Dolby TrueHD and 'Seamless Branching' Problems

[geoffc]

Anybody experiencing audio dropouts playing discs with DolbyTrue HD soundtracks that use 'seamless branching' via bitstream to an AVR?

The most recent 'Expendables 3' is one such title I understand.

If not, what player are you using?

[Andrew Woo]

Originally Posted by geoffc

Anybody experiencing audio dropouts playing discs with DolbyTrue HD soundtracks that use 'seamless branching' via bitstream to an AVR?

The most recent 'Expendables 3' is one such title I understand.

If not, what player are you using?

Yup! I'm having the same problems. If you can, switch the audio output of your player from Bitstream to PCM. That helps.

[geoffc]

Originally Posted by Andrew Woo

Yup! I'm having the same problems. If you can, switch the audio output of your player from Bitstream to PCM. That helps.

Thanks for the reply, but unfortunately I can't as I have to use bitstream in order to use the Atmos track. Using PCM it just plays through the AVR as TrueHD although being decoded in the player not the AVR.

[Geoff D]

Using an Oppo 95 here. I get TrueHD + branching bitstream dropouts.

[geoffc]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

Using an Oppo 95 here. I get TrueHD + branching bitstream dropouts.

I'm also using an Oppo (a 93), apparently the 10x series are compatible with Dolby TrueHD 'seamless branching' but am reluctant to spend that sort of money at this stage preferring to wait until later next year for 4K BD.

Unclear as to which other players don't exhibit problems, switching to LPCM isn't an option for me with the couple (so far) of Atmos encoded discs I have, although I don't think we'll see that many anyway.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by geoffc

I'm also using an Oppo (a 93), apparently the 10x series are compatible with Dolby TrueHD 'seamless branching' but am reluctant to spend that sort of money at this stage preferring to wait until later next year for 4K BD.

Unclear as to which other players don't exhibit problems, switching to LPCM isn't an option for me with the couple (so far) of Atmos encoded discs I have, although I don't think we'll see that many anyway.

Yeah, I don't think it'll be a major issue going forward but it's still a pain in the arse and I'm actively looking to sell my 95, though I'm not replacing it with another Oppo, not with 4K BD around the corner. I need to start saving some pennies!

[jscoggins]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

Yeah, I don't think it'll be a major issue going forward but it's still a pain in the arse and I'm actively looking to sell my 95, though I'm not replacing it with another Oppo, not with 4K BD around the corner. I need to start saving some pennies!

Don't get a Samsung, either.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by jscoggins

Don't get a Samsung, either.

A Samsung was the first BD standalone I ever bought. The drawer got stuck after a day, I sent it back and haven't touched a Samsung since. You can't go wrong with a decent Panasonic deck, although I don't much like the later models with the Mediatek chip and the lack of proper HDMI CEC.

[geoffc]

Think I read somewhere that the Sony BDP-S5200 plays nicely with 'Expendables 3' but looks pretty basic to say the least! - even has an outboard power supply!

The Panasonic DMP-BDT700 looks good - but whether its ok with seamless branching is unknown, also the new Pioneer BDP-LX58 looks very tempting.

[Indiana Jones]

This has been a problem for several years now, think it all started with Total Recall and since then have affecting all titles that feature both TrueHD and seamless branching, my old Toshiba handled it quite well with only a few drop outs but my LG is much worse and looses lip-sync quite regularly throughout a film.

The only sure fire way to fix it is too have your player decode it as PCM but obviously that isn't an option regarding the Dolby Atmos playback.

[rubystone356]

here is the facebook link for lionsgate. if you are serious about getting it fixed on certain players. you need to make some noise with lionsgate about the expendables 3 blu ray.

https://www.facebook.com/lionsgate

Jacob

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by rubystone356

here is the facebook link for lionsgate. if you are serious about getting it fixed on certain players. you need to make some noise with lionsgate about the expendables 3 blu ray.

https://www.facebook.com/lionsgate

Jacob

It's not really Lionsgate's call though, is it? They can't force MediaTek to go back and update a chipset that they've stopped supporting. Not even the mighty Oppo could convince them of that.

[rubystone356]

[QUOTE=Geoff D;10136631]It's not really Lionsgate's call though, is it? They can't force MediaTek to go back and update a chipset that they've stopped supporting. Not even the mighty Oppo could convince them of that.[/QUOTE

only if lionsgate get a loud fuss from the fans.. hopefully they would revisit and fix the problem.
its not just oppo, other players have the same issue.

Jacob

[geoffc]

My understanding is that a firmware update won't fix this problem. The hardware in some players simply isn't built to support Dolby TrueHD when it uses seamless branching.

Only answer : new hardware.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by rubystone356

only if lionsgate get a loud fuss from the fans.. hopefully they would revisit and fix the problem.
its not just oppo, other players have the same issue.

Jacob

As geoffc said above, it's not something that the content providers can 'fix' because they're doing nothing wrong with their encoding, that's the point: it's a hardware issue with a certain breed of MediaTek chipset that was used in several brands of player a few years ago.

I'm certain MediaTek could fix it if they were so inclined, but like most hardware manufacturers they have a cutoff date for firmware support and they're simply not interested in revising this particular chipset to cure the problem.