Cracking sounds when HDMI is set to Bitstream OUT

Me:

After the latest Update for XBOX ONE, setting the sound HDMI Bitstream OUT , makes cracking sounds. However when setting the HDMI to uncompressed 5.1, sounds are ok.

I had the same pb when it was on DTS before the update. Anyone is experiencing the same?

I have a Denon AVR R4000 brand new with Bowers and Wilkins speakers. Listening to music directly through the AVR does not produce any cracking sounds. so it is definetely coming from the XBOX one.

:)

 

Xbox One to old Dolby ProLogic Analog Receiver--No Surround Sound

Disregard issue. It is fixed. For anyone having the same issue, here are the settings that gave me Surround Sound:

In Settings > Display & Sound > Digital Audio:

HDMI Audio > Bitstream Out

Optical Audio > Bitstream Out

Bitstream Format > Dolby Digital

This is output to my HDMI TV then connected via analog RCA cables from the TV output to the input of my Receiver which is set to Dolby ProLogic. Hope this helps someone in the future.

 

Surround sound not working

My setup is a little complicated but it should work just fine. My cable box goes into the Xbox via HDMI, the Xbox goes to the TV via HDMI, and the TVs optical audio out goes to the audio receiver. I do it this way so that all A/V content pushing to the TV
should come out as surround sound. All devices have been set to surround (TV, cable box, Xbox, and audio receiver) sound but there are two things I'm not sure about. 1) When trying to use 5.1 uncompressed from the HDMI audio out the Xbox gives an error, something
like my device does support surround sound (meanwhile my TV does support surround sound) so I am forced to use bitstream (not sure what the difference is) and 2) TVs SPDIF (optical audio) setting can be either RAW or PCM, regardless neither is pushing the
HDMI bitstream audio in as surround out via optical, it is stuck in stereo.

Cable box: Verizon QIP 7232

TV: Element ELEFT436

Surround Sound Receiver: Sony BDV E370

Before I had optical audio coming from the Xbox to the audio receiver; surround sound worked flawless when on optical bitstream/dolby digital out, but this will neglect any other device I want to connect to my TV such as my laptop. For some reason the bitstream
audio out over HDMI is stereo (not surround) but the bitstream audio out over SPDIF (optical) audio is surround. Can anyone explain why I can't get surround sound with the optical audio coming from the TV?

 

In that setup, why would you set it to bitstream? Better to output 5.1/7.1 uncompressed....

 

I wanted to leave the sound processing to my AVR instead of the XBOX ONE. I have the impression that in this situation the Denon is doing a better job than the XBOX ONE PCM. nevertheless, using Bitstream should not introduce cracking sounds ??

 

Regarding the HDMI Bitrate, since the update I have tried switching from 5.1 to Bitrate which has drastically improved the surround sound, but after about 5 minutes the audio completely cuts out. I have tried this several times and while uncompressed stereo,
5.1, and 7.1 always work, Bitrate with Dolby Surround sound much better. Has anyone else had this issue?

 

No, it should not cause crackling, but you are still better off setting the One to output 5.1/7.1 uncompressed PCM. If you set it to bitstream DD, all the Xbox One is doing is using DD (a lossy codec) to compress/encode that same uncompressed 5.1/7.1 PCM
to a DD bitstream to send to your receiver. Your receiver then decodes/decompresses that back to 5.1/7.1 PCM. Why add an extra encode by the One and decode by the receiver when you can just output 5.1/7.1 uncompressed (which you can still process using your
receiver to apply effects etc.)?

 

If your HDMI is going straight from your One to your receiver, there is no point in using anything other than PCM, you are just going to lose sound quality. The only time to use bitstream over HDMI is if your HDMI cable is going to straight to your TV and
then your TV is sending the sound to your receiver, since optical and coaxial cables will only carry bitstream surround.

 

I am having this issue as well. I use a sound bar that only supports Dolby Digital (no DTS). The only quirk in my setup is that I run everything through an HDMI switch with an optical out that runs to the sound bar. When I enable Dolby Digital with Bitstream
over HDMI I instantly get the crackling/static sounds. I have no issues with it set to Stereo and I do not have any issues with hardware other than the XBOX One.

 

As Th3AngryGerman puts it, the sound in Bitstream Dolby Surround is much higher quality than uncompressed 5.1, at least with my Denon AVR X4000. I use the Xbox One just to watch streamed movies on Amazon, Hulu and Netflix, and you tube. Also I use extensively
Skype. I am not a gamer.

I just reinitialized the XBOX One , cleared the MAC address. the cracking stopped. i will monitor if it comes back. usually, what i noticed, it will after maybe 30 minutes of watching a movie. this is what happened after the last update.

 

I have the same thing with Optical and HDMI with Dolby Digital out. It causes a random cracking pattern in my headphones. Like a sound get jammed and goes in circle or something.

 

Unfortunately, even after a reset, I still have this cracking noise in Bitstream Dolby digital.

It seems it is kind of a bug :-(

 

Regarding the assertion that "the sound in Bitstream Dolby Surround is much higher quality than uncompressed 5.1," if true that makes no sense and is indicative of some problem with the One's audio output or perhaps settings on your receiver. This would
be like saying an MP3 is higher quality than the original CD track from which it was made.

 

well the sound before it starts cracking is louder and the dialog and distribution between sub woofer, central speaker and surrounds is much crisper.

not sure what setting from the Xbox one we can change, and on the AVR, everything is quite automatic thanks to a process called odyssey on Denon X4000.

so not much i can do.

 

Audyssey is great for initial optimal setup of your speakers for your listening environment (presumably you actually went through the Audyssey setup using the included microphone). However, it does not automatically select the listening/processing mode
for you and that is the setting you need to look at on your Denon. With the One set to output 5.1/7.1 uncompressed, have you tried the different listening/processing modes your receiver supports--e.g. THX Game, THX Movie, Direct, Pure, etc.? (Been a while
since I had a Denon, so I'm not sure what it offers.). It is possible that you have the mode for multichannel PCM set to all channel stereo or similar (it may default to that). I just tested and, as expected, 5.1/7.1 uncompressed from the One sounds noticeably
better than compressed DD bitstream in my setup with an Onkyo receiver.