Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems 861 displays PCM when connected to Vertex2

I have connected a HDfury Vertex2 to my HD621 for audio, it works very well except on my 861 it displays PCM not MHR.

I have uploaded the latest firmware for the Vertex 2, per advice from HDfury tech I resetted the HD621.
It still does not display MHR.

But when I connect my Apple 4K TV to my Oppo 203, then to the HD621 for audio, the display on the 861 reads MHR.

Is there anyone who can recommend a fix?

Regards
Samuel

Perhaps because Vertex erase protections of signals?

Thank you for your response.

As I was searching to see how the Vertex2 might be erasing the protections I made a simple adjustment ...

All of this time I had connected the audio out 720p/1080p of the Vertex2 to the HD621 and the 861 read out was always PCM.

I now have the HD621 connected to the HDMI TX1 Downscale, 4K HDR/DV out downscale on the Vertex2 and behold the 861 read out was MHR.

I found the custom connection #18 to be the best settings for my setup.
Now I can connect my 4K Apple TV, my Nvidia Pro and several others of my choice.

Just wanted to share for future reference.

Regards
Samuel

Another forum member posted he had issues with the vertex with hdr content. I'd be interested to hear if you encounter any such issues.

Regards
Greg

With Audio only, I think there is no protection of the signal, so no MHR.

With video, perhaps there is a protection HDCP.

MHR is the Meridian system of protection only, no?

If it's not active, there is still FIFO and upsampling, no?

I don't know if there are differencies with or without MHR...

Greg,

So far I have not had any issues with HDR/DV.

My issue was seeing PCM being displayed instead of MHR.

Regards
Samuel

Domin,

Thank you for your response.

I understand what you are saying but I love the Meridian High Rate audio (MHR) because it just sounds better to me.

It may be psychological but the quality of the Meridian sound is what I want.

Regards
Samuel

I have been futzing around with a Vertex2 into a HD621 connected to a G61 and had a strange problem that I fixed without knowing what I did to fix it. With ATV and PS5 as source the voice track of sources was missing while the G68 was reporting MHR 6 Channel coming in. If I changed the Vertex2 to send stereo the voice was there. Cable box sending AC3 5.1 was fine (and G61 reported as AC3, not as MHR).

Now everything is working, but using the TX1 output as you suggested, where I used to sometimes have the G68 showing MHR, now it shows PCM, and I am getting 5.1 with no problem. I assume the HD621 is getting 48kHz 24 bit, and the G61 is reporting PCM at 96KHz, so the HD621 is upsampling. All good there, and not sure that the G61 reporting MHR would mean any difference in what is going on with the audio stream.

I have the G61 connected with the three RCAs, which is a MHR connection I think, and I am not sure why that connection would not always be reported as MHR, no matter what the source.

Anyone understand this and willing to explain what is going on here?

Try to set Automix Audio Flag to 5.1.

No dice. Last night wasn't working again, tried different EDIDs, Automix. Source was Plex via ATV4, changed audio from HD stream to AC3 5.1 and then could hear the main voice (Attenborough narration), then switch back to HD stream and it was still working. Starting to wonder if maybe Vertex2 not the problem and something flakey going on with HD621. 100% of the time when source is cable box G61 is reporting AC3 and center channel is fine. With other sources now G61 is showing PCM and I am getting this weird behavior. For the cable box the Vertex2 reports the audio as bitstream, and for other sources it reports as AC3 5.1, or AC3 2.0, etc. I don't really know what I am doing and I am stumped!

Not sure I understand how you have everything connected? I have essentially the same set of equipment.
This is how it should be connected. Make sure you don't have old HDMI cables like HDMI 1.3. Won't work.

ATV4 -> Vertex2 HDMI, any of 0-3
Vertex2 TX0 -> TV arc port
Vertex2 Audio Out -> HD621 -> G61

TV needs to be arc enabled and not configured to output PCM but pass-through or similar.

I think I have an idea of the problem (I have G68 + HD621 + Integral2 (= Vertex 1) and ATV 4K).

In your ATV, normally you output LPCM for everything (Audio = Auto) so sometimes, ATV outputs LPCM 7.1 if soundtrack is in 7.1.
And in Auto or Max Audio Mode, Vertex accepts everything, including 7.1 your G68 doesn't support.

I use this program (EEditGold) to open the edid used by Vertex and change the value to Audio LPCM from 8 channels to 6 channels.
After that, no problem, ATV converts 7.1 to 5.1 and I have LPCM 5.1 for 5.1 or 7.1.
I contacted HdFury for the problem but in my case, they hadn't really helped me. I found the solution myself