Avi issues with 5.1 audio Options

[BMaster31]

So i just got my WD TV LIVE PLUS today, I plugged it in updated the firmware and tested out a few different video formats.

What i found was that NONE of my .avi file's audio is working.

I have my WDTV hooked up to my Denon AVR - 591 via HDMI and Optical (testing MKV files audio worked over optical but not HDMI)

I have tried HDMI, and Optical both produce no sound. I am getting sound for MKV files using optical cable so I think all my receiver settings are correct.

I have tried several different files from a network share as well as a USB drive hooked up directly.

I consider myself tech savvy, i work in IT (software developer) for a living, so i am not afraid of custom firmware, or other mod's if its necessary.

I am a noob when it comes to pulling information from video files (i assume its just some software i need), but most of the files are BDRip, Xvid, AC3 (this info coming just from file names). The properties in windows show the file has 448kbps bit rate, 6 channels and Audio Sample Rate 48 kHz.

These files play fine on my PS3 (so i dont think they are corrupted), but i was hoping i could use my new box for all our video watching needs.

One last bit of info, don't know if this will help, I am also not getting audio with VOB files that i have converted from MKV using MKV2VOB converting muxing DTS to AC3 (there are bugs with the current version of mvk2vob not allowing you to keep DTS audio in the latest version, i know i can rollback to an earlier version but i cant tell a difference between DTS and AC3 so it doesn't bother me) and playing the MKV directly on my WDTV works great, so i will no longer need to convert...

The common theme that i am seeing is that AC3 audio is not working, but i thought the box was supposed to support this.

Thanks in advance for the help, sorry if this has been covered before, i did try a few searches on the forums with no luck.

[WDUser]

I hope you've set audio output to Digital so it's decoded by your receiver (are you sure it supports AC3)? Does it work if you set it to Stereo (downmixing)?

You can check your files using MediaInfo, and copy-paste the text format report of any of the problem AVIs so we can take a look and maybe figure out what the problem is.

[BMaster31]

Yep I have been changing the settings when trying different cables. The audio works fine when on stereo.

I will look to see if my receiver supports AC3. These files play fine in 5.1 on my PS3, does the PS3 convert the AC3 audio during playback?

If it turns out my receiver doesn't support AC3, is there an easy way to convert to a different format that is still 5.1?

Here is the MediaInfo for one of the several files i was trying:

CODE

General
Complete name                    : G:\Downloads\Harry.Potter.Hexalogy.720p.BRRip.XviD.AC3-ViSiON\Harry.Potter.And.The.Chambers.Of.Secrets.2002.720p.BRRip.XviD.AC3-ViSiON\Harry.Potter.And.The.Chambers.Of.Secrets.2002.720p.BRRip.XviD.AC3-ViSiON.avi
Format                           : AVI
Format/Info                      : Audio Video Interleave
Format profile                   : OpenDML
File size                        : 3.91 GiB
Duration                         : 2h 54mn
Overall bit rate                 : 3 207 Kbps
Writing application              : VirtualDubMod 1.5.10.2 (build 2542/release)
Writing library                  : VirtualDubMod build 2542/release

Video
ID                               : 0
Format                           : MPEG-4 Visual
Format profile                   : Advanced Simple@L5
Format settings, BVOP            : 1
Format settings, QPel            : No
Format settings, GMC             : No warppoints
Format settings, Matrix          : Custom
Muxing mode                      : Packed bitstream
Codec ID                         : XVID
Codec ID/Hint                    : XviD
Duration                         : 2h 54mn
Bit rate                         : 2 750 Kbps
Width                            : 1 280 pixels
Height                           : 544 pixels
Display aspect ratio             : 2.35:1
Frame rate                       : 23.976 fps
Color space                      : YUV
Chroma subsampling               : 4:2:0
Bit depth                        : 8 bits
Scan type                        : Progressive
Compression mode                 : Lossy
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)               : 0.165
Stream size                      : 3.35 GiB (86%)
Writing library                  : XviD 1.2.1 (UTC 2008-12-04)

Audio
ID                               : 1
Format                           : AC-3
Format/Info                      : Audio Coding 3
Mode extension                   : CM (complete main)
Codec ID                         : 2000
Duration                         : 2h 54mn
Bit rate mode                    : Constant
Bit rate                         : 448 Kbps
Channel(s)                       : 6 channels
Channel positions                : Front: L C R, Side: L R, LFE
Sampling rate                    : 48.0 KHz
Bit depth                        : 16 bits
Compression mode                 : Lossy
Stream size                      : 559 MiB (14%)
Alignment                        : Split accross interleaves
Interleave, duration             : 42 ms (1.00 video frame)
Interleave, preload duration     : 500 ms

[BMaster31]

I have been looking into AC3 support on my receiver, and i can't seem to find any information on it. What I have seen is a lot of people saying AC3 is (almost) universally supported on receivers. Most people have issues with DTS and need to convert to AC3. I have the exact opposite issue, DTS works fine, AC3 not working at all.

[Rev Drew]

I have an AVR-890 and it plays everything I have thrown at it.. loving the dual zone now that summer is here and I have outdoor speakers (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

the (Canadian) product page for yours is here
http://ca.denon.com/ca/Product/Pages/Produ...d1-d033894bf87f
I don't see anything overly positive or negative for AC3

[BMaster31]

Yeah I saw that page at the Denon site, and couldn't tell if it had AC3 support or not. When I get home i will upload a small sample file, would you be able to try it out and see if you get the same results? What is a good site to use for something like this?

Also just to make sure, your running the latest firmware from WD, not WDLX or whatever that modded one is from B-Rad when playing your .avi AC3 files? If you are and have success with that maybe I will switch to using that.

[Rev Drew]

I am using WDLXTV, WD couldn't get firmware working this good if they wanted to..

[WDUser]

Also just to make sure, your running the latest firmware from WD, not WDLX or whatever that modded one is from B-Rad when playing your .avi AC3 files? If you are and have success with that maybe I will switch to using that.

Just to let you know that WDLXTV doesn't add codec support to the player.