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[Pidge]

Hi all, I have come across a problem with playback of DTS Flac files after updating to MC25
In order to retain all my MC24 settings I made a backup which I imported into MC 25 as soon as the new install completed

If I close MC 25 and revert back to MC 24, every thing plays as it should
I have checked all my DPS settings under both versions and they are identical, yet my DTS files do not play in MC 25
Have I missed something with the upgrade to 25 or is there a problem with the update?
Any ideas or recommendations ?

Thanks in Advance Neil

[RD James]

I don't know why it's working in MC24 and not MC25, but FLAC is a container format for PCM audio.
Putting DTS inside a FLAC container is invalid, even if it sometimes works with some players/devices.
I recommend using a container like MKA which is designed to store formats like DTS audio.

[Pidge]

Thanks for quick reply.
I actually have 12 Albums in DTS flac format and have not had a problem playing in any previous versions of JRiver (since MC19) until now
It would be nice to know why and what has changed ?
I also have 10 DTS wav format albums but do not have any issues with, Its only the flac format for some reason.

Anyway back to your recommendation of using a container like MKA ?
Sorry I have no idea what you are suggesting, Can you please explain in layman terms of direct me to somewhere where this is explained so I can get my
head around it.

Thanks
Pidge

[RD James]

There is no such thing as "DTS FLAC" - it's a DTS-WAV file that someone has run through a FLAC encoder.
What you need to do first is decode the "DTS FLAC" to a DTS-WAV file.
 
If you use Media Center to convert from FLAC to Uncompressed WAV, make sure that dither is disabled in the advanced audio options (and remember to set it back to TPDF after).
If not, it will produce a corrupt file.
 
Now you can drop these DTS-WAV files into MKVToolNix GUI and select "start multiplexing" to create MKA files.
Use a new project for each file rather than dropping them all into the tool together (that would merge all tracks to a single MKA file).
MKA files are designed to handle DTS audio, so they should not be misidentified by another media player, unlike DTS-WAV which may play as static, or a DTS-WAV file encoded to FLAC.


 
I used this file as a test, and the MKA was the smallest of the lot - though I don't know if that would still be true for longer music tracks.

[Pidge]

Hey there, Firstly thanks for your help with this, its really appreciated
O.K I have followed the steps as you have set them out, I pretty sure I have done it correctly, Under tags it states the file type is a MKA. Compression is pcm_s24Ie, Bitrate 13824, Sample rate 96Khz, Bit Depth 24, Channels 6
I have tried playing the file in both MC 24 & 25, both with no success (Just Static)
Under File types in MC option I have set Matroska Audio mka to yes with method set to auto
I have also tried a number of DPS settings after trying the obvious being - Output Format ticked with, Output Encoding set at none, Channels set at source number of channels and sample rate set at No change.
Not sure what else I can do ?
Just a point worth mentioning, I did make sure dither was disabled in advanced audio options, but returned it to JRiver Bit Exact Dithering not (set as default) not TPDF as you mentioned. I did however try to play the file with TPDF set but with no success
Any ideas ?

Thanks again
Pidge
 

[RD James]

If you're getting static, that would indicate the decoding from FLAC to DTS-WAV is not being performed correctly (which is why you have to disable dither).
Make sure all other DSP is disabled in the conversion options, and bit-depth is set to automatic. The resulting WAV file should play correctly in Media Center.
If it does not play in Media Center, something else is going wrong with the conversion. Perhaps try also setting bit-depth to 16-bit rather than automatic.
 
MKVToolNix GUI should also detect the track as containing DTS audio before creating the MKA file.

[Pidge]

I found the problem, The issue was with ASIO4all, Paul Mulcahy advised me that I install as a wrapper for my Asus Essence STX11 sound card. On checking these setting while using MC 25 I noticed they differed from the settings in MC24. For some reason it was not setting the digital output. As soon as I activated that all my DTS files become playable.
So at the end of the day the issue did not relate to JRiver at all.
I have also worked out the process to change the file type to Mka so will continue to work through and change my collection
Thanks for all you help and advice 

Cheers
Pidge

[JimH]

Thanks for the report.  Good to hear.