HD-200 dts transcode problem on 64 bit version...

[jbmia]

So, going back a couple years a work around was implemented that allowed transcoding of files with dts audio streams for a specific client. In this case, the HD-200, since it won't decode dts audio streams. The workaround involves updating the following line in the (client).properties file in the "clients" folder as follows:

change:
miniclient/disabled_audio_codecs=

to:
miniclient/disabled_audio_codecs=DTS;dts
(DCA could also be added, but I don't have any DCA encoded files)

I had this working in a 32 bit install on Fedora 12, but have recently upgraded to Fedora 14 (Amahi home server) and this update no longer seems to have any effect. It was never a perfect solution, but I'd recently upgraded to a quad core processor and it seemed to work okay for the kids TV...

I had other issues with the installation of the "32 bit libraries" as well.. SageTV wouldn't even run in 64 bit Fedora environment without retroactively installing some of the necessary "32 bit" libraries... Is it possible my issue is related to this?

If anyone can point me in the right direction, it would be greatly appreciated... I know I could buy another HD-300, but I'm not just gonna toss the HD-200 and I rotate way too many dts encoded MKV files in and out my media server to manually encode a dolby digital stream into every single one of them..

jbmia

[will]

Jbmia,

Is this a Linux only workaround? I wasn't aware that you could use the server to decode audio for an HD-200 (I have been adding in a DD 5.1 track to all my HD mkvs so my two HD-200s can play them).

Will

[jbmia]

... only posted this in the Linux forum cause I had it working under Fedora 12 32bit and it's no longer working in Fedora 14 64 bit... but it's not just the audo, it's the audio and video...

Give it a try.. go to your clients directory.. verify your HD-200's mac address (botton of unit).. go to the "hd-200 mac address".properties file.

change:
miniclient/disabled_audio_codecs=

to:
miniclient/disabled_audio_codecs=DTS;dts

Warning.. it takes a decent size cpu to perform on the fly transcoding like this though.. you can play with the transcode quality "standard" or "high" (I believe" in the HD-200 settings...

If anyone can point me in the right direction as to why this might no longer be working in my config it would be much appreciated...

jbmia

[kbyrd]

I ditched my HD200 for an HD300 partially because of this problem. I had no idea there was an option to have the server transcode DTS on the fly.

I doubt it's the change from Fedora 12 -> 14. It's probably the 32-bit to 64-bit change. In addition to the standard 32-bit compatibility libraries, (usually called ia32-libs) you'll need 32-bit versions of whatever external programs or libraries Sage wants. For transcoding DTS, that's probably ffmpeg.

Here's what I would do:
Go back to 32-bit Fedora, log into a console and run top. Now go play something on your hd200 that would need to be transcoded on the fly. In top, look for a program taking up a bunch of CPU. You'll need to install a 32-bit version of that on your 64-bit system to get transcoding to work.

[will]

Originally Posted by kbyrd

I ditched my HD200 for an HD300 partially because of this problem.

Big selling point for an HD300 for me too.

I confirmed that the on-the-fly transcoding doesn't work with Windows (at least I couldn't get it to work). I guess it is back to adding DD 5.1 tracks to my MKVs (which actually isn't that bad and works very well with no server overhead).

Thanks for the advice jbmia.

[jbmia]

FWIW.. thought I'd update this thread...

I knew I'd had this working in the windows version and couldn't get it working in the Linux version and I figured out way... A stupid reason really...

You need to stop the sagetv server before updating the .properties file for the extender you want to update prior to attempting any editing of the file. The server keeps a file lock while it's running and needs to be terminated prior to editing the file. Pretty standard stuff.. Not sure why I didn't follow standard procedure, but anyway...

So, stop the server, update that line with DTS;dts ,etc, save, and restart the server...

bingo, it works... Any files with DTS get transcoded by the server... Earlier in the year, I upgraded to quad core processor that handles this nicely. In addition, I put this HD-200 on an older analog TV (read: 480i), so the transcode quality is a non-issue...

Regards,

jbmia

[drewg]

Originally Posted by jbmia

Any files with DTS get transcoded by the server... Earlier in the year, I upgraded to quad core processor that handles this nicely. In addition, I put this HD-200 on an older analog TV (read: 480i), so the transcode quality is a non-issue...

Does it transcode video, or just audio? I have an HD300 & a lot of BD rips with DTS audio. But without being able to get a new HD300, I may have to dust off my retired HD100. If it just transcoded the audio, that would be pretty nifty and would save me hours of running various windows programs in VirtualBox to transcode just the audio of each rip.

Drew

[jbmia]

So, it's not ideal, but it works for me... my server's running with a quad core processor that keeps up fine and I get pretty much DVD quality running through an analog CRT HD projection TV.

I noticed you're running ubuntu... here's another solution you might consider...
I'm sure you're familiar with mkvdts2ac3.sh...

https://github.com/wbotelhos/mkvdts2ac3

I'm not a CLI expert.. mostly google things till I get to where I need to be.. Anyway, I emailed the developer and he sent me this command over, which will run mkvdts2ac3.sh over all mkv files in a folder...

find . -name *.mkv -exec mkvdts2ac3.sh {} \;

So, if you run that command, it should just pass through all mkv files looking for mkv files with DTS audio streams to convert.. and pass over those that already have ac3 streams...

It'd be nice if somebody put together a little script that ran on a cron job or something so it wouldn't have to be run manually...

... but at least you shouldn't have to run programs in Virtualbox to perform the audio conversion...

If you've got a decent processor in your server, give the transcode a try.. can't hurt..

Good luck.

jbmia

[will]

It's great that this works!! However, I'm going to keep adding a DD track to DTS only MKVs.

While doing some informal testing, I noticed that when the HD300s converted DTS tracks to DD the sound quality loses some of its richness. My pre-converted DD tracks sound significantly fuller and of higher quality (even over TV speakers and I am definitely no audiophile).

Have you noticed any loss in sound quality when the SageTV server does the converting?

[drewg]

Originally Posted by jbmia

I'm sure you're familiar with mkvdts2ac3.sh...

https://github.com/wbotelhos/mkvdts2ac3

I'm not a CLI expert.. mostly google things till I get to where I need to be..

I am.. I've been using *nix since 1989...

Unfortunately, many of my rips are to BDMV structured directories, rather than MKVs But knowing about this tool, I'll start ripping to MKVs..

Drew

[kbyrd]

Originally Posted by drewg

Does it transcode video, or just audio? I have an HD300 & a lot of BD rips with DTS audio. But without being able to get a new HD300, I may have to dust off my retired HD100. If it just transcoded the audio, that would be pretty nifty and would save me hours of running various windows programs in VirtualBox to transcode just the audio of each rip.

Drew

+1 for this. I had a plan that would need another HD300, but if I can make my HD200 work, I would do this. I had a workflow for converting the DTS to AC3 (I've got an ffmpeg cmdline somewhere) but that adds steps (demux the streams, convert DTS to AC3, remux it all together). I guess I need to stop being lazy and try it for myself. Drew, I'll let you know if it works for me too.

[The Truth]

WOW THIS SHOULD BE A STICKY!!!!!!!!!!!!


This made me extremely happy!!!!

I just bought a HD200 off ebay for very cheap because someone thought it was broken, I got it working, and realized i have no sound on half my movies. Then i just found this thread, and I am the Happiest person in the world!!!!

[The Truth]

Originally Posted by jbmia

So, going back a couple years a work around was implemented that allowed transcoding of files with dts audio streams for a specific client. In this case, the HD-200, since it won't decode dts audio streams. The workaround involves updating the following line in the (client).properties file in the "clients" folder as follows:

change:
miniclient/disabled_audio_codecs=

to:
miniclient/disabled_audio_codecs=DTS;dts
(DCA could also be added, but I don't have any DCA encoded files)

I had this working in a 32 bit install on Fedora 12, but have recently upgraded to Fedora 14 (Amahi home server) and this update no longer seems to have any effect. It was never a perfect solution, but I'd recently upgraded to a quad core processor and it seemed to work okay for the kids TV...

I had other issues with the installation of the "32 bit libraries" as well.. SageTV wouldn't even run in 64 bit Fedora environment without retroactively installing some of the necessary "32 bit" libraries... Is it possible my issue is related to this?

If anyone can point me in the right direction, it would be greatly appreciated... I know I could buy another HD-300, but I'm not just gonna toss the HD-200 and I rotate way too many dts encoded MKV files in and out my media server to manually encode a dolby digital stream into every single one of them..

jbmia

I this is what I did for my HD200 on my server;

miniclient/disabled_audio_codecs=DTS;dtsCA;dca


THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!

[KryptoNyte]

Let's just say that a guy applied the DCA;dca tweak, I get proper audio, but the aspect ratio on the video is wrong (squeezed horizontally, so everything is too skinny). How would you get the video back to good?