Topic: DirectSound renderer, Pure Audio Blu-Ray Disc

Hi,
I have the following problem concerning the playback of a Pure Audio Blu-Ray Disc (Divertimenti - Trondheim Solistene) on my PC via Corel WinDVD Pro 2010 (version 10.05.713):
- rme 9632 with expansion boards (6 x DA), rme driver 3.24
(next to a rme multiface I in the same PC)

The Pure Audio Blu-Ray Disc offers the choice between Linear PCM (5.1 or stereo), DTS-HD Master Audio, Dolby True HD (for all choices: resolution for each channel 24 bit / 192 kHz lossless)

When I - for example - choose Linear PCM stereo the information in WinDVD tells the following (see *)
("DirectSound renderer" cuts the signal to 16 bit 48 kHz ... )

What can I do to hear the recorded stereo 24 bit 192 kHz or in my case 24 bit 96 kHz
(as far in my case the multiface card is limitazing the sample rate to 96 kHz) ...?

replace or manipulate "DirectSound renderer"?

Thank you in advance,
regards
Gerhard

*
"...
Audio:
    Audio/Primary Audio Stream
    Hardware:
        Audio Device: DirectSound renderer
        S/PDIF: Present
        Number of speakers: 2
    Stream:
        Type: Linear PCM
        Bitrate: 9216 Kbps
        Number of main channels: 2
        LFE Channel: None
        Sampling Frequency: 192khz
        Bits Per Sample: 24
    Output:
        Sample Rate: 48 KHz
        Bits Per Sample: 16
..."

Re: DirectSound renderer, Pure Audio Blu-Ray Disc

This is likely a limitation of the software, not the driver. It is comparable to the fact that most BD or DVD players will not allow signals to be played back at full resolution through the digital outputs. It's essentially a copy protection issue.... In any case, since the MF is physically limited to 96k, you could not hear the full unresampled resolution anyhow.

All you could do is check the sample rate setting for the MF in the HDSP settings and the control panel.

Regards
Daniel Fuchs
RME

Regards
Daniel Fuchs
RME

3

Re: DirectSound renderer, Pure Audio Blu-Ray Disc

I don't have this software but I think that indeed the sample rate has first to be set in the settings dialog of the card. This changes the system to work in 96 or 192 kHz (might be available only after removing the Multiface), then WinDVD should be able to use that sample rate.

Regards
Matthias Carstens
RME

Re: DirectSound renderer, Pure Audio Blu-Ray Disc

Thank you for your answers!

I tried your suggestion (set the sample rate to 96 kHz in the rme driver setting),
but unfortunately WinDVD shows the exact same behavior ("DirectSound renderer"
cuts the signal to 16 bit 48 kHz ... see above)
In a further step I set the sample rate via world clock (I have a Word Clock Modul
for the 9632): again same result.

In the meantime I contacted the Corel WinDVD support, but didn't yet
get a feedback if it's possible to replace or manipulate "DirectSound renderer" ...


I'm sorry but I have a further lack of understanding+problem concerning the visualization /
control of the bit- and sampling rate of the outgoing audio (in my case rme 9632
SPDIF to seperate Forssell-2ch-DA):

- playback with Cubase: all coherent / comprehensible:
bit- and sampling rate in rme settings+DSP Mixer+DIGICheck(Bit Statistic+Noise)
change exactly with the adjustments in Cubase

- playback of audio files with foobar2000(ASIO) or Windows Media Player or VLC Media Player:
wether I playback a 16 bit 44,1 kHz file or a 24 bit 96 kHz file: no change in rme settings at all!
(foobar-player for example tells exactly the format of the audio file, but rme settings+
DSP Mixer+DIGICheck(Bit Statistic+Noise) don't change - the latter seems to depend
only on the last Cubase setting ...)

In other words:
Is it possible to reliable detect the actual outgoing bit- and sampling rate by playback
of audio files with software media players? (which player to choose?)

(I'm looking forward to download high resoultion audio files - Studio Master WMA
or Studio Master FLAC e.g. from linnrecords.com - and want to playback the files
via PC ... but don't want them to be cut to 16 bit / 44.1 kHz ...)

Thanks a lot - I hope for suggestions!

Best regards
Gerhard

5

Re: DirectSound renderer, Pure Audio Blu-Ray Disc

Windows Media can not set the sample rate. Foobar's ASIO extension changes the sample rate, seems you did something wrong when testing this.

Regards
Matthias Carstens
RME