AVS › AVS Forum › Video Components › Home Theater Computers › Help a confused new guy: how do I get DTS/Dolby from HDMI?
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

Help a confused new guy: how do I get DTS/Dolby from HDMI? - Page 2

post #31 of 45
1/10/12 at 12:26pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by steelfrog View Post

Both Dolby Digital and DTS aren't being sent to the receiver as far as I can tell. At least, my receiver's indicators aren't lighting up which prompted me to start looking in the first place.

I just can't figure it out. I'm starting to assume that the PC simply doesn't do 'em via HDMI, only via optical/SPDIF.

Your HDMI audio card won't output the DD or DTS but it will pass 7.1 channels which will sound fine. It's better that your amp does the processing anyway.
Reply
Reply

AVS Top Picks

post #32 of 45
1/10/12 at 1:30pm
It sounds like you're getting 7.1 channels of LPCM audio just fine over HDMI, so Windows is doing the DTS-HD and Dolby Digital HD decoding. The only thing you're missing here is a fancy light on your new receiver telling you it's doing the decoding. Let windows do it, there's no difference.
Reply
Reply
post #33 of 45
1/10/12 at 2:47pm
Install LAV Filters:
http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=156191

Select installer file and install it.

Unselect all the internal filters in MPC-HC, select Lav Filters and set them to "preferred" individually under external filters option.

Click on LavAudio Decoder and configure it as:



For more details, see my threads:

http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=152520

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1376533

btw, you don't need to select ReClock for bitstreaming.

EDIT: If above recibe doesn't work with your HW, you should use SPDIF output with the same configuration. (For SD audio bitstreaming, you don't need HDMI at all.)
_ _ _ _
Reply
Reply
post #34 of 45
1/12/12 at 5:26am
Thread Starter 
I sent an e-mail to ASRock support and they provided me with an answer a few days later. As it turns out, the unit simply doesn't support DTS via HDMI - only via optical. Guess I'll be looking into getting that working with my receiver now!

Thanks for all the help and suggestions, guys. I really appreciate it!

[Just providing an answer here in case someone stumbles onto this thread via Google or some other search engine]
Reply
Reply
post #35 of 45
1/12/12 at 5:39am
Quote:
Originally Posted by steelfrog View Post

I sent an e-mail to ASRock support and they provided me with an answer a few days later. As it turns out, the unit simply doesn't support DTS via HDMI - only via optical. Guess I'll be looking into getting that working with my receiver now!

Thanks for all the help and suggestions, guys. I really appreciate it!

[Just providing an answer here in case someone stumbles onto this thread via Google or some other search engine]

I'd still listen to the multichannel sound you can get out of the HDMI and compare to the optical. It may be better.
Reply
Reply
post #36 of 45
1/12/12 at 6:22am
Quote:
Originally Posted by capsid View Post

I'd still listen to the multichannel sound you can get out of the HDMI and compare to the optical. It may be better.

Normally, I'd agree, but DTS is a lossy format. The sound quality should be identical whether he has his computer decode it or his receiver decode it.
Reply
Reply
post #37 of 45
1/12/12 at 6:28am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by spivonious View Post

Normally, I'd agree, but DTS is a lossy format. The sound quality should be identical whether he has his computer decode it or his receiver decode it.

See, this is why I love this place. I basically announce the thread as 'closed' and you're still providing useful information!

I think I understand what you're saying regarding DTS. Since it's a lossy format to begin with, you're saying that it doesn't matter if I'm sending the signal to the receiver directly and it decodes it rather than letting the PC decode the DTS and converting it into multichannel (or is it PCM?), right?

My speakers are definitely nowhere close to picking up that kind of a difference in terms of loss. I'm really only concerned that I'm getting the proper surround (e.g., sounds that should be coming from the back speakers are being produced as expected)
Reply
Reply
post #38 of 45
1/12/12 at 6:37am
Right. If it was DTS-HD or Dolby TrueHD, then you would want the computer to decode it first and send multi-channel PCM to the receiver (unless your PC could send those over HDMI and your receiver could decode them).

But since it's regular DTS/DD, the audio in the multi-channel PCM will be identical to the audio encoded in DTS/DD.
Reply
Reply
post #39 of 45
1/12/12 at 6:47am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by spivonious View Post

Right. If it was DTS-HD or Dolby TrueHD, then you would want the computer to decode it first and send multi-channel PCM to the receiver (unless your PC could send those over HDMI and your receiver could decode them).

But since it's regular DTS/DD, the audio in the multi-channel PCM will be identical to the audio encoded in DTS/DD.

Gotcha. So I can freely use HDMI or Optical; the only difference is where the decoding takes place then. This is some great information - many thanks! I'm starting to understand all of this.
Reply
Reply
post #40 of 45
1/12/12 at 7:08am
Quote:
Originally Posted by spivonious View Post

Right. If it was DTS-HD or Dolby TrueHD, then you would want the computer to decode it first and send multi-channel PCM to the receiver (unless your PC could send those over HDMI and your receiver could decode them).

But since it's regular DTS/DD, the audio in the multi-channel PCM will be identical to the audio encoded in DTS/DD.

Just so I'm clear, when I play blu rays with PowerDVD I use the non-decoded audio option which I assume passes the audio direct to the amp where it is decoded. If so, what's happening in steelfrog's situation where the HDMI card is not outputting DTS or Dolby?
Reply
Reply
post #41 of 45
1/12/12 at 7:22am
Quote:
Originally Posted by capsid View Post

Just so I'm clear, when I play blu rays with PowerDVD I use the non-decoded audio option which I assume passes the audio direct to the amp where it is decoded. If so, what's happening in steelfrog's situation where the HDMI card is not outputting DTS or Dolby?

Right, that option causes PowerDVD to simply pass the bitstream out to your receiver.

In steelfrog's case, the HDMI port didn't support bitstreaming DTS, so his only options were to decode it on the computer and pass multi-channel PCM through HDMI, or bitstream through the optical output.
Reply
Reply
post #42 of 45
1/12/12 at 7:59am
Quote:
Originally Posted by spivonious View Post

Right, that option causes PowerDVD to simply pass the bitstream out to your receiver.

In steelfrog's case, the HDMI port didn't support bitstreaming DTS, so his only options were to decode it on the computer and pass multi-channel PCM through HDMI, or bitstream through the optical output.

Can't he bitstream as non DTS though?
Reply
Reply
post #43 of 45
1/12/12 at 8:03am
Quote:
Originally Posted by capsid View Post

Can't he bitstream as non DTS though?

He said that neither DTS nor DD worked over HDMI and confirmed that with ASRock. His only option for HDMI audio is PCM. PCM is the pure audio data, so nothing is being bitstreamed.
Reply
Reply
post #44 of 45
4/12/13 at 6:45pm
ac3filter full and media player classic worked for me. in ac3filter on the 'Main' tab under "Output Format" i selected "Do not change" and checked the "use spdif" box, even though i'm using hdmi. now 2-channel audio stays 2-channel & hd audio (including DTS) plays in hd
Reply
Reply
post #45 of 45
4/13/13 at 11:05pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Siovhan View Post

ac3filter full and media player classic worked for me. in ac3filter on the 'Main' tab under "Output Format" i selected "Do not change" and checked the "use spdif" box, even though i'm using hdmi. now 2-channel audio stays 2-channel & hd audio (including DTS) plays in hd
Does it passthrough true DD and DTS, or is it converted to LPCM?
Reply
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Home Theater Computers

AVS Top Picks

AVS › AVS Forum › Video Components › Home Theater Computers › Help a confused new guy: how do I get DTS/Dolby from HDMI?