DTS MA shows up as DTS

[sharok]

When I rip my Bluray movies, I choose both DTS MA and DTS audio formats.

While playing back the movie, the primary audio is DTS MA, but when I check the "Audio" display on my Oppo player / TV, it shows "DTS 5.1" and DTS (on the list of available audio formats). Why doesn't it say DTS MA? Because I'm sure when I rip the disc, I choose DTS MA.

What am I doing wrong? why does it omit "MA"?

[Woodstock]

Without looking at the meta data for each track, it is difficult to say.

[st4evr]

I've seen this question pop up more than once across multiple forums. It is typically not a problem with the application that creates the MKV container (in this case MakeMKV), but a possible problem somewhere along the chain in your HT setup (e.g. HDMI, AVR, player, etc).

You may have to start by troubleshooting each piece in that chain to ensure each can currently play/decode DTS-MA tracks successfully.

A google search can yield additional ideas and advise:

https://www.google.com/search?ei=0zeAW9 ... wG5abusMQA

[Grauhaar]

The DTS-Master Stream includes both, the DTS-Master and DTS 5-1 which is the DTS Core. If a Player or Software does not support DTS-Master it sees only the DTS 5.1 Core part.

[CTwining]

Sharok,

"why does it omit MA?"

I believe the Oppo _reports_ only DTS even when it's actually _passing_ DTS-MA.

Today I ripped a blu-ray choosing
DTS-HD MA Surround 7.1 English and
DTS Surround 5.1 English

I played it on the Oppo, from a NAS via SMB. I chose (via the remote) the track
English DTS-HD MA, not
English DTS.

The Oppo's on-screen display said
Media information: DTS-HD MA
Output information: DTS Audio 48k

The Denon AVR's on-screen display said
Signal: DTS-HD MSTR


Playing the original blu-ray also reported the bare DTS (instead of DTS-MA) while the AVR still said DTS-HD MSTR.

If your Oppo shows the media is DTS-HD MA, its output should be what you need -- even if the Oppo itself won't say so. Is it plugged directly into the television ?

Carl

[sharok]

Hi Carl,

Oppo is connected directly to TV with HDMI 1 and HDMI 2 (Audio) connected to Emotiva XMC-1.

No issues with passing the DTS MA from Oppo to the XMC-1 using Blu ray disc. Since I've no issues playing discs and getting DTS MA, I think my connections and cables are OK.

It is with MKV files that I see Oppo shows only "DTS 5.1 /7.1" and not DTS MA. The interesting part is that this does not happen with all the ripped DTS MA movies.

But it could be just Oppo not showing the correct audio naming.

I'm really confused that why it happens.

[CTwining]

"It is with MKV files that I see Oppo shows only DTS 5.1 /7.1 and not DTS MA. The interesting part is that this does not happen with all the ripped DTS MA movies."

Sharok,

Oh, sorry. I misunderstood. So (from an MKV file) the Oppo never identifies Master Audio when choosing a track, and never reports DTS-HD MA in "media information".

Clearly MA is absent, unrecognized, or even discarded inside the Oppo. (I've been looking in the wrong direction.)

Carl

[CTwining]

Sharok,

Master Audio works with physical disks and fails with MKV files. I assume you're playing MKV files over the network.

Does MA work when you play an MKV from a USB drive (to avoid the network) ?

Carl

[sharok]

Hi Carl,

I play using a USB Hard Drive, I do not use network.

It is a little odd since some show up as DTS MA and some don't.

[CTwining]

"... some show up as DTS MA and some don't."

Sharok,

I think we've walked all the way back to Woodstock's suggestion: look at the files.

Choose one file that works as DTS MA and one that doesn't -- and examine each of them with MediaInfo. (Both audio and video metadata may be interesting. I _think_ someone with an OPPO said the video codec affected Dolby TrueHD.)

I have very few Blu-ray rips, but I'll look for one that fails DTS-MA.

Carl

[SnoopyDog]

The problem doesn't come from MakeMkv. It depends on the software that analyzes the mkv file. If it analyzes only the MKV container, then there are the following three audio codec tags for DTS defined:

• A_DTS: Supports DTS, DTS-ES, DTS-96/26, DTS-HD High Resolution Audio and DTS-HD Master Audio.
• A_DTS/EXPRESS: DTS Express
• A_DTS/LOSSLESS: DTS Lossless audio that does not have a core substream.

https://www.matroska.org/technical/spec ... index.html

So looking at the container only would give you DTS in nearly all cases. You can make assumptions like "if audiobits = 24 or Samplerate = 192" => we have at least DTS-HD. But DTS-HD-MA can not be detected by looking at the container only. The software also needs to look at the audio streams.

A_DTS/LOSSLESS sounds good but per specification it should be used only for lossless audio streams without a core substream. And for downwards compatibility, nearly all Blu-Rays use DTS-HD-MA with a DTS core.

Edit: So the Oppo player (as the thread starter mentioned) seems to analyze only the MKV container for the audio menu, but when it plays back the movie, it needs to deal with the audio stream and there it finds more detailed information.

[CTwining]

Sharok,

You said "some show up as DTS MA and some don't."

For simple DTS tracks, the program
MediaInfo (in text view) should report
Format: DTS
Format/Info: Digital Theater Systems
Codec ID: A_DTS

For Master Audio tracks,
MediaInfo should add
Format profile: MA / Core
or even
Format profile: X / MA / Core

Please select a file where OPPO should -- but does not -- offer DTS MA as a choice for audio. What does MediaInfo say about audio tracks in that file ?

(Among my few files, only 3 have DTS without a DTS MA track. MediaInfo and the Oppo agree there's no Master Audio in those files.)

Carl

[sharok]

Hi Carl,

Apologies for the late reply.

How can I check the MediaInfo?

Would you please help me with it? I've no idea where to look for those info.

I confirmed using the "info" button on my processor that the signal going from Oppo to my audio processor is DTS MA, but I just cannot figure out why in some movies (Avengers: infinity War, Thor: Ragnarok, ...), when I push the "Audio" button on the Oppo remote, it shows DTS and not DTS MA while I know for a fact that the signal is DTS MA.

[CTwining]

"How can I check the MediaInfo?"

Sharok,

Google MEDIAINFO and look at the result MediaArea.net > MediaInfo. (It will probably be at the top of the list.)

"MediaInfo is a convenient unified display of the most relevant technical and tag data for video and audio files".

They offer it for about 10 different operating systems, so I imagine you can install MediaInfo on the same computer you use for MakeMKV.

That page shows a screen capture.
When you start the program: "File" to choose your MKV, and "View --> text" to see the details we're interested in.

I'm sure you'll find "Format profile MA" in the right place. That'll be dull, but it's a good thing. (It's kind of like the timeline in a mystery story. "When was the victim last seen alive?")

Carl

[CTwining]

"I confirmed using the "info" button on my processor that the signal going from Oppo to my audio processor is DTS MA"

Sharok,

I completely missed that point.

Carl