It makes no difference whether the audio is Dolby or DTS.
The first file I played had no issues. Since then, whenever the playback of video files with a surround sound track reaches approximately 36 minutes, minor glitches can be heard. A minute later VERY LOUD static/white noise begins, and the amp display reads ‘STEREO’ instead of ‘Dolby Digital’ or ‘DTS’. Video is unaffected. Stopping playback and then selecting ‘Resume’ resets the audio and gets rid of the noise, and it plays correctly until the end.
It looks as though the WDTV is ‘forgetting’ what codec it’s sending to the amp and tells the amp it’s sending PCM.
I tried a different HDMI cable and did a factory reset, but the result is the same. Surround sound from other devices such as TV and Blu-ray plays perfectly through my amp, which is a Marantz NR1504, a different brand from the one described in the above thread.
Hi Paralucent, can you share what file extensions are you trying to play? Have you verified if the problem continues with the WDTV connected directly to the TV? You can download the media info application and share your results here. Check the link below for the steps.
How to find information about WD TV and Elements Play media files
The problem has changed slightly. Now I now cannot get my SMP to output Dolby Digital or DTS bistreams at all!
The SMP OSD shows DTS or DD but the amp shows and plays only stereo. I have tried at least 10 MKVs and one DVD iso, all with 5.1 DD or DTS tracks. They all play in stereo.
This was after I experimentally changed the audio output to ‘stereo’ and then back again to HDMI Passthrough in the hope of fixing the white noise problem. Even after two factory resets I cannot get SMP to output the bitstreams. It makes no difference whether the passthrough is set to Auto or Manual (DD and DTS are enabled in both). It’s really strange.
I have two MKVs with PCM5.1 sound. These are correctly output to the amp as 5.1 channel PCM and play as expected. So it seems to be compressed audio that’s causing the issue.
I have the exact problem, except I have a Sony amp. Really annoying!
This problem occurred with the latest firmware. Now I cannot play ANY movies completely with DTS sound without having to stop the playback mid-movie and then resuming.
The quality of the firmware updates have been really bad, always some feature breaks after updating. And some problems never seem to get fixed like random Spotify playlists crashing and rebooting the unit.
I’m answering because I habe the same problem (see here). My setup is WD Live SMP → AVR → Projector.
Connecting the SMP directly to the projector will result in no audio at all, since the projector can’t decode DTS (passthrough). It only plays stereo PCM.
Please have a look at the other thread as well. Someone reported this problem back in June!
If a different port on the amp works, I would suspect the amp as the source of the white noise. Does it work correctly with a different HDMI source on the same port?
Nevermind… missed the part where you used different devices.
If a different port on the amp works, I would suspect the amp as the source of the white noise. Does it work correctly with a different HDMI source on the same port?
Nevermind… missed the part where you used different devices.
Your question is still good… It’s not clear in the original post whether he tried different devices on the same port.
The WDTV always worked okay through the TV but then it was outputting PCM stereo, not bitstreams. ISTR that when I experimentally enabled HDMI passthrough to the TV before I got my amp I got no sound at all… which is odd, given that my TV can decode most common codecs.
Anyway after fiddling about with various firmwares I am now back on the current firmware, and I have watched two video files with no sound problems at all. Only difference from before is that video preview is disabled - is that significant? I’m using the original ‘Media Player’ port on my amp again. I only switched ports because at the time I couldn’t figure out what I had done to disable surround sound output.
