MKV w/ DTS issues with select files

[kinsei]

First of all I just want to thank you for this product and making my life easier. I have been using it for quite some time with great success. My setup is a Win7 system connected via HDMI directly to an A/V receiver. I have been using and enjoying bitstreaming with various audio formats for years.

Recently I have had some issues with specific videos that are made up of H.264/AVC/ISO encoded material in an MKV container usually with two sound tracks - the default being DTS and a secondary track being AC3. When I try to play these videos through media center it tells me that it can't FIND the file. When I try to play it through media player I get a message that windows media player cannot PLAY the file.

If I reset everything to defaults these same files work and play normally - but without any bitstreaming obviously since this is not part of the defaults. If I then just click to enable TrueHD/DTS and choose the passthrough option it will continue working. However, bitstreaming will still not work for me at this point for any files at all. In order to get bitstreaming to work, I have to either setup LAV config and select the options I would like to bitstream; or disable LAV config and setup FFDshow to output bitstream. Either way I do it I break my ability to play these files. It still works for 90%+ of my MKVs with DTS or DTS-HD or whatever audio format included (in both configurations), but specific files have issues and I can't figure out why.

I have tried all three splitter options on the MKV tab without success. I have tried stripping the AC3 track from the files to make sure there was no confusion about which track to play. Not sure really what else to try right now.

All of the videos having issues play fine with bitstreaming through VLC media player so I know it is a codec problem but I am lost as to how to correct it.

Thanks for any advice you might have to give.

[Shark007]

On the Misc TAB, use the button to [Rebuild WMP Library]
On the MKV TAB, use the Haali splitter - it is the only one that works with files containing multiple audio streams

On the Audio TAB, the speaker config on the left is only for anolg output
for bitstreaming this should be set to 'Same as Input'
In Control Panel | Sound, the speaker configuration for the active device needs to be set to 'stereo'

[kinsei]

Thanks for the quick reply....

Quote:On the Misc TAB, use the button to [Rebuild WMP Library]

I tried this but it has no effect. I use MediaBrowser and WMC for my normal collections. I only use WMP for testing by launching the file directly from windows explorer menu. this is when it says it cannot PLAY the file. When WMC is saying that it cannot FIND the file I think this is just a misleading error because if I turn off bitstreaming it will find and play that file right away with stereo sound with no other changes.

Quote:On the MKV TAB, use the Haali splitter - it is the only one that works with files containing multiple audio streams

Tried this but again no effect. Most settings work with 90% of my files but for some reason again for particular files (usually from a specific encoder) are having issues and I do not know why. Even stripping out the AC3 track and leaving only the DTS track does not work with any of the splitters as long as bitstreaming is enabled.

Quote:On the Audio TAB, the speaker config on the left is only for anolg output
for bitstreaming this should be set to 'Same as Input'

Yes I am well aware of this setting and never touch the left side. Again, it works for most files so I do not believe the configuration is wrong.

Quote:In Control Panel | Sound, the speaker configuration for the active device needs to be set to 'stereo'

I just verified that this is indeed the case.

If I were to get you a sample video file exhibiting this problem is there any way you would look at it for me?

[Shark007]

Have you changed the UAC setting away from 'Default'?
If so, uninstall the codecs, set UAC to the 'Default' position, reboot and re-install the codecs

[kinsei]

(06-15-2012 09:08 AM)Shark007 Wrote:  Have you changed the UAC setting away from 'Default'?
If so, uninstall the codecs, set UAC to the 'Default' position, reboot and re-install the codecs

Are you talking about the windows Control Panel UAC setting? This is set to default and hasnt been changed since the OS was installed.

[Shark007]

I asked about the UAC setting because your description of the issue falls into the 'weird' category.
Try uninstalling the current codecs and installing the latest releases avaialble from MajorGeeks (367)

I need to run errands. My next response may be a few hours away.

[kinsei]

I agree that this definitely a weird issue. I never got around to really trying to figure out what was happening until last night.

At that point I was running v361.

Last night I uninstalled 361 Win7 and x64 components, rebooted, installed 367, rebooted again, and then performed all of the testing I described in the OP.

I just did another uninstall/reinstall to be sure though and it did not resolve the issue.

[kinsei]

As another test.....

I went to a separate computer - this is a desktop computer also running Win7 x64 Ultimate. It is connected via HDMI to a 32" LED display. Normally, the sound device is an M-Audio sound card with 1/4" inch outputs I use for various sound editing but the TVs also have some (not very good quality) speakers on the back. The video card on this is an Nvidia GTX 570 HD. The video output on my normal HTPC is just using the Intel Core i5 GPU to output so I thought this is one variable that I could change.

Uninstalled all Shark programs, reinstalled 367 components.

Test 1 - Set everything to defaults. Shark suggested settings. Enable bitstreaming with LAV audio config. Leave default audio device as M-Audio card (so bitstreaming is not really possible). File plays in WMP and WMC.

Test 2 - Change default audio device to TV so BitStreaming WOULD be possible out HDMI port. File cannot be played with WMP.


I think this would be reproduceable for you as well if you tried out any of these files. I will happily donate some money for your time if you can help me figure this out.

[Shark007]

use the dropbox on the Misc TAB to create a 40MB sample.
to use the dropbox, start the app without admin privileges.
upload that sample to mediafire.com (must signup, but its still a free service)
post the download url here.

[kinsei]

I stripped out everything from the container except for the video file and DTS track to narrow down possible causes and made a roughly 40MB sample.

Verified that issue still persists with WMC/WMP for the sample file but still plays perfectly fine with bitstreaming in VLC.

http://www.mediafire.com/?152d26s8e0k3bhu

Thank you!