FLAC only playing as 2.0

[rblu19 3]

I've recently started converting the audio tracks on my files to flac. However, I've noticed that the audio is only outputting stereo on surround tracks. I've checked mkvinfo, all the channels are there, and it shows up as so on the movie's info page. I understand that it's probably some setting I have wrong on my lav filters, but I'm at a loss to figure out what it might be. Is there any consensus on what parts of the filters correspond to my problem, and what I should have them set to? Thank you.

[steelman1991 19]

As you are encoding in player - you will either have to use re-clock (to achieve WASAPI, by-passing the windows audio engine - native functionality is being worked on at present), or if not using that, your windows sound set-up has to be set for multi-channel (5.1, 7.1 etc).

[rblu19 3]

Alright, I've tried both those options (separately and together): 1) With reclock on and windows set to stereo, it does nothing to fix my problem, and in fact slows down the video (and I've tried it with all three settings - WASAPI, directsound and waveout). 2) With windows set to 7.1, it just plays all movies in stereo, but the stereo repeats through all the speakers. 3) With both on, it just plays same as #2.

 

Also, the following messages show up when option #1 happens, use them for what they're worth. Both speakers setups refer to the movie having a flac file with that soundtrack:

 

7.1:

The audio format is not supported by the hardware/driver:

48000 samples/sec

24 bit PCM

8 channels

 

5.1:

The audio format is not supported by the hardware/driver:

4800 samples/sec

32 bit IEEE float

8 channels

[rblu19 3]

Nevermind, just needed to select '24 bit int padded to 32' from the pcm output panel. Although, I do have the problem of the back channels of 5.1 tracks playing in the back speakers of my 7.1 setup instead of the sides (on all audio, not just flac). It's no big deal if you don't know a fix, but if you do know a fix, that would be much appreciated.

[steelman1991 19]

Glad you got a solution of sorts. Can't really help with the channel seperation issue (gave up with flac a long time ago), though I'm certain I read somewhere that it isn't the playback that is the cause, but the filter used to decode from the original DTS-HD or True HD source. Some decoders don't carry out a 7.1 decode properly. All this is from some vague recollection, so may be way off the mark. Which decoder do you use to convert the tracks?

 

For no reason other than curiosity, is there a compelling reason you decided to use flac?

[rblu19 3]

to convert to flac, either use makemkv (but now when initially ripping disc, doesn't work then), or when converting through handbrake (computer can only handle 720p, but since projector/tv only go that high it looks exactly the same as from the blu-ray).

 

 

 

as for reason - before converting, mbt would only play the core tracks, even though the videos had the full lossless audio. I paid for a setup that could handle lossless quality, I wanted to get lossless quality (not to mention that on 7.1 tracks, core only goes up to 5.1, so I'm losing two channels). Flac was the only format I could think of that was lossless, so I figured I'd switch to that. If there's any other format that can work with keeping the quality that works with mbt, let me know and I'll switch to that. Otherwise, I'll just rerip my videos to dtshd/truehd and wait for the native functionality you mentioned earlier (that will work with those formats, right? Or can it already work and I'm missing some kind of setting?)

[steelman1991 19]

Perhpas the decoder in MakeMKV dosen't work correctly - just a hunch, but perhaps some research on the MakeMKV forums might shed light on the issue.

 

I don't have a 7.1 system to test, but AFAIWA MBT has always been able to handle the lossless codecs (DTS-HD and TrueHD), certainly it does in a 5.1 set-up like mine, if it didn't I think the forum would be awash with reporting errors. Have you set up the audio configuration (from the settings\Video Player menu in MBT)?

 

The native functionality I referred to was for WASAPI playback, without the need for re-clock. As I said MBT/LAV should already take care of bitstreaming HD Codecs. One other thing to bear in mind is that MBT is very much a work in progress and perhaps some of the functionality you desire, just hasn't been introduced.

 

I certainly wouldn't add the step of re-encoding, when support is already there for DTS-HD, TrueHD playback.

 

Sorry just had another read of your post and I think our definition of 'core' tracks differ slightly. I thought you meant you only got 'core' DTS playback, but I think you are referring to still getting the DTS-HD playback, only in 5.1 format and not 7.1. My understanding is that 'core' relates to playback of the DTS stream, which is different to what you describe.

Edited May 22, 2014 by steelman1991

[rblu19 3]

No, you were right about what I meant by core. I think it just may not be able to bitstream (which is what it was set at) in the full quality  - dts-hd ma would only output as dts, truehd wouldn't play at all, an error message would come up (which is what led me to finally try flac in the first place).

 

Turning off bitstreaming let me play truehd, but only in stereo.

 

Here's where I am:

1) audio bitstreaming mode set to hdmi: dts-hd plays the 'core' dts track (but not the full dts-hd track), truehd gives me an error message and won't let me play the movie at all, movies with only what would be a 'core' audio track (e.g. dvds with dolby digital/dts tracks) play perfectly

2) audio bitstreaming mode set to spdif: same as #1

3) audio bitstreaming mode off: everything only plays in the stereo I mentioned in my original post, including the dvd audio

Edited May 23, 2014 by rblu19

[steelman1991 19]

If there is an issue with bitstreaming, then we maybe need to look beyond the software (because I and others can happily bitstream both) and have a look at the hardware set-up. What is your current set-up (PCU, GPU, receiver etc).

Edited May 23, 2014 by steelman1991

[rblu19 3]

I've got it mostly sorted out now - it's mostly wrong settings, with a little sprinkle of my hardware (presumably my computer, as my receiver works perfectly when working with other devices). I'm planning on getting a new computer soon enough, so hopefully that fixes my problems. Until then, I've gotten pretty much everything but 7.1 to work (on all audio types), and converting to flac fixes that (I've gotten flac to work perfectly from mono to 7.1), so it's convert what I need to (and maybe more, since dtshd/truehd to flac actually reduces file size by a bit without reducing quality). 

 

Thanks for the help, I appreciate it. No more need to check the thread, I'm done with this.