dts multichannel

[sirloc]

hi there,

ive got a 5.1 audiofile, but vlc only plays two channels, does vls only support 2 channels or is it possible to get the other channels too????

[Guest]

Hi.

I have the same problem, the dts wav file (from the swedish broadcasting site) can be played, but only two channels are heard. my dts reciever does NOT identify the signal as DTS, although the signal is passed through the SPDIF. i did mark "pass through spdif" in the VLC player and chose any audio fiilter that had DTS listed in it, all gave the exact same result.

Oded S.

[Sigmund]

There are some known problems with dts (especially dts wavs/cds) over spdif. I'm not sure whats wrong, but I confirm that something is wrong. Any info that would help solve this is apreciated

[donesteban]

I'm glad you see that too, Sigmund.

It would be useful at this point to know whether those who cannot play dts-cd files from hard drive using s/pdif (either because they get downmixed to pcm stereo, or they get noise, or they get silence) can burn the dts wav file to cd, and play it from cd in their cd or dvd-r\rw drive, with multichannel output working.

I somehow recall that there is a special .dll that is used by software players when playing from physical cd or dvd discs, that is not employed when playing from files on the hard drive. Supposedly this .dll enables distinguishing cd media from dvd media.

If this is so, absent this .dll, the player assumes all multichannel files on the hard drive to be dvd-spec audio (48000 hz). DTS-CD files are 44100, per cd spec.

To prove this, try to play an AC3 5.1 Dolby encoded file from the hard drive out the s/pdif. AC3 files are almost always 48000hz. If this works, and it does for me, it demonstrates a requirement to either support multichannel CD audio, or maybe easier, have the player ignore that the wav file is multi-channel. The player would then output the wave file to s/pdif as if it were stereo, ie, unchanged.

I think that is how early versions of winDVD handled it, before they began autodetecting s/pdif (v3.0 and earlier). I'm in too deep...no programming experience...so I'll wait for more data to come to the table!

[pk_un_pseudo]

I'm glad you see that too, Sigmund.
It would be useful at this point to know whether those who cannot play dts-cd files from hard drive using s/pdif (either because they get downmixed to pcm stereo, or they get noise, or they get silence) can burn the dts wav file to cd, and play it from cd in their cd or dvd-r\rw drive, with multichannel output working.

Well, that doesnt work for me :/

Check list (Only with SPDIF Output):

Media / Audio / Final Output / Status

DVD-ROM / DD 5.1 / DD 5.1 / *working*
DVD-ROM / DTS 5.1 / DTS 5.1 / *working*
DVD-ROM / DTS 6.1 / DTS 6.1 / *working*
DVD-RIP / DD 5.1 / DD 5.1 / *working*
DVD-RIP / DTS 5.1 / DTS 5.1 / *working*
DVD-RIP / DTS 6.1 / DTS 6.1 / *working*
WAV1-File / DTS 6.1 / Stereo / *something went wrong*
WAV1-CD / DTS 6.1 / Stereo / *something went wrong*
WAV2-File / DD 5.1 / Stereo / *something went wrong*
WAV2-CD / DD 5.1 / Stereo / *something went wrong*

DVD Test: Matrix/Doberman/AI.
WAV Test files: http://www.sr.se/multikanal/index.stm

I dont figure how to play a DTS/DD wav or audio only file (problem/bug ???) if you played them successfully feel free to tell how to do it.

Regards.

[pk_un_pseudo]

The problem seems coming from the file that embeds the DTS stream.
I notice that all DTS wav files (including test files on the VideoLan ftp) are not correctly played (with the 0.7.2 test2 version of VLC).

Hope that helps.

[donesteban]

Well, it helps demonstrate that VLC is highly consistent in converting everything it sees to pcm stereo! So for now I play DTS WAV files on my hard drive with JRiver Media Jukebox, which is free. And I play ac3 files with PowerDVD, which isn't free, because JRiver won't play them. And I wait for VLC to fix this, so I can use one player for everything.

Thanks for the documentation!

donE

[pk_un_pseudo]

hmm ok ill check this proggy

I notice that the mplayer core used in xbmc has the same bug. The devs are warned and will work on that (quickly coz 1.0 is coming out soon ).

Hope that will make the things easier for VideoLan devs team (looking at mplayer/xbmc src code or working with xbmc devs ).

[donesteban]

I just re-tested my setup (Windows P4 Gateway laptop with passthrough 44.1/48 soundcard via s/pdif into Sony receiver supporting AC3, DTS, and MultichannelMPEG decoding) using JRiver Media Jukebox as the source. I'm playing 44.1 DTS music files in 5.1. It works perfectly.

In comparison with VLC, Media Jukebox is dumb as a stone. Yet it works.

If doing that does not light up your receiver/decoder's DTS 5.1 lights, I feel confident that your soundcard doesn't know what passthrough is, and is re-sampling.

Now, plug VLC into the equation, ...you get pcm stereo, every time.

So isn't this about disabling, not enabling??

donE

[walterhausen]

donesteban, i get the same problem with VLC. I need to know how to "force" VLC's behaviour to output to S/PDIF rather "if available". i can force behaviour with dump players and I get 5.1 audio fine. with VLC i always get downmix to PCM 2.0

any solution?