New user with some general questions / terminology

[dzirkelb]

New user to Makemkv, loving it so far!

I have some general questions / observations, and part of my questioning is I don't know the correct lingo.

1) Subtitles. I have read a lot about these in general on the forums, but want to know, is a forced subtitle one that only shows for a section of a movie? Aka, beginning of Angels and Demons, they are talking French, I think, and it shows the english subtitles; however, the rest of the movie (when speaking english), there are none. Is that considered a sub title? If so, it is my general understanding that that is going to be fixed in the next version, where it will automatically rip them with your file if you select it?

2) Subitles again. Currently, I have just been selecting English on all of my rips; however, I do not have the subtitles in my movies (like the above example)...is it because of a bug / known issue? One step further on that is some of my movies have more than one English subtitle selection on the main movie file, which one do I check?

3) 5.1 surround audio. When I go to burn a disc, I have the options (generally) to choose DTS HD Lossless English, DTS 3/2+1 English, and DD 2/0 English (this is there twice sometimes). First, what is the difference between them? Currently, I have been selecting the lossless and 3/2+1; however, I am not getting true surround...I say true because I get, sort of, background noise on my rear's, but it definately is not a regular surround experience, more like background noise of what is coming from the front's. I don't think the sub kicks at all either, and actually, I don't think the center is playing at all...I haven't really troubleshot that much, but I do know it is not a true 5.1 setup. So, which do I pick to get he surround?

Now, I have a wierd issue going on, so it may be my PC...I'll try to explain it. When I play a blu directly from the computer, surround works great. However, it appears something on my cpu isn't actually recognizing I have 5.1 audio, as when I go to sound, I can only choose stereo output from my HDMI output...media player only plays 2 speakers also when doing its test. So, is my problem how I am ripping it, my computer, or both? I am doing an hdmi output to my denon AVR 1909, so it should support most if not all the bells and whistles.

3) AnyDVD HD. I purchased this before trying MakeMKV (and knowing MakeMKV does what I purchased AnyDVD HD for in the first place, waste of money there), and it gives an error saying to close anydvd...does it hurt to leave it running in the background? Could that be the cause of my issues?

Thanks for the product and the help!

[dzirkelb]

Oh, a little more info...I have installed the Shark codec package.
For drivers, I have listed an ATI High Definition Audio Device and IDT High Definition Audion CODEC. For display I have ATI Radeon HD 3200 Graphics.

[nadocrew]

1/2) a forced subtitle is one that just shows up for the foreign language portions of the movie. I.e. Angels and Demons beginning or Iron man cave scene. The new version of mkv can copy only the forced subtitles. The problem you are having is that no video players currently support viewing .sup subtitle files inside of the MKV container. The subtitles are in a .sup format when burned from Makemkv.
In order to view the subtitles in your movies you will need to convert the .sup subtitles. The instructions on converting the .sup subtitles are detailed here http://www.makemkv.com/forum2/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=808

3) As for the surround sound. DTS HD, DTS 3/2, Dolby True Hd, or DD 2/0 are just different types of audio. DTS HD lossless is a lossless audio format that is normally 5 or 7 channels. The problem with HD formats is that I don't believe any players currently support DTS HD or Dolby True Hd formats. Some players may be able to down convert the audio to a different format and play them. The way to get around this is to select just the DTS Hd or Dolby Digital HD Core in MakeMKV. It is a sub option of the HD audio formats. As for DTS 3/2 +1, it is just standard DTS with 3 front channel, 2 rear channels, and one subwoofer channel, also known as 5.1. DD 2/0 is Dolby digital is stereo. The information about these formats is displayed in the info box in Makemkv.

Also, once you have created your MKV file and you are playing the file in VLC or whatever video player, make sure to select the correct audio track. The player will most likely have an option to select another audio track. If you selected more than one audio track in Makemkv than there will be more than one option.

3 again) Your issues are not caused by anyDVD HD. Once you close AnyDVD HD the program should work fine. Drivers do not matter.

On another note, Makemkv is just free during its beta period. It will most likely be a paid program once its out of beta.

[dzirkelb]

Excellent info, thanks!

What is the difference between lossless and regular 5.1?

As an example, I'll rip Pandorum. I am selecting DD 3/2+1 English (as TrueHD 5.1 English has issues playing in players from your notes). And, i will select Subtitles English...this is all a selection of the title with 15 chapters, 28.3 gb.

In order for me to get the 5.1 audio, is this all I have to do? It seems like I have done that in the past once and it didn't seem to work either.

I see in the track it says Codec: Dolby Digital, sample rate 48000 kHz...is there a way to ensure I have this codec installed somewhere?

[nadocrew]

Lossless is just a high bitrater than standard 5.1. In other words it is a higher quality audio. In order to get the audio that will play in most players, select the subselection of the TrueHD or DTS HD MA. Note: some people like to keep the lossless formats in case a player eventually supports them.

Only check the box for the 3/2 +1 to get standard 5.1.

You may have other problems as well. I am not sure what player you are using, but it may not have support for standard AC3 or DTS. Just make sure the player has support for these formats.
It may also be a problem with your player down converting 5.1 audio to stereo before it sends the audio through HDMI. I would check the audio settings and see if this is happening.

Also, to check which formats are inside of your MKV, after Makemkv is done, use a program called Mkvtoolnix. It can be downloaded here http://www.bunkus.org/videotools/mkvtoo ... loads.html. The program is pretty self explanatory.

[dzirkelb]

Thanks for the download link, I'll check that out.

I am using media player / media center for playback