Operation And Usage Playback; Dvd Playback (Ac-3 / Dts) - RME Audio HDSPe AIO Pro User Manual

9. Operation and Usage
9.1 Playback
In the audio application being used, HDSPe AIO Pro must be selected as output device. This
can often be found in the Options, Preferences or Settings menus under Playback Device, Audio
Devices, Audio etc.
!
WDM playback devices are not available if the number of WDM devices is set to 0 in the
Settings dialog.
Although the AIO Pro comes with extensive support for system audio, setting it to be the Default
Device for playback could cause problems, especially when working with ASIO. RME also rec-
ommends switching off all system sounds (via Control Panel Sound, tab Sounds).
Increasing the number and/or size of audio buffers may prevent the audio signal from breaking
up, but also increases latency i.e. output is delayed. For synchronized playback of audio and
MIDI (or similar), be sure to activate the checkbox 'Get position from audio driver'.
Note: Since Vista the audio application can no longer control the sample rate under WDM.
Therefore the driver of the HDSPe AIO Pro includes a way to set the sample rate globally for all
WDM devices, found within the Settings dialog. See chapter 7.1.
9.2 DVD-Playback (AC-3/DTS) under MME
Popular DVD software players can send their audio data stream to any AC-3/DTS capable re-
ceiver via the HDSPe's SPDIF or AES output.
! The sample rate must be set to 48 kHz in the AIO Pro's Settings dialog, or the software will
only playback a stereo 2-channel downmix via SPDIF.
In some cases the HDSPe AIO Pro output device has to be selected in >Control Panel / Sound /
Playback< and be set as Default, or the software will not recognize it.
The DVD software's audio properties now show the options 'SPDIF Out' or similar. When select-
ing it, the software will transfer the non-decoded digital multi-channel data stream to the AIO Pro
SPDIF output.
Warning: This 'SPDIF' signal sounds like chopped noise at highest level.
Multichannel
PowerDVD and WinDVD can also operate as software decoder, sending a DVD's multichannel
data stream directly to the analog outputs of the HDSPe AIO Pro. For this to work select the
WDM playback device 'Loudspeaker' of the AIO Pro in Control Panel, Sound, tab Playback as
Default.
PowerDVD's and WinDVD's audio properties now list several multichannel modes. If one of
these is selected, the software sends the decoded analog multichannel data to the AIO Pro.
TotalMix can then be used to play back via any desired output channels, even the digital ones
like ADAT.
The typical channel assignment for surround playback is:
1 – Left 2 – Right
5 - SL (Surround Left)
3 – Center 4 - LFE (Low Frequency Effects)
6 - SR (Surround Right)
User's Guide HDSPe AIO Pro © RME
19