Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler Problem playing DTS version of DVD's on pc.

I discovered today that Nero Showtime and PowerDVD will not play the DTS soundtrack on DVD movies. With PowerDVD the movie plays with no audio and when I check the configuration there is no settings for DTS. With Nero I get a message that the DTS plugin is not included but available via extra purchase. So what gives there?

As you know I'm building a new HTPC and planning on using either TheaterTek or MediaPortal, I hope I don't have problems with DTS movies. The audio will be sent via SPDIF to my Denon AVR.

I guess you just need to research the software you are going to use. I know WinDVD also has an additional DTS plugin for a price. The websites for TT or MP should have codec info.

Edit: You would need to get TheaterTek 2.2 with the Advanced Audio Bundle (link). Looks like the bundle is $89.95 US while they come in at ~$95 US separately. The AAP gives you DTS and DD-Ex on top of PL, AC3, and DD.

Edit 2: Looks like Media Portal depends on either codecs that come with your video or tuner card or on 3rd party (read: for $$) codecs.

They won't play DTS if the PowerDVD software itself has to decode it. I had the same "problem" with PowerDVD. If you use SPDIF, the reciever will decode the DTS signal just fine, skipping PowerDVD's processing of audio. That's what I do all the time.

Are you trying to listen to DTS with computer speakers or headphones or something? Dunno if you will even be able to tell the difference that way vs. DD.

Just in the process of ripping some movies. I selected the DTS track using Shrink and when I went back to see if the disk played ok, no sound. Yes the Gigabyte motherboard I purchased has great reviews for the onboard 8 channel sound and SPDIF in/out ability. I plan on letting the Denon handle all the surround.

For some reason I'm getting some pixelation when I play these movies back on my cheapo cyberhome DVD player during certain scenes. I'm using Maxell DVD-R's as my Panny downstairs does not like +R's. I'll have to try them out downstairs tonight.

Ok, another problem I just discovered. I was trying to make a copy of a few DVD's my wife bought, so she can have a copy upstairs and downstairs.

The originals are all Region 1 as expected for U.S. After I burn them on some Maxell DVD-R's I bought at Best Buy, and then try to play them back with Nero Showtime it says they are not Region 1 (which is grayed out) and they show Region 4 and 5 as my options. It says I have to have administration rights to make changes to regions. I am the administrator of my XP Pro machine, so it must not be referring to that, I'm just confused why Nero would not see these as region 1? Could it be the media, or the burning software I used. I used "IcopyDVDs2" which was purchased from Best Buy locally.

As Dan has said you don't need any special sound packages if you will have spdif passthrough. You need the decoder packages if you want the software itself to do the surround processing. Now about your DVD ripping problems I wouldn't know since I've never used this program... sorry.

I've used a variety of methods;DVDShrink, Decryptor, DVD2One, DVD43, etc... Normally I only rip the movie so often it is not compressed. I'll try a different player and see what happens. Usually I have no problems on computer based DVD players but for some reason stand alone players have issues with various media brands.

Oh yeah some DVD players (usually older ones) are extremely picky about what media you use. I've seen some players accept one batch and refuse another one of the same brand! I remember seeing a website with some sort of table that specifies which media to use with which player... I'll see if I can find it.

There: DVD Media

Also, sirquack, I have discovered even the menus of DVD's are in Dolby Digital. Will the full DVD fit on a single layer disk if you leave DD on there? It's worth a shot.

I never burn DVD's, so I can't really help you there. What I do do is just copy the raw DVD data to my HD(s).

Also, something that might save you a lot of time (an disks)is that after DVD shrink is done with processing the raw DVD data on your hard drive, use Power DVD to play the ISO files straight from your hard drive.

Good luck trying to burn everything!