Roon crashes on 5.1 files with extreme prejudice

Support
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Roon Core Machine

Windows 10, 8-core i9, 32GB RAM

Networking Gear & Setup Details

All wired. Netgear 10G switches.

Connected Audio Devices

For this purpose, 2 different computers as endpoints - one Win10 with HDMI out, one Windows 8.1 with HDMI out. One is on a video card and one is the motherboard HDMI out.

Number of Tracks in Library

140K tracks

Description of Issue

So I have a number of 5.1 channel FLACs in my library. They used to play fine out any HDMI to a device that reports 5.1 input capability. I had not played these tracks in a few years.

Roon now crashes - the remote that I use to issue the command to play a 5.1 file crashes (even if I am not using the RAAT code on that remote!), the Roon endpoint instance that I play it to crashes, and one out of every 2 3 times the core crashes too. Then it all has to be restarted. Roon seems to index the tracks fine. But won’t play them in 5.1.

Roon will not play the sound even for a second. I can see it index through the whole album for a split second apiece, then crash.

This happens with 2 different endpoints. It crashes with multiple different multi-channel tracks…both DTS conversions and DVD-Audio rips.

Roon WILL play the tracks (through the HDMI connection) if I configure it to 2-channel out (downmix) OR if I play a bona fide 2-channel track, even when the HDMI out is configured for 5.1.

VLC Player will play the tracks locally from the same endpoints through 5.1 without issue.

Anyone else seeing this?

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Are both Windows devices connected via HDMI to the same 5.1 device? If so what is it?

4

Thanks Geoff. They are both connected to a Marantz AV8003 Pre/Pro.

HOWEVER, while I appreciate (was hoping for!) help on this, let me do a little more investigating. I just tried a third computer and it worked. So let me see what I can dig out on the differences between the 3 endpoints, now that it appears that Roon WILL do it with at least one machine.

EDIT/UPDATE: It works on one endpoint computer on my network. It’s the newest one, but one other is only about a year old and is quite updated. The Windows 8.1 machine is 7 years old.

So Roon will play 5.1 successfully to one HDMI endpoint going into the Marantz pre/pro, but not on 2 other machines.

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I have to say I don’t think this support model works very well. I do see the benefit of publicly exposing problems and resolutions, but that doesn’t mean that our greatest hope for support should come from other users. If Roon is taking people’s money for this service, Roon needs to have sufficient staff to offer support. Or, discount the service until it can staff up.

On a substantive note, I have only been able to get 5.1 out of one of my Windows 10 machines via HDMI. Two other computers, as above, Windows 10 and 8.1, through multiple different HDMI outs, Roon crashes violently. It seems very odd to me that the Roon remote from which the play command was issued (even if that isn’t also the RAAT endpoint it plays to) would crash, along with the RAAT endpoint and sometimes the core. It’s severe enough that someone at Roon should have an idea what’s happening there.

1 Like
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You didn’t specify which computer was using which interface, nor more specs, so we could reference make and model of the motherboards and video card…

I am guessing

Win 10 working motherboard HDMI
Win 10. Not working. Motherboard HDMI
Win 8.1. Video card HDMI

Leave the win 8 machine out of it to start and focus on the two Win 10 machines

The first thing I’d compare is drivers between the two Win 10 machines. And, if you need to update them, download them from the manufacturer, not via Windows update.

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Thanks Daniel. I do appreciate the community trying to help. I wish Roon’s staff could give more direct access to those who might take the application crashes and provide better insight. It’s one thing not to play, but another to just crash out, and at the remote as well as endpoint, and sometimes core. You’d think there would be good clues in there.

In response to your guesses:

–Windows 10 machine that works: it’s a video card with an Nvidia chipset. I’m using two video cards but not the on-board video. I actually just noticed that it’s a DVI out with an HDMI adapter. With sound!

—Windows 10 machine that does not work / causes crashes: AMD Radeon video card, not on the motherboard. On this machine I’m using both the mobo video ports and the card.

—Windows 8.1 machine that causes crashes: AMD mobo, using mobo HDMI out

So, interestingly, both of the ones that fail are AMD/Radeon chips. Oddly, though, the Windows 8.1 machine definitely worked with 5.1 for quite a long time. I just hadn’t tried it in about 18 months (we moved…took a while to get everything set back up) and Roon had updated several times since then. So it was likely a change that Roon made that is causing this. The Windows 8.1 machine has just mostly been off since it worked.

I’ll pick a machine and update the drivers and see what happens. THAT SAID, while I get that “update the drivers” is a fair response, it is also the case that if it isn’t broken for other applications, it is risking those applications to update the drivers. It’s messing with an otherwise stable rig I’ve used for a long time for legacy applications. It always seems to be Roon that breaks these things. (Well, to be fair there are plenty of freeware applications that are problematic, just not premium-expensive paid software.)

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If you don’t want to chance updating the drivers then wait for Support. I made that generic suggestion before knowing more of your specifics.

Interesting. I assume one is to Vid and the other to the Amp. Is the one to the Amp the video card or the motherboard?

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Well, no one has ever seen any Roon configuration like mine, although that shouldn’t exempt Roon from working here. I have 22 screens overall for various purposes, including Roon playlist management, artist displays etc. I have 3 RGB computers with lights synched to the music. Only a couple of the screens are connected to HDMI where the audio is enabled in Roon.

Anyway, the working HDMI (or really DVI) goes into a Marantz pre/pro that I have used to watch movies through the Marantz. I only tried with the audio as a troubleshooting measure. The 2 HDMI outputs that Roon crashes on with 5.1 both also put out video as well as audio.

The other video ports on the computer that doesn’t crash Roon go to multiple monitors.

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Any actual Roon staff input here? Why would a 5.1 FLAC stream crash the remote application even if that is not the RAAT endpoint it was sent to? There’s got to be a good clue there…

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Well I guess we’re on our own!

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