Hello,
I've just installed the new Callisto driver and found a problem, or at least something that doesn't work as I expected.
I don't remember what my settings were with the previous driver (callisto_vista_01), but the end result that everything was passed through and I was happy with that. I mean, my receiver detected stereo sound as stereo, and ac3/dts as ac3/dts.
Yes, there was the problem of being unable to select PCM, but that didn't bother me.
However, with the new driver (callisto_xp_vista_20080118), choosing Dolby Digital Live or DTS Interactive makes all audio be processed into one of those, even if the audio I'm playing is already encoded as DD or DTS.
If I choose PCM, everything is passed as two channel audio, but I think that's how it's supposed to be (is it?).
My question would be, is there any way to tell the Callisto to just pass through everything? or to only use DDL or DTS Interactive for stereo signal and just pass through 5.1 sources?
I know someone's going to ask me how do I know the output is "re-encoded" and not the original signal. Well, believe me, the difference in quality is huge.
And yes, I tried reverting to the old driver and everything went back to normal, or at least to the way I like it.
I'm asking just in case it's something that can be fixed, and because it would be nice to be able to have DTS for stereo sources and pass through 5.1 sources. Actually, that's how I thought it would work back when I bought the Callisto.
Also (maybe unrelated), Vista sees the Callisto as two "devices": Speakers and Digital Output.
I know this is normal, but with the behavior with the old driver is that choosing "Speakers" results in no sound and "Digital Output" is the option that works.
However, the new driver does kind of the opposite: "Speakers works as described above, and "Digital Output" produces some horrible garbled noises loosely based in the sound you're playing.
Sorry for the long post :-)
Thank you,
Adrian
Hi Adrian, The Callisto
Hi Adrian,
The Callisto driver does not have the ability to decode DTS or DDL; it can only encode these formats. If you suspect that your audio is being "re-encoded", it means that the audio program is likely decoding the DD/DTS audio first. Then, when the Callisto driver receives the audio, it is encoding it to the format you have set in the SPDIF output option box.
So to prevent this from happening, make sure your audio software is set to output to "SPDIF" or "Digital Output", rather than "Speakers" (the terms vary across programs). This should prevent these audio programs from decoding the encoded audio, and the Callisto should just pass the audio through to the output.
As for the Speakers/Digital Output thing in Vista, I just recommend to leave it set to Speakers. The way Vista detects "sub-devices" is not really consistent, and speaker mode seems to work the best (for all our products).
Not sure if I understood
Not sure if I understood correctly, but I think you mean that if the program was sending the encoded audio it wouldn't be possible for the Callisto to modify it.
That's what I thought at first, but the fact is the only thing I changed is the driver and the old one still works fine. Does that sound technically impossible?
As for the output I choose from the program or the Sound applet, it doesn't really matter because there's only one that works. I just found it strange that installing the new driver switched them around. This is not a problem.
Thanks for the quick answer.
That's right, if the program
That's right, if the program is sending encoded audio, the Callisto doesn't know how to decode it, so it can't change it. It just sends the audio along to the SPDIF output.
OK, then I guess the only
OK, then I guess the only thing I have left is to see if I can get the Digital Output device working on the new driver. I'll post again if I make any progress.
Thank you.
Hi Adrian, Just to clarify,
Hi Adrian,
Just to clarify, when I say to use the "Digital Output" setting, I mean in your audio program (Windows Media Player, WinDVD, etc), and not in Windows itself.
Hope that is clear, there is a lot of overlapping nomenclature in PC audio, so textual explanations can be misleading.
But not every program lets
But not every program lets you choose that. For example, from what I understand Windows Media Player just uses the system default setting. At least I don't see an option to change that from within the program.
OK, not sure exactly how,
OK, not sure exactly how, but now it works fine.
Here's what I did and how it works, just in case it helps someone else.
- Uninstalled old driver from device manager.
- Installed new driver. When installing either driver I always get the message "CmEnhance.exe has stopped responding" but it installs fine anyway.
- Now, if I choose "Speakers" the Callisto passes through everything. This means stereo signals go through as two channel PCM and DD/DTS signal are passed through to the receiver for decoding.
However, here the Spdif settings in the Callisto control panel have no effect (DDL and DTS Interactive do not work).
- If I switch to "Digital Output", all audio is processed through the Callisto according to the Spdif settings (PCM, DDL or DTS Interactive).
This might not be the best solution for everyone (nor how the Callisto is supposed to work according to the manual), but it's fine by me.
I use the Callisto as a second sound card only for movies, so I have to manually switch to it anyway. I just need to know what type of source I'm about to play beforehand, but that's no problem.
Thank you.
Hi Adrian, Thanks for
Hi Adrian,
Thanks for posting your solution. The Callisto's manual has not been updated to cover how Vista's Speakers/Digital Output settings. As you've seen, it seems to work differently depending on which drivers are installed.