DTS Audio in MKV Files

[CJ_Man]

G'Day All,

I've just done a clean install of 5.623(Pro) on my Win7 (32bit) notebook. All went well so I decided to try the included video decoders again as I've hardly ever used Winamp for video.

I now find that some of my MKV files won't play at all. Winamp can load them into the library fine, but when asked to play one it just skips to the next file.

It seems that all the affected files have one thing in common: DTS audio. Other MKV video files with AC3 or AAC audio play fine, but it won't even attempt to play one with a DTS soundtrack.

Is this correct or do I need some addon?

[DJ Egg]

Hi

Yeah, there's currently no native DTS/DCA audio decoder for MKV in Winamp.

A super-secret decoder does actually exist, but we haven't made it available anywhere yet (until now) because:
1) It only supports DTS audio in MKV container, whereas ideally it needs to also support MP4 and maybe other formats
(thankfully, in_avi will try to use DirectShow if it can't natively decode the AVI, and in_dshow can be used for OGV support)
2) It's probably incomplete and needs a fair bit of testing...
3) We're not licensed to support DTS (a legal public license currently costs a small fortune, heh)

However, I've just managed to get hold of an MKV sample video which uses DTS audio, and it played fine for me....

So... I've decided for now that the decoder (dca.w5s) can be included in the Winamp Essentials Pack.
Koopa will hopefully be adding it to the next EP release within the next few days.

In the meantime, you can get it here:

DTS Decoder for Winamp's MKV Demuxer

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4353519/winamp_mkv_dca_dts.exe

Let me know if it works ok :-)

[CJ_Man]

Congrats DJ, on all the files I've tested it on so far (including those that Winamp wouldn't play at all before) it has worked fine! I now only have one MKV that Winamp refuses to play, but that's nothing to do with DTS audio. I've included some info about that below if you are interested.

It's a pity about the licensing costs for the DTS decoder, I wonder how many Winamp users who've never felt the need to visit the forum are even aware of the Essentials pack.

Anyway, for the purpose of playing MKV files with DTS audio tracks the "secret" plugin looks a winner, many thanks.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
These are the details of the one remaining recalcitrant MKV in my collection taken from MPC Home Cinema edition, which plays it fine. The only thing that stands out to me are the "Menu" entries at the bottom. Again this is just FYI.

Format : Matroska
Format version : Version 2
File size : 759 MiB
Duration : 1h 42mn
Overall bit rate : 1 031 Kbps
Encoded date : UTC 2011-02-16 19:38:11
Writing application : mkvmerge v4.5.0 ('Speed of Light') built on Feb 1 2011 02:10:32
Writing library : libebml v1.2.0 + libmatroska v1.1.0

Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : [email protected]
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 4 frames
Muxing mode : Header stripping
Codec ID : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration : 1h 42mn
Bit rate : 819 Kbps
Width : 720 pixels
Height : 480 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 4:3
Frame rate mode : Variable
Frame rate : 23.976 fps
Standard : NTSC
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.099
Stream size : 603 MiB (79%)
Writing library : x264 core 112

Encoding settings : cabac=1 / ref=5 / deblock=1:0:0 / analyse=0x3:0x113 / me=hex / subme=7 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.00 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=1 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=0 / chroma_qp_offset=-2 / threads=1 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=0 / interlaced=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=1 / b_adapt=1 / b_bias=0 / direct=1 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=240 / keyint_min=23 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=50 / rc=crf / mbtree=1 / crf=22.4 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=3 / qpmax=51 / qpstep=4 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00

Language : English
Color primaries : BT.601-6 525, BT.1358 525, BT.1700 NTSC, SMPTE 170M
Transfer characteristics : BT.709-5, BT.1361
Matrix coefficients : BT.601-6 525, BT.1358 525, BT.1700 NTSC, SMPTE 170M

Audio
ID : 2
Format : AC-3
Format/Info : Audio Coding 3
Mode extension : CM (complete main)
Muxing mode : Header stripping
Codec ID : A_AC3
Duration : 1h 42mn
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 192 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Channel positions : Front: L R
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Bit depth : 16 bits
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 141 MiB (19%)
Language : English

Menu
00:00:00.000 : en:Chapter 1
00:09:58.215 : en:Chapter 2
00:20:02.319 : en:Chapter 3
00:29:15.955 : en:Chapter 4
00:39:43.699 : en:Chapter 5
00:51:01.634 : en:Chapter 6
00:59:32.320 : en:Chapter 7
01:09:02.324 : en:Chapter 8
01:17:34.386 : en:Chapter 9
01:29:34.555 : en:Chapter 10
01:39:21.024 : en:Chapter 11

[DJ Egg]

Thanks for confirming that the dts decoder is working. Yay!

Re: problem mkv file
Hmm, strange...
You've definitely got the ac3 decoder (a52.w5s) installed from the EP?

[CJ_Man]

You've definitely got the ac3 decoder (a52.w5s) installed from the EP?

Yep, I have no problem with any other files with AC3 audio. That's what made me think it was the inclusion of the original DVD chapter breaks (I assume that's what they are) that is causing the problem.

It's the only MKV in my collection that I've come across so far which Winamp still won't play.