Topic: Only Left Speaker on 7.1 USB headset

Hello SVP Team,

A week ago, I read something about using madVR to greatly improve video quality alongside using SVP for a much better viewing experience. I read a few guides on the subject, and from this point on I've been having nothing but problems with SVP and MPC-HC (mostly MPC, it seems).

The first thing I did was change the DirectShow video renderer to madVR in MPC, which broke SVP (it didn't even start working again when I switched the video renderer back to the custom presenter). This was fixed by using the SVP maintenance tool to completely uninstall/reinstall SVP from scratch, this time selecting madVR during the installation.

Okay, so now everything was seemingly working fine again. I go through the settings in madVR and configure everything the way I want it, and get it all customized for my specific system.
A few days go by, and one night I feel like testing Steam In-Home Streaming, but this means that I'm going to want my headset with me while I use my laptop to stream games from my desktop (which is the computer I'm having problems with).

The problem was, my headset is a Razer Kraken 7.1 Chroma; a USB headset that essentially acts as the computer's sound card while it's plugged in. In the past, I've used a standard setup where you can just unplug your headset from the 3.5mm jack, do what you need to do, and plug them back in later, which is fine because your actual sound card is never removed from the system.
To avoid making this post any longer than it has to be, I'll just say that since getting this headset, I have very quickly learned that it is VERY bad to unplug your sound device, for any reason. Simply replugging this headset will have most applications requiring a restart in order to properly play audio.
But still, the only way I was getting any use out of my desktop that night was through remoting into it. So, I closed all of my applications and basically just left my system on the desktop. I set my laptop up and had a fun night streaming games from my desktop.

The next morning, I got up and plugged my headset back into my computer, made sure it's set as the default audio device, and everything seems to be surprisingly working fine again. Until I try to watch a video.
I spent most of that day diagnosing and trying to fix a constant onslaught of problems, most of which I don't even remember because I was just so frustrated. I do remember MPC playing two different audio tracks (Japanese and English audio) at the same time in one show that I used to test if SVP is working, and after 6-8 hours of rage-induced Googling (which solved nothing), I found out that going into Options > External Filters and unchecking the ReClock Audio Renderer fixed the problem.
And everything was lovely once again. I watched a few episodes of a show just fine, until about a day or two later, when I tried to resume watching.

I opened the next episode, and MPC starts playing audio in the left speaker of my headset, but not the right speaker. I tested the same episode in VLC and SMPlayer, and the audio works just fine in both of those video players, playing audio in both speakers.
I also tried a bunch of other videos that I had on my computer, and they all had the same problem with audio weirdly playing in only the left speaker.
I immediately went and reinstalled SVP, resetting the configuration/settings for SVP and MPC-HC in the process. This got things working again, and I watched maybe four more episodes without any issues that day. The next day, the problem suddenly came back, and no amount of reinstalling has fixed the issue thus far.
I've gone through ALL of the settings I could find related to audio, and I can't seem to find anything that fixes the problem. I've fiddled with enabling custom mixing, enabled/disabled the built-in audio switcher, played with custom channel mapping, ticked/unticked boxes in the LAV Audio Renderer, looked around in the LAV Splitter...
I've even gone into Razer Synapse and made SURE that MPC-HC is set to play sound in 7.1 format. I've tried switching it to Stereo 2.0, and I've tried rolling back the driver for my headset... Nothing I've found will work.

I think I should also be specific that it doesn't sound like the audio is playing normally in the left speaker. Listening to the left speaker alone, the audio sounds quieter/distant in MPC, compared to VLC or SMPlayer. Maybe the virtual 7.1 audio space is working, but only part of the audio is being played in the left speaker? I don't know. Even just listening to the audio in the left speaker alone, it just sounds... Wrong.
I know that the right speaker IS working, because audio plays fine in every other application, and while using MPC to play videos, I can hear a static hissing in the right speaker, which is normally what you hear in this headset when the system volume is above 50% or the headset is playing audio.

I know this is the SVP forum, and you guys specifically manage the SVP project, which relates to video, but I was hoping that maybe there would be some knowledgeable people here who know a lot about messing around with custom audio/video filters/renderers/etc, and maybe they've had an issue like this before. On top of that, all of this software was installed through the SVP installer, so even though this is an audio problem, technically, it still relates to SVP.



Alright, sorry for the long post, it's late and I'm just fed up with the constant stream of problems I've been having. I just wanted to get this posted. I'll edit this with more information if/as needed, and before I go, my system specs:
CPU: AMD Phenom II X6 1045T (3.9GHz)
RAM: 8GB DDR3 (4x 2GB sticks)
GPU1: GeForce GTX 950 (1478MHz Core)
GPU2: GT 640 (1178MHz Core)
Audio: Razer Kraken 7.1 Chroma

2 Reply by Anim8 (edited by Anim8 18-04-2017 08:38:48)

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Re: Only Left Speaker on 7.1 USB headset

Porkey wrote:

A few days go by, and one night I feel like testing Steam In-Home Streaming, but this means that I'm going to want my headset with me while I use my laptop to stream games from my desktop (which is the computer I'm having problems with).

Steam In-Home Streaming mutes the windows volume when you start streaming so audio doesn't play out of the host PC and un-mutes when finished. I doubt this would be the cause of your issues.


Porkey wrote:

The problem was, my headset is a Razer Kraken 7.1 Chroma; a USB headset that essentially acts as the computer's sound card while it's plugged in.  In the past, I've used a standard setup where you can just unplug your headset from the 3.5mm jack, do what you need to do, and plug them back in later, which is fine because your actual sound card is never removed from the system

The headset will have a DAC in it as the audio needs to be converted into analog at some point. Which is basically what a sound card does, a DAC (Digital to Analog Converter)


From reading your post I don't really know whats going on but I would suspect the Synapse software is the cause?
Does the sound work ok if using 3.5mm headphones/speakers from your sound card, not the Razor headset? (Make sure Razor Synapse is not interfering with the audio, maybe uninstall it)

Reading about Razer Surround seems like it intercepts audio and applies its surround algorithm before its been processed/passed to any DAC/sound card.

Re: Only Left Speaker on 7.1 USB headset

Yes, I was well aware that IHS mutes the local audio. My point was, I wanted my Razer headset with me, on my laptop, which meant that I had to unplug it from my desktop.
Which leads to the problem, the headset acts as the computer's sound card. Although disconnecting a sound device wouldn't usually be catastrophic, like it would if you just suddenly yanked a graphics card out of your system, it can still cause programs to freak out, which is why I was cautious of it in the first place.

I'm extremely tech savvy, so I know pretty much everything there is to know about how hardware works. Of course my headset will have to have a DAC in it somewhere. The actual audio processing to achieve the virtual 7.1 surround sound effect, though, we can't be so sure. It's heavily implied by Razer that the headset itself has some sort of onboard processor that does the processing to time the delay in audio to simulate the surround effect, but I honestly think it's much more likely that the driver includes some sort of software similar to their standalone Surround software that is supposed to work with any headset, and does the processing on the CPU.

I don't actually have Razer Surround installed, as Synapse essentially manages the Kraken headset all on its own. The surround settings/customization should only be applied to the headset unless you actually have Razer Surround (again to clarify, Surround is a separate standalone software, designed for use with ANY headset).

As I wrote this post, I got the time to test the sound chip on my motherboard... It works! I plugged in a crappy headset and got sound in both ears. But... My Razer headset is really the only working audio device I have that's worth using to listen to anything with. I'm not going to plug in a crappy set of free beer-case headphones in every time I want to watch something.

So we've figured out that MPC seems to be having problems with my Razer headset specifically, but no other video player seems to have any problems. Now what? Do I point Razer's dev team to this thread, only for them to never follow up? Should it really be considered a problem with my Razer headset/drivers, even though every other video player works without any problems? I've even had SVP+MPC-HC working for at least a full year with this headset, without any problems until now.

4 Reply by Anim8 (edited by Anim8 18-04-2017 11:34:15)

  • Thanks: 13

Re: Only Left Speaker on 7.1 USB headset

Porkey wrote:

So we've figured out that MPC seems to be having problems with my Razer headset specifically, but no other video player seems to have any problems. Now what? Do I point Razer's dev team to this thread, only for them to never follow up? Should it really be considered a problem with my Razer headset/drivers, even though every other video player works without any problems? I've even had SVP+MPC-HC working for at least a full year with this headset, without any problems until now.

I guess use the other video player until you can get it working.

You could try change MPCs audio filter see if does anything and also check the status of LAV(default filter) to see if its showing audio output for both L and R.

Lav

5 Reply by Porkey (edited by Porkey 18-04-2017 11:44:19)

Re: Only Left Speaker on 7.1 USB headset

Showing activity on multiple channels, still only hearing in my left ear.
Can I change the audio filter to something other than LAV?

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  • Thanks: 13

Re: Only Left Speaker on 7.1 USB headset

Porkey wrote:

Showing activity on multiple channels, still only hearing in my left ear.
Can I change the audio filter to something other than LAV?

Should be able to add under External Filter.

Don't have a suggestion as to what filter to use/download.

Re: Only Left Speaker on 7.1 USB headset

Okay, just finished playing around with some filters. I added  the ffdshow Audio Processor and ffdshow Audio Decoder.
The audio decoder had some settings to configure the sound output for 5.0, 5.1, 7.0, 7.1, stereo, mono, etc. Initially it was set to stereo, and switching it to 7 channels made a noticeable difference in the sound. It sounded like the virtual 7.1 was definitely working, but still in only one ear.

So if I'm forced to use another video player to watch anything, then... What's the point of SVP? I want to be able to watch video in 60fps; that was the whole point of installing SVP+MPC+madVR.

8 Reply by Anim8 (edited by Anim8 18-04-2017 12:40:13)

  • Thanks: 13

Re: Only Left Speaker on 7.1 USB headset

Porkey wrote:

So if I'm forced to use another video player to watch anything, then... What's the point of SVP? I want to be able to watch video in 60fps; that was the whole point of installing SVP+MPC+madVR.

Only suggested using the other player due to your sound issue until you can fix it but generally SVP+MPC+madVR should work just fine.

SVP does work with many video players. smplayer(MPV), and VLC both work with it, but I don't think madVR works with either of them.
https://www.svp-team.com/wiki/SVP:Video_players

If you wanted to use madVR+SVP try give potplayer a try for example. (I would go with 32bit build for now)
After install you just need to add ffdshow raw video filter and set to prefer and should then SVP should work with it. (Below is for 32bit version only)
http://i.imgur.com/ZYMn49Y.png


For madVR set the video renderer to Madshi
http://i.imgur.com/QvMFNH0.png


For SMplayer to work with MPV you need to add (Requires MPV with VapourSynth support)
--input-ipc-server=mpvpipe
http://i.imgur.com/nCbHFUM.png

9 Reply by Porkey (edited by Porkey 18-04-2017 12:40:53)

Re: Only Left Speaker on 7.1 USB headset

Ah, but I am using the free version of SVP, unfortunately. VLC is not supported in the free version. I'd try installing potplayer now using the guide on the forum, but I'm heavily discouraged by the fact that I had MPC+SVP working for a year already with no issues. I don't see why MPC is being a problem now. The only thing I changed was a video renderer.

Edit: Okay I saw your post edit. Hold on I'm reading and I'll try it out. If all I have to do is switch video renderers then I'll give it a go.

Re: Only Left Speaker on 7.1 USB headset

Woah okay, so potPlayer is one of those misconfigured applications that installed itself in Japenese, because I have to have my system locale set to Japan for non-unicode programs (I occasionally play some RPG maker games and others that require it to run).
Changing it would require a restart, which is not possible at the moment because I'm transferring some very large backups, and the file transfer is probably going to take more than a day.

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Re: Only Left Speaker on 7.1 USB headset

Porkey wrote:

Ah, but I am using the free version of SVP, unfortunately. VLC is not supported in the free version. I'd try installing potplayer now using the guide on the forum, but I'm heavily discouraged by the fact that I had MPC+SVP working for a year already with no issues.

Ah fair enough,
A fix that would of been best but I don't know what going on with your Razor headset.

One thing I do like about potplayer is the thumbnail view which most players do not have(to turn on tick)
http://i.imgur.com/Lx6At8a.png

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Re: Only Left Speaker on 7.1 USB headset

Porkey wrote:

Woah okay, so potPlayer is one of those misconfigured applications that installed itself in Japenese, because I have to have my system locale set to Japan for non-unicode programs (I occasionally play some RPG maker games and others that require it to run).
Changing it would require a restart, which is not possible at the moment because I'm transferring some very large backups, and the file transfer is probably going to take more than a day.

Its Korean based, but I cant say that happened to me.

Re: Only Left Speaker on 7.1 USB headset

Wow, I managed to change the language in PotPlayer, added the ffdshow and madVR filters, set them to prefer and voila, it works! I'm now getting audio in both ears, but I still have two questions.
1, Is madVR really still going to work now? I thought we just set the video renderer to ffdshow?
And 2, under Filter Priority, I also added madVR the same as I did for ffdshow, and also set it to prefer. Was this necessary, or would I have been able to get madVR working with just the ffdshow filter?

14 Reply by Anim8 (edited by Anim8 18-04-2017 13:37:20)

  • Thanks: 13

Re: Only Left Speaker on 7.1 USB headset

Porkey wrote:

Wow, I managed to change the language in PotPlayer, added the ffdshow and madVR filters, set them to prefer and voila, it works! I'm now getting audio in both ears, but I still have two questions.
1, Is madVR really still going to work now? I thought we just set the video renderer to ffdshow?
And 2, under Filter Priority, I also added madVR the same as I did for ffdshow, and also set it to prefer. Was this necessary, or would I have been able to get madVR working with just the ffdshow filter?

1. You just need to set madVR as the video renderer to Madshi. ffdshow raw is used so SVP is able to do its stuff, not used for up-scaling.
http://i.imgur.com/QvMFNH0.png


2. You don't need to add madVR as a external filter its unnecessary, if you want to view madVRs overlay/info you can press Ctrl+J in the video player. Ctrl+J again to hide.

Re: Only Left Speaker on 7.1 USB headset

Wow, thanks for all your help so far. Everything seems to be working pretty much normally for now, but I have noticed that I seem to be dropping a lot of frames. I'm currently still playing around with the madVR settings, and I don't seem to be able to make a clear connection between what settings are causing how much frame dropping to occur. I'm mainly watching anime, and have SVP set for Animation, with artifact masking set to High, and I've been playing with the chroma and image upscaling settings in madVR. I've tried Jinc, Lanczos, and NNEDI3 (To intentionally lag the video output to see if madVR was working).

Between Jinc and Lanczos, the player seems to be dropping 1 frame every 10+ seconds in some scenes with lots of action, and then dropping 10-30 frames at a time in some scenes with no motion at all...

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Re: Only Left Speaker on 7.1 USB headset

madVR uses a lot of GPU power but yes you don't want to not be dropping lots of frames. With SVP+madVR it does help to have a half decent GPU.

Jinc tends to be more demanding than Lanczos but if your having trouble try Cubic for Chroma and maybe Lanczos for Luma.
Your better off using your resources for better luma up-scaling over Chroma.