MPC-HC and LAV Filters for HTPC and D-Box

The D-Box motion system uses the AC3 and DTS streams to detect the movies.

With a player like PowerDVD you can only select one audio stream and one audio device. That is a problem for Blurays because you cannot use  the HD streams (TrueHD, DTS-HD or LPCM) and the D-Box system simultaneously.

I modified MPC-HC and the LAV Filters, both free and open-source, to use two audio streams with two audio devices.

- The HD audio will be sent through HDMI to the A/V Receiver (bitstream).

- The lossy AC3 or DTS will be sent as bitstream through SPDIF (digital or coax) to the D-Box controller

Depending on the HD stream:

- if DTS-HD MA, it uses the DTS core for the D-Box system

- if TrueHD, it uses the AC3 core for the D-Box system

- if LPCM, it uses one of the other AC3 or DTS stream.

There are options to override these default settings and to select the languages of primary and secondary audios. 

It works on Windows XP, Vista, and Windows 7 32 and 64 bits.

I am using an ATI 5670 and a cheap external USB card with optical SPDIF, connected to my MCI D-Box controller.

AnyDVD HD is required to play encrypted Bluray discs

Here are the installation instructions.

I do not cover the video configuration.

1) Download and install MPC-HC D-Boite version (23/11/2011, based on MPC-HC 1.5.3.3851)

Update against latest MPC-HC version, no D-Box related fixes or features

Previous version (based on MPC-HC 1.5.3758) available here.

Update against latest MPC-HC version version, no D-Box related fixes or features

2) Download and install LAV Filters D-Boite version ( 22/12/2011 based on LAV Filters 0.43)

Update against latest LAV Filters version, no D-Box related fixes or features

Download and install LAV Filters D-Boite version ( 23/11/2011 based on LAV Filters 0.40)

Update against latest LAV Filters version, no D-Box related fixes or features

Previous version (0.39) available here.

Update against latest LAV Filters version, no D-Box related fixes or features

Previous version (0.38) available here.

Update against latest LAV Filters version, no D-Box related fixes or features

For the original LAV Filters changelog, check here.

3) Open MPC-HC configurations

View --> Options

Then select Output and select the Primary and Secondary Audio Renderers according to your configuration.

 

Open the LAV Configuration

Start --> All Programs --> LAV Filters-DBoite --> LAV Splitter-DBoite configuration

Set the language as follow (here it is english, but you can use another language):

You can also change the Subtitle Selection mode, i.e. No Subtitles, Forced Subtitles,...

That's all, this configuration will work with most BD.

There are two other D-Box related options for some unusual BD:

- Duplicate Primary: if your BD has a normal DTS stream #1 (no DTS-HD MA) and a commentary DTS stream #2

By default it will send the stream #1 over HDMI and #2 over SPDIF to the D-Box controller. But only stream #1 is recognized by D-Box.

Check this option to send #1 to HDMI and SPDIF

- Force secondary audio stream: if your BR has a DTS-HD MA or TrueHD stream, Rather than using the DTS or AC3 core you might want to send one of the other DTS or AC3 stream. i.e. the DTS or AC3 core is not recognized by D-Box but another stream of the BD is.

During playback you can check wich audio streams are used and change them if required (you cannot select the same strean twice).

Here is an example with a LPCM + AC3 disc:

Contact me if you have any questions.

I will set up repositories to store the source code.