HD Audio experiments

[habeeb1974]

Hi All,

After a long gap, i got lilbit time to place my hands on HD audio related topics. To obtain pure HD audio sources in no time, I decided to buy a BD internal drive and purchase some BDs.

I bought a BD internal drive (Asus) for Rs.4000 from ebay global and bought a BD from EROS (Love Aaj Kal). This BD is having DTS HD MA and LPCM 5.1 streams. Enough to start with.


The objectives are
1. Rip m2ts files from BD to HDD
2. play m2ts files on my PC using
3. Extract audio streams (DTS HD MA and LPCM 5.1)
4. Extract DTS double rate core from DTS HD MA track.
5. Demux 6 channel wavs from DTS core
6. Downsample each wav to 44100 Hz
7. Encode DTS from these downsampled 6 channel wavs
8. Author a DTS audio cd.
9. Author a DVD with audio alone - tracks DTS core and LPCM 5.1

Result :
All the objectives are met.
I had used around 10 softwares to complete this experiment.
Time spent around 12 hours.

Any questions, welcome.

 

[rahuljonline]

Real nice experiment!!!

 

[swami]

Congrats on coming out successful in your experiment! And its much appreciated that you went in for something of this sort and shared the information with us.

I would like to know more on the results of your experiment. Please explain what audio format is most likeable to you out of the original BD audio playback, ripped audio playback from PC, DTS CD playback on a compatible device etc? You may share your own opinion and taste, but I am sure we will like to know the outcome and take it ahead from there!

 

[maniac_2004]

Hi All,
Result :
All the objectives are met.
I had used around 10 softwares to complete this experiment.
Time spent around 12 hours.

Any questions, welcome.

could you enumerate the softwares and the OS ?
are these softwares freeware ?

 

[viper08]

Basic question !!!
What is a difference between normal Audio CD and HD audio? Haven't yet experienced.
Can't really guess by comparing normal and HD Video which we can see.

 

[jls001]

Very good experiment.

One basic question: why down sample?
Thx,
Joshua

Hi All,
6. Downsample each wav to 44100 Hz

 

[swami]

Very good experiment.

One basic question: why down sample?
Thx,
Joshua

DTS CD (5.1 Music Disc) needs the multichannel at 44.1kHZ, that's why downsampling was needed in this "experiment".

Read here.

Quoting: [Often referred to as Surround Music Disc, DTS Music Disc enables surround sound playback using a standard CD player with a digital output. At up to 6.1 at 44.1kHz or 2 channels of 88.1 kHz, DTS Music Discs deliver pristine audio using the CD format.]

PS: I have burnt a few DTS CDs earlier, however, I never experimented burning 88.2kHz stereo for superior quality! Also, I am wondering what will happen if I burn 5.1 on the CD with each channel sampled at 88.2kHz or 96kHz

 

[habeeb1974]

Very good experiment.

One basic question: why down sample?
Thx,
Joshua

Hi Joshua,
CD Audio redbook specification is for 44100 Hz 16 bit PCM encoding. When we encode the downsampled wavs (44100 Hz) into a DTS Wav, the header flags will be inline with 44100 Hz. Unless teh header is in line with CD audio specs (44100 Hz, 16 bits), the burning software will not burn it as a audio CD.

I used SURCODE to encode the 6 wavs into a DTS wav. Of course, surcode will allow us to encode 6 wavs of 48000 Hz into a DTs wav, but burning as audio cd will fail as it violates the audio cd redbook spec. The burning software (i used Nero ) will check tehheadre and complain !!!

It is lilbit difficult to understand, but this is the undrlying reason.

Thanks
Habeeb

 

[swami]

Habeeb,

You didn't explain the intention behind this experiment that you performed!

 

[habeeb1974]

Habeeb,

You didn't explain the intention behind this experiment that you performed!

Hello Swami,
My intention was to get studio master HD audio played through my HT setup cost effectively.

DTS HD MA - I can extract DTS double rate core and embedd in a DVD video VOB file and play through my DVD Player. I am satisfied with the quality of core (which is far far far .... better than CD audio due to DTS algorithm and spacialization) and think that the MLP delta may not add any more considerable quality punches.

5.1 LPCM - I can extract it and embedd on a vob file and author a DVD video and play it through my DVD player. The quality is very superior to that of CD AUDIO.

N.B: From my experience, I think the DTS HD MA is mastered from the studio master (space is not an issue to the MLP compression technique). 5.1 LPCM is not giving that much punch to that of DTS Core. I had read from somewhere that there is LESS chance that uncompressed LPCM track might be coming from exact studio master to save huge space in the disc. The sampling/bit size might be downsized before authoring into BD.

In my experience, DTS double core is more crisp, clean and live than 5.1 LPCM for the "Love Aaj Kal" BD. This may not be the case with other BDs, if LPCM is taken from teh exact studio track without any adultration.

Hope it is clear.

Thanks
Habeeb

 

[habeeb1974]

could you enumerate the softwares and the OS ?
are these softwares freeware ?

OS - Windows XP professional SP 2

Download Total Media Theatre 3 or higher from ArcSoft (TMT) - Eval version

1. Rip m2ts files from BD to HDD (AnyDVD ripper) - AnyDVD HD service to run on the system to handle the PAP (Protected Audio Path) hurdles!! Eval version

2. play m2ts files on my PC using - TMT3
3. Extract audio streams (DTS HD MA and LPCM 5.1) - tsMuxer - Freeware
4. Extract DTS double rate core from DTS HD MA track. - eac3to (need TMT3 to be installed to get the the necessary brain to decode DTS HD MA!!!)
5. Demux 6 channel wavs from DTS core - Transcode - Freeware
6. Downsample each wav to 44100 Hz - audiocommander - Trial version
7. Encode DTS from these downsampled 6 channel wavs - surcode DTS - trial version
8. Author a DTS audio cd. - surcode DTS - trial
9. Author a DVD with audio alone - tracks DTS core and LPCM 5.1 - DVDLab - trial version

N.B: Please go for any virtual PC for getting saved from the Eval version period trap.

Hope it is clear

Thanks
Habeeb

 

[habeeb1974]

Congrats on coming out successful in your experiment! And its much appreciated that you went in for something of this sort and shared the information with us.

I would like to know more on the results of your experiment. Please explain what audio format is most likeable to you out of the original BD audio playback, ripped audio playback from PC, DTS CD playback on a compatible device etc? You may share your own opinion and taste, but I am sure we will like to know the outcome and take it ahead from there!

Results:

From my experience, I think the DTS HD MA is mastered from the studio master (space is not an issue to the MLP compression technique). 5.1 LPCM is not giving that much punch to that of DTS Core. I had read from somewhere that there is LESS chance that uncompressed LPCM track might be coming from exact studio master to save huge space in the disc. The sampling/bit size might be downsized before authoring into BD.

In my experience, DTS double core is more crisp, clean and live than 5.1 LPCM for the "Love Aaj Kal" BD. This may not be the case with other BDs, if LPCM is taken from teh exact studio track without any adultration.

I do not care video!!!

I tried the DTS core with Moserbear;s PazhassiRaja also. All the channels are crisp and clear especially the centre, BUT weak SUB out (may be nothing). Since SUB is wek /absent, no punch to the music.

I am having a very powerful HT setup and able to recognize the minor deviations . Please see my other thread for getting info on my HT setup. It is awsome. I am planning to have a SUB extnsion also soon.

Thanks
Habeeb