Article: How To Decode and Play Dolby TrueHD Atmos on Windows and macOS

[R1200CL]

Quote

Right now, I can send audio from the Dolby Reference Player to HQPlayer for room correction and upsampling, then out to my Merging Technologies Anubis for playback. 

By ethernet ? USB ?

 

Is Anubis needed for this to work ?

[The Computer Audiophile]

13 minutes ago, R1200CL said:

By ethernet ? USB ?

 

Is Anubis needed for this to work ?

Merging stuff is based on Ethernet using Ravenna. 
 

Anubis isn’t required specifically, but it’s probably the best. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

On 3/24/2022 at 10:10 PM, El Guapo said:

...What I did was I use Audacity to record the DRP output...

Guapo

 

Hi Guapo, I'm playing around with outputting the audio to WAV files, enabling me to use any playback software I want, that accepts 12 channels. 

 

Question: Do the channels for a 7.1.4 system get mapped correctly when saving the Audacity output as WAV?

 

I see this screen when exporting the tracks, but I don't know if I need to change anything. There's no way to know which cannel is which.

 

[El Guapo]

30 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

Do the channels for a 7.1.4 system get mapped correctly when saving the Audacity output as WAV?

Yes. You don't need to change anything when export the tracks from Audacity.

 

In 7.1.4 the channel mapping is

1L, 2R, 3C, 4LFE, 5Ls, 6Rs, 7Lrs, 8Rrs, 9Ltf, 10Rtf, 11Ltr, 12Rtr

[The Computer Audiophile]

3 minutes ago, El Guapo said:

Yes. You don't need to change anything when export the tracks from Audacity.

 

In 7.1.4 the channel mapping is

1L, 2R, 3C, 4LFE, 5Ls, 6Rs, 7Lrs, 8Rrs, 9Ltf, 10Rtf, 11Ltr, 12Rtr

 

Thank you so much!

[retro]

I think I like where this is going..😉

[The Computer Audiophile]

One more question @El Guapo

 

When capturing with Audacity, which file format are you saving to?

 

WAV has file size limits of 4 GB. I want to save an entire album, then create a cue sheet. An entire album of 12 channel 48k will be quite large. 

 

 

[El Guapo]

1 hour ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

When capturing with Audacity, which file format are you saving to?

WAV or AIFF or CAF. Only these three format can handle >8 channels.

 

1 hour ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

WAV has file size limits of 4 GB. I want to save an entire album, then create a cue sheet. An entire album of 12 channel 48k will be quite large.

WAV and AIFF both have 4GB limits.🥲

My workaround:

1. Rip by chapter and in Audacity save to one of these format then make a playlist in HQPlayer. 

2. Record the full album in Audacity then export to Apple Core Audio File (CAF). CAF has virtually no file size limit. QuickTime Player can open the CAF file and playback full channels (I tested 9.1.6 / 16ch with no problems).

[The Computer Audiophile]

27 minutes ago, El Guapo said:

WAV or AIFF or CAF. Only these three format can handle >8 channels.

 

WAV and AIFF both have 4GB limits.🥲

My workaround:

1. Rip by chapter and in Audacity save to one of these format then make a playlist in HQPlayer. 

2. Record the full album in Audacity then export to Apple Core Audio File (CAF). CAF has virtually no file size limit. QuickTime Player can open the CAF file and playback full channels (I tested 9.1.6 / 16ch with no problems).

 

I'm trying W64 and R64 formats. they are both nearly identical to original WAV.

[retro]

JRiver has no probs with CAF-files...😎

[bbosler]

https://reverb.com/item/51272867-merging-hapi-convertor-with-da8p-premium-8-channel-output-card?utm_source=criteo&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=Criteo-US-Conversions-2021Q4&utm_content=2x2

 

here's some hardware somebody may be interested in. I have no affiliation

 

Merging HAPI Convertor with DA8P Premium 8 Channel Output Card

[The Computer Audiophile]

I just used W64 files for Abbey Road. All 12 channels. Made a cue sheet. Imported into JRiver. Everything plays perfectly.

[retro]

So you played decoded atmos with JRiver?

 

Now, if there also was video, say a concert bluray, can you merge the video with the decoded atmos, using something like Handbrake..?

 

(mostly thinking out loud here..) 😇

[The Computer Audiophile]

27 minutes ago, retro said:

So you played decoded atmos with JRiver?

 

Now, if there also was video, say a concert bluray, can you merge the video with the decoded atmos, using something like Handbrake..?

 

(mostly thinking out loud here..) 😇

I enjoy the thinking out loud. It’s how we share ideas :~)

 

Yes, the decoded TrueHD lossless Atmos audio file plays perfectly in JRiver. W64 is nearly identical to WAV, but without the 4 GB size restriction. 
 

Im not a big video guy, so not sure about the merge. If you can think of it, it can probably be done. 

[retro]

Great work Chris!

 

Yes, as an audio only solution for Atmos, with this latest development, I'd say you nailed it! 

 

But some (many) of us like video too..in my case, concert blurays especially..🙂 

 

But which software to use for the merge..mkvtoolnix perhaps..?!?

 

@El Guapo, hoping you're into video as well..any ideas on merging the audio and video..?

 

[El Guapo]

7 hours ago, retro said:

hoping you're into video as well..any ideas on merging the audio and video..?

So far I could:

 

1. Use Final Cut Pro to add a black matte (depends on your system's time delay) before the video. FCP supports up to 4K and it can also preserve the quality if you rip your BD in H.264 codec. 

 

2. In QuickTime Player, merge (just drag'n'drop) the delayed video and 16ch CAF audio recorded by Audacity then save as a .mov file.

 

Then you can playback in full screen mode and can get the full 16 channels output. Lip-sync was perfect!😁

 

 

[retro]

Thx @El Guapo

 

But what about us poor souls who don't use Mac..?

 

Maybe should take a stab at building a Hackintosh..😇

[bbosler]

So my discs arrived today. haven't looked at it all but the packaging, book, etc look very nice

 

however, even though it says it Atmos 24/96, my processor reports 48K. It reports 96K on the stereo and DTS mix. 

 

Perhaps it is a setting on my Trinnov, but I think I tried them all, so can anyone confirm the disc is actually 24/96 in the Atmos mix?

[The Computer Audiophile]

2 minutes ago, bbosler said:

So my discs arrived today. haven't looked at it all but the packaging, book, etc look very nice

 

however, even though it says it Atmos 24/96, my processor reports 48K. It reports 96K on the stereo and DTS mix. 

 

Perhaps it is a setting on my Trinnov, but I think I tried them all, so can anyone confirm the disc is actually 24/96 in the Atmos mix?

It’s 24/48

[bbosler]

we

3 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

It’s 24/48

 

well that sucks. I spent $75 thinking I was getting a 96K mix as stated

 

nice book but not why I bought it, guess I can send it back to Amazon.

 

it does play about 10 dB louder from the DVD than it does from Apple Music for whatever that's worth

 

[The Computer Audiophile]

2 minutes ago, bbosler said:

we

 

well that sucks. I spent $75 thinking I was getting a 96K mix as stated

 

nice book but not why I bought it, guess I can send it back to Amazon.

 

it does play about 10 dB louder from the DVD than it does from Apple Music for whatever that's worth

 

Yeah, the Apple Music presentation is quite different from the TrueHD one. 
 

I ripped the TrueHD (not Atmos) Guns N’ Roses Appetite for Destruction blu-ray today. Tons of good info in the book about who mixed and mastered the tracks. Even says the source of the high resolution material. 

[jrobbins50]

By the way, Amazon describes Abbey Road as “Dolby Atmos, 96kHz/24 bit high resolution stereo, and 96 kHz/24 bit DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1.”  So, no promise there of 24/96 Atmos. 
 

They gotcha in the fine print. JCR 

[bbosler]

12 minutes ago, jrobbins50 said:

They gotcha in the fine print. JCR 

 

I read it as Dolby Atmos, 96kHz/24 bit

 

I see it now.... thanks, I guess 🙁

[Me2]

For

20 hours ago, retro said:

Thx @El Guapo

 

But what about us poor souls who don't use Mac..?

 

Maybe should take a stab at building a Hackintosh..😇

So i used in earlier a times a tool called tsmuxer which muxed almost everthing together, even subtitles and wand wav64 and so on. There is a opensource (wasn`t before) version available which is maintained on github. You can inform yourself here:

https://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=176668

 

These guys are really good there and it is also available for windows.

[retro]

2 hours ago, Me2 said:

For

So i used in earlier a times a tool called tsmuxer which muxed almost everthing together, even subtitles and wand wav64 and so on. There is a opensource (wasn`t before) version available which is maintained on github. You can inform yourself here:

https://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=176668

 

These guys are really good there and it is also available for windows.

 

Thx Me2!

 

Checked it out a bit and it seems useful for muxing video and audio together, however I couldn't find anything about delaying video. Maybe you know?

Or if I'm asking everybody, what Win software is capable of delaying the videostream similar to FinalCutPro on Mac...? This is not something I'm familiar with..