[RVWinkle]

Hi Everyone,


I'm a long time DIY computer guy who has just recently moved to HD Audio. I have a great setup where I stream audio and video to my HTPC which is connected to a Yamaha RX-V667 HD receiver. I've successfully configured it to output regular DTS and True HD but it won't output DTS-MA streams. All DTS-MA audio only outputs the core DTS stream.


I know bit streaming is a common problem as I've researched it quite a bit. Unfortunately, my searches on this forum and google haven't given me an answer.


My setup:


Asrock E350M1 with the 11.7 catalyst drivers connected via HDMI

Yamaha RX-V667 (only 2 speakers)


Software:

Win7 x64

Shark 007 codec packs 32bit and 64bit

MakeMKV

Media Browser

TMT5

XBMC


15 blu ray disks


I've tried playing multiple movies with multiple codecs. Blu Ray disks in TMT5. Mkv rips in TMT5, XBMC, and Media Browser (fddshow). Everything appears to be setup correctly and the fddshow control panel reports that DTS-MA is available. True HD works but all DTS streams are bitstreamed in one of two bit rates as reported by my receiver, 1536 and 768.


Any ideas on how to get DTS-MA working?

 

[Sammy2]

Lav

 

[fitbrit]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Sammy2 /forum/post/20804059


Lav

Specifically, use LAV Splitter and Audiodecoder. Select bitstreaming for DTS-HD MA.

 

[RVWinkle]

Are you guys saying that LAV is the only way to get DTS-MA audio? As I understand it, the other methods I used should support DTS-MA.

 

[RVWinkle]

Okay I just read a faq about LAV:

Quote:
Q: Can LAV Audio decode DTS-HD?

A: Kind of. On its own, it cannot. But, LAV Audio supports using the ArcSoft DTS decoder, which allows decoding of full DTS-HD. Just drop the "dtsdecoderdll.dll" from the TMT3/5 Codecs directory into LAV Audio's directory, and enjoy. NOTE: This only works on 32-bit!

I've already tried the ArcSoft decoder and it's not outputting DTS-MA. My testing included using multiple blu ray disks with TMT5. I've tried multiple playback methods and all of them have the same results so I'm not convinced that the problem is codec related.

 

[rahzel]

LAV Audio decoder alone can bitstream DTS-HD MA and all HD audio formats. The Q&A there refers to decoding DTS-HD on the software side and is not referring to bitstreaming where the decoding is done by your AVReceiver. If your AVR can decode DTS-HD, there's no need to decode it from your PC... just bitstream it. That would be the preferred method anyway.


FWIW, LAV is not the only way to bitstream HD audio... ffdshow can as well, but LAV is generally the preferred way to do it.

 

[RVWinkle]

Thanks for the advice everyone and thanks for clearing that up rahzel, I guess I was confusing my terms. So I ended up installing LAV and nothing changed except Tropic Thunder with True HD became flaky and switched to pcm. I also researched some more and I found that xbmc doesn't currently support bitstream DTS-MA. This really sucks because the android app had finally convinced me to migrate. I'll have to hold off on that until it's added which I guess gives me more time to format my library.


Anyway, I discovered that I had the wrong settings on my receiver. Turns out that the "Movie" button on the remote turns off the MA part of the stream in favor of custom dsp filters. That has to be one of the worst buttons I have ever seen.