DTS-CD DTS .wavs burned to CD now only play as stereo, not DTS??

[colman]

Hi,

I have been burning DTS CDs using Imgburn without a problem until recently, and now all the discs I burn only play as stereo on my SONY BDP-S370 Blu-Ray Disc/DVD Player, even though they definitely come from DTS 6-channel audio .wav files, as verified by the MediaInfo program, and these files seem no different than other DTS .wav files I have successfully burned to CD (and those discs still play as DTS through my player and system).. playing these files in my computer only produces white noise (which is what I would expect).. so why do they now only play as stereo in my SONY player, not DTS, when I burn them?

Any help would be appreciated!

 

[atrocity]

I have been burning DTS CDs using Imgburn without a problem until recently, and now all the discs I burn only play as stereo on my SONY BDP-S370 Blu-Ray Disc/DVD Player, even though they definitely come from DTS 6-channel audio .wav files, as verified by the MediaInfo program, and these files seem no different than other DTS .wav files I have successfully burned to CD (and those discs still play as DTS through my player and system).. playing these files in my computer only produces white noise (which is what I would expect).. so why do they now only play as stereo in my SONY player, not DTS, when I burn them?

Are you sure that your receiver is not set to only output two channel stereo?

Does your receiver give any indication that it's being fed a DTS signal (e.g., indicator lights or some other status report)?

Have you tried playing a CD that you know worked in the past?

 

[colman]

Yes, I can play previous DTS CDs I have burned just fine, with both the player and the receiver indicating DTS.. this problem has only started happening, and I am not doing anything differently, so it's frustrating to only get stereo playback on the discs I am burning now, not DTS like I used to.. I have examined the files, my ImgBurn settings, and everything indicates I should be getting DTS playback as before, but instead am only getting stereo ...strange..

 

[JonUrban]

If they are DTS encoded files, and they play in Stereo, then the decoder is missing something. This is very odd.

Since the files will not play on a machine without a DTS decoder (your PC), then the decoder is definitely seeing a DTS signal. It's odd that it is only seeing 2 channels.

Are you just hearing the front channels, or is it downmixing? If you hear all of the channels in the fronts, then maybe your receiver is downmixing.

 

[colman]

These are recordings that I am not familiar with, so I have no way of knowing whether I am just hearing the front channels or a downmix of all the channels. But the player itself is showing stereo instead of DTS, so it makes sense that my receiver is also showing stereo.. if my player was showing DTS, but the receiver was only showing stereo, then I would suspect my receiver. What I can't understand is that my player and receiver can still play all sorts of DTS CDs (both home-made and commercial) I already have, in full 6-channel surround, just not the ones I have been trying to burn recently.

 

[atrocity]

What I can't understand is that my player and receiver can still play all sorts of DTS CDs (both home-made and commercial) I already have, in full 6-channel surround, just not the ones I have been trying to burn recently.

From the way you describe it, it sounds like something is converting the DTS to WAV before you burn the disc...but I can't imagine what could possibly be doing that or how it could happen accidentally.

Are you absolutely, 100% positive that the files you're burning are really the ones you mean to burn? I haven't used ImgBurn to create audio CDs more than once or twice, but my (possibly mistaken) memory says you have to build/save a cue sheet under one option, then load that cue sheet under another. If that's the case, try opening the cue sheet in a text editor and playing one of the files it references.

 

[colman]

Yes, I am absolutely sure ImgBurn is burning the files are the ones I mean to burn... the music is what I expect to hear, except it's in stereo, not DTS. This happens whether I create my own cue sheet, or use the one that came with the files.. I have opened the cue sheets up with a text editor and compared them to the cue sheets for .wav files I have successfully burnt that play as DTS in my player, and I can't see any difference between them. These are 44.1 khz 6-channel .wav files listed as having a DTS stream, and when I try and play them in my computer (i.e. using Winamp or Windows Media Player), I just hear white noise (again, which is what I would expect). How they get turned into stereo during the burning process is a mystery to me.

 

[atrocity]

These are 44.1 khz 6-channel .wav files listed as having a DTS stream, and when I try and play them in my computer (i.e. using Winamp or Windows Media Player), I just hear white noise (again, which is what I would expect). How they get turned into stereo during the burning process is a mystery to me.

Just to make things even more confusing, they shouldn't ID as six-channel WAVs. What are you using that reports them that way?

The type of file you'd normally burn to a DTS CD should be seen by everything except a DTS decoder as vanilla 2 channel stereo. So my first guess is that they're really uncompressed six channel WAVs and only two channels are getting burned to CD.

But you then go on to say that you just hear white noise when you play them on the computer, which certainly sounds like they really are DTS.

This is just weird...do you know a good exorcist? :yikes

 

[atrocity]

Another thought...do you have Foobar2000 available? I don't have any experience with trying to feed a six channel WAV to WinAmp or WMP. I can't see why either would just produce noise in that case, but maybe they do. I know that Foobar2000 will give you "normal" sound if you play a multichannel file. It will also show you what kind of file it believes it's playing.

 

[colman]

I use MediaInfo to determine what type of wav file these are, and the files that I am trying to burn show up with the very same information (6-channel, DTS stream, 44.1 khz) as the files I have already burned successfully to disc and which continue to play as DTS in my player/receiver.

 

[colman]

OK, thanks for the tip about Foobar2000, I will try using that to play the files and see what I get. Does that program burn files to disc as well?

 

[atrocity]

I use MediaInfo to determine what type of wav file these are

Made me look! I've never heard of that one before, but it certainly looks interesting. The fact that it's aware of codecs clears up some of my confusion, but I still don't have a clue what's going on.

 

[atrocity]

OK, thanks for the tip about Foobar2000, I will try using that to play the files and see what I get. Does that program burn files to disc as well?

Not out of the box and not that I'm aware, but there are so many add-ons for it that it may well be possible. Even if it doesn't help you with this situation, it's a very generally useful tool. Considerably more flexible than WMP and actively developed, which I believe is no longer the case with WinAmp. I'd try to offer more specific advice about how to use it and what to look for, but I can't remember how much of my current configuration is the default vs. how much I've specifically customized it for my own weird needs.

 

[colman]

I appreciate all your suggestions nonetheless - thanks!

 

[atrocity]

One more suggestion: Play one of the problem CDs either through the analog outputs of your regular player or on a completely different player (portable, whatever) that is not hooked up to a DTS decoder.

I'm curious if what's on the CD is uncompressed 2.0 stereo (in which case you'll hear music) or DTS that's somehow corrupted and making your decoder only play stereo (in which case you'll hear noise). If it's the latter, there's just something wrong with the source files. If it's the former, then somehow what should be DTS is no longer DTS by the time it gets to the CD. I just can't for the life of me imagine a way that could happen even by the craziest of accidents.

 

[colman]

I put the CD I burned back into my PC, and Winamp played it like it was a regular audio CD, even though it was burned with a DTS .wav file file that produces white noise when played on the computer.. when I load that file into Foobar2000, it says it's a PCM codec 2-channel (?) .wav file with a 1411 kbps bit-rate - even though MediaInfo says it's a 6-channel DTS stream - and plays in Foobar2000 as white noise, not music - so somehow the DTS .wav file was converted into a regular stereo audio CD during the burn process... how I don't know.

 

[colman]

This is what Media Info says about the first file (the other 13 files are the same, just different lengths and file sizes):

General
Complete name : F:\File 1.wav
Format : Wave
File size : 55.0 MiB
Duration : 5mn 26s
Overall bit rate mode : Constant
Overall bit rate : 1 411 Kbps

Audio
Format : DTS
Format/Info : Digital Theater Systems
Mode : 14
Format settings, Endianness : Little
Codec ID : 1
Duration : 5mn 26s
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 1 411.2 Kbps
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Channel positions : Front: L C R, Side: L R, LFE
Sampling rate : 44.1 KHz
Bit depth : 24 bits
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 55.0 MiB (100%)


Here are the cue and ImgBurn log files for a burn session that produced a regular stereo audio CD from .wav files with a 6-channel DTS stream. Any idea why ImgBurn is now converting DTS.wav files to regular .cda CD audio files (even though it only recently started to do this, and I have lots of perfectly good DTS CDs produced the same way that play in beautiful 6-channel surround)? Do I all of a sudden need a special plugin for burning 6-channel DTS .wav files?

Cue file:

FILE "F:\File 1.wav" WAVE
REM FILE-DECODED-SIZE 05:26:54
TRACK 01 AUDIO
INDEX 01 00:00:00
FILE "F:\File 2.wav" WAVE
REM FILE-DECODED-SIZE 02:42:07
TRACK 02 AUDIO
INDEX 01 00:00:00
FILE "F:\File 3.wav" WAVE
REM FILE-DECODED-SIZE 01:54:37
TRACK 03 AUDIO
INDEX 01 00:00:00
FILE "F:\File 4.wav" WAVE
REM FILE-DECODED-SIZE 03:55:11
TRACK 04 AUDIO
INDEX 01 00:00:00
FILE "F:\File 5.wav" WAVE
REM FILE-DECODED-SIZE 02:22:69
TRACK 05 AUDIO
INDEX 01 00:00:00
FILE "F:\File 6.wav" WAVE
REM FILE-DECODED-SIZE 05:13:31
TRACK 06 AUDIO
INDEX 01 00:00:00
FILE "F:\File 7.wav" WAVE
REM FILE-DECODED-SIZE 02:25:02
TRACK 07 AUDIO
INDEX 01 00:00:00
FILE "F:\File 8.wav" WAVE
REM FILE-DECODED-SIZE 03:12:09
TRACK 08 AUDIO
INDEX 01 00:00:00
FILE "F:\File 9.wav" WAVE
REM FILE-DECODED-SIZE 03:51:72
TRACK 09 AUDIO
INDEX 01 00:00:00
FILE "F:\File 10.wav" WAVE
REM FILE-DECODED-SIZE 04:34:74
TRACK 10 AUDIO
INDEX 01 00:00:00
FILE "F:\File 11.wav" WAVE
REM FILE-DECODED-SIZE 01:53:09
TRACK 11 AUDIO
INDEX 01 00:00:00
FILE "F:\File 12.wav" WAVE
REM FILE-DECODED-SIZE 05:30:64
TRACK 12 AUDIO
INDEX 01 00:00:00
FILE "F:\File 13.wav" WAVE
REM FILE-DECODED-SIZE 03:41:21
TRACK 13 AUDIO
INDEX 01 00:00:00
FILE "F:\File 14.wav" WAVE
REM FILE-DECODED-SIZE 05:50:18
TRACK 14 AUDIO
INDEX 01 00:00:00


ImgBurn log file:

I 20:11:29 ImgBurn Version 2.5.8.0 started!
I 20:11:29 Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium x64 Edition (6.1, Build 7601 : Service Pack 1)
I 20:11:29 Total Physical Memory: 4,088,976 KiB - Available: 1,925,168 KiB
I 20:11:29 Initialising SPTI...
I 20:11:29 Searching for SCSI / ATAPI devices...
I 20:11:29 -> Drive 1 - Info: HL-DT-ST BD-RE BH10LS30 1.00-06 (D (ATAPI)
I 20:11:29 Found 1 BD-RE!
I 20:13:54 Operation Started!
I 20:13:54 Source File: F:\File.cue
I 20:13:54 Source File Sectors: 236,578 (AUDIO/2352)
I 20:13:54 Source File Size: 556,431,456 bytes
I 20:13:54 Source File File System(s): None
I 20:13:54 Destination Device: [0:0:0] HL-DT-ST BD-RE BH10LS30 1.00 (D (ATAPI)
I 20:13:54 Destination Media Type: CD-R (Disc ID: 97m26s66f, CMC Magnetics Corp.)
I 20:13:54 Destination Media Supported Write Speeds: 24x, 32x, 40x
I 20:13:54 Destination Media Sectors: 359,844
I 20:13:54 Write Mode: CD
I 20:13:54 Write Type: SAO
I 20:13:54 Write Speed: 24x
I 20:13:54 Lock Volume: Yes
I 20:13:54 Test Mode: No
I 20:13:54 OPC: No
I 20:13:54 BURN-Proof: Enabled
I 20:13:54 Write Speed Successfully Set! - Effective: 4,234 KB/s (24x)
I 20:13:55 Filling Buffer... (80 MiB)
I 20:14:06 Writing LeadIn...
I 20:14:21 Writing Session 1 of 1... (14 Tracks, LBA: 0 - 236577)
I 20:14:21 Writing Track 1 of 14... (AUDIO/2352, WAVE, LBA: 0 - 24503)
I 20:14:35 Writing Track 2 of 14... (AUDIO/2352, WAVE, LBA: 24504 - 36660)
I 20:14:42 Writing Track 3 of 14... (AUDIO/2352, WAVE, LBA: 36661 - 45247)
I 20:14:47 Writing Track 4 of 14... (AUDIO/2352, WAVE, LBA: 45248 - 62883)
I 20:14:57 Writing Track 5 of 14... (AUDIO/2352, WAVE, LBA: 62884 - 73602)
I 20:15:03 Writing Track 6 of 14... (AUDIO/2352, WAVE, LBA: 73603 - 97108)
I 20:15:16 Writing Track 7 of 14... (AUDIO/2352, WAVE, LBA: 97109 - 107985)
I 20:15:22 Writing Track 8 of 14... (AUDIO/2352, WAVE, LBA: 107986 - 122394)
I 20:15:30 Writing Track 9 of 14... (AUDIO/2352, WAVE, LBA: 122395 - 139791)
I 20:15:39 Writing Track 10 of 14... (AUDIO/2352, WAVE, LBA: 139792 - 160415)
I 20:15:51 Writing Track 11 of 14... (AUDIO/2352, WAVE, LBA: 160416 - 168899)
I 20:15:56 Writing Track 12 of 14... (AUDIO/2352, WAVE, LBA: 168900 - 193713)
I 20:16:09 Writing Track 13 of 14... (AUDIO/2352, WAVE, LBA: 193714 - 210309)
I 20:16:19 Writing Track 14 of 14... (AUDIO/2352, WAVE, LBA: 210310 - 236577)
I 20:16:33 Synchronising Cache...
I 20:16:39 Exporting Graph Data...
I 20:16:39 Graph Data File: C:\Users\user\AppData\Roaming\ImgBurn\Graph Data Files\HL-DT-ST_BD-RE_BH10LS30_1.00_MONDAY-AUGUST-31-2015_8-13_PM_97m26s66f_24x.ibg
I 20:16:39 Export Successfully Completed!
I 20:16:39 Operation Successfully Completed! - Duration: 00:02:45
I 20:16:39 Average Write Rate: 4,116 KiB/s (20.8x) - Maximum Write Rate: 4,193 KiB/s (21.2x)
I 20:16:39 Cycling Tray before Verify...
W 20:16:49 Waiting for device to become ready...
I 20:16:56 Device Ready!
I 20:16:58 Operation Started!
I 20:16:58 Source Device: [0:0:0] HL-DT-ST BD-RE BH10LS30 1.00 (D (ATAPI)
I 20:16:58 Source Media Type: CD-R (Disc ID: 97m26s66f, CMC Magnetics Corp.)
I 20:16:58 Source Media Supported Read Speeds: 10x, 16x, 24x, 32x, 40x
I 20:16:58 Source Media Supported Write Speeds: 24x, 32x, 40x
I 20:16:58 Source Media Sectors: 236,578
I 20:16:58 Source Media Size: 556,431,456 bytes
I 20:16:58 Image File: F:\File.cue
I 20:16:58 Image File Sectors: 236,578 (AUDIO/2352)
I 20:16:58 Image File Size: 556,431,456 bytes
I 20:16:58 Image File File System(s): None
I 20:16:58 Read Speed (Data/Audio): MAX / MAX
I 20:17:01 Read Speed - Effective: 40x
I 20:17:01 Verifying Session 1 of 1... (14 Tracks, LBA: 0 - 236577)
I 20:17:01 Verifying Track 1 of 14... (AUDIO/2352, WAVE, LBA: 0 - 24503)
I 20:17:26 Verifying Track 2 of 14... (AUDIO/2352, WAVE, LBA: 24504 - 36660)
I 20:17:34 Verifying Track 3 of 14... (AUDIO/2352, WAVE, LBA: 36661 - 45247)
I 20:17:39 Verifying Track 4 of 14... (AUDIO/2352, WAVE, LBA: 45248 - 62883)
I 20:17:49 Verifying Track 5 of 14... (AUDIO/2352, WAVE, LBA: 62884 - 73602)
I 20:17:55 Verifying Track 6 of 14... (AUDIO/2352, WAVE, LBA: 73603 - 97108)
I 20:18:08 Verifying Track 7 of 14... (AUDIO/2352, WAVE, LBA: 97109 - 107985)
I 20:18:13 Verifying Track 8 of 14... (AUDIO/2352, WAVE, LBA: 107986 - 122394)
I 20:18:20 Verifying Track 9 of 14... (AUDIO/2352, WAVE, LBA: 122395 - 139791)
I 20:18:29 Verifying Track 10 of 14... (AUDIO/2352, WAVE, LBA: 139792 - 160415)
I 20:18:38 Verifying Track 11 of 14... (AUDIO/2352, WAVE, LBA: 160416 - 168899)
I 20:18:42 Verifying Track 12 of 14... (AUDIO/2352, WAVE, LBA: 168900 - 193713)
I 20:18:52 Verifying Track 13 of 14... (AUDIO/2352, WAVE, LBA: 193714 - 210309)
I 20:18:59 Verifying Track 14 of 14... (AUDIO/2352, WAVE, LBA: 210310 - 236577)
I 20:19:10 Exporting Graph Data...
I 20:19:10 Graph Data File: C:\Users\user\AppData\Roaming\ImgBurn\Graph Data Files\HL-DT-ST_BD-RE_BH10LS30_1.00_MONDAY-AUGUST-31-2015_8-13_PM_97m26s66f_24x.ibg
I 20:19:10 Export Successfully Completed!
I 20:19:10 Operation Successfully Completed! - Duration: 00:02:10
I 20:19:10 Average Verify Rate: 4,278 KiB/s (21.6x) - Maximum Verify Rate: 5,941 KiB/s (30.0x)

Despite the fact the original files only play as white noise through the computer, the result of this burn is a regular stereo audio CD, no matter what I play it in (my SONY BDP-370 player or my Windows 7 computer using Winamp or Windows Media Player).

Any help with this would be appreciated!

 

[ArmyOfQuad]

I used to run into issues with audiomuxer not properly converting dts wav files into multichannel wav files, because sometimes some wav files have an issue with the formatting that would throw off it's ability to be detected at the start. Every now and then I run into a disc here and there that some players may throw out noise on the first track. So it seems sometimes the issue of detecting a dts CD as containing dts material can be an issue.

But, when I was having the issue with audiomuxer, I was able to provide examples, and some modifications were developed to fix that. So now if you use audiomuxer to convert .wav files with dts content to multichannel wav, you want to select the file type of dtswave files, which will check the file and make a corrected version if necessary before converting to a multichannel wave. Maybe....try converting the trouble files to multichannel waves using audiomuxer, see if it does create a corrected version of the dts encoded material as part of the process, and then use the corrected file to create your dts CD(not the multichannel file that is ultimately created, the corrected file that is created to then create the multichannel file).

 

[colman]

I first tried putting the first file in the left window of Audiomuxer, and tried to Mux it to MKV, while exporting to WAV. Here is the log from that session:

*** \Eac3to\log.txt -- 8/31/2015 9:08:04 PM

eac3to v3.27
command line: "eac3to.exe" "F:\Output.mkv" 2:"F:\Output.wav" -progressnumbers
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MKV, 1 video track, 1 audio track, 1 subtitle track, 0:05:27, 24p /1.001
1: h264/AVC, English, 720p24 /1.001 (16:9)
2: DTS, English, 5.1 channels, 1235kbps, 44.1kHz
3: Subtitle (SRT), English
[a02] The ArcSoft and Sonic decoders don't seem to work, will use libav instead.
[a02] Extracting audio track number 2...
[a02] Decoding with libav/ffmpeg...
[a02] Reducing depth from 64 to 24 bits...
[a02] Writing WAV...
[a02] Creating file "F:\Output.wav"...
Video track 1 contains 7848 frames.
eac3to processing took 14 seconds.
Done.

Interestingly the much larger "Output.wav" file (over 6 times the size of File 1.wav) is read by dbpoweramp as 6-channel, whereas it reads the original File 1.wav file as 2-channel. Is this the file (and the 13 others following it) that I need to burn to disc (obviously a DVD, not a CD, given the file sizes)?

I also tried separating File 1.wav into 6 mono files, as you suggested - here's what Audiomuxer made of that:

==> F:\File 1.fixed.wav
> DTS | 44100Hz | 1 411.2 Kbps | 6Ch (3/2/0.1)

> Created from "F:\File 1.wav"
since the DTSWav file was corrupted.

> Eac3to LOG -->
eac3to v3.27
command line: "eac3to.exe" "F:\File 1.fixed.wav" "F:\File 1.wavs" -progressnumbers
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DTSWAV, 5.1 channels, 0:05:25, 24 bits, 1235kbps, 44.1kHz
The ArcSoft and Sonic decoders don't seem to work, will use libav instead.
Reading DTSWAV...
Decoding with libav/ffmpeg...
Reducing depth from 64 to 24 bits...
Writing WAVs...
Creating file "F:\File 1.fixed.C.wav"...
Creating file "F:\File 1.fixed.R.wav"...
Creating file "F:\File 1.fixed.L.wav"...
Creating file "F:\File 1.SR.wav"...
Creating file "F:\File 1.fixed.LFE.wav"...
Creating file "F:\File 1.SL.wav"...
eac3to processing took 16 seconds.
Done.
> F:\File 1.fixed.wavs mono-wavs created

So it appears the original DTS file(s) is/are indeed 6-channel but were corrupted.

Does it then make sense I should try to create a cue sheet for "F:\File 1.fixed.wav" (and the other 13 fixed files) and then try and burn *them* to CD? Or should I use the larger "F:\Output.wav" for each of the files, and burn those to DVD?

 

[colman]

And to add even more mystery to this, I tried re-burning a DTS .wav file I had already successfully burned to CD - and which played in 6-channel surround - and now it only plays in stereo (even though the first disc still plays as DTS).. so it's not (or not just) a file corruption issue, something has changed in the way ImgBurn is burning these files to CD, I just wish I could figure out what it was.