Are you bitstreaming DTS-HD MA with the Ara X5, or is it bitstreaming the DTS core or decoding the DTS-HD MA lossless stream losslessly to PCM 2.0 or 5.1/7.1?
(2015-10-13, 09:51)noggin Wrote: [ -> ]Are you bitstreaming DTS-HD MA with the Ara X5, or is it bitstreaming the DTS core or decoding the DTS-HD MA lossless stream losslessly to PCM 2.0 or 5.1/7.1?
I really have no idea what that means, on my Denon reciever it says "DTS audyssey". The sound is much fuller than playing that same video on my Minix X8-H plus. On Kodi it says, Avatar 1080 DTS-HD master audio. 5.1. Strangely, this morning I cranked it up to see what it is showing, and it is playing flawlessly, no hickup at all. This is using Kodi 16.0 Alpha 3, Oct. 1.
I'm just curious if you have had prior experience with tronsmart. I have been on the tronsmart forum, and the biggest complaint I have read is the lack of support after sale. As in no updates, no replies from emails, etc.
I really liked your video reviews, the unit appears to be pretty nice. But I guess my biggest concern is if any glitches appear requiring updates for example that in a long run I wouldn't be satisfied with something the company doesn't continue to support down the road. This concern comes from being a WD TV user for a very long time, and Western Digital had a habit of discontinuing updates and leaving their users with buggy firmware.
(2015-10-13, 13:29)clarkss12 Wrote: [ -> ] (2015-10-13, 09:51)noggin Wrote: [ -> ]Are you bitstreaming DTS-HD MA with the Ara X5, or is it bitstreaming the DTS core or decoding the DTS-HD MA lossless stream losslessly to PCM 2.0 or 5.1/7.1?
I really have no idea what that means, on my Denon reciever it says "DTS audyssey". The sound is much fuller than playing that same video on my Minix X8-H plus. On Kodi it says, Avatar 1080 DTS-HD master audio. 5.1. Strangely, this morning I cranked it up to see what it is showing, and it is playing flawlessly, no hickup at all. This is using Kodi 16.0 Alpha 3, Oct. 1.
If you have an Onkyo amp then Audyssey is the processing that the amp does for room compensation (you know when you set it up with a mic in the listening position ?)
Does it just say DTS - or does it say HD Master Audio anywhere? If it just says DTS then chances are it is just bitstreaming the core.
(2015-10-13, 18:04)John14o Wrote: [ -> ]I'm just curious if you have had prior experience with Tronsmart. I have been on the Tronsmart forum, and the biggest complaint I have read is the lack of support after sale. As in no updates, no replies from emails, etc.
I really liked your video reviews, the unit appears to be pretty nice. But I guess my biggest concern is if any glitches appear requiring updates for example that in a long run I wouldn't be satisfied with something the company doesn't continue to support down the road. This concern comes from being a WD TV user for a very long time, and Western Digital had a habit of discontinuing updates and leaving their users with buggy firmware.
i know what you are saying about Tronsmart, every time I buy a Tronsmart device, I swear I will never buy another one, but I always do. Same for Rockchip, I swear I will never buy another Rockchip device, buy always do. I have/had a dozen or more of these Android boxes.
Two years ago, the Chinese boxes/sticks were the only game in town. I knew then that the big boys would get into the cheap Android TV box game.
In 5 years, all these power hungry desktop computers will be obsolete. We will be wearing all our computing needs. Our visuals will be holograms, audio will be ear pieces. Remember the old telephone handsets, now see what people use for phones.
(2015-10-13, 19:43)noggin Wrote: [ -> ] (2015-10-13, 13:29)clarkss12 Wrote: [ -> ] (2015-10-13, 09:51)noggin Wrote: [ -> ]Are you bitstreaming DTS-HD MA with the Ara X5, or is it bitstreaming the DTS core or decoding the DTS-HD MA lossless stream losslessly to PCM 2.0 or 5.1/7.1?
I really have no idea what that means, on my Denon reciever it says "DTS audyssey". The sound is much fuller than playing that same video on my Minix X8-H plus. On Kodi it says, Avatar 1080 DTS-HD master audio. 5.1. Strangely, this morning I cranked it up to see what it is showing, and it is playing flawlessly, no hickup at all. This is using Kodi 16.0 Alpha 3, Oct. 1.
If you have an Onkyo amp then Audyssey is the processing that the amp does for room compensation (you know when you set it up with a mic in the listening position ?)
Does it just say DTS - or does it say HD Master Audio anywhere? If it just says DTS then chances are it is just bitstreaming the core.
I have a Denon AVR and all it says DTS in big letters and DTS Audyssey in tiny letters, need a magnifying glass to see it.
When I play the video on my Minix X8H Plus, it only shows DTS, and does not sound nearly as good as this Windows 10 box. Tomorrow I will play that video in my PS3 to see how it sounds. Of course the AVR only shows multi channel when playing through myPS3.
Checked the audio stream using the Kodi overlay and this is what it shows.
D(Audio:dts (DTS-HD MA),48000hz 5.1 (side), s32p (24 bit)
Another strange thing, I played the whole movie this morning and it played flawlessly, not a single audio hickup. Tonight, it has that hickup every 3 seconds again. The box was powered off last night, not sure if that has any thing to do with it. I looked at the running Windows processes, but did not see what would cause the audio hickup in Kodi.
(2015-10-13, 19:43)noggin Wrote: [ -> ] (2015-10-13, 13:29)clarkss12 Wrote: [ -> ] (2015-10-13, 09:51)noggin Wrote: [ -> ]Are you bitstreaming DTS-HD MA with the Ara X5, or is it bitstreaming the DTS core or decoding the DTS-HD MA lossless stream losslessly to PCM 2.0 or 5.1/7.1?
I really have no idea what that means, on my Denon reciever it says "DTS audyssey". The sound is much fuller than playing that same video on my Minix X8-H plus. On Kodi it says, Avatar 1080 DTS-HD master audio. 5.1. Strangely, this morning I cranked it up to see what it is showing, and it is playing flawlessly, no hickup at all. This is using Kodi 16.0 Alpha 3, Oct. 1.
If you have an Onkyo amp then Audyssey is the processing that the amp does for room compensation (you know when you set it up with a mic in the listening position ?)
Does it just say DTS - or does it say HD Master Audio anywhere? If it just says DTS then chances are it is just bitstreaming the core.
You are correct, it is not playing with DTS-HD, eventhough the specs says it should. I have tested with Kodi 16 and also VLC directly. VLC shows the codecs as DTS only. The specs on this Windows 10 box shows that it is supposed to play the HD audio files.
Here are the specs.
Media
Video Supported HD MPEG1/2/4,H.264, H.265,HD AVC/VC-1,RM/RMVB,Xvid/DivX3/4/5/6 ,RealVideo8/9/10
Audio Supported MP3,WMA,AAC,WAV,OGG,AC3,DDP,True HD,DTS,DTS,HD,FLACAP
Picture Supported JPEG,BMP,GIF,PNG,TIFF,etc.
What does the Supported Audio formats bit in Windows Control Panel say when connected to your amp?
The Baytrail Z-series machines used to support DD/DTS/DD+ and 5.1/7/1 channel PCM but not DTS-HD/True HD in Windows. (Not sure how well their audio subsystems were supported compared to the N-series Baytrail in Linux.)
5.1/7.1 PCM is enough to qualify for HD Audio - as official Blu-ray software playback solutions are often able to losslessly decode 5.1/7.1 DTS-HD/Dolby True HD to PCM 5.1/7.1. Dev and future builds of Kodi should also do that, as they do already on the Raspberry Pi (which won't bitstream HD Audio but will do PCM 5.1/7.1)
(2015-10-15, 10:13)noggin Wrote: [ -> ]What does the Supported Audio formats bit in Windows Control Panel say when connected to your amp?
I have no idea what all that means, how do I check that?
The Baytrail Z-series machines used to support DD/DTS/DD+ and 5.1/7/1 channel PCM but not DTS-HD/True HD in Windows. (Not sure how well their audio subsystems were supported compared to the N-series Baytrail in Linux.)
Again, this is way over my head, I have no idea what all this means.
5.1/7.1 PCM is enough to qualify for HD Audio - as official Blu-ray software playback solutions are often able to losslessly decode 5.1/7.1 DTS-HD/Dolby True HD to PCM 5.1/7.1. Dev and future builds of Kodi should also do that, as they do already on the Raspberry Pi (which won't bitstream HD Audio but will do PCM 5.1/7.1)
Dang, I wish I had a little more knowledge so I could understand what you are telling me.
I'm not near a Windows machine at the moment but from memory if you go to Control Panel > Sound, select your HDMI audio output device and then click on Properties you should be able to see a supported formats tab or something like it.
(2015-10-15, 23:29)noggin Wrote: [ -> ]I'm not near a Windows machine at the moment but from memory if you go to Control Panel > Sound, select your HDMI audio output device and then click on Properties you should be able to see a supported formats tab or something like it.
Thanks for the tip. It does not show the HD audio formats. Now, if this box supports HD audio, why don't they show up?
The heading shows "DENON-AVR Properties'. Then it has controller information: Intel SST Audio Device (WDM).
This box MIGHT only support HD Audio under linux and NOT under Windows.
(2015-10-16, 01:04)Topken Wrote: [ -> ]This box MIGHT only support HD Audio under linux and NOT under Windows.
Haha, I am afraid to say I don't know much about Linux. Not sure there is a Linux port for this micro PC.
thanks for the input.