Multichannel LPCM audio playback Options

[arnymars]

Can someone suggest soft audio or media player that can directly play 5.1 LPCM audio? Pls don't tell that any player can, because in my experience NONE can. What plugins should I use to enable Foobar2000 play 5.1 LPCM?

Also, what utility can show media info data of a multichannel LPCM file? I tried MediaInfo and Gspot - they can't show any info about LPCM file.

What Media Server can transcode 5.1 Flac to 5.1 LPCM, and stream it to a Samsung BD Player over LAN?

This post has been edited by arnymars: Jun 1 2012, 06:21

[lvqcl]

I also know of some video players like VLC and Daum PotPlayer that claim to play multichannel LPCM - possibly only when muxed with video, assuming such mux carries some info about audio.

And many audio players can play multichannel LPCM if it is "muxed" into WAV, MKA, FLAC etc.

Of course, one can transcode LPCM to WAV, but the task was to stream LPCM from an audio player to a BD Player connected to an A/V Receiver for playback.

A player should be able to read WAV/FLAC/MP3/... files, decode, and send LPCM stream to your BD player. LPCM files are useless and unnecessary for your task.

[grizz]

I also know of some video players like VLC and Daum PotPlayer that claim to play multichannel LPCM - possibly only when muxed with video, assuming such mux carries some info about audio.

And many audio players can play multichannel LPCM if it is "muxed" into WAV, MKA, FLAC etc.

Of course, one can transcode LPCM to WAV, but the task was to stream LPCM from an audio player to a BD Player connected to an A/V Receiver for playback.

A player should be able to read WAV/FLAC/MP3/... files, decode, and send LPCM stream to your BD player. LPCM files are useless and unnecessary for your task.

I've just spent a long time trying to get Mediatomb to transcode FLAC to a format that VLC, Foobar2000 and my Android phone can understand, and I can tell you this: Foobar2000 accepts LPCM with a mimetype of "audio/L16", which as far as I'm aware means 16-bit LPCM (44.1Khz is implied by the standard I think). VLC doesn't take it. VLC does, however, accept an LPCM stream if it's simply given the mimetype of "audio/wav", whereas Foobar doesn't like it when you do that and refuses to play ball. Both Foobar and my phone (Desire S) were perfectly happy for the LPCM stream to have a mimetype of "audio/L16", but seeking didn't work (as is to be expected when transcoding). Here's the interesting thing: when I fooled VLC by using the "audio/wav" mimetype both VLC and my phone were able to seek back and forth in the buffered part of the file.

I don't know exactly what information goes into the WAV header, but if the byte order is correct (the RIFF standard is big-endian is it not? WAV is a little-endian format, I know that) then there should be nothing stopping the BD player from accepting the stream apart from the wrapper. I also don't know how much information Mediatomb supplies with the stream based on the mimetype.

Also, what utility can show media info data of a multichannel LPCM file?

This is an interesting one, as an LPCM file can't contain such information. However, my phone now has a (UPnP) media library full of files that are neatly tagged and yet are ostensibly 44.1Khz WAVs. I'm pretty sure VLC couldn't manage that, but Mediatomb does it.

So: as far as the OP's question goes (assuming he's still struggling three months down the line), I'd suggest Mediatombe. All the stream parameters can be changed with xml and a few command line options to flac and ffmpeg. I've had it transcoding stereo FLAC into various formats and being picked up by Foobar, VLC and my phone (but unfortunately not all three simultaneously because Foobar doesn't like being lied to about mimetype and VLC can't handle the raw, headerless truth). I haven't tried with 5.1, but I don't have a 5.1 system

Also, has the OP tried streaming from VLC with the RAW encapsulation? I think if he were to stream a WAV with no header (that's what RAW does, right?) then that would essentially be L16.
If I've written something blindingly stupid please be nice - this is just my understanding from trial and error.

This post has been edited by grizz: Sep 15 2012, 16:57

[krabapple]

I've just spent a long time trying to get Mediatomb to transcode FLAC to a format that VLC, Foobar2000 and my Android phone can understand, and I can tell you this: Foobar2000 accepts LPCM with a mimetype of "audio/L16", which as far as I'm aware means 16-bit LPCM (44.1Khz is implied by the standard I think). VLC doesn't take it. VLC does, however, accept an LPCM stream if it's simply given the mimetype of "audio/wav", whereas Foobar doesn't like it when you do that and refuses to play ball. Both Foobar and my phone (Desire S) were perfectly happy for the LPCM stream to have a mimetype of "audio/L16", but seeking didn't work (as is to be expected when transcoding). Here's the interesting thing: when I fooled VLC by using the "audio/wav" mimetype both VLC and my phone were able to seek back and forth in the buffered part of the file.

I have dozens of multichannel MLPCM and LPCM audio files that I've ripped from my DVD-A collection as multichannel .wav (using either DVD Audio Extractor or DVDA Extractor), and converted to FLAC. Foobar2000 has no problem playing them via HDMI + WASAPI. I've never had to check the mimetype. Most are 48kHz or higher SR, 24 bit format, and retain that format identification when examined in foobar Properties or in Audition.

This post has been edited by krabapple: Sep 16 2012, 17:59