I’d like to test my WDTV Live to make sure it streams HD audio to my receiver properly.
Is there a library of sample video clips containing Dolby True HD or DTS-HD Master Audio out there?
Any links are appreciated.
The Live will not stream DTS-HD.
It will only stream True-HD in an M2TS container. (I know this isn’t the answer to your question, but it is information you need to know).
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Excellent info.
Hopefully there’s a sample .m2ts clip with Dolby TrueHD I can try?
I can create one and post on my site if no one else responds to you here (let’s give it a few hours – while it isn’t difficult to do it will require me to dig out one of my blu-rays which I put away after I rip them to my NAS and I’m basically lazy :>).
Also, just to be clear, while the DTS-HD cannot be played, if you DO have such a track the Live will passthrough the DTS core to your receiver (so it will decode the “normal” DTS part of it). That’s not very efficient so unless space isn’t a consideration you might want to extract that core and save that instead.
Got it. I was just reading about TrueHD and DTS MA differences and was wondering whether the lossy DTS core would bitstream.
I believe DTS core is supported by many containers types. If you weren’t smart about removing the non-core audio (for use with a WDTV) would DTS MA be limited to certain containers? But I suppose most will rip their libraries to TrueHD/.m2ts for the audio quality.
Really appreciate the offer to rip a sample clip for me!
I will PM you with the link to the clip I made (while it’s short and probably not in any danger of copyright issues, I just feel better doing it this way).
DTS can be passed through in an MKV container for sure – I do not think MP4 containers support it (at least as of a few months ago – the spec may have changed).
I’m not sure if I’d say that *most* folks would rip to m2ts – I certainly don’t. After doing some tests I found I couldn’t tell the difference between True-HD and AC3, just like I have problems telling the difference between a good quality MP3 (say, at 320) and a .WAV file. So I’ve standardized on AC3/DTS in an MKV container for all my blu-ray rips, thus saving tons of space (I also use Handbrake for the video compression but that’s another story).
Part of it might be my age – the older you get the less acute your hearing is – but I didn’t abuse my ears when younger and I don’t think they are non-discriminating. It’s just that where it really matters to me (in high action scenes, for example) surround sound even compressed is just fine (it’s a well-known phenomenon that loud equates to better – put someone in a room with two speaker systems and they will choose the louder one every time as being “better” even if the quieter one has better accuracy. This is one way the audio speaker guys used to sell crappy systems :>) Since most surround sound stuff is nearly always during loud sequences it probably doesn’t matter much whether it’s HD or not (I’d really be interested in A/B testing on this, as I’ve done with video, but I just don’t have the time anymore).
One thing is for sure – in most theaters you really have good quality sound systems, despite all the “THX certified” and some such hype there is. And yet people rarely think the sound is bad (once again – “loud = good”)
I may not have PM rights yet, so will reply here.
All the correct status lights for TrueHD lit up on my Denon’s panel so that was a success.
There was no audio during the initial production company credits but after those, the TrueHD indicator lights came on and the bitstream started playing.
Strangely, the video clip froze shortly after the movie title showed (only got to see the flags wave for a few seconds) while the audio continued playing. This happened on both my loaner and new WDTV Live units. One was running the new 1.03.35 beta FW and the other was running the latest production 1.02.21. Any ideas why?
p.s. My high frequency hearing isn’t what it used to be.
The clip actually ends right after the flags start waving, so I wouldn’t worry – as I said, I had issues making that clip and it might just be something wrong with the way I muxed it. The last thing you need do is fret based on what I made .
(My issues related to trying to “cut” a piece out with both Handbrake and TsMuxer – to save encoding space – and still sync up the full True-HD. With a normally made clip none of these would be a problem).
