Problems with DTS & MKV

[Fluid]

Hey all,

I just purchased a brand new Mac Mini (Leopard), and playing MKV files seems to work great. (when streaming it's slightly choppy - gigabit network - source HD is RAID 0, which confuses me)

Regardless of the streaming issues I have (I just copy them over locally before I play), I'm having problems getting MKV's that have DTS audio to play. It starts up and the audio/video playback is incredibly choppy. It eventually errors out saying to check my systems processor speed. It's a Core 2 Duo, so I'd hope that would be enough. AC3 mkv files work brilliantly, and my receiver supports DTS streams.

FYI, when I begin playing a DTS mkv files, the receiver shows it's receiving a DTS signal, but the playback is just terrible.

Any ideas why this is occuring? Do I need to change any settings other than default?

Thanks!

[Wazof]

I have the same problem with dts-audiotracks used in a MKV-container. Apparently it's a known bug in VLC. Is there an update planned in the nearby future?

[krill]

This would be great to have fixed, along with an more optimised decoder for MKV x264 1080p... anyone know a status?

[musice]

Yep.. I Have a movie (1080p, DTS 1500kbps) and video playback is very choppy, altough the sound is OK.

My mac is Alu 24" iMac with 2gb RAM...

I hope that this issue could be solved soon... I've tried nightly builds and pre-release but it's even worse ( with nightly build).

Thx

PS: I'm using leopard

[vmaatta]

Ok this is the third topic today on pretty much the same issue.

MKV (large ones, 1080p), VLC and Leopard. There's something somewhere eating up resources and the playback is impossible. Kind of like the effect (problem) Perian has with MKV's at the moment that it can push only 4mb/s of content for Quicktime and you have to wait for the whole video to load before you can think about playing it. That's about 4 mins of waiting before you can play (presuming I got it right ).

[Sinijax]

Hey!

I just bought Logitech z-5500 system and connected it to my macbook pro via TosLink. When i run any mkv file with either ac3 or dts audio, the system does not allow me to switch to any of them and i am left with pro logic II. If anyone has any idea why i am having this problem i would greatly appreciate it.

P.S. I'm running Leopard on 2.33 Macbook Pro

Thank you!

[ibi]

I'm having the same issue (audio playback fine but loads of dropped video frames) but on Tiger (10.4.11), MacBook. Core Duo 2Ghz, 2GB RAM.

[ToeCutter]

Post after post has seemingly confirmed that there is a legitimate, reproducible issue with DTS playback within VLC.

I have a MacBook 2.0 GHz with 2GB of RAM. I'm running Leopard and just updated VLC to 0.8.6d. I'm trying to play a 720p MKV with a 1.5 Mbit DTS track. The video plays fine, and I'm using the "encoded output" option within VLC with DTS Dynamic Compression disabled. My Onkyo receiver acknowledges the track as pure DTS.

However, the audio skips and is horribly choppy. I've tried several other MKVs with DTS tracks and the result is the same, regardless if the tracks are played from a network share or from the local drive.

Things have gotten even more interesting lately, as I've installed WinXP on the same MacBook using Boot Camp. With nothing more the CCCP codec pack and AC3Filter installed I'm able to playback each and every DTS track using WMP 11 without any issue, even streamed from network shares.

So, I pose this question (respectfully) to the devs: Has the dev staff identified something in Leopard, or perhaps even VLC and the codecs it uses as the cause of the DTS issue?

VLC is without doubt the best, most flexible media player available for Windows and even more so Mac OS X. Eliminating the DTS bug would easily place VLC at the top of the list of "killer apps" for Mac.

The deafening silence this issue has received seems to indicate that the devs are either unaware of this issue, or worse, struglling just as much with it as we are.

Any response from the devs on this issue would be greatly appreciated.

As always, I offer my sincere thanks for all the hard work put into VLC. Your work in making VLC the truly great piece of code it is greatly appreciated.

[clnr]

More on your specific Issue is being discussed here:
viewtopic.php?f=12&t=41197

I have the same issue and my temporary solution is to use a late nightly build of mplayer on those files.

[wedge]

I have the same issue and my temporary solution is to use a late nightly build of mplayer on those files.

But does mplayer really do spdif output?

[wedge]

I have the same issue and my temporary solution is to use a late nightly build of mplayer on those files.

But does mplayer really do spdif output?

apparently since 11 October it does

Revision 24762
Modified Thu Oct 11 02:00:05 2007 UTC (8 weeks ago) by nplourde
Add support for AC-3/DTS passthrough.
patch by Ulion, ulion2002 gmail com


Cool! And thanks Ulion.

[snix]

have you tried increasing the file cache value?

open Preferences and go to:
Input / Codecs -> Access modules -> File

increase, restart, and try playing the file again.

[Wazof]

apparently since 11 October it does

Revision 24762
Modified Thu Oct 11 02:00:05 2007 UTC (8 weeks ago) by nplourde
Add support for AC-3/DTS passthrough.
patch by Ulion, ulion2002 gmail com

Do you know where I can find that version? Thanks in advance.

[clnr]

http://www.haque.net/software/mplayer/m ... sx/builds/

[Wazof]

http://www.haque.net/software/mplayer/m ... sx/builds/

Yes, I found those links, but the programs don't work. It doesn't matter wich type of video-file I try to open, the program immediatly crashes. Doesn't it work with Leopard?

[madmax_2069]

http://www.haque.net/software/mplayer/m ... sx/builds/

Yes, I found those links, but the programs don't work. It doesn't matter wich type of video-file I try to open, the program immediatly crashes. Doesn't it work with Leopard?

i get the same thing with tiger and this app, i will stick with VLC

[kdean]

http://www.haque.net/software/mplayer/m ... sx/builds/

Yes, I found those links, but the programs don't work. It doesn't matter wich type of video-file I try to open, the program immediatly crashes. Doesn't it work with Leopard?

i get the same thing with tiger and this app, i will stick with VLC

I've been using the last few of those builds without any problems on a PPC Mac.

[clnr]

I have no issues at all with it after I removed the older version on the system. I haven't tried the latest, using the app built Nov 4th.
C2D 2.0 Ghz MacMini running Leopard.

[ToeCutter]

http://www.haque.net/software/mplayer/m ... sx/builds/

I've just installed the 12/4/07 Build of MPlayer OSX and I can confirm that it works *wonderfully* with every DTS MKV I have.

I have a 2006 MacBook 2.0 GHz Core Duo (1st Gen) with 2GB RAM running Leopard.

To enable DTS and AC3 passthrough to SPDIF in MPlayer OSX:

1. Go to "Preferences"
2. Go to "Miscellaneous" tab
3. Check the "Additional Parameters" box
4. Paste the following switches into the text box: -afm hwac3

In sharp contrast, none of the DTS MKVs I have were playable using VLC in either Windows or Leopard.

While I'm reluctant to poo poo VLC for such a seemingly obscure issue, this one has existed forever and has received virtually zero attention from the devs. The fact the community's only "fix" for the issue is to move to a different app demonstrates the need for some dev attention on this frequently discussed shortcoming of VLC.

Until that happens, it seems that MPlayer is the only DTS playback solution for Mac OS X.

[Ayla]

I too can confirm that dts mkv's work perfectly in the latest MPlayer.

ToeCutter, what does the "-cache" parameter do? (I don't use that, and they still work).

/Martin

[ToeCutter]

I too can confirm that dts mkv's work perfectly in the latest MPlayer.

ToeCutter, what does the "-cache" parameter do? (I don't use that, and they still work).

/Martin

Whoops, I did a cut and paste from my parameters and accidentally included the -cache switch.

(I've removed the entry from the original post)

It simply provides an 8MB buffer for streaming over the network. It's not associated with the DTS switch in anyway.

P.S. Martin? Isn't this like the 3rd time we've run into one another in a DTS-related thread?!

[pdherbemont]

Hi,

What VLC version do you use?

Would it be possible to get some mkv+dts samples that present the symptoms you have?
(or do you experience troubles with the sample here http://www.diatonis.com/downloads_dts_ac3.html )

Are you using the SPDIF audio output? Does it work without it?

Thanks!

Pierre

[SaSaSushi]

Thanks VERY much for the information on Mplayer. FINALLY I can play H.264 files with DTS properly in OS X. However, I am encountering a different issue now and I wonder if anyone else is experiencing this. I have a new 24" iMac 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo and when trying to play a 1080p movie with 1.5Mbps DTS soundtrack using the S/PDIF my CPU chokes and the audio lags. Setting MPlayer to drop frames syncs the audio but looks horrible. I am able to play these files in Windows Vista under Boot Camp so I know it isn't a lack of necessary horsepower.

I am running Leopard and it doesn't matter whether I set the video output to Corevideo, Quicktime or the Mplayer default.

It is such a dissappointment because I thought I had FINALLY found a way to enjoy this content in OS X and not reboot into Boot Camp every time I wanted to watch it. I watched a 720p file with DTS and no lag issues whatsoever. It was perfect. But with 1080p Mplayer seems to alternately choke both cores of the CPU.

Anyone have any suggestions or different experiences?

[krill]

http://www.haque.net/software/mplayer/m ... sx/builds/

In sharp contrast, none of the DTS MKVs I have were playable using VLC in either Windows or Leopard.

While I'm reluctant to poo poo VLC for such a seemingly obscure issue, this one has existed forever and has received virtually zero attention from the devs. The fact the community's only "fix" for the issue is to move to a different app demonstrates the need for some dev attention on this frequently discussed shortcoming of VLC.

Until that happens, it seems that MPlayer is the only DTS playback solution for Mac OS X.

This is a critical issue for me and agree, it really does need more attention.

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

Hi,

What VLC version do you use?

Would it be possible to get some mkv+dts samples that present the symptoms you have?
(or do you experience troubles with the sample here http://www.diatonis.com/downloads_dts_ac3.html )

Are you using the SPDIF audio output? Does it work without it?

Thanks!

Pierre