How to Handle TrueHD + AC3 audio track?

[Matrix789]

Hello everybody,

I have a movie on a Blu Ray disc that I would like to rip into a .mkv file for backup purposes and to play on my laptop with VLC Media Player or stream to my TV via Plex.

I demuxed all the tracks with eac3to and I'm trying to create the .mkv file using MKVTooNix. The first thing that I notice is that when I import the TrueHD (Atmos) + AC3 audio track it actually becomes two separate tracks, one TrueHD and one AC3. I tried leaving both the tracks selected, with the TrueHD one flagged as default, and then I created the .mkv file but, when I play it on my PC with VLC the audio doesn't work properly: it's basically mute and I can hear something for a fraction of a second every now and then. If I try to stream it on Chromecast with Plex I get an error message and I can't play the movie at all.

If I flag the AC3 audio track as default I can play it both on VLC and Plex; if I switch track while playing on Plex it gives me the "unable to cast" error.

So, my question is: what's the best way to make my .mkv file? Is there a way to put the two tracks back together and, if yes, would that allow me to play my movie without any issues? I am guessing that if my PC or TV don't support the TrueHD track they would automatically use the AC3 embedded in it; is that correct?
If that's not the case, should I just leave two tracks with the AC3 as default and play the TrueHD one only on systems that support it? (By the way, do you guys know how to properly play TrueHD audio on both a pc and Plex?)

Thank you so much for your help!

[sneaker_ger]

TrueHD and AC3 are supposed to be separated in Matroska.
https://github.com/mbunkus/mkvtoolnix/wiki/TrueHD-and-AC-3

I am guessing that if my PC or TV don't support the TrueHD track they would automatically use the AC3 embedded in it; is that correct?
Maybe, maybe not.

By the way, do you guys know how to properly play TrueHD audio on both a pc and Plex?
VLC should support decoding TrueHD (without the Atmos part). If the sound is not working or playing incorrectly there may have been something wrong with the ripping process.
1. How did you rip? What software and what software revisions did you use?
2. Try to directly open your source in mkvtoolnix (without eac3to step)
3. Upload a sample.

[Matrix789]

VLC should support decoding TrueHD (without the Atmos part). If the sound is not working or playing incorrectly there may have been something wrong with the ripping process.
1. How did you rip? What software and what software revisions did you use?
2. Try to directly open your source in mkvtoolnix (without eac3to step)
3. Upload a sample.

I only ripped the video track to make it roughly half the size with BD Rebuilder, I didn't touch the audio tracks at all. If I open the source directly on MKVToolNix I get the same result. Maybe I need to configure VLC properly or download some codecs (?), even though I've read that in order to play TrueHD audio I need to purchase some kind of software/hardware.

I've read the page you linked me about the two separate tracks for matroska containers and they also say: "The AC-3 part is present so that if that track is output to a hardware decoder that doesn't know about TrueHD, then that hardware decoder can still decode the AC-3 part" as I was assuming. So, is there another container format as good/popular as mkv that allows me to keep only one track with TrueHD and AC3 together? That would work better for me, as I don't like having multiple tracks for the same language.

Thank you

[sneaker_ger]

Maybe I need to configure VLC properly or download some codecs (?), even though I've read that in order to play TrueHD audio I need to purchase some kind of software/hardware.
Try latest VLC nightly (https://nightlies.videolan.org/).
https://trac.videolan.org/vlc/ticket/15478


So, is there another container format as good/popular as mkv that allows me to keep only one track with TrueHD and AC3 together?
Basically only M2TS as it is used on Blu-ray. But it has more overhead than mkv.

[Matrix789]

Try latest VLC nightly (https://nightlies.videolan.org/).
https://trac.videolan.org/vlc/ticket/15478



Basically only M2TS as it is used on Blu-ray. But it has more overhead than mkv.

I downloaded the latest nightly version and it actually worked, thank you!
So now I have to find out a way to play it on Plex, any ideas?

I guess I'll keep two audio tracks and call them English 7.1 and English 5.1, even though I'm not crazy about the idea. Is there a proper/standard way to rename tracks when there's more than one with the same language?

Thanks

[sneaker_ger]

Not that I know of.

[Matrix789]

Is there anybody here who can help me with Plex, please?

[microchip8]

Is there anybody here who can help me with Plex, please?

Why don't use ask on the community forums of Plex?

[Matrix789]

Why don't use ask on the community forums of Plex?

I did but with no luck unfortunately. I just need to know how it works basically.