Dolby Atmos, local file, E-AC-3-JOC, still does not work

Video Playback
1

This is my first post here, so apologies if this is not the right sub-group to post it to. In short, I am trying to get Dolby Atmos files, stored in my local server, to properly play in my system.

First, the setup: I have a iMac as a server, with .mp4 and .mkv files which I have downloaded from the internet. I have an AppleTV 4K with the latest tvOS (I am on their beta program, actually), as well as a Denon X6500H receiver.

Second, the good news: Dolby ATMOS via the TV app, or Netflix, does work fine and titles are shown as Atmos by the AVR. Also, certain files in the local server similarly work fine, either when played through AppleTV’s “computers” app, or through Infuse, and are shown as such on the AVR.

Third, the problem: However, most/all of the files I’ve downloaded (demo files, mostly) simply do not play in Atmos mode. As a matter of fact, the only files that have worked are those I downloaded from dolby.com themselves.

I have read in this forum, and elsewhere, that tvOS, as well as Infuse (and MrMC, which I also have) and others can play files encoded with E-AC3-JOC/Atmos. I have thus checked that the files I am trying to play have that audio track, and I have, of course, selected such audio track when playing… to no avail.

I downloaded mediainfo to see what’s what, and I ran it on dolby_atmos_amaze.mp4 and also on Chameleon.mkv. The former is downloaded from Dolby’s site, the later from somewhere else. As. you can see in the attached picture, the audio in the amaze file and the other file seems to be almost identical. Evidently it is not, as it is not playing in Atmos.

image
image1020×530 81.8 KB

Thus, three questions:
(1) Should the above file (e.g. Chameleon.mkv) and others like it (characterized by the presence of a DD+/Atmos track in addition to the TrueHD/Atmos track) play well through Infuse on an AppleTV?
(2) If they should, what could I be doing wrong?
(3) If there’s something specific about the encoding of these downloaded files, do you know where I could find demo clips encoded with DD+/Atmos that work?

Thanks in advance for your response,
LB

2

Your files have dual audio tracks. This might be the problem. What happens when you select the second track when the video is playing? If it doesn’t switch over this might be an infuse bug.

3

Thanks @JarvisMeier. There are two video and three audio tracks on the Chameleon file. The audio tracks are:

  • Audio#1: AC-3 MLP FBA 16-ch (7.1 TrueHD w/ATMOS)
  • Audio#2: E-AC-3 JOC (7.1 Dolby Digital Plus w/ATMOS)
  • Audio#3: AC-3 (5.1 Dolby Digital)

I have tried all three, and this is what shows in the AVR, and what comes out:

  • For #1, the Denon AVR shows “Multichannel In”, input is 7.1, and it is the clip’s main track, output in 7.1
  • For #2, the Denon AVR shows “Multichannel In”, input is 7.1, and it is the clip’s main track, output in 7.1
  • For #3, it shows “Multichannel In”, input and output is 5.1, and the track is the commentary track (the one that says: “this is not the atmos track you doofus, switch! :-)”)

For an abundance of clarity, when you play dolby-atmos-amaze.mp4, be it through Infuse, or through other players, the Denon AVR shows “Dolby Atmos” as input, and the sound output is 5.1.4.

Last, for whatever it is worth, I have pasted the full results of mediainfo on both the mkv and the mp4 files. Maybe you can find something in them.

Thanks again,
LB

$ mediainfo dd-thd_Chameleon_4k_TrueHD-DD.m2ts
General
ID : 0 (0x0)
Complete name : dd-thd_Chameleon_4k_TrueHD-DD.m2ts
Format : BDAV
Format/Info : Blu-ray Video
File size : 610 MiB
Duration : 1 min 3 s
Overall bit rate mode : Variable
Overall bit rate : 80.6 Mb/s
Maximum Overall bit rate : 109 Mb/s

Video #1
ID : 4113 (0x1011)
Menu ID : 1 (0x1)
Format : HEVC
Format/Info : High Efficiency Video Coding
Format profile : Main 10@L5.1@High
HDR format : SMPTE ST 2086, HDR10 compatible
Codec ID : 36
Duration : 1 min 2 s
Width : 3 840 pixels
Height : 2 160 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate : 23.976 (24000/1001) FPS
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0 (Type 2)
Bit depth : 10 bits
Color range : Limited
Color primaries : BT.2020
Transfer characteristics : PQ
Matrix coefficients : BT.2020 non-constant
Mastering display color primaries : Display P3
Mastering display luminance : min: 0.0050 cd/m2, max: 4000 cd/m2
Maximum Content Light Level : 1000 cd/m2
Maximum Frame-Average Light Level : 60 cd/m2

Video #2
ID : 4117 (0x1015)
Menu ID : 1 (0x1)
Format : HEVC
Format/Info : High Efficiency Video Coding
Format profile : Main 10@L5.1@High
HDR format : SMPTE ST 2086, HDR10 compatible
Codec ID : 36
Duration : 1 min 2 s
Width : 1 920 pixels
Height : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate : 23.976 (24000/1001) FPS
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0 (Type 2)
Bit depth : 10 bits
Color range : Limited
Color primaries : BT.2020
Transfer characteristics : PQ
Matrix coefficients : BT.2020 non-constant
Mastering display color primaries : Display P3
Mastering display luminance : min: 0.0050 cd/m2, max: 4000 cd/m2

Audio #1
ID : 4352 (0x1100)
Menu ID : 1 (0x1)
Format : AC-3 MLP FBA 16-ch
Format/Info : Audio Coding 3 + Meridian Lossless Packing FBA with 16-channel presentation
Commercial name : Dolby TrueHD with Dolby Atmos
Muxing mode : Stream extension
Codec ID : 131
Duration : 1 min 2 s
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 640 kb/s
Maximum bit rate : 6 183 kb/s
Channel(s) : 8 channels
Channel layout : L R C LFE Ls Rs Lb Rb
Sampling rate : 48.0 kHz
Frame rate : 31.250 FPS (1536 SPF)
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 4.79 MiB (1%)
Service kind : Complete Main
Number of dynamic objects : 11
Bed channel count : 1 channel
Bed channel configuration : LFE

Audio #2
ID : 4353 (0x1101)
Menu ID : 1 (0x1)
Format : E-AC-3 JOC
Format/Info : Enhanced AC-3 with Joint Object Coding
Commercial name : Dolby Digital Plus with Dolby Atmos
Format profile : Blu-ray Disc
Muxing mode : Stream extension
Codec ID : 132
Duration : 1 min 2 s
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 1 664 kb/s
Channel(s) : 8 channels
Channel layout : L R C LFE Ls Rs Lb Rb
Sampling rate : 48.0 kHz
Frame rate : 31.250 FPS (1536 SPF)
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 12.5 MiB (2%)
Service kind : Complete Main
Complexity index : 16
Number of dynamic objects : 15
Bed channel count : 1 channel
Bed channel configuration : LFE

Audio #3
ID : 4354 (0x1102)
Menu ID : 1 (0x1)
Format : AC-3
Format/Info : Audio Coding 3
Commercial name : Dolby Digital
Codec ID : 129
Duration : 1 min 2 s
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 640 kb/s
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Channel layout : L R C LFE Ls Rs
Sampling rate : 48.0 kHz
Frame rate : 31.250 FPS (1536 SPF)
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 4.79 MiB (1%)
Service kind : Complete Main

$ mediainfo dd_dolby-atmos_amaze.mp4
General
Complete name : dd_dolby-atmos_amaze.mp4
Format : MPEG-4
Format profile : Base Media / Version 2
Codec ID : mp42 (mp42/dby1/isom)
File size : 92.9 MiB
Duration : 1 min 8 s
Overall bit rate mode : Variable
Overall bit rate : 11.3 Mb/s
Encoded date : UTC 2014-10-26 00:52:09
Tagged date : UTC 2014-10-26 00:52:09

Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : Main@L4.1
Format settings : CABAC / 4 Ref Frames
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, Reference frames : 4 frames
Format settings, GOP : M=6, N=12
Codec ID : avc1
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding
Duration : 1 min 3 s
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 11.8 Mb/s
Maximum bit rate : 24.0 Mb/s
Width : 1 920 pixels
Height : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 24.000 FPS
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.238
Stream size : 89.7 MiB (97%)
Encoded date : UTC 2014-10-26 00:52:09
Tagged date : UTC 2014-10-26 00:52:09
Color range : Limited
Color primaries : BT.709
Transfer characteristics : BT.709
Matrix coefficients : BT.709
Codec configuration box : avcC

Audio
ID : 2
Format : E-AC-3 JOC
Format/Info : Enhanced AC-3 with Joint Object Coding
Commercial name : Dolby Digital Plus with Dolby Atmos
Codec ID : ec-3
Duration : 1 min 8 s
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 384 kb/s
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Channel layout : L R C LFE Ls Rs
Sampling rate : 48.0 kHz
Frame rate : 31.250 FPS (1536 SPF)
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 3.14 MiB (3%)
Service kind : Complete Main
Encoded date : UTC 2014-10-26 00:52:09
Tagged date : UTC 2014-10-26 00:52:09
Complexity index : 12
Number of dynamic objects : 11
Bed channel count : 1 channel
Bed channel configuration : LFE

4

The first video file might have compatibility issues. It’s a Dual layer Dolby vision file and from what I’ve read atmos doesn’t work with those on the Apple TV without doing a bunch of screwing around with the container and files. You can do some reading on this in the makemkv forums if your interested.

5

Thank you @JarvisMeier. I downloaded all of these from Dolby Trailers - The Digital Theater and it seems every single one that has E-AC3-JOC as the codec is similarly dual layer. Do you know where/if I could find non-dual layer versions of these, or other files to test/demo my Atmos setup?

6

Unfortunately I don’t. I’d look for EAC3 Atmos files in 1080p. They’re going to be more compliant. Optionally you can extract the first video track and the proper audio track and then remux them as mkv

7

I have tried your suggestion, @JarvisMeier. Thank you very much. I think I did the muxing right, but it still did not work.

  1. Took one of the files that is in 1080p and has both TrueHD and DD+ with Atmos. The mediainfo information is at the bottom of this note for reference. That file shows:
  • Audio #1
  • ID : 4352 (0x1100)
  • Menu ID : 1 (0x1)
  • Format : AC-3 MLP FBA 16-ch
  • Format/Info : Audio Coding 3 + Meridian Lossless Packing FBA with 16-channel presentation
  • Commercial name : Dolby TrueHD with Dolby Atmos
  • Muxing mode : Stream extension
  • . . .
  • Audio #2
  • ID : 4353 (0x1101)
  • Menu ID : 1 (0x1)
  • Format : E-AC-3 JOC
  • Format/Info : Enhanced AC-3 with Joint Object Coding
  • Commercial name : Dolby Digital Plus with Dolby Atmos
  • Format profile : Blu-ray Disc
  • Muxing mode : Stream extension
  1. Created newHorizon.mkv, which shows the following as the only audio track in the file:
  • Audio
  • ID : 2
  • Format : E-AC-3 JOC
  • Format/Info : Enhanced AC-3 with Joint Object Coding
  • Commercial name : Dolby Digital Plus with Dolby Atmos
  • Format profile : Blu-ray Disc
  • Codec ID : A_EAC3
  • Duration : 1 min 52 s
  • Bit rate mode : Constant
  • Bit rate : 1 152 kb/s
  • Channel(s) : 8 channels
  • Channel layout : L R C LFE Ls Rs Lb Rb
  • Sampling rate : 48.0 kHz
  • Frame rate : 31.250 FPS (1536 SPF)
  • Compression mode : Lossy
  • Stream size : 15.4 MiB (7%)
  • Service kind : Complete Main
  • Default : Yes
  • Forced : No
  • Complexity index : 12
  • Number of dynamic objects : 11
  • Bed channel count : 1 channel
  • Bed channel configuration : LFE
  1. Played newHorizon via Infuse, and I got the following:

The Audio menu in the player shows Dolby Digital Plus 7.1 as the only audio track

image
image1658×992 738 KB

But, unfortunately, the Denon receiver does not detect it as Dolby Atmos and instead it shows:

image
image1610×550 302 KB

  1. I played the dolby-atmos-amaze.mp4 through Infuse, right after, to make sure that I was not going crazy

The AppleTV video player shows, as DD+ 5.1 (that file is 5.1)

image
image1656×774 453 KB

And the receiver correctly shows Dolby Atmos as its input.

image
image1620×592 325 KB

In summary, I think I did what you suggested (simply copied the correct audio track and the correct video track onto a new file) but, still, I am not able to see Dolby Atmos at the receiver.

For completeness, the full output of mediainfo on the original Horizon and the newHorizon files, fwiw.

Thanks much,
Luis

$ mediainfo dd-thd_Horizon_1080p_TrueHD-DD.m2ts
General
ID : 1 (0x1)
Complete name : dd-thd_Horizon_1080p_TrueHD-DD.m2ts
Format : BDAV
Format/Info : Blu-ray Video
File size : 351 MiB
Duration : 1 min 52 s
Overall bit rate mode : Variable
Overall bit rate : 26.2 Mb/s
Maximum Overall bit rate : 35.5 Mb/s

Video
ID : 4113 (0x1011)
Menu ID : 1 (0x1)
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L4.1
Format settings : CABAC / 4 Ref Frames
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, Reference frames : 4 frames
Codec ID : 27
Duration : 1 min 52 s
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 23.3 Mb/s
Maximum bit rate : 40.0 Mb/s
Width : 1 920 pixels
Height : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate : 24.000 FPS
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.469
Stream size : 312 MiB (89%)
Language : English

Audio #1
ID : 4352 (0x1100)
Menu ID : 1 (0x1)
Format : AC-3 MLP FBA 16-ch
Format/Info : Audio Coding 3 + Meridian Lossless Packing FBA with 16-channel presentation
Commercial name : Dolby TrueHD with Dolby Atmos
Muxing mode : Stream extension
Codec ID : 131
Duration : 1 min 52 s
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 640 kb/s
Maximum bit rate : 7 815 kb/s
Channel(s) : 8 channels
Channel layout : L R C LFE Ls Rs Lb Rb
Sampling rate : 48.0 kHz
Frame rate : 31.250 FPS (1536 SPF)
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 8.57 MiB (2%)
Service kind : Complete Main
Number of dynamic objects : 11
Bed channel count : 1 channel
Bed channel configuration : LFE

Audio #2
ID : 4353 (0x1101)
Menu ID : 1 (0x1)
Format : E-AC-3 JOC
Format/Info : Enhanced AC-3 with Joint Object Coding
Commercial name : Dolby Digital Plus with Dolby Atmos
Format profile : Blu-ray Disc
Muxing mode : Stream extension
Codec ID : 132
Duration : 1 min 52 s
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 1 152 kb/s
Channel(s) : 8 channels
Channel layout : L R C LFE Ls Rs Lb Rb
Sampling rate : 48.0 kHz
Frame rate : 31.250 FPS (1536 SPF)
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 15.4 MiB (4%)
Service kind : Complete Main
Complexity index : 12
Number of dynamic objects : 11
Bed channel count : 1 channel
Bed channel configuration : LFE

$ mediainfo new_Horizon.mkv
General
Unique ID : 23451725425904218334705668296076359510 (0x11A4A3559358DD7B17B4642A7D9AF756)
Complete name : new_Horizon.mkv
Format : Matroska
Format version : Version 4
File size : 233 MiB
Duration : 1 min 52 s
Overall bit rate mode : Variable
Overall bit rate : 17.4 Mb/s
Encoded date : UTC 2020-09-03 22:03:57
Writing application : mkvmerge v49.0.0 (‘Sick Of Losing Soulmates’) 64-bit
Writing library : libebml v1.4.0 + libmatroska v1.6.1

Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L4.1
Format settings : CABAC / 4 Ref Frames
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, Reference frames : 4 frames
Codec ID : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration : 1 min 52 s
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 16.2 Mb/s
Maximum bit rate : 40.0 Mb/s
Width : 1 920 pixels
Height : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 24.000 FPS
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.326
Stream size : 217 MiB (93%)
Language : English
Default : Yes
Forced : No

Audio
ID : 2
Format : E-AC-3 JOC
Format/Info : Enhanced AC-3 with Joint Object Coding
Commercial name : Dolby Digital Plus with Dolby Atmos
Format profile : Blu-ray Disc
Codec ID : A_EAC3
Duration : 1 min 52 s
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 1 152 kb/s
Channel(s) : 8 channels
Channel layout : L R C LFE Ls Rs Lb Rb
Sampling rate : 48.0 kHz
Frame rate : 31.250 FPS (1536 SPF)
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 15.4 MiB (7%)
Service kind : Complete Main
Default : Yes
Forced : No
Complexity index : 12
Number of dynamic objects : 11
Bed channel count : 1 channel
Bed channel configuration : LFE

8

If the one file plays correctly then atmos is working right… the problems with the other files are either encoding or how they’re muxed. I don’t know the specifics on encoding and such however two good places to get help with file handling are makemkv/mkvmerge forums and either the Kodi or MrMC forums. Lots of experts there.

1 Like
9

I am new to this forum and recently got Infuse pro, I am facing the same problem. All my files are MKV HDR Remuxes 70GBs, when I play them in infuse all I see DD in my soundbar but files are atmos.

Did you find any cure for this?

10

If they’re remuxes then they’re TrueHD tracks which are converted to PCM and outputted as such. AppleTV doesn’t support Dolby atmos on treuHD. That requires bitstream support which isn’t available on AppleTV.

1 Like
11

I see, limitation of ATV4k, Let’s hope Apple hear out their customer. If not, can Infuse passthrough audio to soundbar bypassing ATV device? Something in between solution?

This app is soo smooth and work like charm only struggling with Atmos DTS:X department.

Thanks

12

Unfortunately it’s currently impossible for Infuse to add this functionality, see this thread for more info: Help get (more) Dolby Atmos on Apple TV

1 Like