Playing blu-ray rip with LPCM on HTPC

[oscarsonthepond]

I'm putting all of my blu-ray discs onto my HTPC and *love* MakeMKV. I''m having some trouble when it comes to LPCM discs, though. Specifically, no audio comes out when I play rips with LPCM audio only. I'm running Intel's new DH57JG mini-ITX mobo w/ on-board audio and on-board HDMI out (graphics come from my i3 processor). However, the HDMI is plugged directly into my TV (Samsung LCD) as I don't have a surround system or audio receiver. I'm using the Shark 007 codec pack as of right now, but I've experimented with others. I've tried both MakeMKV 1.5.1 and 1.5.2. So my questions are:

1) Any suggestions on how I can get rips w/ LPCM to play on my system?

2) Since it's just my TV, I obviously don't care that it's actually LPCM playing, I just want to have the best quality backups for the future so I don't have to re-rip when I do get a good sound system. I don't mind ripping two audio tracks (LPCM + DD) when they are available, and that does in fact fix it if I click on the Haali icon in my system tray and switch to the second audio feed. But since this is an HTPC w/ a remote, etc., I really don't want to have to manually switch the audio each time I play a video. Is there any way to just set the default audio on a particular track to the secondary/DD audio track?

3) I have a blu-ray drive, but haven't yet installed a software blu-ray player. Is there a good, free solution out there?

Thanks!!

[mike admin]

The latest version of freeware eac3to can convert LPCM into FLAC within MKV container, your next stop would be madflac.

[oscarsonthepond]

The latest version of freeware eac3to can convert LPCM into FLAC within MKV container, your next stop would be madflac.

Thanks for the response. Two follow-ups:

1) Would the LPCM-->FLAC conversion be lossless? I'm wanting to store everything in its original quality.

2) Is there no way for me to just play the LPCM directly on my setup? Or to set the DD secondary track as the default? It would be nice to avoid extra steps (LPCM-FLAC conversion) if possible.

[NomadCF]

1) Would the LPCM-->FLAC conversion be lossless? I'm wanting to store everything in its original quality.

Yes

Code: Select all

FLAC stands for Free Lossless Audio Codec, an audio format similar to MP3, but lossless, meaning that audio is compressed in FLAC without any loss in quality. This is similar to how Zip works, except with FLAC you will get much better compression because it is designed specifically for audio, and you can play back compressed FLAC files in your favorite player (or your car or home stereo, see supported devices) just like you would an MP3 file.

2) Is there no way for me to just play the LPCM directly on my setup?

yes, If you make sure you have a decent codec pack installed and your speaker setup is connected correctly (this last piece for people that are play though there receivers ).

Or to set the DD secondary track as the default? It would be nice to avoid extra steps (LPCM-FLAC conversion) if possible.

use mkvmerge to remux the MKV and setting the DD track as "Default=YES" and the LPCM track to "Default=NO". Also moving there order will help with some hardware players.

avoid extra steps (LPCM-FLAC conversion)

You may want to rethink this, as you'll save allot of HD space if your willing to convert the stream to FLAC. But it does come at a price.
1. less flexibility with hardware playback solutions.
2. till take time to covert.

Example of space savings compressing uncompressed audio:
uncompressed : 2001 A Space Odyssey 34.8 gigs
compressed : 2001 A Space Odyssey 15.3 gigs

[oscarsonthepond]

Thanks for the great response! I may well end up switching over to FLAC as that is a HUGE space saver. I'd still like to get my LPCM audio working, though. I've tried using CCCP, K-Lite, and Shark 007 (each by itself of course). I've also reformatted my machine and switched from x64 back to x86. No matter what I do, nothing seems to work. Any suggestions on how to "make sure you have a decent codec pack installed"?