iMON Equalizer Lag/Delay

[mremulator]

Hi,

Just purchased an Origen AE M10 case with VF310 VFD/IR module... fantastic!

However, last night I noticed that when playing an MP3 in iTunes/WMC that after the ID3 tag has been displayed and the EQ kicks in (Auto Mode) the graphic equalizer/spectrum analyzer drifts further and further our of sync?

For example... if I play a track for 30 seconds, it takes a few seconds from when I press pause on the remote, to when the graphic equalizer stops displaying the spectrum analyzer and for paused to be displayed along with the tag info. If I play a track for a few minutes it takes even longer for the graphic equalizer display to change after pressing pause or stop.

Surely this feature should work in real time no?

Other than that, great little piece of kit!

[slash.kim]

Dear mremulator,

Yes, right. It should work in real time. If that kind of accumulated delay occur, the graphic EQ may be shown out of sync. with hearing the music.

There maybe two possibilities on it. One is internal recording problem and the other is USB data transferring problem. In order to know the problem source, please check the following things;

1. Open iMON Manager > iMON Utilities > FrontView > Graphic EQ page.
2. Make sure the setting "Use iMEDIAN Internal EQ" has a check mark.
3. Run iMEDIAN HD and play music.
4. Check EQ with iMEDIAN HD has the similar accumulated delay.
If it shows the similar delay, there might be USB data transferring problem. In this case, you could adjust the 'EQ Quality ' setting to 'High' or 'Fair'. This adjustment make the USB data transfer reduced.

If there's no accumulated delay problem with iMEDIAN HD playback, there might be internal recording problem. For other programs except iMEDIAN HD, iMON FrontView records the wave data which is generated in the PC and calculates and shows graphical EQ. If there's something problem with recording the wave, you need to update your sound card driver. And let us know which kind of sound card and OS you are running.

Thanks a lot,
slash.kim

[mremulator]

Dear mremulator,

Yes, right. It should work in real time. If that kind of accumulated delay occur, the graphic EQ may be shown out of sync. with hearing the music.

There maybe two possibilities on it. One is internal recording problem and the other is USB data transferring problem. In order to know the problem source, please check the following things;

1. Open iMON Manager > iMON Utilities > FrontView > Graphic EQ page.
2. Make sure the setting "Use iMEDIAN Internal EQ" has a check mark.
3. Run iMEDIAN HD and play music.
4. Check EQ with iMEDIAN HD has the similar accumulated delay.
If it shows the similar delay, there might be USB data transferring problem. In this case, you could adjust the 'EQ Quality ' setting to 'High' or 'Fair'. This adjustment make the USB data transfer reduced.

If there's no accumulated delay problem with iMEDIAN HD playback, there might be internal recording problem. For other programs except iMEDIAN HD, iMON FrontView records the wave data which is generated in the PC and calculates and shows graphical EQ. If there's something problem with recording the wave, you need to update your sound card driver. And let us know which kind of sound card and OS you are running.

Thanks a lot,
slash.kim

Good info thanks slash.kim.

I tried iMEDIAN HD with the 'EQ Quality ' setting to 'Best' and there is no delay. Also the info generated seems much more accurate and detailed if that makes sense? However... it sounds terrible IMHO compared to iTunes even with the normalizer set to off and EQ to flat.

Also, when I reduce the 'EQ Quality ' setting to 'High' it fixes the delay/lag in iTunes and WMC. However, I have to turn the EQ peak level down to roughly 33% so the FrontDisplay does not overcook the levels if that makes sense? Again, the info generated does not seem as detailed as in iMEDIAN HD but is still a massive improvement.

I was also wondering... does the EQ only adjust the audio in iMEDIAN HD? It seems to have no effect on iTunes or WMC? This can only be a good thing, as the sound is fantastic.

Radeon HD5570 with latest Realtek R.242 HDMI driver by the way.

Thanks for your help!

[slash.kim]

Dear mremulator,

The setting of "EQ Peak Level" and "EQ Peak Level for Each Band" in iMON Manager > iMON Utilities > FrontView > Graphical EQ have affect the peak level of both iMEDIAN Internal EQ and record based EQ. If "EQ Peak Level" does not have effect, please adjust "EQ Peak Level for Each Band" setting too.

For the media information, iMON FrontView shows information based on data iMON Manager send. Because iMEDIAN HD is created by ourselves, we could show much more and detail information. For other player, the information shows data based on the API the player manufacturer opened and it is not enough compared to that of iMEDIAN HD.

And for the sound quality of iMEDIAN HD, could you let us know which kind of audio file formats you have and the environment of music listening; Which kind of sound-card installed, how many channels of speaker you connected and the external receiver is used via optical cable connection or not.

Thank a lot,
slash.kim

[mremulator]

Dear mremulator,

The setting of "EQ Peak Level" and "EQ Peak Level for Each Band" in iMON Manager > iMON Utilities > FrontView > Graphical EQ have affect the peak level of both iMEDIAN Internal EQ and record based EQ. If "EQ Peak Level" does not have effect, please adjust "EQ Peak Level for Each Band" setting too.

For the media information, iMON FrontView shows information based on data iMON Manager send. Because iMEDIAN HD is created by ourselves, we could show much more and detail information. For other player, the information shows data based on the API the player manufacturer opened and it is not enough compared to that of iMEDIAN HD.

And for the sound quality of iMEDIAN HD, could you let us know which kind of audio file formats you have and the environment of music listening; Which kind of sound-card installed, how many channels of speaker you connected and the external receiver is used via optical cable connection or not.

Thank a lot,
slash.kim

Hi,

What I meant above is that the levels on the front display are all the way up at the top when listening to an mp3 in iTunes (default peak level setting).

When I turn down the peak level it brings the bars down, however, does not seem to change the sound... only the display.

I have not touched the EQ Peak Level for Each Band.

I'm not using a sound card by the way; I'm using the Realtek HDMI out on my Radeon 5570 GPU. It sounds great in iTunes & WMP. However, sounds really dull and quiet in iMEDIAN HD?

I just assumed it was because iMEDIAN HD was making EQ adjustments?

Are you saying this happens also with iTunes & WMP?

Kind regards
David

[Alcahest]

mremulator, i think you're majorly confused.
iMON's Graphical EQ feature does just show the sound levels when playing back music.

It has no impact on it whastoever, it's not its purpose either.

When you bring the bars up or down, you just alter the sensibility of iMON to display the current playings sounds, you do NOT alter the sound itself at all (nor are you supposed to!).

[mremulator]

mremulator, i think you're majorly confused.
iMON's Graphical EQ feature does just show the sound levels when playing back music.

It has no impact on it whastoever, it's not its purpose either.

When you bring the bars up or down, you just alter the sensibility of iMON to display the current playings sounds, you do NOT alter the sound itself at all (nor are you supposed to!).

Well that's what I thought (for iTunes & WMPC anyhow). However, was under the impession this was not the case for the iMEDIAN HD player?

Also is there anyway of calibrating this properly for the other supported players??

[hjunior]

My diagnostics:

iMON version 7.85.0222
HW firmware 0x390103 (UltraBay retail)
Pentium 4 2.63 MHz, 1.5 MB RAM (single core, I know, very old...)

I'm using iMEDIAN Internal EQ.

EQ Quality set to 'Fair' seems to work (the delay disappears - or almost). 'Best' or 'High' generates accumulate delay only on FrontView (iMEDIAN HD's EQ is in sync ok).

I discovered that, when I restore iMEDIAN HD window I can have in sync EQ in FrontView with very few delay when I press some commands on the remote. EQ Quality can goes even to 'Best' with no delay. But when I return to Full Screen, here comes the delay again. Also I saw iMEDIAN HD uses about 55% of my CPU in restored window and more than 70% in full screen mode.

I was searching for info on my USB ports, but it does not seem to be the problem. All ports are 2.0. When I run something else and get CPU utilization near 100%, iMEDIAN HD equalizer continues in sync, but there is a huge delay in FrontView equalizer. If I close applications and free up CPU, the FrontView tends to sync its EQ. If I pause the music, the FrontView's EQ seems to "run" and update very fast until it reaches the pause place.

The FrontView info seems to be stucked in iMON processing (because of lack of CPU?) and than it is fastly updated as soon as the CPU usage is alleviated.

When my new motherboard/cpu/memory arrives will it be all ok?

[hjunior]

By the way, what does mean the "iMEDIAN Internal EQ Delay" in iMON Manager/FrontView/EQ?