Hardware support help would be greatly appreciated!!!

[nikomen]

So I have a WD 4 TB external HD with about 3.4 TB of 5.1 and quad albums on it. Some of the quad files are QR/Q8 from QQ friends. Accessing and playing the files on my new Denon AVR-X3800H via connecting the drive to my Sony Blu-ray player's USB port leaves a lot to be desired as far as browsing capabilities (almost all of the files are multichannel FLAC, some DSD.) More importantly there are a number of files, most of which I have found are multichannel FLAC's of Quad releases from other members that WON'T play on my Sony's player, which says "either corrupt file or not supported." The strangest thing though, when I connect the HD to my MacBook Pro or my Windows 10 laptop, these files play perfect! So the solution to me seemed apparent: connect the HD to either of my laptops and use VLC Media player in either of them. Here is where the glitch occurs. Yes, ALL of the files will play on my AVR via my laptops, but there are quite a few that when played back sound like they have tiny skips, or gaps in the music during playback on the laptops through my AVR, or "hiccups" that I can't tolerate that DO NOT occur in the same songs when played back through the player on my Sony Blu-ray. I don't understand, though I thought maybe it's because the computers are maybe doing something in the background or maybe refreshing that's causing the hiccups??? Then I had the idea to buy a Synology NAS and store the files there, and playback from their via a native media player on its DiskStation Manager, but it doesn't look like it supports/plays back multichannel files through it's audio player.

Any suggestions for setups to avoid these issues, or how they have their setups? I know I must be missing something basic here, but it seems like the player on my Sony Blu-ray doesn't like certain files and my laptops seem to have tiny little buffering times during playback. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!!

 

[DuncanS]

Sounds like they just don't recognise Quad. Download MMH and add silent Centre & LFE channels to the Quad tape flacs - all should be revealed then.
https://www.quadraphonicquad.com/fo...channel-audio-music-videos.22693/#post-315629

 

[nikomen]

The problem playing Quad FLACS is with the Sony Blu-ray player, not my laptops. I updated the Sony Blu-ray’s player a week ago, but it still doesn’t like the quad FLAC’s. I don’t know how to load that program on my BR player. My laptops play the quad FLAC’s fine. The skipping or stuttering of the tracks on the laptops streaming from the external HD are not Quad FLAC files.

 

[furui_suterioo]

I had a similar skipping problem which was resolved when I upgraded from hdd to ssd.

 

[nikomen]

You think that the HDD is too slow then for the laptop? I can try that, but a 4TB SanDisc is $360. At that price I hope it fixes the problem!! Thanks for the suggestion

 

[Stupy]

Hmm. That's odd. To confirm, are you saying that BOTH laptops give the strange skip behaviour in the audio?

If so, have you tried another HDMI cable-? And the embarrassingly obvious stuff; like checking connections.

Also, does it always skip at the same part in songs; or at random times?

Because that seems rather odd...

(My systems since 2011 have relied on a PC/laptop to AV Receiver connection using HDMI cables, never seen anything like this with desktops or laptops of varying ages. It is NOT demanding on a computer/laptop to play 4.0/5.0/5.1 FLAC files. I tend to use Foobar2000 but I also have VLC installed and have never had an issue).

 

[nikomen]

Yes. The cable is newish and is 8K rated, and yes, almost always at the beginning of the songs, but if I unplug it and plug it into my Sony Blu-ray player, they play perfectly, but the software in the Sony BD player doesn’t recognize a lot of Quaf FLACs, says they are corrupt or unrecognized format, VLC media player plays them

 

[GOS]

I have an occasional skip listening to my flac files as well. NAS, laptop, AVR all connected directly to my router via ethernet. Annoying....and I have no clue why it happens.

 

[nikomen]

Someone replied to me that he had that problem too with an external HDD, but he switched to a SSD and no more skipping. SanDisk 4 TB SSD is almost $400. Big waste of money if it doesn’t fix it. It is odd though that if I unplug my HDD from my laptops, and plug it instead into my Sony Blu-ray Player, its player plays it with none of that skipping or stuttering. Maybe the HDD is not fast enough for streaming through the laptops Player to the AVR??

 

[Stupy]

Yes. The cable is newish and is 8K rated, and yes, almost always at the beginning of the songs, but if I unplug it and plug it into my Sony Blu-ray player, they play perfectly, but the software in the Sony BD player doesn’t recognize a lot of Quaf FLACs, says they are corrupt or unrecognized format, VLC media player plays them

IF both laptops are doing the same skipping thing; this *suggests* the issue might not be the laptops.

I would be starting with trying another hdmi cable; and if that doesn't fix it, perhaps trying a different input on the AV Receiver (nice choice, by the way...). Could also try Foobar2000 (In doubt this would fix it, but why not?).

SSD should not be necessary. That's weird that it fixed it. For context; all my music is sitting on conventional 3.5" or 2.5" external hard drives. This is far slower than having the music on the internal drive; ssd or not.

Over to everyone else's ideas?

Cheers

 

[nikomen]

The only suggestion that someone else made was they said , switch to an STD and fix the issue

 

[nikomen]

Damn auto correct, he switched to a SSD

 

[Marplot]

Before I drop that ssd money I would get a newer/higher version usb device, even something like a 3.2 128gb stick to rule out the hdd and usb cable.

 

[paligap]

It's been my experience that my Sony players, unlike my Oppo, will balk at some files, either on a disk or a drive, that it sees as "non-commercial." I got around it by using a media player called a Vero 4K+ and Kodi.

 

[nikomen]

It's been my experience that my Sony players, unlike my Oppo, will balk at some files, either on a disk or a drive, that it sees as "non-commercial." I got around it by using a media player called a Vero 4K+ and Kodi.

Can you add these players to a Sony BD players software?

 

[nikomen]

Before I drop that ssd money I would get a newer/higher version usb device, even something like a 3.2 128gb stick to rule out the hdd and usb cable.

I ordered a 3.2 128gb SSD ($25) to see if I drag one of those skipping songs to the new SSD if it still skips though the laptops

 

[paligap]

Can you add these players to a Sony BD players software?

No, the Vero 4K+ is a (small) physical unit that runs Kodi software. Some people use mini-PCs, or NUCs, I think they're called. The bottom line is that the Sony BD players will likely always present this problem, unless there is some kind of mod I'm unaware of.

 

[timothyemerson]

Another thing to possibly try is this cheap player (I have one and it's now handling almost all movie and music duties):

https://www.zidoo.tv/Product/index/model/Z9X/target/VEMg6VRC2+9KKmVViAFMcQ==.html

I've never experienced any skipping.
It plays all my 2.0, 4.0, 5.1 FLACs gaplessly.
I have a Marantz receiver so have added a silent centre channel to the quad FLACs with Audacity.
I play all music/movies from a bunch of 4TB Western Digital HDDs.

 

[nikomen]

Does it come with Kodi? If not why do you need it? I guess it comes with its own media player software or interface? My only experience with Kodi was to hack into streaming platforms. How is browsing its user interface, friendly, sophisticated like playlists, etc? Since it’s wireless how do you hook a HDD to it?

 

[stereoptic]

I don't know if any of these apply, but worth considering:

Is the USB 2.0 or 3.0?​

Do you get the same results with the files if you copy them over to a thumbdrive?​

Does the AVR have an HDMI out connected to something? Maybe check the CEC, etc.?​

Is there anything in your router log that coincides with the stuttering?​