JUST PURCHASED WDHD PLAYER BUT CAN'T GET AUDIO WHEN PLAYING HIGH DEF MOVIES THROUGH THE TV , I DO NOT WANT 5.1 SOUND ALL I WANT IS SOUND TO COME THROUGH THE TV SPEAKERS , IS THERE ANY WAY OF THIS TO HAPPEN OR DO I HAVE TO BUY A DECODER OR HOME CINEMA SPEAKERS FOR ME TO GET SOUND OR IS THERE ANY SOFTWARE THAT WILL CONVERT / DECODE / REMUX THE MOVIE TO PLAY IN STEREO , ANY FEEDBACK WOULD BE GRATEFUL, I HAVE INSTALLED THE LATEST FIRMWARE BUT STILL NO JOY.
Just set your audio do ‘stereo’ in the options menu.
COULD YOU PLEASE EXPLAIN IN DETAIL, I CANT SEE ANYTHING IN THE MEDIA PLAYERS MENU THATS SAYS STEREO, OR ARE YOU REFERRING TO THE SETTINGS ON THE TV, MANY THANKS IN ADVANCE.
First, turn off CAPS LOCK. 
The setting being referred to is in the WDTV:
SETTINGS
AUDIO
AUDIO OUTPUT
It will be either DIGITAL or STEREO.
Change it to whichever you need.
i have changed settings to stereo but still no sound on various mkv files , namely big size files , ive been told that certain mkv files up tp 4gb will have 2 channel sound but anything above this and it is in dolby digital or dts 5.1 can anyone confirm this, when playing for example GREENZONE a 6.5 gb 720p mkv there is no sound , english 1 (digital) appears on the screen although ive changed the settings , has anyone got any ideas including software for me to get round this problem, many thanks in advance.
If the file you are trying to play has an HD audio track only it will not be decoded by the Live in an MKV container, so it’s *possible* those files were created badly (at least in terms of the Live).
Your best bet is to create the files yourself – take the original and run it through Handbrake using the High Profile preset (but change the output type to MKV). If you leave everything else alone Handbrake will correctly encode the audio to AAC Stereo and thus things will play just fine on your setup.
(Note that if the files are authored badly in the first place you can’t fix them – there are no HD-DTS only converter software AFAIK. That’s why you want to do this with the originals. It’s *always* best to create files yourself rather than get them elsewhere).
mkelley wrote:
If the file you are trying to play has an HD audio track only it will not be decoded by the Live in an MKV container
Eh ? Do you have an example of such a vid ? I’ve never encountered a file where the WDTV Live couldnt decode the audio (which really doesnt mean that it doesnt exist, so I’m interested). Or at least post mediainfo details of it please ?
I could *make* such an example, but I don’t have one. Just put a DTS-HD track without an AC3 core in it and the Live won’t play it.
Actually, there could be a hundred different ways to make one – I can think of two or three with Handbrake alone. But why worry about doing something *wrong* – the better idea is to do it right .
mkelley wrote:
I could *make* such an example, but I don’t have one. Just put a DTS-HD track without an AC3 core in it and the Live won’t play it.
Actually, there could be a hundred different ways to make one – I can think of two or three with Handbrake alone. But why worry about doing something *wrong* – the better idea is to do it right .
Sure, but I would like to see if I can fix it. Anyway, I’ll try getting a DTS-HD/AC3 example.
mkelley wrote:
If the file you are trying to play has an HD audio track only it will not be decoded by the Live in an MKV container
Mike, that’s not quite true. -edit- Your later comment about absent 5.1 cores makes sense but do many people encode that way?
Based on my tests, when set to Stereo output, the Live will downmix DTS-HD MA within an MKV to 2.0 PCM.
Dolby TrueHD samples, OTOH, didn’t work when in an MKV container (video but no audio).
So the issue could simply be that the non-working files have Dolby TrueHD audio tracks.
Both HD audio types work (are downmixed) when present in M2TS files and output is set to Stereo.
A simpler (and faster) solution than re-encoding with Handbrake would be to remux the non-working files into M2TS containers and see if that gets them playing.
Try TSmuxeRGUI.
While it’s not likely that many folks are encoding without the cores, since he’s getting his files off the web (most likely) almost anything is possible.
If so, your fix won’t work for him.
The best advice, really, is for him to encode himself from the original sources (which he should own, correct?)
We’ll leave it up to the OP. ;)
He already has a number of files that could simply be remuxed (he even requests remuxer suggestions in the OP).
The fastest potential solution is tsMuxeR (which would take several minutes and rule out that possibility).
If it doesn’t work, he can always re-encode with Handbrake from the original source (that he should own, as you rightly point out).
PixelPower wrote:
Dolby TrueHD samples, OTOH, didn’t work when in an MKV container (video but no audio).
I just tested, it seems TrueHD doesnt downmix at all, regardless of it being in MKV or not. Here’s an example I used:
PixelPower wrote:
Based on my tests, when set to Stereo output, the Live will downmix DTS-HD MA within an MKV to 2.0 PCM.
Dolby TrueHD samples, OTOH, didn’t work when in an MKV container (video but no audio).
So the issue could simply be that the non-working files have Dolby TrueHD audio tracks.
Both HD audio types work (are downmixed) when present in M2TS files and output is set to Stereo.
No, DDTrueHD is not available as stereo from M2TS files, neither at HDMI or stereo outputs.
Cocovanna
