I've done some research and found similar questions asked beforehand, but have ended up confused by contradictory statements, so here goes:
I have a DVD player connected to my audio amplifier via digital optical output (Toslink), and also a Boxee Box media streamer also connected to the amplifier by Toslink. (No HDMI as the amp is too old, but its sound stage is gorgeous and well matched with a high end speaker system so I have no intention of replacement)
If I play A DVD with DTS soundtrack it is automatically detected as DTS by the amplifier, which then plays the sound track and displays DTS on its display instead of whatever format was displayed before playback started. The result is most certainly very surround sound to listen to, and when the DVD is stopped, the amplifier reverts to displaying whatever format was selected before. Perfect. Exactly what I would expect.
If I convert the same DVD to .iso image using DVD Shrink and ONLY including DTS, when I stream the resultant image from my NAS via Boxee Box, the amplifier plays sound but it does not display DTS. I know that the image only contains DTS because if I stream it to my laptop, the audio is silent because the laptop has no DTS decoding capability.
I don't get it! There is no LPCM 2 channel on the image, only DTS 5 channel, so how can the amplifier output sound but not show DTS on its display?
DVD player connected to DTS certified amplifier via Toslink. Play a DTS encoded DVD.
Observe correct DTS decoding as confirmed by the amp automatically switching to DTS.
NAS connected to Boxee Box media streamer connected to DTS certified amplifier via Toslink.
Using any software (DVD Shrink is one example) make a copy of the DVD to any format, being sure to only include DTS 5.1 and not PCM stereo.
Play the copy on a laptop that doesn't support DTS.
Observe no sound. Perfect - as expected.
Stream the copy from the NAS to the DTS amplifier via Boxee Box and Toslink.
Observe sound (which can only be DTS) - but the amp resolutely refuses to display "DTS" and the sound quality is thin with back-to-back comparison against the DVD.
I do not therefore believe that the copy is DTS.
Swapping the Toslink cables for Boxee Box and DVD player confirms that I do not have a hardware issue. edited by ddp
Originally posted by Chetwood: It's strange indeed cause Shrink NEVER touches the audio. Have you checked the files before/after with Mediainfo? What does it say?
Thanks for the idea, Chetwood. I will try to take a look and see tonight. If not it will be next weekend as I am away frpm home with work from sparrows o'clock tomorrow morning until Friday night.
Mods - sorry for the double posting. I created the first post as part of creating an account and having done so couldn't see it some time later, so created the second one.
I sneaked in a quick check with between dinner and kids bedtime.
Heres what I found, starting with DVD Shrink and ending up with Mediainfo.
[Humph. Seems that as a User of the web since August 1st 1994 Im not allowed to be trusted to post links! :) Excuse that you therefore need to cut and paste the URLs as well as remove the space after http]
DVD Shrink audio selection: http ://tinyurl.com/cv4ycm4
Confirmation of audio selection: http ://tinyurl.com/d8mdj92
Confirmation of backup format: http ://tinyurl.com/csal8of
Mediainfo confirmation of audio stream: http ://tinyurl.com/cpjf3xc
I've also tried creating an .ISO container, but whilst the Boxee streams it quite happily, the amplifier still fails to detect the DTS stream; music plays, but there is no DTSlegend on the display panel and again the music quality is thin compared to DTS (back to back with the original DVD). Exactly the same as with the conventional _TS approach shown above.
I think this points to a "Boxee Box weak link in the chain" issue, so will try to do some research centred on it.
