Routing 5.1 from internal DVD to Focusrite 18i20

[David Harrison]

Here's my dilemma: Our local community theater stages mostly plays and musicals. They have a small theater with what amounts to a 5.1 surround system (L,R,C,RR,LR,LFE) permanently installed.
They use this primarily for sound effects and music cues in plays and sound reinforcement in musicals.
They have a desktop PC to run their SFX cues and a Focusrite 18i20 USB interface to route the sound to their console which then routes the audio to their 6 active speakers through balanced +4 Db lines.
All this works fine and sounds lovely.
Now, they have decided to fill in some gaps in their schedule with "Family Movie Nights." They have contracted with Swank for the public performance rights of the "films" and Swank will provide the media in the form of a blu-ray DVD.  I want to help them make the right choices in terms of playing that media from their current system.  They have, as of yet, not purchased a blu-ray player and they have essentially three choices:
1.) A stand-alone DVD player
2.) Add a USB DVD player
3.) Add an internal player 

I have found no stand-alone DVD players with professional output levels and interfacing consumer gear into this console is somewhat problematic so this is not my first choice.
An external USB DVD would be the best solution because it would mean zero downtime for their computer.
An internal player is possible, but properly interfacing the drive with the motherboard is always a challenge. (FWIW--MoBo is MSI -7693)

Regarding playback from a PC, what I am most unclear about is the middleware that will allow us to route the audio from the DVD to the 18i20 to get the audio to the console (SFAIK--there is no "surround decoder" in the 18i20. It will need discrete channels.). What software is best to use to play the show?   We, of course, would also like the drive to be reliable (and rugged) so your thoughts on brand and model would be greatly appreciated.  I am also wondering if there are any DRM compatibility issues that are distinct to audio that I should worry about or if that is all handled in the DVD device.

So what say ye? Am I doomed or is there an easy answer?

[esldude]

I hope you find an answer.  I've an 18i20 I'd like to use in 5.1 sometimes.  

 

And welcome to the forum as this is your first post. 

 

You mention you would prefer not to go the stand alone DVD/Bluray route.  I know such setups can have little details that I'm not seeing.  But if you aren't using the analog inputs to the 18i20 it would be as simple as running the Bluray analog signals to those, and routing them to the output which feeds the board for playback.  The 18i20 has plenty of gain to take consumer level signals and amplify them to +4dbu levels.  You can use adapters for RCA to TRS for the inputs without any problem. 

 

Then again, I've not seen too many Bluray players that have analog outputs lately.  

[jzahr]

I'm not 100% sure, but probably VLC player can do the routing You need in it's config options for audio. If not, perhaps some paid player from Cyberlink is an option also.

 

Jorge

 

[esldude]

2 hours ago, jzahr said:

I'm not 100% sure, but probably VLC player can do the routing You need in it's config options for audio. If not, perhaps some paid player from Cyberlink is an option also.

 

Jorge

 

I'd considered VLC.  It will put out a 5.1 surround signal.  The problem is the 18i20 won't recognize such a signal.  I've used a computer and VLC to send surround to AVRs and pre/pros.  

 

You'll need something to use ASIO going to the 18i20.  I don't think VLC would communicate via ASIO to tell the 18i20 where to send signals.  I'll see if I can get time to try it.  

[esldude]

First off I have a 1st gen 18i20.  In Mix control you have a monitor preset for 5.1 and 7.1 surround. 

 

When I select that and choose the proper DAW channels for each monitor it works with AC3 (Dolby digital) files I have created.  I can create them in Audacity, or I can create mch in Reaper.  VLC will play the audio file, let you select dolby and 5.1 for the device and play them as they should.  

 

When I try a DVD using the built in DVD drive in my computer, it doesn't work.  VLC will only let me choose mono or stereo. The DVD's have 5.1 surround as an audio option, but it does not work.  

 

Now I've used VLC on these same discs, and used USB via a USB to SPDIF converter.  This let me feed an AVR the Dolby Digital 5.1 signal out to the sound system.  I don't know why it won't let me send that to the 18i20 when I'm using a DVD.  

 

So no solution yet.  Sorry.  

[jzahr]

8 hours ago, esldude said:

First off I have a 1st gen 18i20.  In Mix control you have a monitor preset for 5.1 and 7.1 surround. 

 

When I select that and choose the proper DAW channels for each monitor it works with AC3 (Dolby digital) files I have created.  I can create them in Audacity, or I can create mch in Reaper.  VLC will play the audio file, let you select dolby and 5.1 for the device and play them as they should.  

 

When I try a DVD using the built in DVD drive in my computer, it doesn't work.  VLC will only let me choose mono or stereo. The DVD's have 5.1 surround as an audio option, but it does not work.  

 

Now I've used VLC on these same discs, and used USB via a USB to SPDIF converter.  This let me feed an AVR the Dolby Digital 5.1 signal out to the sound system.  I don't know why it won't let me send that to the 18i20 when I'm using a DVD.  

 

So no solution yet.  Sorry.  

So you are saying that with VLC it is possible to decode multichannel audio from AC3-encoded audio files, but not the AC3 audio from dvd's.

If that's the case, perhaps PowerDVD from Cyberlink is an option. There is a 30 days trial version here, with some limitations in its capabilities however.

 

Regards,

Jorge

[esldude]

10 hours ago, jzahr said:

So you are saying that with VLC it is possible to decode multichannel audio from AC3-encoded audio files, but not the AC3 audio from dvd's.

If that's the case, perhaps PowerDVD from Cyberlink is an option. There is a 30 days trial version here, with some limitations in its capabilities however.

 

Regards,

Jorge

Possibly, I tried some other video playback software thought not PowerDVD.  All of it acted the same.  I'm using a Win10 computer so it is possible with Windows inserting itself in the way some settings there might matter.  I'm not well enough informed about how various handshakes of multi-media streams occur.