mintakax

Q: osx and hd audio

I was one phone call away from ordering a new mac mini to serve as a mac osx HTPC, mainly to take the place of my failing bluray changer. My plan was to use Makemkv to rip my blurays and then use Plex to play them. I just had to confirm that I would be able to pass the hd audio. I have a fairly extensive HT setup so I really want the hd audio capabilities.

 

After several days of inverstigating, I now understand that osx will not permit this. Its not the hardware (since hd audio works under bootcamp), but the os itself. Does anyone know why ? Is this an oversight or is this due to some DRM agreement between Apple and the greedy Hollywood moguls ?

 

I know I can buy a mini and a copy of Windows and make this work under bootcamp, but doesnt that kind of defeat the purpose ? Seriously, the last thing I wanted to do was buy a Windows box, but at this point it looks as though that is what I'll have to do.

 

Is there any way this hdaudio/osx thing is just an oversight and will be fixed in the not to distant future ?  Apple never fails to confound me !

 

Dan

Posted on May 24, 2013 7:55 AM

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Q: osx and hd audio

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  • by John Lockwood,

    John Lockwood John Lockwood May 24, 2013 8:39 AM in response to mintakax
    Level 6 (9,309 points)
    Servers Enterprise
    May 24, 2013 8:39 AM in response to mintakax

    The hardware as you say supports it. Apple have never officially supported Blu-Ray discs on a Mac so have never had to add support for HD audio formats, until or unless Apple support HD audio on the iTunes Store they may not get round to this.

     

    While you can use Boot Camp (and Windows) now, it maybe that at some point XBMC and/or Plex might manage to support HD audio without help from Apple. (Both can play MKV files and currently downscale HD audio.)

     

    There are some Blu-Ray playing applications for the Mac, they all seem to be rather blatent copies of each other. However I did find that at least Aurora Blu-Ray Player for Mac seems to be claiming that they can do 7.1 and Dolby HD on a Mac via the built-in HDMI port i.e. Mac mini or MacBook Pro Retina/Air.

     

    See http://www.bluray-player-software.com/articles/mac-dts-hd-7.1-player.htm

     

    Personally I find this highly dubious but at least there is a free trial version to try out.

  • by runnernorth,

    runnernorth runnernorth May 24, 2013 11:31 AM in response to John Lockwood
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 24, 2013 11:31 AM in response to John Lockwood

    Sorry for breaking in here, but if that's true what they are stating, Aurora, then it's no less than a revolution in my world :) I've used a Mac mini with boot camped windows 7 as a xbmc mediacenter for a while now. The only reason for choosing windows instead of OSX, was/is because its the only way to bitstream hd audio in xbmc.....

    I'll look forward to some reviews of this player.... - sorry for the interruption :)

  • by John Lockwood,

    John Lockwood John Lockwood May 28, 2013 1:25 AM in response to runnernorth
    Level 6 (9,309 points)
    Servers Enterprise
    May 28, 2013 1:25 AM in response to runnernorth

    runnernorth wrote:

     

    Sorry for breaking in here, but if that's true what they are stating, Aurora, then it's no less than a revolution in my world :) I've used a Mac mini with boot camped windows 7 as a xbmc mediacenter for a while now. The only reason for choosing windows instead of OSX, was/is because its the only way to bitstream hd audio in xbmc.....

    I'll look forward to some reviews of this player.... - sorry for the interruption :)

    As I mentioned there is a free trial for the Aurora software so give it a go and let us know. I don't have a suitable AV receiver so I can't do this myself.

     

    I know XBMC for Mac (and Plex) still say they cannot do this, so try an MKV file or BluRay disc with the Aurora software.

  • by woodmeister50,

    woodmeister50 woodmeister50 May 28, 2013 3:01 AM in response to mintakax
    Level 5 (5,510 points)
    Mac OS X
    May 28, 2013 3:01 AM in response to mintakax

    For openners, Steve Jobs was not a big fan of hard media

    and believed they were to rapidly go the way of the dinosaurs.

    Therefore, the work to add and the cost of licensing the ability

    to make use of the HD content of the formats determined not

    to be in Apple's best interest.

     

    It may be possible that since he is no longer with us, that attitude may

    change at Apple.  Then again, we could have world peace, free clean energy,

    and erradication of all disease.

  • by runnernorth,

    runnernorth runnernorth May 28, 2013 3:17 AM in response to John Lockwood
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 28, 2013 3:17 AM in response to John Lockwood

    Well, I didn't try it myself, but did read this thread, not good :(

    http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=165772

    Kindly

    Jan

  • by John Lockwood,

    John Lockwood John Lockwood May 28, 2013 3:49 AM in response to runnernorth
    Level 6 (9,309 points)
    Servers Enterprise
    May 28, 2013 3:49 AM in response to runnernorth

    I did say currently XBMC on Mac does not support HD audio.

     

    The Aurora page is not completely clear, partly due to the poor English, but it could be interpreted as saying

     

    If you use the Aurora player, and

    use and AV Receiver which supports DTS HD, and

    connect to the AV Receiver using HDMI 1.3 (or presumably higher)

     

    then it will play back DTS HD properly.

     

    The current Mac mini does support HDMI 1.3, 1.3a and 1.4, see http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4214

     

    As previously discussed the hardware has been shown to be capable of doing this under Boot Camp. As I also said earlier I am dubious about this working in reality. If someone has a suitable AV Receiver it will cost nothing to test and prove this one way or the other.

  • by runnernorth,

    runnernorth runnernorth May 28, 2013 4:14 AM in response to John Lockwood
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 28, 2013 4:14 AM in response to John Lockwood

    Hi John, the poster in the thread I linked to, has already tested it, and it doesn't work, Nedd Scott, another poster in this thread, also states he doesn't think it'll work, and he is an experienced guy in this field. I would be delighted to try myself, and I will when I get my Lacie 2nig thunderbolt harddrive up running again, as all my Blu ray movies (mkv files) are stored on it.

    Kindly

    Jan

  • by John Lockwood,

    John Lockwood John Lockwood May 28, 2013 4:22 AM in response to runnernorth
    Level 6 (9,309 points)
    Servers Enterprise
    May 28, 2013 4:22 AM in response to runnernorth

    Yeah I don't think it will work. Re-read that XBMC link and saw the message you mean. It is not clear whether that person (this morning!) was testing over HDMI or TOSLink.

  • by TomfromB,

    TomfromB TomfromB Nov 4, 2013 7:39 AM in response to runnernorth
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 4, 2013 7:39 AM in response to runnernorth

    I thought a streamer like PCH-A400 with an external HD will play mkv files with DTS-HD.  Any experience with that?

  • by runnernorth,

    runnernorth runnernorth Nov 4, 2013 11:21 AM in response to TomfromB
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 4, 2013 11:21 AM in response to TomfromB

    Hi TomfromB,I've no experience with that player, but it's a standalone player, just hook it up to your tv, no need of a Mac/OSX.

    That said, I did read a review of it, and it didn't get the best review.

    Kindly

    Jan