Hardware support help would be greatly appreciated!!!

[DuncanS]

The problem playing Quad FLACS is with the Sony Blu-ray player, not my laptops. I updated the Sony Blu-ray’s player a week ago, but it still doesn’t like the quad FLAC’s. I don’t know how to load that program on my BR player. My laptops play the quad FLAC’s fine. The skipping or stuttering of the tracks on the laptops streaming from the external HD are not Quad FLAC files.

MMH runs on Windows PCs, so you need to load it on the PC, then use it to add silent Centre & LFE to the Quad flac files on the Hard Drive - its a few clicks and resave.

It seems like the Sony was not designed to cope with only 4 channels in files, possibly also with discs, will it play the Quad mixes on Dark Side or Wish You Were Here Pink Floyd discs? A few AVRs can't handle Quad and will often only output the front channels.

 

[nikomen]

I don't know if any of these apply, but worth considering:

Is the USB 2.0 or 3.0?​

Do you get the same results with the files if you copy them over to a thumbdrive?​

Does the AVR have an HDMI out connected to something? Maybe check the CEC, etc.?​

Is there anything in your router log that coincides with the stuttering?​

So the 4 TB WD HDD is USB 3.0, I’m out of town, but I’ve ordered a very small solid state drive that I plan to copy the files to to see if the same songs still skip. My AVR has four HDMI inputs and three outfits, and the only output connected is the ARC cable to the TV. Not sure about the router log, but these are in centesimal little stutters, but not there when I connect to my Sony Blu-ray player with the same songs.

 

[stereoptic]

So the 4 TB WD HDD is USB 3.0, I’m out of town, but I’ve ordered a very small solid state drive that I plan to copy the files to to see if the same songs still skip. My AVR has four HDMI inputs and three outfits, and the only output connected is the ARC cable to the TV. Not sure about the router log, but these are in centesimal little stutters, but not there when I connect to my Sony Blu-ray player with the same songs.

How are they being played on the Sony Blu-ray player? Over the network or through the HDD?

 

[MidiMagic]

I have dealt with stuff all of my life working with data collection in scientific experiments. We had the same stupid problems.

The biggest problem was that the operating system and the virus checker would not leave us alone. Just when it was time for the data to arrive, the OS would do some housekeeping chore that took precedence over the experiment. We had to turn off virus checking to keep the checker from looking at the datum we just collected.

Whenever a new operating system was installed, we had to check everything again. And (against the IT administrator's demands) we tried to keep the old OS when we could.

The people who design operating systems don't care about real-time applications. They design them for the best business performance to keep business customers happy.

I use Win XP because it works better than the newer versions for audio and data. And MS-DOS is much better than any version of windows.

Ideally, operating systems should be usable forever and never change. The creators of operating systems must not be allowed to deprecate or end the life of any operating system. Every time they do so costs people a lot of money and causes real-time software to fail.

 

[dobyblue]

Damn auto correct, he switched to a SSD

I can stream full bit for bit 4K Ultra HD rips (MKV) from my PC using Plex, those files are all on SATA6 HDDs; you don’t need to worry about the drive. I’d consider a dedicated streamer over the Sony. I love my Sony X800 but it just doesn’t compare to the NVidia Shield 4K Pro.

 

[nikomen]

How are they being played on the Sony Blu-ray player? Over the network or through the HDD?

They play perfectly on the Sony Blu-ray Player with no skips or stuttering

 

[mandrix]

I realize this doesn't really help the OP, but:
In reference to modern OS and playing audio.
I can bitstream Atmos with PowerDVD in 7.1.4 to my AVR with absolutely no problems. This is with several programs actively running in the background.
Sure, I can open up enough programs to eventually cause a momentary glitch in the sound, but that sort of defeats the purpose, eh?

I, too, used to work with scientific data collection, and had many problems. Often I would come to work in the morning to find the program had crashed, rendering the experiments dead in the water. I was not well versed in the P-Pascal OS and would have to get on the phone to Vancouver for support with their program. 4 hours time difference. More on "snow days".

Eventually we got more units that ran on DOS. Another nightmare, then later on an 'upgrade" to Window. Jeez what a mess!
What we demanded, and got, from the hardware/software vendor, was a more robust hardware and Windows solution. Problem solved.

Sometimes the problem is just crap hardware in the chain or software.

EDIT: Should have said I'm using Windows 11 Pro.

 

[Guy Robinson]

The HD I would think is not the issue. I play full bitrate 4k movies M2TS files with 7.1 audio from hard drives with no issues. Some if the files are close to 100 GB.

 

[Stupy]

Remarkably improbably, I had this glitch happen today while using VLC and experimenting with a 5.1 FLAC file (I was after times to split a long recording into tracks). Now I do not know why or how, but I must reiterate the "try Foobar2000" suggestion earlier. Because it glitched in VLC but not Foobar2000. Bizarre.

 

[nikomen]

Ok I’ll try it. Unfortunately my laptops are worlds apart with capabilities. My Windows laptop is about 12 years old running Windows 10, (barely), and my 1TB MacBook Pro is 1 yr old, is very fast. Foobar2000 has very limited options and ability to run in MacOS.

 

[mandrix]

Yes unfortunately I understand Foobar for mac is not so well developed as the Windows version...and most add in components are made for Windows.

 

[nikomen]

VLC works well for both OS, but it’s worth a shot. I appreciate everyone’s suggestions, but something hit me yesterday that makes me think you may be right that it’s the player more likely than the drive.

I have 3 copies of the same song: one copy on my HDD, one copy on my MacBook Pro and one on my Windows laptop. If I play the copy on either laptop with VLC media player, they do this stutter step with tiny micro gaps in playback, but mostly at the beginning of the songs that it occurs on. If I plug the HDD into either laptop and play that song, stutter steps again. When I plug the HDD into my Sony Blu-ray player, it uses its built in player to play the tracks back, but with no stuttering, play back perfectly. Other than the player itself, I thought it could be HDD/interface vs. a SSD/interface, so someone suggested switching to a SSD. So, when I get home I’ll try an SSD flash drive plugged into my MacBook and see if it still skips with VLC. If that mixes the problem then VLC is not the problem and then getting a large (expensive) SSD makes sense. I have Foobar2000 on my MacBook so I’ll see if playback with it fixes the problem, then I’ll have to see what little I can or can’t do with Foobar2000 on Mac. If it doesn’t fix the problem, then I’m back to an external drive/laptop interface glitch.

The last option I can do is someone here suggested getting another standalone media player, but then my fear of buying another piece of hardware is that VLC like Foobar2000 plays pretty much everything, all types of FLAC including Quad FLACS, DSD files etc. I’m not sure that player can play back every type of file on my WD HDD.

 

[nikomen]

VLC works well for both OS, but it’s worth a shot. I appreciate everyone’s suggestions, but something hit me yesterday that makes me think you may be right that it’s the player more likely than the drive.

I have 3 copies of the same song: one copy on my HDD, one copy on my MacBook Pro and one on my Windows laptop. If I play the copy on either laptop with VLC media player, they do this stutter step with tiny micro gaps in playback, but mostly at the beginning of the songs that it occurs on. If I plug the HDD into either laptop and play that song, stutter steps again. When I plug the HDD into my Sony Blu-ray player, it uses its built in player to play the tracks back, but with no stuttering, play back perfectly. Other than the player itself, I thought it could be HDD/interface vs. a SSD/interface, so someone suggested switching to a SSD. So, when I get home I’ll try an SSD flash drive plugged into my MacBook and see if it still skips with VLC. If that mixes the problem then VLC is not the problem and then getting a large (expensive) SSD makes sense. I have Foobar2000 on my MacBook so I’ll see if playback with it fixes the problem, then I’ll have to see what little I can or can’t do with Foobar2000 on Mac. If it doesn’t fix the problem, then I’m back to an external drive/laptop interface glitch.

The last option I can do is someone here suggested getting another standalone media player, but then my fear of buying another piece of hardware is that VLC like Foobar2000 plays pretty much everything, all types of FLAC including Quad FLACS, DSD files etc. I’m not sure that player can play back every type of file on my WD HDD

 

[nikomen]

It's been my experience that my Sony players, unlike my Oppo, will balk at some files, either on a disk or a drive, that it sees as "non-commercial." I got around it by using a media player called a Vero 4K+ and Kodi.

No, the Vero 4K+ is a (small) physical unit that runs Kodi software. Some people use mini-PCs, or NUCs, I think they're called. The bottom line is that the Sony BD players will likely always present this problem, unless there is some kind of mod I'm unaware of.

So is Cody he already built in software that Vero 4K plus runs on? Or do I have to add Kodi software to it? My biggest concern with buying a different media player is if it will recognize all the different types of files I have on my hard drive and play them all back. Do you know if it will play quad FLACS as well as DSD files, BD FLACS, etc?

 

[paligap]

So is Cody he already built in software that Vero 4K plus runs on? Or do I have to add Kodi software to it? My biggest concern with buying a different media player is if it will recognize all the different types of files I have on my hard drive and play them all back. Do you know if it will play quad FLACS as well as DSD files, BD FLACS, etc?

Kodi is built in software that runs on the Vero 4K+, but it is not its operating system, which is OSMC. The Vero 4K+ works for me because it is as plug-and-play as any of these media players I have seen. It plays every type of file I've thrown at it, including quad FLAC files and MKV files with Atmos. As for DSD files, I believe the actual format I've ripped from SACDs and downloaded is DSF, which the Vero 4K+ plays as well. I'm not sure what you mean by "BD FLACs," but it does play MKV files and FLAC files that I converted from MKV files. You can find out more about it here:
https://osmc.tv/vero/
Having said all that, it might not be the best solution for everybody, and there might be other options out there that are more powerful, configurable, etc. I would suggest starting here for some valuable, useful info:
https://www.quadraphonicquad.com/fo...1-why-use-a-media-player-pros-and-cons.22373/

 

[nikomen]

Kodi is built in software that runs on the Vero 4K+, but it is not its operating system, which is OSMC. The Vero 4K+ works for me because it is as plug-and-play as any of these media players I have seen. It plays every type of file I've thrown at it, including quad FLAC files and MKV files with Atmos. As for DSD files, I believe the actual format I've ripped from SACDs and downloaded is DSF, which the Vero 4K+ plays as well. I'm not sure what you mean by "BD FLACs," but it does play MKV files and FLAC files that I converted from MKV files. You can find out more about it here:
https://osmc.tv/vero/
Having said all that, it might not be the best solution for everybody, and there might be other options out there that are more powerful, configurable, etc. I would suggest starting here for some valuable, useful info:
https://www.quadraphonicquad.com/fo...1-why-use-a-media-player-pros-and-cons.22373/

So I’d love the idea of not using my laptops and using a separate media player as long as it plays everything like you said, the Vero 4K+ seems to. So is there a USB 3.0 connection on the player for my HDD? So is there an HDMI port to connect to your AVR?

 

[paligap]

So I’d love the idea of not using my laptops and using a separate media player as long as it plays everything like you said, the Vero 4K+ seems to. So is there a USB 3.0 connection on the player for my HDD? So is there an HDMI port to connect to your AVR?

I believe the USB input is 2.0, but it works fine for me. I do use a powered dock, though, because the Vero does not do a good job of powering a portable HDD. And yes, the player connects to my AVR via HDMI.

Again, there are other options, but this works for me.

 

[nikomen]

I believe the USB input is 2.0, but it works fine for me. I do use a powered dock, though, because the Vero does not do a good job of powering a portable HDD. And yes, the player connects to my AVR via HDMI.

Again, there are other options, but this works for me.

If you don’t mind I do have a couple of more questions and I appreciate all your help. So I know a lot of people that use media players use them mainly for videos and movies. I have not been able to view any YouTube’s or screenshots of what the media player looks like on your TV as far as functionality, settings, set up. Does the media player have a Music section or icon that will allow you to play and make playlists for instance, or is it really geared towards movies and you won’t see much support for just playing music back. Does it support any art work of them artist or album that you’re playing?

The most important question, and I should’ve asked it first, is that my external hard drive is formatted as exFAT because I can read and write to it from both my Mac and Windows laptops. Obviously I can’t reformat the drive since it already has 3.4 TB of music on it.

 

[paligap]

If you don’t mind I do have a couple of more questions and I appreciate all your help. So I know a lot of people that use media players use them mainly for videos and movies. I have not been able to view any YouTube’s or screenshots of what the media player looks like on your TV as far as functionality, settings, set up. Does the media player have a Music section or icon that will allow you to play and make playlists for instance, or is it really geared towards movies and you won’t see much support for just playing music back. Does it support any art work of them artist or album that you’re playing?

The most important question, and I should’ve asked it first, is that my external hard drive is formatted as exFAT because I can read and write to it from both my Mac and Windows laptops. Obviously I can’t reformat the drive since it already has 3.4 TB of music on it.

I use my Vero almost exclusively for music, mostly FLAC files but also some MKV files of blu-ray music and concerts. It has separate Music and Video sections on the menu, although there is some overlap in accessing the files. It can create, or at least play, playlists, but I don't use that function. All my FLAC files are tagged with album art that displays during playback. It is true that a lot of people use this unit for video, but I'm not one of them.

You can get an idea of what Kodi's menu screens look like here, but be aware that the interface is customizable via "skins" and other options.
https://kodi.wiki/view/Basic_controlsI like things simple, but others like to fiddle around endlessly.

As for your hard drive, it should be okay, according to this:
https://discourse.osmc.tv/t/hard-drive-format-for-vero-4k-exfat-ntfs-hfs/35252My drive is NTFS because I manually update it periodically on my PC. Like every other device, there is always more info:
https://discourse.osmc.tv/t/best-hdd-format-for-vero-4k-and-how-to-do-so/75833But, because I like things simple, I try not to dive into the deep end too much. Having said that, another good thing about the Vero is the ability to get support both from its developers and its community. I had some set up questions when I first got it, and I found that forum really helpful.

 

[nikomen]

I use my Vero almost exclusively for music, mostly FLAC files but also some MKV files of blu-ray music and concerts. It has separate Music and Video sections on the menu, although there is some overlap in accessing the files. It can create, or at least play, playlists, but I don't use that function. All my FLAC files are tagged with album art that displays during playback. It is true that a lot of people use this unit for video, but I'm not one of them.

You can get an idea of what Kodi's menu screens look like here, but be aware that the interface is customizable via "skins" and other options.
https://kodi.wiki/view/Basic_controlsI like things simple, but others like to fiddle around endlessly.

As for your hard drive, it should be okay, according to this:
https://discourse.osmc.tv/t/hard-drive-format-for-vero-4k-exfat-ntfs-hfs/35252My drive is NTFS because I manually update it periodically on my PC. Like every other device, there is always more info:
https://discourse.osmc.tv/t/best-hdd-format-for-vero-4k-and-how-to-do-so/75833But, because I like things simple, I try not to dive into the deep end too much. Having said that, another good thing about the Vero is the ability to get support both from its developers and its community. I had some set up questions when I first got it, and I found that forum really helpful.

Thanks for the help! The second link says that they think that NTFS format may be the culprit for stuttering, (which is what trying to get away from now) but it doesn’t answer the guys question which format is the best for the hard drive for the Vero 4K+. I don’t know that much about this, is there a speed or buffering issues between the different types of formats between NTFS, exFat, and FAT32?