MKV digital audio issue Options

[tempsaint]

Hi Everyone,

I'm hoping someone can help me. I have been wracking my brain for days on this and searched high and low and everything keeps saying remux the file, compression none, etc. I have tried remuxing files multiple times. I still can not get my mkv files to play audio through the WDTV Live Plus via HDMI. I even tried demuxing and converting to AC3 and remuxing the AC3 track back in and I can't play AC3 either. Well, when I set the WDTV to stereo I get audio, but not when I leave it on HDMI.

I have a Sony STRDH710 receiver, which definitely plays DTS (according to the Sony specs... Decoding Format(S): DTS 96/24: Yes, DTS HD/DolbyTruHD/Dolby Digital+: Yes/Yes/Yes)

I have been remuxing the files on my iMac (Mac OS X Leopard) using mkvmerge 4.4.0 and no matter what the audio won't play. I even tried setting compression to none and yes for default flag and forced flag. According to the documentation this should set the file so that the DTS audio stream is set as the default and you can't change it. Yet when I play one of the remuxed files, and press the option button on the WDTV remote, it says no audio option selected. Even when I select the audio track it still doesn't play.

I've tried cycling through the sound field settings in the receiver to see if maybe the receiver needed to be set to interpret the audio track but that hasn't helped either. I can't copy and paste all of the details of the file because I'm accessing my home system remotely and for some reason I can't copy and paste the mediainfo details but I'll type out the audio details:

CODE

Audio
ID: 2
Format: DTS
Format/Info: Digital Theater System
Codec ID: A_DTS
Duration: 1h 44m
Bit rate mode: Constant
Bit rate: 1 510 Kbps
Channel(s): 6
Channel positions: Front: L C R, Side: L, R, LFE
Sampling rate: 48.0 KHz
Bit depth: 24 bits
Compression mode: Lossy
Stream size: 1.10 GB (17%)
Title: DTS
Language: English

Is my WDTV defective?

Thanks,
Adam

[WDUser]

Adam, your issue sounds similar to the one in this thread, so read it and see if you get any ideas. Which firmware version do you have installed? How is the player connected to your TV/receiver?

[tempsaint]

Thanks. I checked that thread and I guess I should try downgrading my firmware to 1.02.21? I have not done that yet. And I didn't realize you needed to hard reset before flashing the firmware. All of my firmware upgrades have been automatic when connecting my ethernet cable (I couldn't get a USB wifi adapter working either even though another forum said it should have been supported). Oh, I am currently running the latest firmware as it just automatically upgraded last week when I connected the ethernet cable again (I don't keep it continually plugged in because I run it from another room).

Anyway, the player is connected to my receiver via HDMI only (no digital optical cable) and from the receiver to my TV via HDMI. Everything works fine for my cable box and blu-ray player (also HDMI into the receiver and then out to the TV). I'm using my receiver as the HDMI switcher.

I would try using a digital optical cable but from what I've read on the forums that probably won't solve it so I haven't bothered to reconfigure my whole system to test that. It's really not the desired outcome anyway. I'll try the older firmware and see if that does it. I'm not sure what I'll be losing but my main reason for purchasing the Live Plus was for playing FLAC files (i've got multiple TBs of live concert recordings) and for playing ripped DVDs (ISOs) so if I lose some of the internet media it really won't be too big of deal. I'd rather have the surround sound from my mkv files. I think. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

[WDUser]

Do check and let us know which FW version you have now. If you have 1.04.17 installed, note that it has since been withdrawn by WD. So you can either downgrade to 1.04.10, or maybe 1.03.49 (downgrading help is in the Tutorials section). There's also a beta release of 1.04.18 out. All are available here: http://wdtvhd.com/index.php?showforum=155

Since you have a Live+ and not a Live, 1.02.21 doesn't apply to you. I just pointed you to that thread in the Live section because the issue sounded quite similar, and I didn't want to type the same things again. If a different (old/new) FW doesn't help, I would suggest that you try optical cable once, just to check if it helps.

P.S. Different HDMI cables also often make a huge difference, so you might want to try out a few different brands or even some el cheapo stuff and see.

[tempsaint]

I did have 1.04.17 installed. I have since upgraded to 1.04.18_B pre-release. There was no change.
I tried a different HDMI cable. No difference. Still no HDMI audio.
I did try a digital optical cable and that works. Not my optimal solution since it would also require me to then go HDMI direct into the TV from the Live+ and not through the receiver (as a switcher).

I am about to try downgrading the firmware to 1.03.29_B. I'll let you know.

Oh, and I also tried a MKV file with AC3 audio (reported in the Live+ audio option as "Dolby Digital") and also an MP4 file with AAC audio. I have the same issue with all of my files apparently.

EDIT: I downgraded to 1.03.29_B and the MP4 file with AAC audio started to play properly. None of the MKV files (AC3 audio or DTS audio) would play via HDMI. Interesting note, this fw version displays the audio channel as AC3 instead of Dolby Digital).

So, now I'm lost. Wondering if there's something defective with my Live+

Adam

[WDUser]

Maybe you can try 1.03.49 and 1.04.10 as well? FW roulette! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif)

[tempsaint]

Really? Firmware Roulette? Is that really the answer? Has that much changed (and then changed back) between the shipping version of the fw and the current version?

Adam

[WDUser]

Other than what's in the official changelog, I don't know what has changed. I don't even own this particular model. But I do know that with WD, new FW is never guaranteed to be a trouble-free painless update. Since 1.03.29 partially helped, I simply suggested that you might want to try those 2 versions as well. Who knows? You might strike gold with one of them...