MKV a_dts codec and A/V receivers

2017-07-23 21:27:54

I've been pulling my hair out recently about this issue and maybe it isn't an issue at all. So my setup right now is I have mkv bluray rips with DTS-HD MA audio tracks (in the MKV a_dts codec) on a portable HDD, plugged into a bluray player (Samsung BD-HM57C/ZA, which supports DTS-HD MA audio), which is plugged into a Denon AVRS930H receiver, which is then plugged into my TV. The bluray player is set to bitstream to send unprocessed audio to the receiver. When I play one of these files though, I'm not able to select DTS-HD MA audio on the receiver, it defaults to DTS + Neural X as the highest quality form of audio I can select. Now my question is, is it selecting this because of something to do with the a_dts codec the MKV file is using? And in using this audio profile on the receiver am I not getting the full, lossless audio or is it just a display issue because of the codec and the audio is how it's supposed to be?

Re: MKV a_dts codec and A/V receivers

Reply #1 – 2017-07-23 23:34:48

If it's a BR rip it will have the original audio, it is not a different codec just because it's in an MKV container. It's possible that the player is not able to pass the lossless audio through. Many BR players are like this. They can playback from BR but not from files played on them. I have no idea if it's licence issues or just the SoC they use. It's why I ditched my old Oppo BDP-93 for media playback and bought a Mede8er

Re: MKV a_dts codec and A/V receivers

Reply #2 – 2017-07-23 23:51:56

Yeah, the info in the bluray player manual I was talking about is referring to playing bluray discs. I was initially using another bluray player that I had and it also didn't have much info on playing files outside of just general info about how to set it up. If the player is converting it to DTS +Neural X what differences would I expect there to be compared to the original audio? Probably a lower bitrate mostly. I guess I'll just have to deal with it until I feel like spending money on either a bluray player with better file playback or a dedicated media player like you're talking about.

I was originally using my TV but the TV doesn't have ARC support and lossless audio can't be sent over digital audio cables. Apparently ARC doesn't even support lossless audio at the moment anyway though. Kind of ridiculous that there's so little support for these audio types unless you're playing them off a bluray disc.

Re: MKV a_dts codec and A/V receivers

Reply #3 – 2017-07-24 09:22:01

DTS-MA has a core track so it'll just be sending that, so normal DTS

Pretty sure ARC came out a long time ago, before lossless formats so there's no reason there'd be support at that time.

Lossless can be sent over digital audio cables, that's what HDMI is. When getting a streamer just be sure to check that they can actually stream lossless audio as some can't. That's literally all I use my Mede8er for Some players like Oppo's later BR and UHD BR players can do lossless audio from files but they're rather expensive.