Optimal Sound - Troubleshooting High Definition Audio for Windows Vista

Troubleshooting

In every project, there is always something that is not working properly, and it often occurs at the worst possible time in the project cycle. The process of troubleshooting involves investigation and analysis to work towards resolving these issues. If your system's ship date is slipping then resolving the issues quickly and efficiently is often the best course of action.

Optimal Sound provides troubleshooting services of all types, with a focus on quick identification and resolution of blocking issues.

Hardware or Software?

One of the first things to determine is whether the issue is caused by hardware, software, or an interaction between the two. This requires an in-depth knowledge of both hardware and software, along with the ability to quickly determine interactions between the two. Once this has been identified, then further investigations can be parceled out to the software and hardware teams separately.

The new UAA HD Audio class driver included in Windows Vista adds a layer of complexity to this equation, because it will not be possible to use a debugger to step through the audio driver source code, at least not unless you have a source code license from Microsoft.

Troubleshooting to Root Cause

Many larger OEMs require troublesome issues to be traced to root cause. This allows the issue to be understood fully and allows it to be addressed properly in follow-on designs. Optimal Sound has a proven track record of tracing issues to root cause.

Onsite Troubleshooting

Optimal Sound can arrange to send an engineer to your labs for troubleshooting. This is often necessary when the system is in early bring-up stages, or when the issue cannot be replicated outside the lab.

Remote Troubleshooting

Alternately, Optimal Sound can perform the troubleshooting remotely. Optimal Sound uses Live Meeting to meet remotely with engineers working on the issue. In some cases it may make sense to send the system exhibiting the issues to one of the Optimal Sound labs in Austin, TX or Portland, OR. Systems are kept confidential, and are returned at the end of the troubleshooting effort at the customer's request.

Use Optimal Sound services to add an audio expert to your team, and ensure that your systems sound great, are easy to understand, and function properly with Windows Vista. Contact us for more info.

News about HD Audio and Windows* Vista*

Microsoft Releases Updated Guide to Array Microphone Implementation A major update to this white paper from Microsoft provides previously-unavailable details on how the Acoustic Echo Cancellation and Microphone-Array Beamforming processing built into Windows Vista is implemented, as well as how to test it and use it. For more info, click here.

Microsoft Releases New Microphone Array Verification Tool Microsoft has released a command-line tool which can verify whether an audio driver accurately reports microphone-array geometry information and whether the Voice Capture DMO operating in microphone-array mode processes the captured data accurately. For more info, click here.

Microsoft includes built-in Acoustic Echo Cancellation and Microphone Array Processing in Vista As part of DirectShow 9, Microsoft has included Vista-only source code with the new Windows SDK. This source code can be compiled to create a test app which demonstrates the Acoustic Echo Cancellation DMO. While initially intended for use with USB-based array microphones, guidelines are provided for HD Audio implementation as well. For more info, click here.

Microsoft Documents Limit on DTM Test Storage, outlines possible solutions Driver Test Manager (DTM) is the new logo testing infrastructure used for both Windows Vista and Windows XP logo submissions. The default installation is limited to 2 GB of storage, which is enough to get started, but probably not enough for serious DTM users. To find out more options, click here.

Microsoft includes Audio System Effects in Vista Microsoft has released an updated white paper on how to use the Audio System Effects that are included at no charge in Windows Vista. In-box built-in effects include
    Loudness Equalization DSP (LFX)
    Forward Bass Management (LFX)
    Reverse Bass Management (LFX)
    Low Frequency Protection (LFX)
    Speaker Fill (LFX)
    Room Correction (GFX)
    Virtual Surround (LFX)
    Speaker Phantoming (LFX)
    Virtualized Surround Sound over Headphones (LFX)
    Bass Boost (LFX)
For more details, click here.

Microsoft WHQL postpones date that systems must pass audio fidelity tests On Thursday, August 30, Microsoft's Hardware newsletter announced that systems will not be required to pass the audio fidelity portion of the logo tests until June 1st, 2007. However, all submissions must include complete logs from the audio fidelity tests, which requires an Audio Precision System 2 test set to be connected to the DTM test environment. For more info, click here.

Audio Fidelity Testing Now Required for Vista Audio Device Logo Microsoft has released Windows Logo Program (WLP) specification 3.07, which has significant impact on the audio development and logo submission process for Windows Vista. Audio devices and drivers are now required to included passing audio fidelity test logs in order to qualify for device logo. For more info, click here.

Windows Vista RC2 to be released October 6, 2006 Recently disclosed details of Windows Vista RC2 release indicate that Vista build 5743 will be released Friday, October 56, 2006, and will be designated as Vista Release Candidate 2 (RC2). For more info, click here.

Audio Design Line Publishes excerpt from HD Audio Book EE Times affiliate Audio Design Line, has reprinted Chapter 9 of the new book from Intel Press, High Definition Audio for the Digital Home: Proven Techniques for Getting It Right the First Time by David Roach, Scott Janus, and Wayne Jones. This chapter of the book describes the complete signal audio signal path of a modern PC, including both hardware and software audio components. For more info, click here.

Microsoft publishes sample code for 3 different Audio System Effects Microsoft has released sample code for three different sample Audio System Effects along with a retitled document describing how to use them. For more info, click here.

Microsoft Multimedia VP Amir Majidimehr writes about Audio System Effects included in Windows Vista Read first-hand the thinking behind the new Audio System Effects included in Windows Vista. For more info, click here.

Microsoft Channel 9 Video on audio hardware for Windows Vista features Hakon Strande and David Roach Check out the 38-minute Channel 9 video featuring Hakon Strande of Microsoft and David Roach of Optimal Sound discussing the audio hardware in Vista. For more info, click here.

Microsoft Releases HD Audio Pin Configuration Test Guidelines Microsoft has released a paper entitled Microsoft HD Audio Pin Configuration Implementation Test Procedure Guidelines. The paper describes how to use a Microsoft-supplied pin configuration utility to generate and validate a set of verb tables which is embedded in the system BIOS. The verb table describes the audio configuration of the system. If the verb table is configured incorrectly, the UAA HD Audio class driver will not function properly and the Windows Vista logo tests will fail. For more info, click here.

News about HD Audio & Vista

Troubleshooting

News about HD Audio and Windows* Vista*