5.1 surround possible?

The current version does not support 5.1, however I am considering making a surround-compatible version.

Since you’re looking for 5.1, are you up for some brainstorming to help figure out what people would need to be able to use a 5.1 processor?

5.1 is complicated, because of one important gotcha:

S/PDIF (optical or coaxial), the interlink everyone uses for interfacing their DVD player or satellite box to their amplifier, does not actually support 5.1 PCM audio.

S/PDIF is a 2-channel (stereo) format, and the only way to get 5.1 surround through it, is by encoding the audio into Dolby Digital or DTS, which are both bit-reduced, lossy formats.

When you play a DVD on your computer, the DVD already contains encoded audio, and the player just passes it through without touching it. This of course means that it can’t be processed!

To process 5.1 audio, it has to be decoded to 5.1 PCM audio. This is easy — the DVD player software can do it for us. The question is, once it’s decoded and processed, how do we get it into your amplifier?

There’s a few options:

• 5.1 Analog. Six RCA plugs. I know, pretty much nobody uses that but me. This is a viable option though, for those who have amplifiers with the correct inputs. Many do, but not all.
• HDMI from the computer to the amplifier. HDMI does support 5.1 PCM, and it’s a viable option for those who have computers with HDMI outputs, as long as they’re configured correctly.
• S/PDIF from a computer with Dolby Digital Live or DTS Connect encoding built in. Some computers have this, but not all. It slightly reduces quality, so it’s less desirable than the above options, but still viable as a last resort.
• Encoding the audio in software with a Dolby Digital or a DTS encoder. This would work on any system, but adds delay, reduces quality, and worst of all, licensing the encoder is hideously expensive — out of range for a consumer product. That’s why no consumer gear contains an encoder.

So, to sum it up, I could make a surround-compliant version — the difficult part is how to get the audio into your amplifier. Of the options above, only the first 3 are feasible, which means there WILL be systems it simply will not work on, for example, a computer without HDMI or built in encoding, and an amplifier without analog 5.1 input.

Comments? Would it work in *your* system? Please let me know.

The Breakaway core algorithm does support 5.1, and I’ve also invented a nice stereo to 5.1 upmixer, which you simply must hear. I use it in 5.1 mode all the time, and it’s also being used on numerous HDTV stations in the USA and around the world. So, if it can be packaged into a consumer-digestible format, I have no doubt you’ll like what you hear 🙂.

Best regards,
///Leif

The beauty of this is that in all cases except software encoding, the interfacing is completely transparent to the application. As long as the sound card presents a 6-channel wave device to the software, it doesn’t matter how the sound card chooses to pass the audio onto the amplifier, whether it’s HDMI, Analog, DTS Connect or DD Live. So, yes — they will all be supported. 🙂

Perhaps you guys can answer another question — when watching TV on your HTPC, does the audio get played through the sound card like any other audio played in your computer? (You can verify this by turning down the Wave volume control slider and make sure the TV audio is affected as well).

If so, I think Breakaway HT is technically possible.

///Leif

I know I’m late to the party, but I definitely want to throw in my 2 cents.

I use BA Live right now in a 2-channel HT setup. The audio from all components is sent to the TV, and then output via the stereo RCA output on the back panel. I run the audio from there into a dedicated PC with an AP 2496 card in ASIO mode, process the audio, and then send it to the stereo amp. This is nice, but I want to use 5.1 surround.

Leif…Is it possible to route the audio into the PC through some sort of digital I/O (maybe the 1010 PCI card), process it, re-multiplex it, and then route it to the amp on a digital coax cable?

If so, that would be kick-ass.

The other option is to somehow take the multiplexed digital signal from the coax, and then de-multiplex it into 6 discrete analog signals that are fed via RCA. Some people are going to whine and say "but it’s analog blah blah blah…", but most receivers still allow for 6-channel RCA inputs.

Oh, and are you going to NAB or not, mister? If you are, I need to book my flight so that we cross paths.

Adam