Channels alternating back and forth...?

[Coldblackice]

My receiver's display is showing that the signal it's receiving from my HTPC is 2-channels, then it alternates to 7.1, then back to 2, then back to 7.1 -- it's like a heartbeat of alternating channel configs.

If I start playing music or a movie or something, it suddenly locks and stays. It seems to be something with the signal coming from the HTPC, and not the receiver.

Any idea what might cause this?

 

[Coldblackice]

For anyone's future reference, I think I've discovered the source --

The HDMI silent-stream bug.

When there's no sound coming down the HDMI pipe between HTPC -> receiver, a new HDCP handshake will be required before sound can be played. This takes 1-2 seconds to complete, hence why the first two seconds of sound may missing before it starts playing.

I had this problem years ago, but found a programmed a solution -- a small application that constantly plays out a silent audio stream to the receiver, keeping the connection "alive" and thus not requiring another handshake. (http://www.marcsapps.co.uk/)

I haven't needed the program in a couple years now, and I never really connected what changed. My theory is that AMD has refined their audio driver to essentially do what the above app does -- play out blips of silent audio to keep the handshake alive. And so I assume this is why the channel indicators are flickering on my receiver. The flickering stops and goes solid when I play a movie, or when I run the AVR Audio Guard program above.

If anyone knows or thinks differently, feel free to correct me.