I have a few HD-DVD discs that I want to convert for use on my Hub. I converted Transformers using MakeMKV and it looks great but has no sound because, I suspect, it uses an audio coded (DD Plus) that the hub does not recognize. Is there a software, preferable free, that I can run the file through that will allow me to convert just the audio to either AC3 or DTS? I’d prefer not having to extract the audio, convert the audio and remuxing it all back together, but if that’s the only way…
Never mind. My PavTube BD Ultimate can do it. What I don’t get is that the box says the Live Hub supports DD Plus audio, so why doesn’t it work on this movie? Does it only support DD Plus in stereo like AAC?
It should play Dolby True HD in either M2TS containers or MKV, perhaps more.
Some people have reported stuttering audio in MKVs with TrueHD, but I’m not sure about it… I don’t have any to test.
DD+ passthrough should work. Can you please post the file’s mediainfo? Also, what model receiver are you using?
I downloaded some Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 and 7.1 samples from demo-world.eu (M2TS containers) and they all played fine. I even re-muxed one to MKV and, again, that played without issue.
The only weird thing is that none of them identified themselves as DolbyDigital+ on the reciever (not even the 7.1 files that I verified were DD+ using MediaInfo).
OK, silly me. I was so quick to blame the Live Hub when I should have been looking at my ancient Sherwood receiver as the culprit. Apparently, even though well-versed in DTS audio formats, it is limited in Dolby Digital and does not support DD+. Good thing I rarely come across it as it appears to have been the audio of choice primarily for HD-DVD. Anyway, I used PavTube Ultimate and remuxed Transformers into a decent MKV with AC3 5.1 and it looks and sounds great. Thanks for the help, guys.
Glad you got it sorted and it was a relatively easy fix. :)
Quick question about HD-DVD: were you an early adopter or did you get into it later on and pick up the discs cheap?
I googled the Transformers HD-DVD to check what audio format it used and was surprised to find it for $2.75 on Amazon.
There are a number of good films still available for sale on HD-DVD for under or around $5, got me wondering whether it’d be worthwhile picking up a cheap HD-DVD-ROM for my PC and scouring Amazon/eBay for cheap HD-DVDs to rip…
But after a short while, the hardware is redundant and may mean the “cheap” content cost almost as much as the equivalent BDs…
Is it worth considering at this stage, with BD prices starting to get more reasonable?
I was an early adopter of Blu-ray on my PC because I do video work and needed to output to that format for some clients. Fortunately, the LG BD reader/burner I bought back in 2008 also reads HD-DVDs, so I pick up a movie here and there because they are dirt cheap compared to BD discs. I also got lucky in the fact that MakeMKV can read these HD-DVDs, so I can now output them to a format that the Live Hub can play. After I run them through PavTube to fix the audio I end up with about a 10gb file that looks just as stunning as the original. I will be looking for more bargain HD-DVDs to buy thanks to this wonderful device.
EAC3to.exe also works well with converting DD+ to DD. Actually it works well converting lots of things, it even helped me convert MLP files from my DVD audio collection to FLAC. Even the multichannel tracks.
I have a Denon AVR-3803, an oldie but still good piece of kit. DD+ is supposed to be backwards compatible, but if the Hub is just passing it through then perhaps not. So I had the same issue with no audio.
There is a GUI available, EAC3toGUI, that makes it a breeze to use. Both are free software.
EvoDemux for extracting audio and video, and MKV Merge for muxing the final audio and video.
I also had a small collection of HD-DVD which I managed to convert. All work well on the Hub. Xbox 360 HD DVD drive connected to the PC for reading the HD DVD discs.
RO
WDTV Live, WDTV Live Hub, Qnap TS219, 2 x 1 GB WD Green, Raid 1, Windows 7 x64 PC, 2TB WD My Book Esata for backup
