Dolby Atmos Mx Player
Stella Kreuter
I am thinking about buying skyboxvr for quest2. I just wanted to check if it can play atmos sound, dolby, dts coded videos. Some videos I noticed are not played with sound by oculustv. Also there is a video codec that opens funny I believe it says 10bit, I think its about bitrate, can it play those? Also If this player can solve that issue I will go ahead and purchase. Any ideas and thoughts? Does it open every 4k video format out there?
At the moment, SKYBOX supports Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD and Dolby Atmos. But Dolby Vision and HDR 10 bit videos may not be perfectly supported in SKYBOX. We are working on optimizing the player. Please be patient with us ?
Hi! Thank you for your reply. I also wonder why there is not a mp3 playlist option for playing iptv on skyboxvr player. Is there a reason why there is no option for iptv? everyone is asking for it, everyone is begging for it, whats keeping you guys from developing it?
Yes, you read the title correctly. Here is a little background and all the information you'll need to decode and play lossless Dolby TrueHD with Atmos on a Windows or macOS computer, without the need for HDMI output.
Both DD+ and TrueHD carry the height channels in metadata. This makes the content on Blu-ray Discs appear like plain 7.1, but when decoded, the height channels are filled. It isn't practical to extract the height channels to a separate file, these are available at the time of decoding.
macOS has a built-in Dolby Digital Plus decoder using what's called DD+JOC. This is how Atmos / Spatial Audio content can be played and listened to on a Mac. However, this is the lossy version, not TrueHD lossless.
Why would someone want to decode and play Dolby TrueHD Atmos content on a computer rather than an AVR or processor? Mainly it's about cost, flexibility, and performance. The cost of a high end processor can set you back $10,000 or much more. The flexibility of a computer based system is endless (for better or worse). With respect to performance, a computer based system can use several types of room correction, 65,000+ taps, upsample to high rate PCM or DSD, and output to high end DACs with interfaces much better than HDMI.
Start by ripping the Dolby TrueHD content from a Blu-ray Disc. To do this, use a Blu-ray drive such as the Archgon BU40N that can also rip UHD 4K Blu-ray Discs (although a firmware adjustment is required to rip UHD).
Here you can see The Beatles Abbey Road Blu-ray. I have the TrueHD Surround 7.1 English track selected to rip. Again, it says 7.1, but the metadata will be used to create a 5.1.2, 7.1.4, 9.1.4 or greater mix.
Once you have both MKV and MKA files, you're ready to extract the lossless TrueHD files needed for decoding. Note: if you want to output the MKV or MKA files via HDMI into an AVR with Dolby Atmos decoding, then you don't need to go any further. However, if you want to decode TrueHD on a computer, keep reading.
Open MKVCleaver, then select the MKV file from within the app. Once open, select the audio track you wish. Here you can see I've selected what says MLP FBA 16-ch... on Abbey Road. Then click extract. This will extract the entire track into a TrueHD file with the TrueHD file extension.
Now for the good part. Purchase a license for the Dolby Media Encoder ($400 /yr). The Dolby Media Encoder comes with the Dolby Reference Player. The Dolby Reference Player is the app that's needed. Note: the Media Encoder is what's licensed for $400 per year, but only the Reference Player is what we need. The Reference Player will continue to work after one's Media Encoder license has expired, but updates will not be available.
Open the Dolby Reference Player and change the settings to match your audio needs. I disable Dynamic Range Control, set the presentation to 16 channels, speaker layout to 7.1.4, and audio device to my Merging Technologies Anubis. Then open one of the ripped MLP files and extracted earlier, and enjoy the glorious lossless Dolby TrueHD with Atmos content.
This was the quick and dirty how-to. There are many more items to cover, such as room correction and issues that may pop up with different audio interfaces. 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. The decoding is all done by the Reference Player. Regular 12 channels of PCM is delivered to HQPlayer, so I can do whatever DSP I need. I also send Apple Music Atmos / Spatial Audio content through the same digital signal processing.
If I can't get this to work digitally with software, I do have an A16 Realizer which will output up to 16 channels of rendered Atmos, DTS-x, and/ or Auro 3D. However, it does not even have provision for adjusting individual speaker loudness. I could take care of that probably by using some kind of mixing board. (Behringer sells one for around $300), but I would miss out on the DSP Dirac Live provides, and I would probably still want to use my higher fidelity 5.1 home theater coming off the PC into the OCTO, so I would probably need extensive switching to adjust whether the output to the amps came from the Realizer/Behringer or the OCTO.
If you had an A16 Pro with 16-channels AES/EBU out, you would have the perfect solution. In fact, better than what we are trying to do here. Plug your HDMI-sources into the A16 Pro, let it decode the Atmos. Connect the AES/EBU DB-25 output into your PC with a Lynx or RME Pci-e card (or a standalone audio-interface), and then u can run Jriver, Dirac etc. and do whatever you want with the signal, inc. bassmanagement of course. After that, you send it to the Octo.
Yes, I have investigated this route a lot...? But in the end, I thought the A16 Pro was/is too expensive for this use, as I'm not interrested in it's other features. But it is the cheapest Immersive decoder available with 16-ch digital out.
I know not the focus of this thread, and for Atmos looks like the 48K limit is not a problem, but in case you were thinking about the possibility of interfacing it with a processor like mine that accepts HDMI input and want to use higher rates like I do
Agree with advice to get the 16GB ram version. If you go to the Apple site and scroll to the bottom of the page there is a link to the refurbished site where you might find what you want for a bit of a discount
If and when I get one the way I would use it would be to stream ATMOS streaming service material (no ripped Blue Rays), use JRiver and whatever other software packages are needed to output HDMI video (Preferably Dolby Vision or HDR 10) via HDMI 2.1 to my LG C1, and output fully rendered ATMOS DD+ audio via usb to and OCTO Dac 8, and the DAC on my Motu M4 hopefully perfect lip synched witht the video and synched with each other.
I think it might be doable, I already have the DACs, enough speakers for a 5.1.4 layout. I would just need a couple of cheap amps for the overheads (thinking Aiyima A07's), and some poles to get them in the air (couresy of K&M), and, of course, the MAC Mini and the software to make it work. Oh, did I mention I'd also want to run my multichannel Dirac Live which can go up to 16 discrete channels of correction as a VST plug in?
Yeah, but they're charging for everything. Probably wouln't take my unit back and want me to just buy a Pro. Haven't even checked out the price, but ouch from the last time. Yeah, they should have offered it from the get go. Nobody would have wanted their DAC/Amps for either speakers or headphone, I think, if they did.
In all fairness, what it does well, it does superbly. I have a custom, bespoke 24 channel PRIR of the Dutch & Dutch 8C's which I sat for in the studio where John made those universal D&D Prir's everyone who owns an A16 isn so fond of. Along with John and one other person, the three of us have t
I've been researching this, but don't know. Does the Mac Mini support both HDR 10 and Dolby Vision via its HDMI and or Thunderbolt ports? Can't seem to find much. All the reviewers want to do is wax enthusiastically about how well it does video editing.
TV app will detect the system capabilities than list the available playback features. The screenshot was captured from my M1 Mac mini. Apparently it supports 4K HDR and Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos thru HDMI.
Is this set up possible and does the Apple OS provide for a decoded Atmos multichannel LPCM stream that can then be manipulated with DSP and routed via USB to external dacs, or is this piece of software unavailable currently?
Incorrect for ATV+/Netflix. If you want to playback the videos or movies from Apple TV (that little black box), you have to connect to AVR directly. The TV app I mentioned is just an application, part of macOS. Netflix doesn't support Atmos (even 5.1) on macOS. Sorry about that.
This part is for sure. I always put HQPlayer as DSP in the audio path for Apple Music Atmos contents playback. You can aggregate many 2ch DACs as multichannel audio output (it does multichannel DSD, too!)
This text is to hopefully call out to @jriver, call it a cry for help, if you want..? Also to kind of force you (JimH?) to read this full, whole article and thread, in case you haven't already..?
I'm dedicated to JRiver for audio+video since many years. That's mainly, but not only, because of your great DSP and WDM-driver. Don't think there's another soft out there with these capabilities, or am I wrong?
And judging by the lack of activity in the threads I made on Interact, I'm not feeling this will be looked at. But I really really hope I'm wrong..? Or is it perhaps not at all possible to play more than 8-ch in a combined AV container on Windows as opposed to Mac/Linux, who apparently can..?
And yes, I of-course understand that the whole, somewhat special solution described here to get the extracted playable files, is not going to start a revolution with everyone ripping Atmos discs. But, quite a few of us will for sure.
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