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HD Audio: Do I have to do anything special?


Marc_G

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Hi folks,

 

Thanks for helping with my sudden surge of questions over the last week. I'm awakening as if from a long sleep.

 

This one takes some explanation: In spring of 2009, I cut the cord and built an HTPC. It connected to an old-school AVR via optical (TosLink) cable, with a separate HDMI cable direct to the TV for the video connection. Sure, in the time since then I've updated the video card, added an SSD for the OS, and upgraded the storage drives. Along the way I quickly ditched Vista and have been on Win 7 ever since. Media Browser 2.3 eventually evolved into Emby as we know and love it today. My content source all this time has largely been BluRays that I rip with MakeMKV.

 

But my audio connection for lo these past 7 years has been just an optical cable. DD 5.1 and DTS. My AVR didn't support anything higher, and back in 2009 when I set everything up, "bitstreaming audio" was as much magic as science, reserved for those lofty folks who had extra time after fighting off dinosaurs and such. I never thought much of it. My HTPC went from "way of life" to "hobby" to "appliance" and needed very little attention.

 

But I've finally invested in a late model HD-Audio-capable AVR (Denon s720W) thanks to recommendations from the forum, and I even have a new dedicated Windows 10 box (Tronsmart X5 Ara plus) on the way. To get HD Audio in this modern age with such updated equipment, do I need to do anything different than I have been doing, other than making sure to select the HD audio stream when ripping with MakeMKV?

 

My client will likely be the standard Emby Theater application in Win 10. So, with the Win 10 box connected via HDMI to the new AVR, do I need to set anything up special to get HD Audio to work streaming with Emby server (on my old Win 7 computer) to the new TV-proximal Win 10 box with Theater? OR, does it "just work" [usually].

 

I remember people fussing so much, special drivers, all kinds of audio angst years ago. Is it really just plug and play now?

 

The funny part is that I'm not sure my ears are capable of hearing the difference! :-)

Edited by Marc_G
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Be sure you install the desktop version of Theater (instead of the one out of the store) and I think you will find it fairly plug and play.

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Guest asrequested

Yup, pretty much what ebr said, use theater desktop and make sure you set it to HDMI bitstreaming and choose your speaker configuration. I also recommend using WASAPI. Here's how my configuration looks. I have 7.1.2 Dolby Atmos.

 

583f87b75700e_Snapshot_377.jpg

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Great, thanks guys!

 

One question about this:

 

My current Onkyo rig, when given DTS, can expand the 5.1 to deliver a (well) simulated rear channel. I love hearing things coming from behind. Is there any trick to getting modern systems to do this, for content that doesn't come with a discrete rear channel? In other words, once I configure my system to be a 7.1 system, and stream the audio directly to the AVR (via WASAPI as you've shown), is it just a matter of configuring the AVR to expand it? I'm sure this is all standard stuff these days, so maybe this is a silly question.

 

Thanks for your support. That screen shot is a super help!

 

Marc

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mastrmind11

Great, thanks guys!

 

One question about this:

 

My current Onkyo rig, when given DTS, can expand the 5.1 to deliver a (well) simulated rear channel. I love hearing things coming from behind. Is there any trick to getting modern systems to do this, for content that doesn't come with a discrete rear channel? In other words, once I configure my system to be a 7.1 system, and stream the audio directly to the AVR (via WASAPI as you've shown), is it just a matter of configuring the AVR to expand it? I'm sure this is all standard stuff these days, so maybe this is a silly question.

 

Thanks for your support. That screen shot is a super help!

 

Marc

Yes, your AVR will do the expanding.  Likely a button on the remote to change the effect.  Here's a link to the manual regarding this info:  http://manuals.denon.com/AVRS720W/NA/EN/OBAOSYyriqsmlp.php

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clarkss12

Just to confirm that the Tronsmart Ara X5 makes a good media player.  I have both Emby and Plex servers running on my original Ara, and using the Emby Theater app, works fantastic.

 

Right now I am playing my BlueRay rip of "Saving Pvt. Ryan" with subtitles turned on, and it is playing flawlessly with "Direct Playing".  My Denon AVR shows "DTS", even though one of the audio codecs is DTS HD MA.

Saving Pvt. Ryan MediaInfo.txt

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Thanks! It's good to hear the Tronsmart unit was a good pick. I heard a few good things, saw it was on sale for ~$100, and grabbed the deal.

 

Is there any special sauce to making sure the right audio track is played when HD audio and regular DD or DTS is present? I recall going to lots of effort around subtitles to make sure they were properly marked as default / forced and so on, either during ripping from disc or after the fact. Will I need to set a default audio track or will the player just pick the best one given AVR capability?

Edited by Marc_G
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Guest asrequested

When you play a movie you can select which audio you want, and next time you play it, ET will remember your choice. If you want it defaulted from the start you have to make sure it's correctly marked in the container. With subs, they have to be correctly marked in the container. If they aren't, you can easily correct it with mkvtoolnix.

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Thanks. I used Mkvtoolnix quite a bit for subtitle marking. Will give it a shot if needed for the audio tracks.

 

Probably my next step is just to hook things up on Xmas and see what works by default and what requires extra effort. :-)

Edited by Marc_G
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For those on Android who enjoy HD Audio, the latest beta version of the Emby app offers improved playback, refresh rate switching, and all the HD Audio pass-through you need. Check out the beta thread for more details:

 
 
We think you'll enjoy the next update to the stable channel. Thanks !
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