports the audio codec on this file as "mp4a:MPEG-4 AAC LC"

Now... I'm pretty used to dealing with finding and adding codecs too the system to play oddball formats, I have ffdshow on the system now to deal with some of these things from the past. I see ffdshow has some configuration options, but nothing I can see that tells it to direct specific audio to specific cards.

Am I just out of luck because there's no explicit way to send this audio to a specific card, or is there some work-around I'm missing?

Thanks, and merry christmas!

Todd

[tmaddison]

Anyone....? Hard to imagine no one else has run into this - must be a way to get video files of different formats to all output to the same audio card...?

[rbruce25]

Originally Posted by tmaddison

Anyone....? Hard to imagine no one else has run into this - must be a way to get video files of different formats to all output to the same audio card...?

The mp4a:MPEG-4 AAC LC uses a hex stream code 0x00000008?. If you have winamp go into winamp when playing the mp4a:MPEG-4 AAC LC file, open up output settings and check the pin out information. If it is using DirectShow primary sound device change this to the codec for the mp4a:MPEG-4 AAC LC based on the pin information. Most programs like winamp or media player classic, VLC will allow you to set the primary sound device. ffMPEG under output has only Directsound (the default soundcard on opening or last used) and Waveout, but it does have a stream switcher, the bad part is the steam must be active to select this and I think that ffMPEG is the default filter for your mp4a:MPEG-4 AAC LC output. If I understand this is not what you desire. I would recommend using Media Player Classic for the mp4a:MPEG-4 AAC LC. Media Player Classic allows you to run multiple instances each with a different filter and or output device. That is what I do. Also make sure you set the file assocation to the program, such as Media Player Classic to MP4a extention, Winamp to MP3 extention, etc... make sure that each program is allowed to run only that extention, If Media Player Classic has MP4a then no other program my be assigned the MP4a extention, if this happen you will be in codec hell.

[tmaddison]

This is great! Thanks. I'm not in front of the media center at the moment but later this evening I'll poke around in it and give it a try.

Yes, I do use Winamp - the same server I have running Sage also serves music to the house distribution system and Winamp has the ability to direct audio to different sound cards other than the default for the machine - so I can send TV audio out through the HDMI and music out via analog. Winamp also has a web-based remote interface (albeit kind of rudimentary) so I can control the audio playback "in the background" from another PC. If Sage is being used to playback programming in the living room, I don't have to shut down what they're watching there to change playlists.

Now.... if only Sage had some kind of audio interface that allowed the same thing - the ability to play back audio from the "Music" menu to a different sound card than the audio generated by video playback, as well as a web interface to control that, and then I could cut back on "yet another app" to perform that function..

If only I were good enough to program Sage plugins...! Oh, well, maybe in the future...

Will give this a try and post results.

[GKusnick]

Seems to me a media extender would solve all your problems in one stroke. Set up the extender to feed the TV, then you can do whatever you want in the server UI without interfering with TV playback. No need for extra sound cards, web interfaces, or media apps.

It's an additional upfront expense, obviously, but this is the way Sage is meant to be used, with each client handling just one playback task. To add more playback zones, add more clients.