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Current options for video plus active 4-way stereo?


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My system is in my living room and dedicated to stereo: a non-audiophile PC running Roon Core in another room, an audiophile PC running HQPlayer where digital crossovers are implemented, sent to Lynx Hilo feeding stereo subs, and actively driven towers. For the last couple of years I've been more focused on speaker building than keeping updated with software and other computer related stuff, and I'm wondering if there is now a way to play Netflix in the living room and use the hi-fi speakers for sound. My recollection is the processing of the active crossovers and room correction filters introduced a latency that was the root of the issue.

 

Thanks in advance!

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On 12/29/2018 at 12:51 PM, LewinskiH01 said:

My recollection is the processing of the active crossovers and room correction filters introduced a latency that was the root of the issue.

 

A number of surround receivers have delay built-in, so as long as you have a way to a/d two channels into your current Accourate setup, you should be good by using a receiver's pre-out into your PC, and letting the receiver drive the other channels. Plus, it's AV, so unless you're a full-blooded AV snob, you'll be sufficiently distracted by the moving things being shown at the same time as the sound comes out of the speakers that you won't care about the extra a/d step as much. Getting a receiver with room correction built-in might help getting everything synced up, too.

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I was hoping to stay in the software realm and avoid adding more boxes: some software fed by Netflix that could apply digital xo filters, delay, and send video thru HDMI to a screen and audio to my DAC.

 

I think JRiver was close back then but at the time didn't integrate with Roon nor Tidal. Should check out their current version.

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I have 4 way stereo + C + Sub + RL + RR . For playback I use 3 things, Roon + HQPlayer for audio only, JRiver for video, and then the last is a catch all for PC playback. 

 

So pretty much how they all work is they copy the L and R to the rear 7.1 channels which are my main bi amp, they also generate a sub signal and for JRiver & PC they fold down 7.1 to 5.1. 

 

The catch all solution isn't perfect, definitely not for mission critical playback. What I do is a combination of 3 software packages. VB Virtual Audio Cable is my output, that goes into the stand alone version of BlueCat Audio's Patchwork which is essentially a VST host. This hosts a 7.1 to 5.1 plugin, waves DTS downmix (Imo this is the best on the market), and then another patch is inserted before it outputs to my receiver, which just copies the L and R to rear channels. Honestly the latency is not much of an issue. I like this setup, it just works. The only issues I've had are the odd intermittent pop on single channels, it happens *maybe* every 5-10 minutes and isn't that distracting. 

 

There's another option too, it's called E-APO and it's quite good, the reason I do not use it anymore is purely related to it's lack of support for Waves plugins, it should work but generally seems to crash the E-APO software requiring a full reboot. Without Waves, it is perfectly fine and there are other ways to fold down 7.1 to 5.1 or to 2.0, I just happen to like what Waves does. 

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