Playing mkv with DTS on Computer

[johnc10]

First of all, I apologise if this has been covered before but I can't find any reference to it.

I have an mkv film with a DTS soundtrack which I want to play from the computer onto my LCD 42" TV. I've tried using Nero Showtime but it will only play the audio and not the video, PowerDVD won't even play the file. At the moment i'm learning to convert the DTS to 5.1 but it would be nice if I could just play it straight away without converting so any advice would be appreciated 8)


P.S.
I have all the settings correct and I have an external Soundblaster linked to my Home Theatre System via a tos link

[ntscuser]

I asked the same question on Google this morning and this is the first link I found:

http://www.afterdawn.com/guides/archive/how_to_play_mkv.cfm

Be warned though that some downloaded files are so heavily compressed you will be lucky if you get anything like smooth playback.

[Midzuki]

You need a DTS decoder, such as ac3filter.
Media Player Classic Homecinema has a built-in DTS decoder.

P.S.: maybe you'll need an H264 decoder as well --- try ffdshow.

[johnc10]

You need a DTS decoder, such as ac3filter.
Media Player Classic Homecinema has a built-in DTS decoder as well.

I have ac3filter, I can play normal 5.1 no problem but as soon as I have an mkv file with DTS I can't find a program that allows me to play it on the computer! I've just tried the film I converted to 5.1 and it works great, but DTS is much better.
In case anyone is wondering why i'm doing this, the reason is, when you use your encoding program (ConvertXtoDVD in my case), you lose a bit of quality, but if you can play the source file directly onto your big screen you don't

[ntscuser]

Media Player Classic Homecinema has a built-in DTS decoder as well.

It does but as I found out this morning it's deactivated by default and along with MKV playback, has to be reactivated in options; filters.

Edit: Oops, sorry. I was referring to standard MPC. Haven't got around to the Home Cinema version yet.

[jman98]

If your so called "DTS" soundtrack is actually one of the high def variants on BluRay and not old style DTS, this could be one of your problems.

We have no idea if your home theatre system supports DTS or not since you say nothing else about it. Definitely check on that.

Finally, try using VLC (it's free) to play the file. If you have standard DTS and not one of the high def variants it should play fine.

[johnc10]

The movie I have is from a 1080p Blu-Ray and yes, I have a Sony system which supports DTS. I've just tried MPC Home Cinema and no luck on that. I think i've done the filters correctly

[ntscuser]

The movie I have is from a 1080p Blu-Ray

I can guess which one it is too and have had trouble with it myself. May I suggest a trying a different MKV file to see if that works?

[poisondeathray]

What does mediainfo say about the .mkv file?

Are you getting video but no sound?

Do you have haali media splitter installed? If not, enable the internal matroska splitter of MPCHC. If it's h.264, enable the internal h.264 decoder or install an external decoder like ffdshow and enable h.264. For the audio, enable the dts filter, or use external decoder like ffdshow and enable dts.

[johnc10]

Sorry I haven't replied earlier but i've managed to sort the problem,
anyone feel free to slap me, I made a simple error, I forgot to enable
DTS in AC3 Filter, oops, sorry guys