Sony Homestream - Flac files (BDV-N590)

[andipavel]

Hi all! I own a Sony BDV-N590 home cinema system. This system does not have flac support. However, I installed Sony's homestream app on my PC and it seems that I can perfectly stream flac files to the system. Now, what I don't understand is how exactly homestream processes the flac files. Is the flac file altered in any way? Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Hi there

I no longer have homestream installed, so cannot give you exact details. However somewhere in a folder for homestream you should have a file called "profiles.xml"  Open this file in notepad.  Now scroll all the way through it until you find the profile that you are using in homestream. 

At some point you will probably find something like

<Audio targetContainer="lpcm">

       <Matches container="mp4" />

       <Matches container="flac" />

       <Matches container="ogg" />

       <Matches container="adts" />

</Audio>

From this, what I believe is happening is that the actual audio of the flac file is being output via LPCM

Homestream then chooses the profile for LPCM

Obviously from the reprocessing - decoding/re-encoding you will be loosing audio quality.

That how I think it works for flac files

Cheers

[andipavel]

Thank you for anwering! Yes, I found that line in the profile file. I also noticed that when I play a flac file the system displays "LPCM xxMbps" on the tv screen. From what you're saying I understand that the file is altered in some way (although Sony claims that the files are not altered in their homestream presentation, but it doesn't say which files...), I wonder how much of the quality is lost...And what about the mkv files? Is there any of the quality lost for mkv files as well? It's hard for me to notice anything as the video quality is really astonishing, but I was just wondering...BDV-N590 has support for mkv files.

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

HI there

In regards to audio qualiy loss, I was more talking in generic terms - as any reprocessing will loose quality.  However in reality, unless you have a high-end setup, and really good hearing, you probably wont notice much difference. 

My understanding is if that the player supports the file (ie mkv's), there should be no re-processing of the file.

If not, all homestream is doing is changing the container to one that the end device supports.  This is the same with the FLAC file as well as MKV's etc.  Hence the claim of no loss of quality, as the file is technically not being touched, other than the change of containers (except for below)

You might see a line like

<Video targetContainer="mpegts" targetVCodec="mpeg2video" maxVBitrate="17000" targetACodec="ac3" aBitrate="320">

Tha maxVBitrate is the limitation of the quality - This is the Maximum Video bitrate in kb/s (hence 17000 = 17mb/s) 

Cheers

[andipavel]

Just noticed another thing that's somehow confusing: at page 52 in the manual (http://pdf.crse.com/manuals/4418144131.PDF) it says that the system cannot play mkv files via DLNA function! So how come I can play them via Homestream?

[Anonymous]

Homestream is converting (or changing) the container "mkv" to the container "mpegts" in order to play the file.  This is done "on the fly" via homestream.

This is the whole point of homestream - One its a DLNA server; and two, is what they call "on-the-fly transcoding".  This enables you to play files that are not supported. 

[andipavel]

Ok, got it now Thanks for everything!