Not getting Surround Sound

[rosede]

I just recently started using MakeMKV. I select the DD Surround 5.1, but I don't hear anything when I watch the movie. To be honest, I don't have a DVD or BluRay player, so I can't compare the MKV to the actual movie when played via a player, but the movie is only a year old and I would image that it would be 5.1 channel as listed in the options. I usually rip the movie and put it on my NAS.

I recently did all three John Wick movies and surround sound was great, so I'm not sure if it's the movie, or MakeMKV that is the issue.

Thoughts?

[dcoke22]

MediaInfo is a handy utility for showing lots of details about .mkv files. With that you could verify that .mkv file has the audio track in it that you expect.

If you use VLC or MPV or some other player on your computer, is there audio?

[rosede]

MediaInfo is a handy utility for showing lots of details about .mkv files. With that you could verify that .mkv file has the audio track in it that you expect.

If you use VLC or MPV or some other player on your computer, is there audio?

Yes, I expand out all of the options and I select only DD 5.1 and save to mkv. But when I watch the movie on the TV via my NAS, I only get 2 channel. I would expect to hear something from the rear speakers, but I do not. Only the front soundbar.

Yes, I have VLC and yes when I play the mkv file I hear sound, but the computer is only 2 channel, so that really isn't a good viable test IMHO.

I was reading another posting here, and someone mentioned enabling the expert options and then using the AAC profile. I looked at that, but that appears to me as mixing down to 2 channel. Is that correct? The program I am coming from only had that as an option and it was only 2 channel. I want to be able to enjoy surround sound (l like my action movies in surround. I want to hear the gun fire all around me. ) I tried Handbrake, with mixed success and someone there suggested that I try out MakeMKV.

I re-did all of my John Wick movies and they came out great. I got the surround sound like I'm expecting, so maybe its the movie itself? As I said in my original post, I don't have a DVD or BluRay player, so I can't play the disc and make sure that it really is surround sound. I going based on the fact that MakeMKV show's that there is a DS 51 Surround track and knowing the movie, I'd think that I should be able to hear it in all speakers, not just the soundbar.

Thanks

Daryl

[dcoke22]

I misunderstood your original post. You said you didn't hear anything when you watched the movie so assumed you weren't getting any audio at all. Now I understand that you're getting stereo audio when you expect to be getting 5.1 surround sound.

The VLC Media Information window on the codec details tab can show you information about whatever .mkv file is playing, including if the audio track is a Dolby Digital 5.1 track or something else.

Switching the profile to AAC is probably not the right answer. If I recall correctly, that will produce stereo output.

In any case assuming the audio in the file is as expected it might be your playback setup that's converting the surround sound into stereo. What's your playback setup? For example, I seem to recall that some of the Sonos home theater stuff doesn't work with DTS audio, only Dolby formats.
Looking at my copy of John Wick, I can confirm that it has Dolby Digital 5.1 audio. What are some titles that aren't working for you?

[rosede]

dcoke22

I got this figured out. It's not MakeMKV, it was my system that was the issue. I replayed one of my John Wick movies, and realized that I suddenly was not getting 5.1 surround sound, which before I was. My rear speakers are wireless and appeared to be connected, that was why I was confused. But since I no longer heard any sound from the rear speakers with John Wick, that meant there was something wrong with my environment.

After much troubleshooting, I went through the setup steps, and I am now once again enjoying 5.1 channel surround sound.

Thank you for your efforts. Always appreciated it.

Daryl