Dolby multichannel audio capture with HDMI on Colossus 2?

[BOMOON]

Hi Everyone,

I've been cruising the forum for info on capturing multichannel Dolby audio with the Hauppauge Colossus 2. Some folks say it just can't be done via the HDMI interface. Other folks are claiming to have done it but the explanations are a little short for my wet brain. Also, no one seems to have tried SPDIF as far as I can see. For logistical reasons I haven't tried SPDF either (yet; working on that).

At the moment my source devices are DirecTV Genie+ and Roku Ultra.

For capturing of the audio from these sources, here's what I have so far.

1. Used the HDMI channel on Colossus. Connects to either Genie or Roku via smart switch
2. Two cap programs, Hauppauge Capture and WinTV 8.
3. WinTV 8 audio captures from the HDMI channel are always AAC stereo, regardless of any settings.
4. I've been able to get "multichannel audio" captures with Hauppauge Capture, but I'm not sure what format the "multiple channels" are. The captured waveforms shown in VegasPro all look identical to me. MediaInfo specs for the audio tracks are also identical.

Capture settings:
From the Capture tab, press "Advanced" button
From the Audio Encoder option,

Audio bitrate set to 256K
AAC Sample Rate Downscaling set to 48K (for 48K in), 44.1K (for 44.1 K in(

.TS audio set to MPEG-1 Layer II. AAC is greyed out (see below, Multiple Channels setting)

Analog Audio Boost ENABLED
Disable HDMI AC3 Support DISABLED
Use Multiple Audio Tracks for recordings ENABLED
(Note: this setting greys out AAC option for .TS audio).
(Note: If DISABLED, captured audio is always AAC 2 channelregardless of .TS audio setting)
Capture original AC3 track for multiple track recording ENABLED

Capture output:

Vegas Pro can import the TS file with no problems (!) and shows the audio waveforms as three tracks, 2 channels each, all look identical.

According to MediaInfo, the captured audio is in 3 tracks of 2 channels each. Each of the 3 tracks has the same specs:

Audio (3)
ID (3) : 1002 (0x3EA), 1003 (0x3EB), 1004 (0x3EC)
Menu ID : 1 (0x1)
Format : MPEG Audio
Format version : Version 1
Format profile : Layer 2
Codec ID : 3
Duration : 18 min 45 s
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 256 kb/s
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Sampling rate : 48.0 kHz
Frame rate : 41.667 FPS (1152 SPF)
Compression mode : Lossy
Delay relative to video : -332 ms
Stream size : 34.4 MiB (2%)

Before I even get to figuring out if the Colossus 2 can capture multichannel audio, what exactly are these multiple audio tracks?

Were they all really captured from the HDMI input, or was a single track captured and duped three times just to comply with the "Use Multiple Audio Tracks Setting"?

What is the Use Multichannel Audio option for, if it has nothing to do with multichannel audio formats supported by HDMI (Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, etc)

Thanks for your patience,
Alan Mintaka

[SHS]

You need to use a diff capture tool Alan give this a https://www.capture4me.com/ Arcsoft Showbiz is longer made available
There always WinTV or SageTV or NextPVR
Multichannel Audio option is for the one track for Mic Input you know chat
Bear in mind that DD 5.1 is for optical audio not HDMI

[BOMOON]

You need to use a diff capture tool Alan give this a https://www.capture4me.com/ Arcsoft Showbiz is long made available
There always WinTV or SageTV or NextPVR
Multichannel Audio option is for the one track for Mic Input you know chat
Bear in mind that DD 5.1 is for optical audio not HDMI

Hi SHS,
Thanks as always for the helpful response.

Sorry about the DD 5.1 with HDMI stupidity on my part. I'll try to fix the 5.1 references to just "Dolby Multichannel" to cover HDMI supported audio: Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD etc. I've read that HDMI supports other multichannel formats but I'll stick with the Dolby flavors for now.

The strange thing about that multichannel audio option in Hauppauge Capture is that it captures 3 tracks of 2 channels each (stereo). The audio in all of the tracks appears to be identical, same as the audio for the program content. If one track is for the program audio and one is for the mic, what's the 3rd track?

Is Capture just copying the program audio to the other 2 tracks because I don't have a mic or any other audio source attached to the Colossus 2?

I'll give those other capture programs a try, thanks.

Have a good one,
Alan Mintaka

[SHS]

As for the 3rd track just uncheck Multiple Audio Tracks for recordings in setting get rid of all the tracks
I main used my HD-PVR 2 which is same hardware as Colossus 2 for record from DirecTV Genie

What I'm refer by DD 5.1 is only record the best is from optical audio not HDMI but HDMI can recorded but come out as Downmix Stereo under Hauppauge Capture that if you get any sound and even get AC3 DD 5.1 recoding it not very reliable due audio switching from 2.0 to 5.1 and other things.
Beside optical audio is not very reliable due audio switching from 2.0 to 5.1 with commercials even on movie channel timing is key with out getting audio glitch's

But if you want to capture AC3 you do need add and enable AC3 support then WinTV should capture it I know that SageTV and so should NextPVR but it glitch's.
Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Contro l\Class\
Find {4d36e96c-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}
Fine Siena
Under the folder DriverData
Find isAC3enabled then change 0 to 1 if not there add new DWORD (32-bit) Valve rename it to isAC3enabled
Reboot