DVD Audio Extractor: Pressure Developer to Add DTS-HD Decoder Support

[JediJoker]

It's a royal pain to rip and decode/uncompress/convert DTS-HD on a Mac, especially with BD+ discs. Right now, my solution is:

 

1. MakeMKV to backup the disc.

2. MakeMKV to make an MKV of the desired program from the backup, converting DTS-HD to FLAC.

3. MKVtools to extract the FLAC stream from the MKV file.

4. DVD Audio Extractor to extract a FLAC file plus cue from the desired program using the backup.

5. Replace DVDAE FLAC file with MKVtools FLAC file, renaming if necessary.

 

For what it's worth, the stable version of Cog—0.07 (r635), the only computer software I use for playing FLAC (shoot me)—does not like to play the substitute FLAC file using the cue sheet. It will play linearly from the top of the first track to the end of the list just fine, but will crash if attempting to skip within the track or to select another track in the list. So, this adds another layer of complexity:

 

6. XLD to convert the FLAC/cue into some other format.

 

XLD reads the FLAC/cue just fine and works as expected. Even "converting" to a single file plus cue with no other changes produces a cue sheet that Cog can read more correctly (though not perfectly).

 

This whole process is four steps longer and two pieces of software deeper than it needs to be, or really should be. To all outward appearances, MakeMKV is now using libdcadec to decode DTS-HD streams. Even before that, it would use dtsdecoder.dll to do it. So, both of these methods are currently available and have been for a while, now. If Computer Application Studio (the developer of DVD Audio Extractor) were to include libdcadec and/or the ability to reference dtsdecoder.dll in DVDAE, the process would be much simpler:

 

1. MakeMKV to backup the disc.

2. DVD Audio Extractor to extract the desired DTS-HD audio from the backup and convert to desired format.

 

So, let's put pressure on CAS to add support for decoding DTS-HD. If GuinpinSoft can include it in MakeMKV, surely CAS can in DVD Audio Extractor.

[JediJoker]

I use HDBRStreamextractor (a GUI for eac3to) to extract the MKV decrypted ripped mts files. Two steps, full max 24/192 DTS-HD-MA decoding to FLAC (24/96 for multichannel). Yes, a workable dtsdecoder.dll is needed in eac3to's stack.

New eac3to GUI: HD-DVD/Blu-Ray Stream Extractor - Doom9's Forum

That would be lovely, except eac3to and HDBRStreamextractor are Windows-only. Looking for a native Mac solution. Seems like it would be really simple to add support for DTS-HD in DVDAE.

[JediJoker]

UPDATE: DVD Audio Extractor now supports DTS-HD MA streams and will decode internally, losslessly at full resolution!

 

Version 7.4.0 is the magic release. Now, if they would just add support for exporting single files with cue sheets above CD resolution, it would reduce my workflow down to two steps and two applications. It's already a huge improvement, as I'm down to three steps and three apps (from six steps and four apps).

[JediJoker]

9 hours ago, mancolh said:

Still does not support DTS 96/24 which is what most Audio DVD's are encoded with. Audiomuxer is still a solution for this.

Really? No way... CAS must be using the code from libdcadec, which supports most forms of DTS encoding, 96/24 lossy included. I'll have to try it on one of my audio DVDs.