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Interesting happenings with MakeMKV & XBMC

post #1 of 5
12/4/12 at 9:28am
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I ripped MiB3 BD to my Mac Pro (EARLY 2009: 10.8.2, 2.66GHz Xeon, 8GB RAM). English audio choices were DTS-HD w/DTS 5.1 subset, and DD 5.1. I ripped two copies, one with only DD and one with only the DTS 5.1 subset selected. XBMC played both rips back with DD 5.1 (?). I then ripped with DTS-HD and the DTS 5.1 subset selected. XBMX showed it was playing "Lossless - DTS-HD MA 5.1 (1/2)". Selecting 2/2 showed "3/2+1 - DTS 5.1 (2/2)".

I put a copy of the DTS-HD rip onto my Mac mini (LATE 2009: 10.7.5, 2.66GHz Core 2 Duo, 4GB RAM), which is connected via Kanex Adapter/HDMI to my Onkyo 805. Playing either the copy residing on the mini or the copy residing on the Mac Pro (mini & Pro ethernet cabled to my Time Capsule), XBMC starts with "Lossless - DTS-HD MA 5.1 (1/2)" showing. However, my 805 shows that the mini is outputting DTS 5.1. Selecting 2/2 loses DTS 5.1 and I get 2-channel audio. Cannot return to DTS 5.1. Quitting and restarting XBMC gives the "Lossless - DTS-HD MA 5.1 (1/2)" DTS 5.1 again. There is no stuttering of the picture or sound during playback.
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post #2 of 5
12/4/12 at 10:54am
Am I understanding your post correctly that your Macs are outputting DTS-HS MA audio from an .mkv BR rip and played in XBMC? Does the display on your AVR confirm that it is receiving HD audio? Very interesting, and good news, if true.
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post #3 of 5
12/4/12 at 11:53am
Which versions of XBMC are you using?

With the Mac Pro, are you connected to the AVR or are you just listening to them via its built-in audio and/or desktop speakers? If that's the case, you listening to XBMC down-res the HD audio in real time. You need a pretty powerful Mac to do that without some stuttering, which you have. So clarify whether you're testing with the Mac Pro connected to an AVR and outputting audio over optical or HDMI...because otherwise what XBMC is "showing" is not what you're "hearing."
Quote:
However, my 805 shows that the mini is outputting DTS 5.1

To be expected, that's the best you can hope for.

I may be a little unsure of what you're really reporting in the Mini test, but are you observing that with the Mini, even when you select the DTS-HD MA 5.1 track, what ends up getting passed to your AVR seems to be just regular old DTS 5.1? If so, that's not unusual, XBMC in OS X is probably trying to figure out what to do with the high res audio track that it knows it can't handle as is, it's either down-rezzing that track, extracting the core DTS 5.1 from it or switching to the secondary DTS 5,1 audio track which has already been extracted during the MakeMKV.
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post #4 of 5
12/4/12 at 12:16pm
Thread Starter 
Hi chefklc.

I was just passing on a few things I hadn't noticed previously, mainly because I was not recording hi-rez due to the video stuttering:
-The hi-rez tracks do show up in XBMC v11.0.beta2, which is pretty cool.
-The rip that I did with only the DTS 5.1 subset selected still had DD 5.1 somehow, as that's what it outputs.
-XBMC v11.0.beta2 stops outputting DTS 5.1 if I attempt to change the audio stream. I assume this means that XBMC is extracting the core DTS 5.1 until I change audio tracks.

The Mac Pro was using internal speakers, and I know I'm not hearing the HD audio. I only use the Mac Pro for library purposes.
The Mac mini is definitely outputting DTS or DD 5.1, and I was not expecting to get Hi-rez audio from Mac OS (though I'm still hoping Apple will grant us that in future).
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post #5 of 5
12/4/12 at 12:18pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by cnelson87 View Post

Am I understanding your post correctly that your Macs are outputting DTS-HS MA audio from an .mkv BR rip and played in XBMC? Does the display on your AVR confirm that it is receiving HD audio? Very interesting, and good news, if true.

Nope, the mini is putting out DTS 5.1, but only if the rip was done with DTS-HD and the subset DTS 5.1 selected. I'm thinking XBMC is extracting the core DTS 5.1 during playback.
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