Choppy Audio with Dolby TrueHD Atmos 7.1
Posted: 22 Nov 2015 14:09
Hi,
I was curious to know if anyone could maybe teach me a little about Dolby TrueHD Atmos or has encountered this issue.
I ripped the U.S. blu-ray for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014) with MakeMKV. I try to rip my movies at the highest quality while keeping the size minimal, so I don't rip all of the subtitle tracks (just English) nor do I rip all of the audio options, I'll only rip the 'best' one. So for this movie, I ripped the one MakeMKV labels as Dolby TrueHD 7.1 which is the Atmos track and ripped only that audio track. I did not rip the Dolby 5.1 track flagged as the 'core audio' track.
From what I understand, Dolby TrueHD doesn't work like DTD-HD Master Audio. DTS-HD Master Audio has the core + extension all in one track, but separated, so if an A/V receiver doesn't understand what the extension is, it says 'ok, whatever, don't know what that is, I'm just going to play this lossy stuff.' But with Dolby TrueHD, the core + extension are all combined together, so if an A/V receiver doesn't understand it, it says 'uhhh, don't know what this is, I'm not playing anything,' and you get no audio. You have to manually go into the blu-ray menu and select a different audio track. Movies with TrueHD typically have the lossy track set as the default track, so if you want the best audio available, you have to know to manually turn it on in the options (at least this TMNT blu-ray is this way). Correct?
Annnnnnyways....Ok, so I ripped my movie and only ripped the TrueHD Atmos 7.1 track. I have a Mac Mini connected to a Sony TV via HDMI and eventually, I plan to get an A/V receiver that can handle everything, but for now, I'm just connected straight to a TV. The weird thing is that the audio is choppy when playing the file using the latest version of VLC (2.2.1). However, I also have Kodi installed and the audio plays fine in there. I also have a Windows PC running the latest version of VLC and it too exhibits choppy audio in the exact same way (the sound cuts out and comes back in at the same time on both Mac and Windows). Why might this be? How am I getting full sound with Kodi, but not VLC? Is the issue with the fact that it's a Dolby TrueHD track or that it's a Dobly Atmos track? I'd really like to avoid having both the Dolby TrueHD Atmos 7.1 track and the core Dolby 5.1 track.
I'm not attempting to play the file across a network or anything, it's right there on the respective PCs, so I know that's not the culprit either.
TL;DR
Ripped movie with TrueHD 7.1 Atmos as the only audio track. Audio is choppy in VLC. Audio plays fine in Kodi. Why is it choppy in VLC instead of nothing at all and why does it even work at all in Kodi?
I was curious to know if anyone could maybe teach me a little about Dolby TrueHD Atmos or has encountered this issue.
I ripped the U.S. blu-ray for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014) with MakeMKV. I try to rip my movies at the highest quality while keeping the size minimal, so I don't rip all of the subtitle tracks (just English) nor do I rip all of the audio options, I'll only rip the 'best' one. So for this movie, I ripped the one MakeMKV labels as Dolby TrueHD 7.1 which is the Atmos track and ripped only that audio track. I did not rip the Dolby 5.1 track flagged as the 'core audio' track.
From what I understand, Dolby TrueHD doesn't work like DTD-HD Master Audio. DTS-HD Master Audio has the core + extension all in one track, but separated, so if an A/V receiver doesn't understand what the extension is, it says 'ok, whatever, don't know what that is, I'm just going to play this lossy stuff.' But with Dolby TrueHD, the core + extension are all combined together, so if an A/V receiver doesn't understand it, it says 'uhhh, don't know what this is, I'm not playing anything,' and you get no audio. You have to manually go into the blu-ray menu and select a different audio track. Movies with TrueHD typically have the lossy track set as the default track, so if you want the best audio available, you have to know to manually turn it on in the options (at least this TMNT blu-ray is this way). Correct?
Annnnnnyways....Ok, so I ripped my movie and only ripped the TrueHD Atmos 7.1 track. I have a Mac Mini connected to a Sony TV via HDMI and eventually, I plan to get an A/V receiver that can handle everything, but for now, I'm just connected straight to a TV. The weird thing is that the audio is choppy when playing the file using the latest version of VLC (2.2.1). However, I also have Kodi installed and the audio plays fine in there. I also have a Windows PC running the latest version of VLC and it too exhibits choppy audio in the exact same way (the sound cuts out and comes back in at the same time on both Mac and Windows). Why might this be? How am I getting full sound with Kodi, but not VLC? Is the issue with the fact that it's a Dolby TrueHD track or that it's a Dobly Atmos track? I'd really like to avoid having both the Dolby TrueHD Atmos 7.1 track and the core Dolby 5.1 track.
I'm not attempting to play the file across a network or anything, it's right there on the respective PCs, so I know that's not the culprit either.
TL;DR
Ripped movie with TrueHD 7.1 Atmos as the only audio track. Audio is choppy in VLC. Audio plays fine in Kodi. Why is it choppy in VLC instead of nothing at all and why does it even work at all in Kodi?
