DVD-Audio player software

Can someone here recommend a DVD-Audio player software program for a Windows-based pc?

 

WinDVD 6 or 7 Platinum version seems to work really well for me.
There is also one bundled with the Creative Lies Fraudigy card, but you will not go wrong with WinDVD - version 7 also includes support for DTS-HD (apparently. Don't know quite how when the encoders are not yet available) and DTS 24/96/DTS-ES.

It's a steal at $50.

 

Windows Media Player Classic, you can set up audio just the way you like it, you cannot do that in Windvd.

it costs nothing at all.

 

Windows Media Player Classic will not play DVD-Audio

 

Yes it will, and very fine indeed.
I am using it here right now.

Plays all my a little lass than 800 dvds just fine, it is all i have ever used.

Please state what dvd audio type that it cannot play, because i haver never seen even one it could not handle.

 

I am talking about HIgh Resolution, 5.1 Multichannel Advanced Resolution 24/96 DVD-Audio.
Not Music DVD with Dolby Digital or DTS streams.
You will be able to play the lossy components of such discs using the compatibility section in the Video_TS, but you cannot use this player to play the Audio_TS content.
Simple.

 

24 bit 96 khz HD multichannel can be played with some soundcards,
like the HDA soundcards from Korea, i had one before i got this Realtek 888D

But also turtlebeacs and others does now produce these high end sound cards, but the "avarage joe" sound card will never be able to handle the neither the bitrate or anything else than 44.1 Khz sample rate.

So guess you can say yes and no, it is all about the soundcard, but with the right soundcard and again with the right direct sound/direct wire driver it will work to the best of my knowledge.

 

It will *only* work if the player can decode MLP Lossless.
Media Player Classic cannot.
Direct from HD playback of DVD-Audio is not possible unless through a proper player.
WinDVD 6 & 7 platinum can
PowerDVD 6 and later can
Creative DVD-Audio player can.

AFAIK, there is no way (and we have tried this) to play back an MLP encoded file in an Audio_TS where it is multiplexed into an AOB file without a DVD-Audio capable player.

 

I have now looked futher into this and it seems you are right.
Only possible audio to play with MPC stops at DTS EX, wich i thought of as HD sound.

Sorry for all my missleading, but sometimes you just really think that you are right because of the little you know, and in the end all we can know is that we know nothing at all lolz.

 

No worries!
As it happens, there are many, many people who get confused as to what DVD-Audio actually is.
I believe this to be the fault primarily of the record industry, but also software packages like the incredibly badly named "DVD Audio Ripper" do not help, as these have absolutely nothing to do with DVD-Audio, and everything to do with so-called "Music DVD", which is another pathetically named way of saying "DVD-Video".

I hope this is not going to get boring, but this is essentially what the differencesare between the 2 formats:
1 - DVD-Video.
This uses the Video_TS folder when authored, and is graphically/Visually dominant, with all Audio following the visual content. Audio available in this format is
1 - LPCM from 16/48 to 24/96 in Stereo only.*
2 - Dolby Digital - stereo to 5.1 surround, lossy compression format
3 - DTS - Stereo to Surround, optional format only, much higher quality compared to Dolby Digital but still a lossy format
* = up to 8 channels of LPCM with a maximum bitrate of 6.144Mb/sec is actually in the specifications, but was never implemented in any players. We will return to this later.

2 - DVD-Audio.
This uses the Audio_TS folder, and is high resolution compliant with Audio dominant, and graphics/Visuals following the Audio.
Content is available in
1 - PPCM (or MLP Lossless) 16/44.1 to 24/192 in stereo
16/44.1 to 24/96 in 5.1
This is a genuine lossless compression format with output bit-for-bit identical to the input.
2 - PCM at 16/44.1 to 24/192 stereo, and 16/44.1 to 24/48 in 5.1
Additionally, a properly authored DVD-A disc can also contain a video_TS section, making the resulting disc playable in ALL DVD players, not just DVD-Audio capable ones. This is recommended, but not mandated. If included, all VTS content must (spec says "Shall") be accessible from the AMGM domain (The Main Menu in the Audio ManaGer) so that said content (such as interviews, live video footage etc) is also available from an Audio configured player. Failure to link into this content means that an Audio capable player will need to be reset to Video mode, and not all are capable of this in firmware.

The sound quality from DVD-Audio is stunning. No other word for it.

 

hi, i've a problem with windvd7 for playing dvd-audio. My audiocard is a creative audigy 2. I've checked the settings of windvd to switch on 24/96-reading but that didn't help.
Tried to contact the helpdesk of intervideo but they didn't react at all...
The dvd-audio-app. of Creative itself works fine but in that case I have to miss the video-menu
Does anyone know what's going wrong please?

Thanks for your comments

jr.

 

btw even with my low-end soundcard being connected to my panasonic-receiver you easily hear the quality-difference between the dvd-audio-layer and basic dolby digital...

 

Lets try.
What is going wrong here - exactly?
Enabling the 24/96 decoding in WinDVD does not necessarily mean that a Fraudigy will actually output at 24/96, and will almost certainly still be at 24/48 as it resamples internally.

What is not happening? Precisely, please.

 

Selecting 24/96 is possible in the audio setup but the "dvd-audionavigation"-switch is greyed out. My audio out goes by analog and everything works fine in the default dvdaudio-player of creative...

 

Okay.
Do you still see the onscreen menus for the disc?

 

If i'm using a disc with a dolby digital-/dts-stream next to dvd-audio the disc runs in windvd but only without using the dvd-audio It even doesn't show up in the settings menu of that disc.
Strange thing is that the disc works in the Creative dvd-audio player.

Also tried the creative dvd-audio-sampler: works great in the dvd-audioplayer of Creative but this disc hangs completely in windvd.

btw are you shure that the audigy-card downsamples everything to 24b/48khz? I've tested the card by connecting to my panasonic amplifier using s/pdif over coax + configuring the audio settings in creative for export the signal using 96khz: my amplifier detects it as being true 96khz.

greetz and thanks for the help

 

forgot to mention that both discs work properly in my panasonic dvd-player but than it uses dvd-audio-stereo (that's the max what that dvd-player can handle). So apperently nothing wrong with the discs.

 

Sounds as if there is a conflict between the Audigy player and WInDVD.
My installation of WinDVD 7 Platinum uses the Creative DVD-Audio Audigy player as a plugin to enable DVD-Audio playback on the computer. I would now try to find out which of the 2 players is the most recent, and use that one after uninstalling the other.
How old is the version with the Audigy?
How old is WinDVD? (I am assuming you have WinDVD platinum, yes?)

If you are outputting digitally, then what may be happening - it depends if you are doing any form of DSP processing with the card whatsoever - is that the card downsamples to 48KHz, does it's DSP processing & then squirts out again at 96KHz. If you are outputting in analogue or inputting analogue, then there is no way you are getting true 96KHz audio.
With a straight digital passthrough, again this will only happen in stereo (You won't get 24/96 at 5.1 down a coaxial connection anyway) and might still be padded 48KHz.
There was a famous court case over this - and Creative Lies lost.
See http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=22019

 

Didn't WinDVD remove DVD-Audio playback due to it being used for illegaly ripping DVD-Audio records?

 

Not quite.
WinDVD 8 I do not know about.
WinDVD 7 worked up to build 7.0.27 or something.
Since then, all keys that had been compromised by the hack have been revoked for software playback, and will only play in earlier versions or on a set top DVD-Audio player.
Nice one to the thieves that did this - they have screwed up a software player for legitimate users.
Isn't piracy cool? NOT!