Milan Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Hello Bob, > > I am afraid, this implementation will take us some > more time than expected, so our current estimation > we could have a working solution is somewhere > around June/July. > > Regards, > Milan Understood. Thanks for trying and for being there. Bobby bobkatz - VanityPRO
Hi, Milan. Thanks for your reply and your effort on the new firmware... last time i looked at the status screen, the occasional dropouts did not occur in sync with being near the 20% and 80% buffer points. I would like to try the new firmware and see how it does. I have to move the box upstairs and hook it up to my only remaining windows 10 machine so that's a pain, but if you think the newby bobkatz - VanityPRO
I really like the idea but I'm AES/EBU. I would want to have my cake and eat it, too! Have both USB and AES/EBU options, otherwise I'd stick with AES/EBU. I guess on the HDMI side, the HDMI is the master clock and the AES/EBU is a derived de-jittered output that's "synced" with the HDMI source. It would be nice to stay bit-perfect: With the USB, can you use asynby bobkatz - VanityPRO
Hi, Pavel. Any progress in getting Windows 11 to work with the firmware uploader? I have to jump through hoops, remove the Vanity from my rack and bring it upstairs and connect it to my iMac running Parallels.... that's really really really awkward. Sorry.by bobkatz - VanityPRO
I have a further development. Vanity pro --- quite serious dropouts at 44.1 kHz. I tried playing an audio CD from the HDMI output of either of two different Blu Ray players and in both cases, Vanity just can't handle it, lots of dropouts. I conclude that your "PLL" is too "stiff".... intolerant of any incoming sampling frequency issues.by bobkatz - VanityPRO
Thanks, Pavel. I'm traveling right now so when I get back. Would this diagnostic firmware change any of the desirable functions that are in the current release firmware?by bobkatz - VanityPRO
Yes, Apple TV has a built in Atmos Decoder. It is, in fact an Atmost transcoder because Apple does not have a bitstream option. So the only two choices are: Convert to 5.1 Linear PCM, OR convert to 5.1 AC3. "5.1" is not explicitly mentioned in the Apple menu when you choose to convert to linear pcm, but my tests and others tests show that Apple limits their decoding (or more correctlby bobkatz - VanityPRO
Thanks, Pavel. Of course I'm happy to send diagnostic data. Anything you'd like. Well, the dropouts on the ESS DAC do seem to be buffer-related, or at least aggravated by sample frequency micro-adjustments associated with keeping the buffer from over or under flowing. But the other DAC, the Prism, not being ESS and having a pure 2-stage analog PLL, is usually not sensitive to slight errby bobkatz - VanityPRO
Yes, Pavel, I'm getting an 8 channel display out of Netflix. It looks like with Apple TV, only when the receiver supports Atmos (has an Atmos decoder) can we get 8 channels from the main channels. This is a limitation of Apple TV, not Netflix. If you have Apple TV set to produce Linear PCM it only puts out a maximum of 5.1, that's the limitation of the Apple decoder, which actually decoby bobkatz - VanityPRO
Dear Pavel: Some progress, but indications are not good. I played a Blu Ray with a concert video with a 48 kHz 5.1 soundtrack. I took AES output channels 1/2 and fed that to a Prism Callia DAC. As you may know, the Prism DACs are almost unique in the industry, employing a pure, two-stage all-analog Phase Locked Loop. So Prism couldn't be any further apart from the ESS architecture than yby bobkatz - VanityPRO
Power distribution in this room is incredible. I have a dedicated 100 amp (that's 100 amp) 240 volt service coming into Studio A. That goes into 5 Surge-X EMI/RFI filters and 5 20 amp 120 volt circuit breakers. All lines are star run back to this central box through steel conduit. I could go on, but let me finsh by saying that After I finished this renovation, the noise in the power line wasby bobkatz - VanityPRO
Yeah, looks like Apple TV only outputs 5.1 in linear PCM if the EDID just asks for linear PCM. If the receiver can decode Atmos it will provide a proper EDID and then ATV will output Atmos. At that point the lower 8 channels can be in linear PCM ---these are downmixed from Atmos, and sent with MAT metadata. I'm not totally sure what would happen if Vanity provided an indication that it hasby bobkatz - VanityPRO
OK, now that I have the Grace M908 monitor controller hooked up and locked to wordclock from the Vanity, I get the same quantity of occasional audio glitches. I think the next step is to try a different model DAC and listen for an hour or two continuous and see if the problem is rectified. Best wishes, Bobby bobkatz - VanityPRO
Hi, Pavel, yours was not a stupid question! I did not realize that the Vanity wordclock has to be turned on from the menu until I started measuring it with my scope, and discovering there was no output. Thus, the error from the Grace M908. So now I have to re-evaluate the Grace M908 with wordclock. Please stand by for that information! In the meantime, as long as I was scoping, I connected thby bobkatz - VanityPRO
Hi, Pavel. I tried the word clock. Grace M908 shows an error, but not exactly sure what error. The Grace appears to be locking regardless of the error. I got a clean playback for almost an hour and then 2 seconds of audio dropout. According to Michael Grace, the wordclock uses the same PLL, but skips some of the ESS FPGA so it might eliminate some questions as to the cause. But right now I canby bobkatz - VanityPRO
Hi, Pavel. Having discovered that I can only get 5.1 channels from Netflix and other streamers on Apple TV4K, I'm on a quest to get at least 7.1 channels through the Vanity. First I tried the Netflix app in my "smart" Blu Ray player, but that was a failure, it only outputs 2 channels :-( Next, I tried to get ARC working from my very smart LG TV to see if it's smart enougby bobkatz - VanityPRO
Dear Pavel: I actually didn't check the EDID produced by the Vanity with the Moninfo tool. My post was meant to indicate that you would never be able to provide all the possible settings (including Dolby Vision) that a user might want with the EDID setting, so please keep it up that you "steal" the video EDID from the monitor if it's plugged in. The one thing I did try wasby bobkatz - VanityPRO
Thanks, Pavel. I thought about the word clock. I'll give it a try!by bobkatz - VanityPRO
Thanks, Milan. I can wait, but in the meantime, if there is new firmware, I will try it first on Win 11 in compatibility mode.by bobkatz - VanityPRO
Hi, Pavel. I am using a Grace M908 monitor controller. I'm not sure what kind of DAC is used in the Grace, I do think it is an ESS. I've written to Michael Grace to ask about the PLL situation and the nature of their DAC. To check the status screen, do I have to be viewing the status screen at the exact moment that the dropout occurs?by bobkatz - VanityPRO
Hi, Milan. It's good to see you here! Do you think if I run the firmware loader in compatibility mode or as an admin it will run on Win 11? Best wishes, Bob Milan Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Hello, > > just to let all you know, together with Dennis, at > the end we were able to program the HDMI FW at > Dennis side. As it wby bobkatz - VanityPRO
Could the occasional glitches be the FIFO momentarily emptying? You don't explain in the manual how you keep the FIFO maintained?by bobkatz - VanityPRO
With my latest setup and firmware and using very clean, high bandwidth HDMI cables, the number of dropouts has greatly reduced, but not completely. Perhaps once every 5-10 minutes, I hear a little glitch in the sound, a little audio dropout. This is often the symptom of an aggressive jitter-reduction PLL, so I would like to suggest that you offer some slightly more relaxed PLL settings for us toby bobkatz - VanityPRO
EDIT, removed "NOT" Dear Pavel: I have a Dolby Atmos test Blu Ray. The Vanity does not appear to obey any channel assignment metadata in a source. Except for the Center/LFE swap option, it is permanently set up to be in this order from the AES outputs: LF/RF C/LFE LS/RS SBL/SBR which is SMPTE channel order. I Fortunately it is the standard I'm using in my studio :-)by bobkatz - VanityPRO
Using the application MonInfo I can confirm that the EDID select screen in the latest firmware HDMI 35A1, audio 5.2.1 is NOT functional. And for me this is a good thing! Because as I said in my previous post, the EDID is a combination of a Video EDID passthrough from the Vanity HDMI output and audio setting permanently as 8 channel LPCM-capable. In other words, REGARDLESS OF THE SETTING OF THEby bobkatz - VanityPRO
Hi AP from Bob Katz. My routing has totally changed here. And I am concerned about future revisions of the Vanity EDID editor. I am back to using the video output of the Vanity Pro to feed my video monitor. Previously the route was: Video source (e.g. 4k BluRay Player) to Matrix Switch input. Matrix switch output A to TV. Matrix switch output B to Vanity HDMI In. Vanity HDMI out VACANT.by bobkatz - VanityPRO
Hi, Pavel. Changing to the very best HDMI (18 Gbps or higher) cables at every juncture seems to have cleaned up the dropouts! I've actually bypassed all the EDID issues by using a Simplified Manufacturing RM42C matrix switch, which can feed a consistent (even custom) EDID back to my sources: The Apple TV, a Mac computer, and two Blu Ray players. One output of the matrix switch feeds the videby bobkatz - VanityPRO
Some good news (I think). I was able to update the firmware, both v 35 (HDMI) and v5.1 with my iMac running Parallels, which has Windows 10. After I did that I still got those audio dropouts, so now I'm changing some cables, we shall see. I'm feeding the Vanity with an 18 Gbps Matrix switch and some of the cables were regular HDMI. I doubt that an 18 Gbps cable is needed but we shall seby bobkatz - VanityPRO
I started getting regular audio dropouts so I looked up and saw new firmware might be able to solve this. It was not a DAC locking to my knowledge as Vanity showed regular loss of connection. Oh boy, I'm in a mess of trouble.All my PCs have been updated to Win 11, so I do not have a win 10 computer available. I actually didn't read the part of this thread showing that there are probby bobkatz - VanityPRO
Dear Karl: I eventually solved the problem. You have to have good cables, make sure they are high bandwidth, 4k UHD cables. After you replace the cables, then it's a new ball game. At that point I was able to send 4k out of Apple TV. HOWEVER, you are correct, the EDID from the Vanity is not sufficient. Even if it tells the source (e.g. Apple TV) that it's 4k, what about Dolby Visionby bobkatz - VanityPRO