Struggling to get sound after reinstalling WinXP

[neophyte]

I've been trying everything I know (which, when it comes to the Black Art of filter choice and configuration, is very little indeed!) to try to get audio back in DVDViewer after having been obliged to format my system drive and reinstall XP. The attached file will presumably give all the needed info about what I have currently set up.

 

Other details:-

 

DVB-T receiver - PCTV nanoStick T2 (290e)

Driver - PCTV 290e ver. 5.2010.901.0

mainboard chipset - Intel Z68 Express

graphics card (integral) - Intel HD Graphics 2000, driver ver. 6.14.1.5407

 

My choice, and configuration, of video filters seems to have been felicitous - the picture is excellent. But audio - zilch. Unfortunately I don't remember just what was the configuration I had before with which I was getting perfect (stereo) audio too, both on the channels with mpeg2 and those with AC-3.

 

Can someone please point out for me where I've gone astray?

support.zip

[Tjod]

Swicht the audio renderer back Default DirectSound Device.

[neophyte]

Hi Tjod

 

Thanks for replying.

 

Actually, I had already tried that setting but, just to be sure, I tried it again. No luck.

 

I have by now tried just about all the possible/likely (?) settings for 'Audio Renderer'. FWIW my own theory is that the problem is arising in one or more of the settings for the filters (either for LAV or - because I've tried that too - ffdshow).

[neophyte]

Anyone...? Please...?

 

I'm attaching a screenshot of a filter graph in case it sheds any light for anyone with the necessary expertise (which I totally lack). The clip is of a broadcast movie, in .mpg format.

 

Does this give any clue as to why I'm getting no audio, or must the explanation lie somewhere else (such as in the configuration of one or more of the filters)?

[neophyte]

Problem solved!

 

I stumbled upon the discovery that in Windows 'Master Mixer' applet, whilst 'Speaker Volume' was at the level I had set on the System Tray's pop-up scale (ie at 'max') the sliders for the separate device volume controls were set at zero. Not by me! - I'd not gone into this applet for ages.

 

This is something I've never encountered before - does anyone know what could have caused this to happen?

[neophyte]

Disaster - I spoke too soon

 

Although un-muting those slider-controls seemed to be the answer, audio has continued to be extremely erratic. It disappears for no apparent reason and after I've torn out most of what's left of my hair - hey presto! it's back again.

 

Right now it's absent and I'm attaching another support.zip file in the hope that this will reveal the source of the problem.

 

I notice, BTW, that although the filter-graph includes 'Audio Callback' in the audio filter-chain, and although this does appear among the filters listed in View -> Filters - IT'S GREYED OUT there, which strikes me as peculiar.

 

Is this a clue...?

 

I hope one of the experts can come to my aid because I'm getting desperate.

support.zip

[Griga]

IT'S GREYED OUT

All filters that don't provide a property page are greyed, because the menu item has no function.

[neophyte]

because the menu item has no function.

Logical, I admit.

 

Griga, can I ask for your reactions to the following please?

 

I dragged-and-dropped into Graphedit an .mpg file I had previously loaded into DVBViewer. Graphedit built filter-chains for both video and audio using filters for each stage which (I presume) have the highest merit and/or which are compatible one with another. If when playing the same file in DVDViewer I click on 'connect to a running graph...' in Graphedit, the filter-chains displayed are the ones I've selected (and therefore are not the same) - but Graphedit doesn't fault them. As already reported, I'm getting no audio (most of the time) through DVBViewer - but when I played-back in Graphedit its own graph for the same .mpg file I got no audio either.

 

So the source of the problem seems to be independent of what player is used to read/render a file, meaning that it must be in my computer's hardware or in the way it's configured - perhaps a hardware conflict. I wonder if you have any suggestions as to how I might investigate this and try to pin-down whatever is the cause?

Edited September 22, 2012 by neophyte

[Griga]

Regarding the filter graph screenshot above, I wonder how and why AC3 Filter gets in there.

 

Since the LAV Audio Decoder does the decoding, AC3 Filter is working as audio postprocessor. However, if inserted by DVBViewer or the Postprocessor Plugin, the sequence should be different: Audio Decoder -> Audio Callback -> AC3 Filter -> Audio Renderer.

 

You can avoid AC3 Filter as (unwanted?) audio postprocessor by unticking Start Menu -> AC3 Filter -> AC3 Filter Config -> System Tab -> Use AC3 Filter for PCM (DVBViewer should be closed).