Discussion:
Is 5.1 playback using Win32 Multimedia (waveOutOpen) possible?
(too old to reply)
Rich Fife
2006-10-25 21:01:45 UTC
Permalink
Hi all,

I'm trying to play back a 5.1 stream using the old "waveOutOpen" api.
I pass a WAVEFORMATEXTENSIBLE pointer to waveOutOpen and it does not
return an error, but I'm only getting audio out of the left and right
channels. My speakers are configured to 5.1 and I can play the file in
question just fine (on all 6 channels) through Media Player, but not
through the old multimedia approach.

Is this impossible?

Thanks!

-- Rich Fife --
Chris P. [MVP]
2006-10-25 21:14:37 UTC
Permalink
Post by Rich Fife
I'm trying to play back a 5.1 stream using the old "waveOutOpen" api.
I pass a WAVEFORMATEXTENSIBLE pointer to waveOutOpen and it does not
return an error, but I'm only getting audio out of the left and right
channels. My speakers are configured to 5.1 and I can play the file in
question just fine (on all 6 channels) through Media Player, but not
through the old multimedia approach.
Is this impossible?
It's possible but whether this is supported on the waveOut interface is up
to the device driver. The classic example is the "SoundBlaster Audigy" and
Live cards, which only support WAVEFORMATEXTENSIBLE on DirectSound.

It's supported through the kernel mixer, however if the device driver
doesn't support it, it will internally do a mix down to 2 channels.
--
http://www.chrisnet.net/code.htm
http://www.avdevforum.com/AV
Rich Fife
2006-10-25 21:25:55 UTC
Permalink
That explains it!

Thanks!

-- Rich Fife --
Post by Chris P. [MVP]
Post by Rich Fife
I'm trying to play back a 5.1 stream using the old "waveOutOpen" api.
I pass a WAVEFORMATEXTENSIBLE pointer to waveOutOpen and it does not
return an error, but I'm only getting audio out of the left and right
channels. My speakers are configured to 5.1 and I can play the file in
question just fine (on all 6 channels) through Media Player, but not
through the old multimedia approach.
Is this impossible?
It's possible but whether this is supported on the waveOut interface is up
to the device driver. The classic example is the "SoundBlaster Audigy" and
Live cards, which only support WAVEFORMATEXTENSIBLE on DirectSound.
It's supported through the kernel mixer, however if the device driver
doesn't support it, it will internally do a mix down to 2 channels.
--
http://www.chrisnet.net/code.htm
http://www.avdevforum.com/AV
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