how to enable wasapi output

[cake0815]

hello i am new here and have a small question


how can i enable wasapi output ?
i used the search function and saw that vlc supports wasapi since 2.1.
but how can i enable it ?

(i tried all audio outputs with 3.0.6 and 4.0 git)

when i play a blu ray or another movie with 48.000hz audio
its played in 44.100hz. (my usb dac shows incoming frequency)
same for audio files. all high res audio files will be downsampled with vlc to 44100hz.

(yep i know i can change windows mixer from 44100 to 48000 but then ALL files will be resampled to 48000
i want files to be played 1:1 without being resampled)

powerdvd, dvdfab media player and mpc be have a wasapi output and play 48000 movies in 48000, 44100 movies in 44100 etc..


how can i enable this in vlc ?


thx and greets

[Lotesdelere]

Select Windows Multimedia Device Output in the audio preferences.
And don't ask me why it's called like that in the preferences since the word Wasapi is used in the messages log

[cake0815]

thx for the info but it doesn't work.

all frequencies are still resampled to 44.100 hz.
does vlc have a wasapi exclusiv mode ?

[Lotesdelere]

Try this:
Tools -> Preferences -> Show settings: ALL
Audio -> Audio Resampler
Set it to Disable
Save the preferences then exit and restart VLC.

[cake0815]

i tried that

movies with 44.100 play like normal
but movies with 48.000 have no sound
same for high res audio files.

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

Please share your logs.

[cake0815]

oki

tested this with a james bond blu ray rip
i played the movie for 1 minute


the 1st log is with resampler enabled:

https://www112.zippyshare.com/v/Y8xsPyo0/file.html



the 2nd log without resampler

https://www69.zippyshare.com/v/h5pKMQdT/file.html



the 3rd log is with resampler and with spdif/hdmi passthrough enabled

https://www58.zippyshare.com/v/GR0naOyl/file.html


the 4th log is without resampler and with spdif/hdmi passthrough enabled

https://www92.zippyshare.com/v/By8yJwdf/file.html

[Boogie7910]

Hi, I found this thread with a google search and registered so I could post here because I am having the same issue as OP. I've always used MPC but I can't seem to get wasapi working right and the same issue here with VLC. I have an external dac and I want unadulterated audio to go to it for processing and bypass windows completely. I can also see the incoming frequency on my dac and instead of getting the correct frequency signal of the video file, it will be upsampled/downsampled based on my windows settings before going to the dac which is nonoptimal. Is this something that can't be fixed with VLC/MPC, or is there a better video player solution out there?

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

WASAPI is enabled by default since version 3.0.0. There is nothing to do. But that has nothing to do with "bypassing Windows".

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

oki

tested this with a james bond blu ray rip
i played the movie for 1 minute


the 1st log is with resampler enabled:

https://www112.zippyshare.com/v/Y8xsPyo0/file.html



the 2nd log without resampler

https://www69.zippyshare.com/v/h5pKMQdT/file.html



the 3rd log is with resampler and with spdif/hdmi passthrough enabled

https://www58.zippyshare.com/v/GR0naOyl/file.html


the 4th log is without resampler and with spdif/hdmi passthrough enabled

https://www92.zippyshare.com/v/By8yJwdf/file.html

Those logs with
no resampler error
are really weird.

[cake0815]

thx for looking at it

i tried it with 32 and 64 bit version
no difference.

i use a yamaha MusicCast MCR-N870D
as usb dac if this info helps
(it supports pcm 32bit 384k and dsd up to 5.6mhz)


with a 192k flac file and no resampler
the log looks similar.



hope this problem can be fixed.

btw: foobar2k with wasapi and asio plugins play highres audio without problems

[cake0815]

hi

its been a few weeks.
it may be not top priority
just want to ask if a "fix" is planned
for e.g adding exclusive mode to the wasapi plugin
(guess this will be the fastest way to fix it)

thx

[racebit]

As I just posted here https://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=148246
it seems it is not Exclusive mode that is missing, but Bit-exact.
With MPC BE (WASAPI mode), If we select only Exclusive mode it still does not work, we need to select also "Bit-exact", so it seems that is what is missing from VLC.
Also Rémi said "VLC has supported S/PDIF pass-through for years. By definition, that's always exclusive, so there is separate setting for exclusive mode there."
Looking forward to return to VLC once this is available.

[jayR]

When resampler is disabled and output to Windows Multimedia Device Output, if sampling frequency of songs is different from Windows audio mixer sampling frequency, then no sound!

When WASAPI is used, windows volume control has no effect. But with above settings, windows volume control still works! VLC Windows Multimedia Device Output isn't WASAPI, I guess.

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

To get WASAPI, set audio output to auto or MMDevice, and set MMDevice's output back-end to auto or WASAPI.

As pointed out many times over already, WASAPI is the default since VLC 3.0.0 on Vista and later versions.

[racebit]

Rémi, what do you mean by "set MMDevice's output back-end"?
Do you mean Device property in VLC Audio dialog, or do you mean a Windows configuration? I don't find any WASAPI option on Windows playback device properties.

Meanwhile I did further testing with VLC settings and found out that setting the "HDMI/SPDIF audio passthrough" to "Enabled" or "Enabled (AC3/DTS only)" I finally get the file sample rate to reach my DAC, but unfortunately the sound is only an awful clicking noise. And this is only with video files. With wav file i get the proper music but resampled by Windows.
I am not sure if this is any step forward in getting the file sample rate with proper sound to my DAC.

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

I mean literally the "Output back-end" setting of the MMDevice module.

[jayR]

I think WASPI has multiple modes. Obviously VLC WASAPI is not what we are looking for. In Foobar2000, WASAPI has exclusive control of DAC and bypass Windows audio mixer completely. Other programs cannot use the same DAC at the same time. Windows audio volume control doesn't work anymore. In addition, DAC receives the same sampling frequency of the songs without resampling. This has two advantages;

1. Sound quality can be better as no resampling involved.
2. No need to change Windows device sampling rates to get song's sampling rate.

So audiophiles will prefer WASAPI mode.

[jayR]

In Foobar2k WASAPI mode, sampling rate does not change automatically as in VLC. But audio volume control does not work.

However, Foobar2k can enable DOP (DSD over PCM) mode which supports bit-perfect streaming to DAC. Automatic sampling rate change may be only supported in DOP mode!

[T0biasCZe]

Rémi, what do you mean by "set MMDevice's output back-end"?
Do you mean Device property in VLC Audio dialog, or do you mean a Windows configuration? I don't find any WASAPI option on Windows playback device properties.

MMDevice is shortcut for Windows MultiMedia Device that is used in some settings
So in the simple config, set output to "windows multimedia device", and in advanced settings in "Sound > Output modules > MMDevice" set "helping layer for output" to "Windows Audio Session API" (Wasapi)

[chainik166]

For the information of anyone having W11 hang issues, this audio setting solved my lock-up/hang issues on Win11 x64. Pretty sure it was the result of a Win11 Update....

For some reason VLC started immediately locking up after loading a video this week. It would load & show the correct time/length but freeze at frame 1.
No seek or jump possible; play/pause button frozen.
Tried the various troubleshooting tips for video buffers & hardware but nothing worked.
Additionally I found that it would only shutdown via taskmanager. It would close the window on X but remain running in the background.
Reinstall, clean reinstall & older builds all failed.

Seeing the MMDevice tip was the elusive solution, my thanks go to T0biasCZe