Media: .mkv files with DTS sound. Sometimes DTS-HD
He wants to play .mkv 1080p movies on his TV, while enjoying 5.1 surround sound. I’ve read the manual for the TV and its built in media player supports MP3 / AC3 / LPCM / ADPCM / DTS Core.
The WD TV Live supports MP3, WAV/PCM/LPCM, WMA, AAC, FLAC, MKA, AIF/AIFF, OGG, Dolby Digital, DTS
The Sound System (Onkyo) supports Dolby® TrueHD, DTS-HD Master Audio™, Dolby® Digital Plus, DTS-HD High-Resolution Audio™ Decoding
So I’m very confused how everything should be connected together and also have a few questions:
1 - Will this setup play 5.1 sound from all movies?
2 - What about these new HD formats?
3 - If I use the built in media player of the TV and connect the optical out from the TV to the Onkyo directly will it play 5.1?
Please help me understand the whole setup in terms of 5.1 sound.
2 - Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD Master Audio, DTS-HD High-Resolution Audio - I don’t even know what is the difference between these. If I player support DTS, does that mean it will support these too?
3 - I have and I’m still confused. It says:
Connect the Optical cable between the x DIGITAL AUDIO OUT (OPTICAL) jack on your TV and the Digital Audio Input
on the Home Theatre.
When following the connection above, the Optical jack only outputs 2 channel audio. You will only hear sound from the Home Theatre’s Front Left and Right speakers and the subwoofer. If you want to hear 5.1 channel audio,
connect the DIGITAL AUDIO OUT (OPTICAL) jack on the DVD / satellite box (i.e. Anynet Device 1 or 2) directly to the
Amplifier or Home Theatre, not the TV.
You are best off connecting the WDTV Live to the Amp by HDMI cable, then the Amp to the TV by HDMI cable. Play your movies through the WDTV because it will have much better file compatability than the TV.
If you use optical cables, you will only get 5.1 sound on compressed formats such as DTS or Dolby Digital (AC3) because there is not enough bandwidth for HD or uncompressed 5.1 over optical. That’s why HDMI is best. For High Definition formats in 5.1 (eg uncompressed Wav files in PCM; Dolby TrueHD, etc) you will want to pass through directly to the Amp for processing. Note that very few amps can decode 5.1 AAC format, so if you have files with that format, you need to convert them to something more common like AC3 (use Handbrake). Use the program Mediainfo to discover what format your movie sound file is in.
You are best off connecting the WDTV Live to the Amp by HDMI cable, then the Amp to the TV by HDMI cable. Play your movies through the WDTV because it will have much better file compatability than the TV.
If you use optical cables, you will only get 5.1 sound on compressed formats such as DTS or Dolby Digital (AC3) because there is not enough bandwidth for HD or uncompressed 5.1 over optical. That’s why HDMI is best. For High Definition formats in 5.1 (eg uncompressed Wav files in PCM; Dolby TrueHD, etc) you will want to pass through directly to the Amp for processing. Note that very few amps can decode 5.1 AAC format, so if you have files with that format, you need to convert them to something more common like AC3 (use Handbrake). Use the program Mediainfo to discover what format your movie sound file is in.
If I use 2 HDMI cables like you said won’t the sound continue to the TV, instead of being played by the speakers of the Amp? I read about Audio return in HDMI 1.4 - maybe the audio returns from the TV using the same cable?
Can you explain that please. Is 5.1 Core inferior to DTS-HD? Can you tell the difference by listening to it?
That’s a purely subjective debate… DTS-HD can have more than 5.1 channels, but many sources are still only 5.1. As to if I can tell the difference? No, because my DTS-HD MA receiver has only 5.1 speaker set.
