Samsung Q70D issue playing DTS Audio

[sake]

Hello everyone and Happy New Year!

My current setup is:

• UMS: 14.8.0 (also uploaded a screenshot of my audio settings)

• Windows: 10 Pro

• TV: Samsung QE55Q70DA

Based on the attachment, does that mean that I cannot play moves on that TV that have a DTS audio stream?

Example: I play an .mkv file through UMS and the file contains three audio streams:

• AUDIO1........: English DTS 5.1 @ 1510 Kbps

• AUDIO2........: English AAC 2.0 @ 128 Kbps

• AUDIO3........: English AAC 2.0 @ 128 Kbps

Unfortunately I can choose just between the AAC 2.0 ones and cannot listen to / select the DTS stream (cannot even select it - it is not visible through the screen's menu) I tried with different settings and no luck (screenshots attached) and I am curious to find out where the issue is - is it with UMS or with my TV, or both

Any advice would be really highly appreciated, as this is quite annoying and it would be a complete bummer if I am unable to play those video files that have a DTS audio. Thank you very much.

[mik_s]

Samsung (and other manufactures) dropped support for DTS many years ago so your TV will not be able to play this.

Important
The DTS Audio codec is not supported on 2024 TVs. For smooth playback, if a DTS Audio track is part of your manifest, make sure other audio tracks can be selected.

If your video has other audio tracks in another format these should play but sometimes these are just commentary or a different language so are not what you want.
In this case you will have to transcode to get the right audio by playing from the #--TRANSCODE--# and select the audio track you need.
(if you do not see it, enable "show the #--Transcode--# folder" in the GUI on the navigation tab, in the web GUI it is in the "virtual folders/files" section)

There is no good way for UMS to detect what these other audio tracks are so it does not automatically transcode if the video does have other compatible audio tracks, it just streams it and lets the device handle it.

If you have a soundbar or home theatre setup that does support DTS you could enable audio pass-though (eARC) and it should work assuming the TV will allow this.
You might also have to update the TV's renderer conf to add back DTS as a supported format so UMS does not try and transcode those videos with only this as the audio track

[sake]

Hello @mik_s. Thank you very much for your reply. Much appreciated!

I am really surprised that "Samsung and friends" have decided to drop the support for the DTS audio format, knowing how widely spread it is. Do we have any idea why they have decided to go down this road?

If your video has other audio tracks in another format these should play but sometimes these are just commentary or a different language so are not what you want.

Indeed, this is exactly what is currently happening and is quite annoying.

In this case you will have to transcode to get the right audio by playing from the #--TRANSCODE--# and select the audio track you need.

So, are you saying that it is theoretically still possible to select the correct audio stream from the Transcode folder and play the audio (not in a DTS format)? If that is the case I would be just fine with the manual steps.

You might also have to update the TV's renderer conf to add back DTS as a supported format so UMS does not try and transcode those videos with only this as the audio track

Can you let me know how I need to adjust those settings in UMS, please?

If you have a soundbar or home theatre setup that does support DTS you could enable audio pass-though (eARC) and it should work assuming the TV will allow this.

Good news: The TV does support eARC, as per the Connectivity section HERE.
Bad news: I do not have such a compatible soundbar. The only one that I have is quite an old BOSE one: SoundLink Mini

[mik_s]

I am really surprised that "Samsung and friends" have decided to drop the support for the DTS audio format, knowing how widely spread it is. Do we have any idea why they have decided to go down this road?

Mainly to do with money I think. Manufacturers need to have a licence to support DTS but there are better free open codecs used these days so there is no incentive for them to include it and saves them the licence fee. As most home theatre and soundbars do support DTS they can just pass though the audio, plus people may buy their soundbar too.

I don't know exactly when they dropped support for DTS but the 2019 confs do not not have this as a supported format so at least that long.

Yes playing from the transcode folder will give you the audio track you want and convert it to AC3.
There are downsides to transcoding like being unable to seek the video (This usually happens with Samsung TVs) and unable to change subtitles or audio tracks so you will need to select them at the beginning.

I don't know if your TV supports HLS transcoding but this should not have the disadvantages I mentioned but as I don't have anything that uses this I don't know how to set it up.
There were some recent updates to the Samsung confs that may have added this for a future version.

If you do get a soundbar that does support DTS then you can just edit the conf your TV uses and add DTS to each line in the a: section of each line in the supported formats.
If you are not sure then I can do it when you need it.

[sake]

Mainly to do with money I think. Manufacturers need to have a licence to support DTS but there are better free open codecs used these days so there is no incentive for them to include it and saves them the licence fee. As most home theatre and soundbars do support DTS they can just pass though the audio, plus people may buy their soundbar too.

I don't know exactly when they dropped support for DTS but the 2019 confs do not not have this as a supported format so at least that long.

Why did I even ask ... of course because of money Thanks for the explanation, mik_s.

Yes playing from the transcode folder will give you the audio track you want and convert it to AC3.
There are downsides to transcoding like being unable to seek the video (This usually happens with Samsung TVs) and unable to change subtitles or audio tracks so you will need to select them at the beginning.

Will surely play around with this folder and see what the possibilities are. I would definitely need some time for this.

I don't know if your TV supports HLS transcoding but this should not have the disadvantages I mentioned but as I don't have anything that uses this I don't know how to set it up.
There were some recent updates to the Samsung confs that may have added this for a future version.

Did not manage to find a proof online that my TV supports HLS transcoding.

If you do get a soundbar that does support DTS then you can just edit the conf your TV uses and add DTS to each line in the a: section of each line in the supported formats.
If you are not sure then I can do it when you need it.

Thank you very much once again, mik_s. Firstly I will check what percentage of the movies that I would watch with my new setup would have DTS and only then would think of buying an additional soundbar, that does support DTS. Firstly I would play around with the #--TRANSCODE--# folder and will take it from there, as you advised me.