[VU+ Duo2] Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD

[lscolman]

Hi,
I'd like to play some lossless backups of my Blu rays, stored in MKV format on my Duo2.

The discs more often than not have either a Dolby TrueHD or DTS Master HD soundtrack.

Does anyone know if either of these formats are supported? I have a backup plan to play them back using XMBC on my Mac Mini which is bootcamped into Windows 7, but it would be really nice if the Duo2 could play them back too.

Cheers, Lee

 

[Larry-G]

The only way to know is to try one and see.

 

[rossi2000]

no reciever will passthrough HD audio formats.
they only play the core tracks

is on my wishlist for quad too

 

[Joe_90]

no reciever will passthrough HD audio formats.
they only play the core tracks

is on my wishlist for quad too

Can you expand on this @rossi2000? No receiver?

I have a particular interest in this also as I have an openelec/xbmc installation on an Asus AT5IONT-I which I use as my media player. This will play HD audio formats in passthough mode to my AV amp. Will also play my multichannel PCM tracks (5.1 audio) which are in 88kHz (or 96kHz) 24 bit format. The problem for me with openelec/xbmc is that while it is a superb media player, it sucks as a sat/terrestrial PVR. I had hoped that maybe the Quad Plus, which is a great PVR, might some day be able to support HD audio also. When multichannel PCM support became available I had hoped that it would handle my multichannel PCM audio input. Instead, it seems that multichannel PCM is an output option instead of DD 5.1 or DTS. I've tried all manner of HD audio files but either they are not handled at all or stutter badly and if they work at all they are downsampled to 48kHz stereo.

 

[DaMacFunkin]

The hdmi output on the duo2 and solo2 is specified as 1.4 so it is physically capable of bit streaming hd audio formats to a reciever, whether the drivers and or software do or will support the bit streaming of HD audio is another thing, I'm sure the licsencing for such things isn't cheap.

 

[rossi2000]

yep sure

no linux reciever from vu, xtrend, gb, tm, venton etc will passthrough hd audio

GB are supposed to be doing a media driver update soon to hopefully include it, but other than that, thats it. the Quad cant do it, i expect the quadplus cant either as there basically the same machine.

i believe licenses are still required even for passthrough but im not 100% sure.


so much so ive looked at someting else for mi movies and audio for higher quality playback

 

[Joe_90]

Licensing is usually for decoding. If you are bitstreaming you are not decoding - the AV amp does that and would have the licenses. I would have thought that the issues regarding transfer of HD audio over HDMI would be down to hardware limitations in the box plus the relevant linux drivers to enable same. I haven't found the audio capabilities of the SoC used in the Quad Plus published anywhere, so I just don't know if it can handle the HD audio. With my AT5IONT-I board it was able to handle all HD audio formats straight away if I was on Windows 7 (or 8), but it took about 12 months before the drivers and audio stack in xbmc were able to run properly on linux.

 

[lscolman]

Hi all,
Thanks for all the responses. Looks like XBMC in Win7 is the way to go...

Cheers, Lee

 

[lscolman]

Testing some files and DTS-HD decodes to DTS core. True HD decodes to PCM 2.1 channel and not Dolby Digital 5.1 ?

Cheers, Lee

 

[Joe_90]

Testing some files and DTS-HD decodes to DTS core. True HD decodes to PCM 2.1 channel and not Dolby Digital 5.1 ?

Cheers, Lee

I got similar results when testing various HD audio options, so I sort of gave up on it until I had a stable working PVR image. It's difficult to get priority on HD audio development when the major focus is on sat and terrestrial/cable reception and PVR. I find openelec/xbmc excellent for a media player on a linux platform. No version of that available on a MIPS platform, though.