Surround Sound loses channels on copying to PC

[Black Hole]

If it helps I have a couple of episodes of Doctor Who with 5.1 audio:

Temporarily rename the hmt file and see whether the recording then plays in stereo rather than multichannel (presuming you have the means).

Then perhaps you could restore the hmt but toggle the bit identified by xyz321.

 

[xyz321]

[Deleted]

 

[Black Hole]

What if the multi-channel AAC audio is in a .MP4 file? Maybe the HDR-FOX will output that without downgrading it to stereo?

 

[Kevin]

Thank you all for your interest. Here are 3 hmt files.

1) King of Thieves_20220605_2236.hmt is the original, generated by the Hummy, which plays in surround.
2) King of Thieves_20220605_2236 (scarpkg).hmt I generated using the sidecar package, from the original ts file. This plays in surround.
3) King of Thieves m2ts.hmt I generated using the sidecar package, from an m2ts file, which I exported from VideoRedo, and then changed the extension to .ts. This only plays in stereo.

I suppose it is possible that the problem lies in my m2ts file? I set VideoRedo to output AAC 5.1. and VideoRedo properties confirm that the file has 6 channel audio, but some may be empty?

 

[Kevin]

What if the multi-channel AAC audio is in a .MP4 file? Maybe the HDR-FOX will output that without downgrading it to stereo?

I have generally used H264.MP4 output from VideoRedo (I did not know about using M2TS and changing the extension). My first attempt was an MP4 and played stereo, but had no sidecar files, which I now know causes this problem. I will try generated sidecar files, using the package, for my MP4 file.

 

[Kevin]

Have you tried analyzing the recordings (original and edited) with ffprobe? If you have ffmpeg installed on your HDR-FOX you can use the following from the command line:

ffprobe -i "Recording Name.ts"

This will tell you exactly which streams are available in each file.

EDIT. To add, first copy the recordings to the "My Video" folder then use the following command to navigate to this directory:

cd "/media/My Video"

Thanks, but you have lost me here! Is ffmpeg a package which I can install with webif? I will look.

 

[Kevin]

I have generally used H264.MP4 output from VideoRedo (I did not know about using M2TS and changing the extension). My first attempt was an MP4 and played stereo, but had no sidecar files, which I now know causes this problem. I will try generated sidecar files, using the package, for my MP4 file.

No, the sidecar option is greyed out on my mp4 as for mkv.

 

[Black Hole]

I will try generated sidecar files, using the package, for my MP4 file.

You can't. sidecar is for recreating the .hmt and .nts helper, or "sidecar", files which are normally generated by the HDR-FOX in the process of making a recording, and therefore only applies to native (or recreated) [M2]TS files.

The reason I asked about MP4 is because the HDR-FOX will play them from USB or if imported, and was curious whether you would get 2.0 or 5.1.

but had no sidecar files, which I now know causes this problem.

That it needs the appropriate flag in the .htm file before it will output 5.1 from a recording is not a prediction of how it will behave with an MP4 file (or any other format). The .htm flag theory is not yet conclusive either.

Is ffmpeg a package which I can install with webif?

It is almost certainly already installed as a dependency of the web-if package, and available to be called from the command line. However, it is also useful to download to your PC (the Windows version, that is), and become familiar with it. Ditto ffprobe.

 

[Kevin]

I have now managed to open the audio channels of my .mp4 file, from VideoRedo, in Wavepad. This confirms that all six audio channels are present and contain data, so the issue, for this file at least, must be the Hummy choosing not to play it as surround sound.

 

[Kevin]

Strange, I was sure that I had posted these files a while ago before going on holiday!

Anyway, here they are now:

King of Thieves_20220605_2236.hmt is the original Hummy file - plays surround.

King of Thieves_20220605_2236 (scarpkg).hmt is generated by the sidecar package, from the original Hummy TS - plays surround.

King of Thieves m2ts.hmt is generated by the sidecar package, from my edited TS - only plays in stereo.

 

[Kevin]

Since then I have copied my edited MP4 and MKV versions to a portable USB drive (which I normally use with the Hummy) and connected this direct to my LG Home Theatre. Both play fine with surround sound! This proves that I do not have a problem editing and saving surround sound from VideoRedo, the problem is getting Hummy to recognise them as surround sound after editing.

On the face of it this a solution to my problem, just play surround sound back through the LG and don't bother the Hummy! Unfortunately the only USB socket on the LG is on the front panel, behind the disc flap, so this is not very elegant as a permanent solution

The LG has an unused Ethernet port on the rear, so I was wondering if I can connect a portable HDD to this somehow? USB/Ethernet adapters are cheap, but I believe these expect a USB controller, like a laptop without Ethernet. Probably will not work the other way around with a dumb HDD in the USB end?

 

[Kevin]

Oops, looking at page 1 of the thread Sorry about that!

 

[Black Hole]

The LG has an unused Ethernet port on the rear, so I was wondering if I can connect a portable HDD to this somehow?

Only if the LG is able to access Network Attached Storage as a source of content. If so, you can (with the LG attached to your home network) use the HDR-FOX as a NAS, serve from your PC, or add a dedicated NAS to your network. Some routers let you plug in a USB drive and the router makes that available on the network as a NAS.

 

[Kevin]

Thank you for your thoughts, some very interesting ideas here. I believe the LG will stream content from LAN, although I have never tried it.

Connecting the LG to LAN is awkward, as the TV equipment is in the opposite corner of the house to the PC and router.... I have an ethernet over mains adapter for the Hummy. I expect I could plug an ethernet switch into this, so the Hummy and LG could share?

Are you saying that the Hummy would work as a server if I put the HDD back on it? That would be good.

I was just going to say that my router does not have USB, but looking at it, yes it does! I have plugged my HDD into the router, but haven't managed to see it from my PC yet. More investigation needed.

 

[MartinLiddle]

I have an ethernet over mains adapter for the Hummy. I expect I could plug an ethernet switch into this, so the Hummy and LG could share?

Yes that will work.

 

[Black Hole]

Are you saying that the Hummy would work as a server if I put the HDD back on it? That would be good

Absolutely (It pays tell us what you actually want as an end result rather than taking the long route)! You have at least two options for this:

• Without custom firmware, the HDR-FOX has a built-in DLNA server capability. DLNA is the industry standard for media sharing between consumer devices, because it is auto-discovery and does not require the user to configure IP addresses etc. Menu >> Settings >> System >> Internet Setting >> Content Share = ON. Navigation is by menus formatted by the DLNA system.
  
  If you find HiDef recording are not listed, that will be because the TV has not authenticated itself as a display-only device. That can by bypassed by installing the CF auto-unprotect package.
  
  
• With custom firmware, you can configure the HDR-FOX as as SMB server (samba package) and/or NFS server (nfs-utils package). This is raw data access similar to plugging in a USB drive.

I have an ethernet over mains adapter for the Hummy. I expect I could plug an ethernet switch into this, so the Hummy and LG could share?

Yes that will work.

...and what's more, with a switch the network traffic will (or should) go directly between the HDR-FOX and the TV, without passing through the HomePlug network (nasty).

I was just going to say that my router does not have USB, but looking at it, yes it does! I have plugged my HDD into the router, but haven't managed to see it from my PC yet. More investigation needed.

Using a USB device with the router to provide network accessible storage will require enabling in the router control panel (if available at all). Typically, the router's web control panel will be accessible on <netmask>.254 (eg 192.168.1.254 – whatever's appropriate for your network). If that doesn't work, check the instructions for your particular router.

 

[Kevin]

Many thanks.

The USB on my router is evidently to connect a modem, does not support storage

Anyway, I found an ethernet switch in my cupboard and that works well between Hummy and LG. I can now see the files on Hummy's internal drive from the LG and stream them over the ethernet connection. They play with glorious surround sound!!

That's a good enough fix for what I want to do, although I still cannot see why the Hummy cannot play the edited surround sound

I am not however able to see the files on the USB HDD, plugged into the Hummy, from the LG. Yes, I do have custom firmware on my Hummy, but my knowledge of Networking is VERY basic! If I were able to reconfigure as SMB or NFS, as you suggest, would that enable me to see the USB hdd as well? That would be nice.

 

[Black Hole]

If I were able to reconfigure as SMB or NFS, as you suggest, would that enable me to see the USB hdd as well?

With the appropriate configuration, yes... but there may be another way.

If you install the mvdisks package, USB drives will appear under My Video and thus be available to the DLNA indexer. This is normally a disadvantage! However, note that the process is not instant, and USB content will take some time to become available through a DLNA browser. The way to hurry this is to connect the USB, then place the HDR-FOX in standby (the DLNA indexer runs as a pre-shutdown process). Once all activity has ceased, on restart the HDR-FOX should then have all content available by DLNA.

I still cannot see why the Hummy cannot play the edited surround sound

It seems to be because an undocumented flag is required in the .htm to tell it to. As we don't know where the flag is, we don't know how to reinstate it after a sidecar file reconstruction.

 

[Kevin]

Interesting, I have installed mvdisks and can now navigate my external hdd from My Video on Hummy's menu, but I still do not see it on the LG menu.

 

[Kevin]

I can navigate the hdd from My Video using webif. Using Filezilla I see [USB Storage] under my video, but when I try to open it I get "Connection closed by server".