I, like so many others, both here and spread across t’interweb, have gone down the rabbit hole of trying to remedy audio dropouts in .mkv files. I’ve tried all of the “fixes” that have been touted as the answer – avoiding overheating, swapping HDMI cables, changing settings (both on the Z3000 and Denon AVR) etc…etc…I’ve tried different files, changed them to different container types, re-muxed and transcoded until my fingers bled, all to no avail. That is until I found out about “Seamless branching”. Those out there with much more knowledge than I relating to video & audio files and containers, have shown how deep the problem goes, and how difficult it is to fix. I’m quite ready to believe it, having wasted so much time, effort and (a little) money on just discovering it. For those (like I was) who know little to nothing about this saga, and would like to join me in banging their head against the keyboard, let me provide a glimpse into the void. I don’t know if the problem includes the files from streaming, but 4K HEVC/Ultra HD created from Blu-ray discs, particularly those containing E-AC-3 aka DD+ / DD Plus / Enhanced AC3 and/or E-AC-3 JOC (Dolby Digital Plus with Dolby Atmos) and TrueHD audio can produce audio dropouts. Rather than random, these dropouts appear at the same positions during playback, though to add to my frustrations, are player specific, so impossible to replicate, and not consistent. I’ve had files that glitch time after time, but then don’t and vice versa. There have been comments that some players, in ExoPLayer, Plex, Kodi on the Shield, have been modified to play the files correctly, but that doesn’t help me and my Z300 Pro. The only work-around that I see as being consistent, for the time being at least, lies in (as I noted above) transcoding and possibly remuxing too.
Since you have a z3000 the first question emerges immediately. Are you using the audio output or main output. If you use the main output did you step into the arc rabbithole? Or is your denon upto the task to pass the video to the screen? If you stepped into the rabbit hole: don't! There are special settings for dolby crap. "Audio/Pass-through compatible mode: On" Recommended Settings and other useful stuff for AML S928X Players (HT PDF updated June 26) | Zidoo forum
If you're talking about true seamless branched MKVs which are played with a Segment Map then as far as I know the Zidoo doesn't support that (I don't recall the question ever coming up before). I would expect such an MKV file (again, never tried!) to be able to be ripped to a coherent standard MKV with MakeMKV.
Yep, Audio Port, with the second HDMI from Z3000 to the TV, compatible mode on and off, just some of the many things tried to no avail.
The problem appears to be that once the file/container (and audio) have been created, the problems are baked in, the original files would be needed to build a different output. I've tried EAC3To and FFMPEG to transcode to AC3, but they have the same audio glitches. As you say, the Zidoo media player can't output the audio correctly, I have to work around it by swapping HDMI connections on my TV so that I can play the files through the TV's media player, which can. I noted that testing is made more difficult by the Zidoo media player having the occassional good day when it can play the very same files without problem...mind boggling!
Is there a way of telling? It's the only explanation I can find that fits, as there are lots of discussions spread across the web.
MediaInfo will probably tell you - I don't know, I've never come across one. What I can tell you is that these boxes have no issue with AC3, E-AC3, E-AC3 Atmos, THD, THD Atmos, DTS, DTS-HD MA, DTS-HD HRA, DTS-X and a plethora of other codecs including PCM ones in MKV files, so something else is going on - might be seamless branching, might not. Without seeing a file I probably can't tell you much more.
FWIW, over the years, on both my 1619dr and 1619bpd models, I have ripped multi version or seamless branching titles and in most cases I just selected my preferred version with MakeMkv and ripped that version only and it would play just fine. But, there has been one problematic title that I just gave up on... The 2012 Total Recall remake with Kate Beckinsale ( oh my!) that offered a seamless branching option of the extended cut with a True HD soundtrack. When I have tried to rip and play this extended version, it has always given me sound drop outs at the branching locations. I am convinced that in this instance, this a mastering problem with this title as back in the day I remember reading posts stating the only way to mitigate the branching sound dropouts, was to switch your bluray play to convert and output as PCM! So, I think possibly that some seamless branching titles are just plain bad.
Yeah, usually ripping seamless branching titles from BluRay images is fine as long as you know which mpls file to choose - that will result in a standard coherent MKV file. However what I was referring to is a seamlessly branched MKV file - this has a special playlist and internal structure that allows the user to choose branching within the MKV - it's not "baked in" so to speak - it's done with structured chapters - it allows the same thing you get with BluRay - several versions of a movie from one mkv file without data duplication. 101 things you never knew you could do with Matroska < WALLS OF TL;DR
Ah yes, the lovely Kate version 1.0, as far as I'm concerned, perfection in female form, why naturally beautiful women feel the need to ruin what they have is still beyond me. The MakeMKV forum has been my biggest influence in making the seamless branching assumption. Accessing their forum is a bit hit-and-miss at worst and slow at best, but there are lots posts on the subject and titles mentioned, which added to my feeling that I was on the right track.
Hi all, Last night I was watching a 4K UHD movie and I noticed that the sound was cutting in and out for a few seconds. All my HDMI cables are 2.1 ultra high speed 48Gbps. How do I go about resolving this issue? If I run a ultra high speed 2.1 8K HDMI extender from my zidoo Z3000 Pro to the HDMI cable connected to the TV will this fix the audio issue cutting in and out?
I thought I'd "fixed" my issue by using .mp4 as the container, keeping the Atmos track, but bizarrely, it happened again at the weekend. Nothing had changed, no software updates, no connection changes. I still have the other work-round, which is to swap my Sony TV's (e)ARC output from the soundbar to the AVR, as the Sony media player has no problem playing .mkv files.
Hello, The problem with MKVS remuxed from seamless branching titles has been widely discussed on AVS, especially on the AM6b+ thread. here goes : https://www.avsforum.com/threads/ug...94526/page-676?post_id=64690952#post-64690952 the proud father of LAV FILTERS ( well known by HTPC users, and kodi users) Says this : SIGH. The seamless branching issues in MKV are so widely misunderstood. When you convert m2ts to mkv you lose timing information that CAN NOT be stored in the MKV. On a seamless branch title where the PTS takes a large jump, Kodi inherently treats it as a seek which is why you get some of the behavior you get. I fixed that by porting LAV Audio to Kodi and letting it correct the PTS timing. It's a lot more complicated than that but that's essentially what it boils down to. The idea that "it's the way the MKVs are made" is total nonsense. We tried EVERY possible way to fix it in the MKVs first and nothing worked. I really had hoped this topic would die after I ported LAV, tbh. its seems that the audio dropouts ( which began with Total recall 2012, also widely reported on Megan 2.0 if i recall ( lol ) is inherent in the way MKVS are made, and the solution is to be found on the decoder side. I dont know if this is the problem encountered with the Zidoo, but here goes. And BTW, 2000" Kate Beckinsale, Wowza.
FWIW, the audio dropouts on the seamless branching Extended cut version of Total Recall (2012) was also an issue when outputting the Dolby True HD soundtrack when playing the disc itself. It was noted that the only way to eliminate dropouts at those branching scenes was to switch your bluray player to PCM output.... ... and YES, Kate Beckinsale in that movie was hot!
