[shrimants]

Ive more or less given up on VLC except as a quick and dirty playback solution. I installed KCP last night, set up LAV filter to bitstream all the formats my receiver could handle, played some DTS-ES6.1 star wars, and everything worked like a dream.

I still have to test how this works out for sources that are 5.1 FLAC and 5.1 AAC. They should not be bitstreamed, they should be 5.1 PCM to the receiver. If they arent, I will need to screw around with KCP some more. If I can get that working, though, I should be able to ditch VLC entirely.

 

[benbenkr]

I don't know why people are still using VLC in the first place. madvr alone provides the best image quality, combine that with LAV filters and you're pretty much set for any type of video — be it movies, anime/animation, sports, whatever else.
 
Ditch VLC, seriously.
 
5.1 FLAC didn't work until quite recently with LAV audio. Now it does and yes, it doesn't bitstream and is just pass through as 5.1 PCM.

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

I'm partial to media player classic. I like simplicity. I leave it to my VT60's accurate screen calibration, not software filters.

 

[FooMojo]

I'm partial to media player classic. I like simplicity. I leave it to my VT60's accurate screen calibration, not software filters.

 
Wut?  MPC uses TONS of software filters e.g. Quicktime, Realplayer, Shoutcast, OGM, Matroska, etc.  I don't think you can avoid them.

 

[benbenkr]

   
Wut?  MPC uses TONS of software filters e.g. Quicktime, Realplayer, Shoutcast, OGM, Matroska, etc.  I don't think you can avoid them.

 
That's only if you install the full version, which becomes bloatware.
MPC lite pretty much has nothing.

 

[shrimants]

Wut?  MPC uses TONS of software filters e.g. Quicktime, Realplayer, Shoutcast, OGM, Matroska, etc.  I don't think you can avoid them.

Hence following either the MPC-HC high quality playback setup guide or simply setting up "KCP", which comes with pretty much nothing and bypasses everything.

 

[FooMojo]

   
That's only if you install the full version, which becomes bloatware.
MPC lite pretty much has nothing.

 
All versions of MPC have internal filters which are required by design to open, unpack, and decode media containers.  This is what I meant by not being able to avoid filters with MPC.  You can avoid external filter installation, but not filters in general.
 

Hence following either the MPC-HC high quality playback setup guide or simply setting up "KCP", which comes with pretty much nothing and bypasses everything.

 
Good stuff shrimants, I can see why you went the KCP route.

 

[KaputtEqu1pment]

Hey Guys, I'm new to the Audio scene and have been lurking in the forums here for the past few days.
 
First things first, I want to thank MadLust and Nameless for making this writeup.  I'm now a proud owner of a Creative X-Fi titanium and A fresh pair of AKG Q701 headphones, moving up from onboard audio and a Razer Chacharias (sp?) headset. First time I listened through the q701's, it almost brought tears to my eyes--I've heard things in songs that I've never heard before.  Just amazing. (thanks madlust for your review).
 
Now with that said, lets move on.
 
Nameless,I followed your setup guide for the X-fi Ti soundcard; set windows speakers to 7.1 and in the xfi control panel enabled game mode, disabled crystalyzer (should i keep that on or off for gameplay?) and enabled the cms3d stuff for headphone setup.
 
My Big question here is this, when i'm playing Video Games such as BF3, or BF4, should I enable surround or keep it stereo in the game menu? Better yet, should i do the same thing for every game i play?
 
Another question I have, my headphones are directly plugged into the back of the soundcard, and it is stupid loud. Like, i have to set the windows volume between 20-30/100 and even the games i need to pull down further in the windows sound mixer for my head not to explode with all that flurry of sound.  What is up with that?  Is that normal? or is there something seriously wrong with my setup?
 
especially with that said, I suppose i won't be needing an amp? right?
 
Anyway, thanks for the info. 

 

[SaLX]

Anybody following this new(ish) thread? http://www.head-fi.org/t/689299/out-of-your-head-new-virtual-surround-simulator Any opinions?

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

Wut?  MPC uses TONS of software filters e.g. Quicktime, Realplayer, Shoutcast, OGM, Matroska, etc.  I don't think you can avoid them.

I don't have any of that. I uncheck everything. My MPC is as fast as it comes. The most barebones player that plays what I need it to play, which is mostly anime.

Adding filters to the image, is like equalizing music when you already had an accurate set up. No thanks.

 

[chicolom]

   
Wut?  MPC uses TONS of software filters e.g. Quicktime, Realplayer, Shoutcast, OGM, Matroska, etc.  I don't think you can avoid them.

 

I don't have any of that. I uncheck everything. My MPC is as fast as it comes. The most barebones player that plays what I need it to play, which is mostly anime.

Adding filters to the image, is like equalizing music when you already had an accurate set up. No thanks.

 
 
I'm no expert, but I'm pretty sure those are all just video containers which require certain A/V codecs for decoding and playing them - not "software filters" that process your video.
 
 
That'd be the music equivalent to saying you don't use those filthy FLAC or ALAC "filters" in your music player.  And stay away from that damn dirty APE!
 
Unless your watching Animes with hard-coded subs your probably using a matroska container (.mkv).
 
 
Maybe you guys are thinking about the video render method?

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

Yeah, that's what i mean, the only 'files' I use for MPC is the ones that allow me to watch certain file types with subs, mainly MKV. I haven't come across many instances where I need something that MPC can't play in it's most barebones of settings.

I have no need for a pretty UI for something I'm gonna fullscreen anyway. Trying other video players, I laugh at how sluggish they are next to MPC.

As for music, I just use winamp with basically no options save for using the bento skin in monodark to match my desktop. I have tried some of the more popular ones here, and I can't hear a damn difference, regardless of what options people tell you to add. Foobar, etc. I'm fine with a slim Winamp placed on the right side of my taskbar...

 

[chicolom]

I use PotPlayer for video and MusicBee for music.  Their both simple when I want them to be and powerful when I need them to be.
 
It doesn't really matter what program you use as long as it stays fairly out of the way when it's actually playing your files.

 

[FooMojo]

   
 
 
I'm no expert, but I'm pretty sure those are all just video containers which require certain A/V codecs for decoding and playing them - not "software filters" that process your video.
 
 
That'd be the music equivalent to saying you don't use those filthy FLAC or ALAC "filters" in your music player.  And stay away from that damn dirty APE!
 
Unless your watching Animes with hard-coded subs your probably using a matroska container (.mkv).
 
 
Maybe you guys are thinking about the video render method?

 
The software filters are used to open, unpack, decode, and transcode audio and video containers.  Other than that they perform no other transform on the media data, thus no image modification other than what may occur as an artifact of a transcode.
 
The video renderer is the beast that outputs the video data to a memory buffer to be processed by your graphics card driver, and eventually your graphics card.
 
I get it now.  Mad was referring to video render...  so no MadVR for MadLustEnvy

 

[Fegefeuer]

 
That Lichdom True Audio demo showed elevation or height differences. That scene with the archer especially. Nice, though there is still more to that they need to show us. 

 
http://www.computerbase.de/news/2013-11/lichdom-mit-amds-trueaudio-in-der-hoerprobe/