Help with setup for HTPC -> Yamaha RX-V683BL 7.2 Receiver

[Michael G]

Hi,

Just got my hands on a Yamaha RX-V683BL 7.2 Receiver -

I use my PC (Win 10 Pro) as my home entertainment center, and for the first time I want to hook my PC up to the receiver with surround sound. I'd like some help understanding options to get the best hookup.

I have 2 options without additional hardware, but some additional hardware is not off the table. I have 4 monitors, one of which is the Television that I use to watch movies. This screen was on the HDMI, and is now hooked up via pass-through through on the receiver.

After playing with it for a couple of days, the following is what I've found:

Option 1. Use onboard Realtek decoder with optical out.
With PCM, I only get 2 channels - that was a bust.
I used a patched driver and can get 5.1 Dolby out of it (Not Bad - but sound quality doesn't feel as good as option 2)
Second hacked driver can get DTS to work, also 5.1, about the same as Dolby.

- not a big fan of using some hacked driver.
- 5.1 is still not full 7.1

Option 2. Use NVIDIA HDMI (I have a gforce GTX 950)
At first glance - this seems awesome. Plug in, setup speakers for 7.1, looking good, receiver sees 7.1, sounds great.

- some things about this I don't like about this:

- I don't use 'exclusive mode' so I am not able to get DTS / DD bitstream even when the source supports it. If I enable Exclusive mode it does work, but I dont like the idea of nothing else being able to make sound. This is ok, but curious if there is a way to enable bitstreaming without 'exclusive mode'?

- The PC is always putting out 7.1 PCM, even when the source is stereo.

- When I turn the TV on and off, NVIDIA sees a device change, and re-arranges my monitors. This is kind of bad. Audio stops. NVIDIA switches between my tv and Yamaha as a sound device. I used 'CRU' to make the Yamaha 'resolution' match my tv, this eliminates the impact of this, but the change still stops all audio for a second and I have to restart movies etc.

- When I shut the receiver off, same as above, windows sees the same monitor change. less terrible, because I am shutting the receiver so the fact that sound is gone is no longer noticeable.

Above is all I can think of, and I have not found a reliable way to stop windows 10 from detecting the monitor change.

Other things I am considering:

- Getting some kind of EDID locker device, so windows doesn't see the monitor change, so far I haven't found one that calls out supporting 7.1 audio... and I have no experience with these kinds of devices. From what I can tell I'd need the following feaures:
- locking, so the PC doesnt know when the receiver is changing state / tv on and off.
- HDCP my TV is HDCP compliant, dont want to lose this, it seems most of these devices dont support hdcp


- Get a cheap video card for dedicated HDMI audio, and don't attach a monitor. Apparently you can do something where you set up a 'clone' in windows to make the receiver not have virtual desktop space. I feel like this may have unforeseen consequences when doing things like a full screen game, and this would also require me to run 2 separate hdmi's to the tv / receiver area.

- Getting a dedicated sound card. Seems like a good option, but my receiver doesn't have component in for surround and I don't see any sound cards with HDMI out... I assume I have to use optical and it would have to be encoded to DTS / DOLBY to get surround just like the onboard realtek.


Does anyone have any other alternatives? Advice?
Thanks in Advance

 

[defaultluser]

Your probably going to need a second video output to fix this. Nvidia;'s drivers are designed to handle a direct connection to your TV, so adding a receiver to the mix causes issues.

Is this the only monitor you have hooked up to that system? Multi-monitor can also cause hell for an HTPC,, when it drops displays.

You're not going to get more than 5.1 channels over optical, so how much further you take this is up to you. But I don't think you can disable a display output on Windows while still getting HDMI audio/HTPC

Are you planning on playing back 4k blu rays on that PC?? most of the streaming services are already limited to 5., and you can playback most of them on your TV.

 

[jameslr]

Does your TV have an eARC (enhanced Audio Return Channel) HDMI port on it? If so connect your receiver to that HDMI port and connect the PC directly to your TV. It looks like your receiver supports eARC through a firmware update (2.70). The eARC port supports full 7.1 audio and Dolby Atmos. If you don't have a relatively high-end newer TV though you may be out of luck.

 

[Michael G]

Multi-monitor can also cause hell for an HTPC,

Hahah - Accurate. I have 4 displays, 3 on my desk, and the TV going through the receiver. I am even seeing now that when the monitors go to sleep the audio stops
I don't use much streaming, I store most things locally and play them. In the end I may retreat to 5.1, but this really stinks. I didnt realize this would be such a thing. I suppose I didnt do much research before.

In the end i decided to try this thing, bought one from ebay. Apparently it can lie to windows and make it think the display is always on -
https://www.gefen.com/product/hdmi-detective-plus-EXT-HD-EDIDPN
I will share how it goes here after I get it.

Thanks

 

[Michael G]

Does your TV have an eARC (enhanced Audio Return Channel) HDMI port on it? If so connect your receiver to that HDMI port and connect the PC directly to your TV. It looks like your receiver supports eARC through a firmware update (2.70). The eARC port supports full 7.1 audio and Dolby Atmos. If you don't have a relatively high-end newer TV though you may be out of luck.

I looked at this too but TV too old I am going to try this detective box (see above) and if its working poorly I will retreat to 5.1 audio on optical - it is a mental note though, as at some point i will replace my TV, and will make sure I have this.
Thanks for your input

 

[defaultluser]

Hahah - Accurate. I have 4 displays, 3 on my desk, and the TV going through the receiver. I am even seeing now that when the monitors go to sleep the audio stops
I don't use much streaming, I store most things locally and play them. In the end I may retreat to 5.1, but this really stinks. I didnt realize this would be such a thing. I suppose I didnt do much research before.

In the end i decided to try this thing, bought one from ebay. Apparently it can lie to windows and make it think the display is always on -
https://www.gefen.com/product/hdmi-detective-plus-EXT-HD-EDIDPN
I will share how it goes here after I get it.

Thanks

It doesn't surprise me that Windows is turning off audio if you put the display to sleep, as it is turning off the display. If you want your display be "effectively off," try a black screensaver. It will not turn off HDMI audio.

This is the trick I'm using to run music on my OLED TV (black background means the pixels are effectively off). It also shouldn't detect that input as asleep, and auto-change.

Let us know if you get that working!

 

[Michael G]

https://www.gefen.com/product/hdmi-detective-plus-EXT-HD-EDIDPN

Just to close the loop -

I got this thing in the mail, set it up in 5 min -

What it does well -
The main problem of screens turning on and off disturbing windows is fixed -
I can turn the monitor on and off, and turn the receiver on and off, and windows doesn't notice - audio keeps playing, and in the case of the receiver, if im using my wireless headphones, everything is undisturbed.
In short, I am super satisfied -

What it doesn't do -
If windows puts the monitor to sleep, the sound on that hdmi is turning off. Period. So I still changed my display settings to not put the screen to sleep, and go to blank screen saver. I can live with that -

Ebay has these things floating around for about 1/2 the price of new. If you buy one pay attention to the rev. I ended up getting the older one which isnt programmable, I was unaware of this. Thankfully Im still good.
The never rev can be tweaked via usb. Its good about power too, doesnt need to be plugged in once programmed.

Mike

 

[Trihy]

In my case, seems AMD gpu is better to handle on/off changes.

I can turn off AV receiver and sound goes to the tv without stopping anything, just mute for a second. Turn on AV receiver again and sound will stop for a sec and then keep playing on AV receiver. Both are connected through HDMI outputs.

Anyone tried this kind of changes with nvidia? Im afraid to go back to nvidia and have this problem again.

Also the display going off to save energy and windows killing sound is something never got fixed. I just had to the same as you, never turn off screen on settings and put a black screensaver. It´s so ridiculous, you are listening to a song through spotify or something and Windows just cut audio.