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Topic: Dolby Headphone Wrapper DSP (Read 336018 times) previous topic - next topic
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Dolby Headphone Wrapper DSP

Reply #151
dolbyhph.dll (1.20.0.276) included in PowerDVD 8.
Thanks. Sadly, this version still isn't thread-safe.

By the way, I discovered that using the plugin with different sample rates yields different results. The sound gets brighter with increasing sample rates. I also noticed that the "room" effect is reduced at high sample rates like 88.2 and 96 kHz.

Dolby Headphone Wrapper DSP

Reply #152
By the way, I discovered that using the plugin with different sample rates yields different results. The sound gets brighter with increasing sample rates. I also noticed that the "room" effect is reduced at high sample rates like 88.2 and 96 kHz.

I think I now know why this is. I prepared test files with different sample rates ranging from 8 kHz to 192 kHz. All those files only contain a single one-sample impulse in the center channel like it is used for convolution. I kept the remaining five channels silent. After applying the DHP effect I trimmed any silent parts from the beginning and end and measured how many samples remained. Here are the results:

8 kHz: 3072 samples
16 kHz: 4096 samples
22.05 kHz: 5120 samples
24 kHz: 5120 samples
32 kHz: 6144 samples
38 kHz: 6144 samples
39 kHz: 8192 samples
44.1 kHz: 8192 samples
48 kHz: 8192 samples
96 kHz: 8192 samples
192 kHz: 8192 samples

I see some kind of formula: For every 8 kHz of sample rate 1024 more samples are used for the calculation. With 8192 samples being the obvious limit no sample rate above 48 kHz should be used.

Dolby Headphone Wrapper DSP

Reply #153
Thanks for this plugin! 
I am using it with a 2.1 system and is sounding real good, although is made for a Headphone. I'm getting clear sound and no distortions, that I have before I started using it.

Dolby Headphone Wrapper DSP

Reply #154
I've been thinking a little about different stereo upmixing solutions to achieve the best Dolby Headphone experience. These are the most basic solutions:

1. Simple Stereo

This is the most simple approach. It already yields good results but it doesn't create a surround effect. It's just like a two-speaker simulation (which might be absolutely desirable).

2. Channel Doubling / Quad

This method just mirrors the two stereo channels to the rear channels. It provides the most primitive surround effect.

There are several other approaches that upmix stereo to "real" 5.1 by also creating a center and sometimes also an LFE channel. Many solutions have been tested with varying results.

[a href='index.php?showtopic=46611']Moitah's "Center Cut" DSP plugin[/a] inspired me to think about possible upmixing solutions based on the features that the plugin provides (keep only center information, keep only side information). The big difference to other plugins in this category is that it isn't really suitable for a real 5.1 system because the bass isn't distributed well between the channels and it can cause artifacts if not sitting at a perfect position in a perfectly symmetrical speaker arrangement and/or room. But using the DH plugin allows us to circumvent any of these real-world issues. So, let's think about an upmixing solution especially designed for DH. Two methods have come to my mind:

1. "Quad+"

This is like a more sophisticated quad upmix. Only Lf and Rf have their center information removed while Ls and Rs are kept fully intact. The soundstage is in the middle with no shift towards front or center (just like quad).

2. "Double Center"

This approach moves any center information to only the center channel. Both Lf/Rf and Ls/Rs have the center information removed. To compensate for a low center volume the center channel volume is doubled. Therefore center information comes only from the front but not the rear. So this shifts the soundstage towards the front which I think is somehow desirable.

What do you think about these methods?

Dolby Headphone Wrapper DSP

Reply #155
There's also a third possibility to upmix the channels:

This is similar to "Quad+". The center channel stays the same while the side channels have switched places. I think this might be the best of the three approaches.

Dolby Headphone Wrapper DSP

Reply #156
For me, the most important effect when playing via DH is the virtual presence of Center speaker, that produces more discrete center stage than traditional stereo.

Free Surround DSP plugin does a nice job keeping general stereo intact while upmixing to 5.1.  However, when you slide the Center dimension slider to far right (1.0 value), whilst center channel sounds great, it reduces sound field in LF and RF channels, reducing the whole soundfield to almost mono-like.

Right now, what I'm doing to circumvent that problem while keeping generally strong Center channel is as follows:

1. Free Surround DSP
    -> Keep Center channel dimension slider to a value that fits your taste (i prefer 0.3 to 0.5), keep it balanced, so you don't lose too much audio out of LF and LR channels, while allocating a pretty good audio presence to front-center.
    -> Music Mode on rear phase shift.
    -> Keep default mixing coeff's (0.8165+j/0.5774-j)
2. Channel Mixer
    -> Doesn't do anything in the DSP chain other than for debugging purposes.  You can selectively disable/enable individual channels to test audio coming out of them.
3. Matrix Mixer
  -> Rebalance audio to increase (or double audio output) on FC, BR and BL channels.  Increases output ratio on rear and front-center channels.
4. Equalizer
  -> Not necessary, but if your Matrix Mixer configuration produces lower volume b/c of misconfigured/clipping ratios, you can use equalizer to up the volume.
5. Dolby Headphone


This creates a more solid / powerful front-center presence via DH for me, as opposed to simply feeding DH after Free Surround, where in that case, LF, LR channels are just as loud as center, if not more.

 

Dolby Headphone Wrapper DSP

Reply #157
Okay, since nobody seems to be interested in the theoretical discussion about the upmixing process, let's throw in something of more practical use. I've created a plugin based on Moitah's Center Cut. It features the three described upmixing methods. Quad+ is called "full rear", the last described method is called "full front". Personally, I prefer "full front".

Here's the link: foo_dsp_upmix (source of the modified file included)

Dolby Headphone Wrapper DSP

Reply #158
Okay, since nobody seems to be interested in the theoretical discussion about the upmixing process, let's throw in something of more practical use.


I'm interested, but I am not in proper capacity when it comes to theoretical discussion, maybe you can contact tebasuna51 about this, I'm pretty sure he will be interested to have a talk or two about the upmixing process.

I'll try your plug in anyway.. Thanks..

Dolby Headphone Wrapper DSP

Reply #159
Is there any way to have this plug-in active if and only if 5.1 content is being played in Foobar?

I'd like to have it set-up so that regular stereo content skips it, but the odd AC3 that I have is fed through it.

Dolby Headphone Wrapper DSP

Reply #160
I sent the author a PM, asking for a recompiled version or alternatively the source code of the component. Hopefully he responds.

Dolby Headphone Wrapper DSP

Reply #161
I've been told by Hancoque about the incompatibility of the plugin with the latest fb2k version. I'll try to find a moment to recompile it, although I'm considering to release the source code to someone interested. As I've said before, I'm not using the plugin anymore but I still use fb2k as main audio player.

In the last two years I've been releasing the documentation I made about the DOLBYHPH.DLL to several persons, but I've just seen one of them developing something useful and readily available to anyone.

In the meantime, is anyone responsible there who's really interested in keep working with the plugin?

Dolby Headphone Wrapper DSP

Reply #162
Any news on your progress, Chungalin?

Dolby Headphone Wrapper DSP

Reply #163
Because nobody else seemed to care, I contacted Chungalin and he was kind enough to give me the source code. So here is your updated version:

Dolby Headphone Wrapper v1.2.0
(obsolete links removed)

Changes:
  • Fixed: Rebuilt with latest SDK, works with fb2k 0.9.6+ on Vista
  • Fixed: Tab order in configuration dialog
  • New: Added notice about multi-thread problems to the configuration dialog
  • New: Restart is no longer required after changing the location of DOLBYHPH.DLL
If I accidentally broke something, please let me know.
Full-quoting makes you scroll past the same junk over and over.

Dolby Headphone Wrapper DSP

Reply #164
Good luck to Yirkha with this component. I'm sure it's in good hands (and very fast hands indeed, given that I've passed him the code just a few hours ago and he's managed to produce something useful in that short time).

Dolby Headphone Wrapper DSP

Reply #165
Dolby Headphone Wrapper v1.3.0
(obsolete links removed)

Changes:
  • New: Implemented workaround for multiple instances (thanks, kode54)
  • New: Removed notice about multi-thread problems from the configuration dialog
  • New: Restarting playback is no longer required after changing the location of DOLBYHPH.DLL
Full-quoting makes you scroll past the same junk over and over.

Dolby Headphone Wrapper DSP

Reply #166
Dolby Headphone Wrapper v1.3.1 
foo_dsp_dolbyhp-1.3.1.zip (58 KB)
foo_dsp_dolbyhp.dll (118 KB)

Changes:
  • Fixed: Invalid version of DOLBYHPH.DLL can be shown in the configuration dialog
Full-quoting makes you scroll past the same junk over and over.

Dolby Headphone Wrapper DSP

Reply #167
Thank you. =)

Dolby Headphone Wrapper DSP

Reply #168
I realize it's been an age since this was first posted, but two things.

First of all, a million thanks. Being able to wrap this into foobar I can finally start printing down various 5.1 mixes to 2-channel files and get them sounding NOT terrible.

The other thing I was going to ask was:

...I don't suppose, knowing what you know, you'd be able to make this kind of wrapper (or something similar) a VST, could you? I would LOVE to be able to use my 5.1 mixing console in Sonar to check 5.1 mixes and create halfway decent binaural downmixes.

EDIT: Nvm, I found another plugin that did this with some quick google work.

Anyway, thanks again for this!

Dolby Headphone Wrapper DSP

Reply #169
Wanted to add my thanks to the thread.  I Dolbyize my tracks before transferring to my MP3 player.  Hey, presto - a Dolby Headphone MP3 player!

Dolby Headphone Wrapper DSP

Reply #170
Great plugin.  Even though you're supposed to use them with headphones, they still make my speaker listening experience a lot better.  I don't know if it's because of this plugin, but when I sit in front of my speakers everything sounds awesome, but right when I stand up or move away I hear the bass a lot more.  Either way it's awesome, I haven't had the chance to try it with headphones yet however.

Dolby Headphone Wrapper DSP

Reply #171
So quick question would this be helpful when I already have a Razer 5.1 Headphone's?

Dolby Headphone Wrapper DSP

Reply #172
Thanks very much for this plugin. I love the effect, it's very convincing. I've found that narrowing the stereo width about 50% with the Channel Mixer plugin creates a realistic simulation of stereo speakers. By default the stereo width is 180 degrees, either side of your head, but narrowing it makes the sound stage more realistic (as the producer intended) and helps to make the headphones disappear. Try it

Dolby Headphone Wrapper DSP

Reply #173
Dolby Headphone already simulates a room with a speaker system, so there's no need to narrow the stereo field before.

Dolby Headphone Wrapper DSP

Reply #174
It's just a suggestion, it's not realistic that the left and right channels are either side of your head at 180 degrees.