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Author Topic: DTS or AC3 Audio files not playing, Movies play fine  (Read 3779 times)

kensn

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DTS or AC3 Audio files not playing, Movies play fine
« on: June 16, 2011, 10:20:03 am »

So after getting a new sub the other day,  I went into an old folder and found a bunch of old audio test files I had. I used these to test my ASIO setup a few years back for bit perfect playback, but there were some good sweep tones and low end files in there also. I tried to play a DTS wav, and a DD wave and both give static. They play fine with VLC, so I know the files are good. I have my MC setup pretty good right now, and I don't want to go messing anything up tinkering a lot, but what am I missing???  Ripped DVDs and MKVs with either format work, but just a plain audio file wont. I did disable all the DSPs and that did not help.

Onboard Sound, digital out to Onkyo
WASAPI Event
MC .111
Win7 64

Ken
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JimH

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Re: DTS or AC3 Audio files not playing, Movies play fine
« Reply #1 on: June 16, 2011, 10:22:08 am »

A similar problem is fixed in build 112.
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kensn

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Re: DTS or AC3 Audio files not playing, Movies play fine
« Reply #2 on: June 16, 2011, 10:23:49 am »

OK... Good thing I gave up and asked...

Thanks Jim..
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Matt

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Re: DTS or AC3 Audio files not playing, Movies play fine
« Reply #3 on: June 16, 2011, 10:44:11 am »

The fix only applies to bitstreaming TrueHD and DTS-HD, which I don't think applies in this case.

Are you hoping to decode the DTS WAV to PCM on the computer, or to send the WAV unchanged and let the Onkyo decode it?  If you're doing the latter, make sure you have all DSP disabled and the volume at 100%.

Media Center doesn't automatically disable audio processing (like volume, etc.) for this special-type of audio-only bitstreaming, although that might be a nice feature.
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kensn

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Re: DTS or AC3 Audio files not playing, Movies play fine
« Reply #4 on: June 16, 2011, 10:55:44 am »

I am sending to Onkyo for decoding, all DSP are turned off, volume is at 100%. Trying to figure out the difference between outputs of Movies and just wav Audio.

Ken
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kensn

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Re: DTS or AC3 Audio files not playing, Movies play fine
« Reply #5 on: June 16, 2011, 08:23:08 pm »

And at the risk of sounding ignorant, I was under the impression that the wasapi-event was bit perfect. My concern is, if these wav files do not make it to the receiver bit perfect, are all my audio files being manipulated even when the DSPs are disabled?

Ken
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Matt

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Re: DTS or AC3 Audio files not playing, Movies play fine
« Reply #6 on: June 17, 2011, 09:06:39 am »

If a DTS WAV isn't being decoded by your external decoder, the connection is probably not bit perfect.

I just tested a 44.1 DTS WAV on a cheapie motherboard soundcard using WASAPI - Event Style, and also a USB soundcard using ASIO, and both decode correctly outboard.

DTS WAV files are sort of a hack, because they don't mark that the data is compressed.  That means it would be hard for Media Center to automatically disable DSP, volume, etc.

It might actually be more consistent if Media Center decoded the DTS in these WAV files to PCM like it does for compressed formats.  But since the header doesn't mark the data, this is also a challenge.
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Matt Ashland, JRiver Media Center

kensn

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Re: DTS or AC3 Audio files not playing, Movies play fine
« Reply #7 on: June 17, 2011, 09:49:15 am »

Is there some settings to look at, as I said the DTS and DD files play through VLC on the same pc. I did try to set the playback to J River Video - no effect, and Tag the files as DTS - no effect. Its not a big deal, but i am wondering what is altering the bits.

I will also try .DTS as seen in the other thread, but will not be able to do this until tonight...

Ken
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Trumpetguy

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Re: DTS or AC3 Audio files not playing, Movies play fine
« Reply #8 on: June 18, 2011, 10:01:21 am »

I have a similar problem with mkv containing mpeg2 from dvd with either AC3 or DTS audio track (not decoded to e.g. flac). These files were problem free before. Now video runs ok, but audio is almost all static (I can recognize some of the sound). I have tried all playback options (RO, ROHQ etc). I do D/A conversion directly from the computer, no receiver.
Flac audio tracks plays fine.
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maid

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Re: DTS or AC3 Audio files not playing, Movies play fine
« Reply #9 on: June 20, 2011, 11:14:18 pm »

Where can I get 112?

I send all my audio through my Kenwood amp (Spdif) but if I turn on RO I dont get DTS or Dolby.

I have to set my system at Tools --> Options --> Video --> General Video Settings --> DirectShow Selection method --> Advanced --> Windows Merit based (less stable).
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kensn

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Re: DTS or AC3 Audio files not playing, Movies play fine
« Reply #10 on: June 20, 2011, 11:51:49 pm »

We can't get 112 yet Maid...  :(

Hopefully in a few days there will be a new public build.... :)
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torpedo_los

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Re: DTS or AC3 Audio files not playing, Movies play fine
« Reply #11 on: July 30, 2011, 09:09:57 am »

Hi, I also have a question related to playing DTS WAV files (eg RaveWave DTS WAV Stereo file at http://www.kellyindustries.com/sounds.html).
My observation is that apparently JRMC16 (using .139 now) behaves differently than JR15.

I have been playing such DS WAV files on JR15 to test bitperfectness of various hardware setups (build-in Realtek, Terratec DMX6Fire, HiFace) into my Yamaha AV receiver. With JR15, I heard proper music only with HiFace (WASAPI), otherwise it was noise. And if I used Equaliser with non-zero settings, it was immediately corrupting bitperfectness.

I tried the same on JR16 today and I was surprised to hear that the file is playing the music on all setups, not just on HiFace. And changing equaliser settings on the fly does not change the music into noise, it just equalises the music.

Questions:
-Is it that JR16 decodes DTS now in such files instead of passing the decoding task to the receiver? While JR15 was not decoding DTS?
-How can I test the bitperfectness of my setups on JR16? ... seems testing with those DTS WAV no longer works

thx
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Matt

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Re: DTS or AC3 Audio files not playing, Movies play fine
« Reply #12 on: July 30, 2011, 11:19:17 am »

-Is it that JR16 decodes DTS now in such files instead of passing the decoding task to the receiver? While JR15 was not decoding DTS?

Media Center 16 decodes DTS (.dts and .wav) and plays them like any other audio.  This allows Replay Gain, Room Correction, internal volume, cross-fading, or any other audio features.


Quote
-How can I test the bitperfectness of my setups on JR16? ... seems testing with those DTS WAV no longer works

You could play a movie or DVD that contains AC3 or DTS.  Enable bitstreaming in Options > Video.  Also, make sure you use "Same as audio" for the video output under Video > Advanced.
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Matt Ashland, JRiver Media Center

torpedo_los

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Re: DTS or AC3 Audio files not playing, Movies play fine
« Reply #13 on: July 31, 2011, 08:05:32 am »

Thanks Matt for the advice.
So I set up Video options for "bitsteaming" and playback for "same as audio device". I also set DSP options of Audio for "No resampling", Source bitdepth" and "Same number of channels"

I think the testing with DTS or DD DVD material worked for my Terratec DMX6FireUSB card, showing than with ASIO output mode the setup is bitperfect (AVreceiver showed it was decoding DTS and DD), while with DirectSound output mode it is not (no sound on DD or DTS).

But the testing with DVD did not work for HiFace/WASAPI. The receiver did not not produce any sound, even if I am pretty sure the setup is bitperfect for the audio: it plays music nicely and it has been passing bitperfect tests with stereo-encoded DTS or DD WAV files on JRMC15.

Since Hiface is stereo-only device, and Terratec is surround-capable device, I suspect that testing bitperfectness with movie files would not necessarily work for stereo-only devices. So I am wondering whether there could be some ways to test bitperfect for stereo-only audio devices (it's mostly stereo audiophiles who care about bitperfect :-)
thx
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