Has anyone experience in using lossless audio codecs in video files?

I want to use lossless audio in .avi or .mkv files. Only way I've found is using FLAC audio in Matroska container (.mkv files). Resulting file plays good until seeking. After seeking it looses synchronization between video and audio and not restore it. The same .wav in this video plays fine. The problem IMHO in variable bitrate in FLAC file.

Vit.

I very rarely use lossless audio for movies since Dolby Digital and DTS as you prolly know are lossy formats and therefore it makes little sense (at least to me), anyway in some cases with PCM sources I use WavPack which is compatible with the Matroska container and I have no seeking problems with BSPlayer 1.37, Media Player Classic 6.4.8.7 or Nero ShowTime 2.0.1.4.

matroska will support

FLAC
WAVPACK (lossless, lossy and hybrid)
TTA

Christian
matroska project admin

I had no problems muxing FLAC into matroska (in my case just matroska audio .mka).. but for some reason I never had success with WAVPACK. I had always some error (with mkvmerge 1.6.0).

Yes, you right, DD & DTS are good choice for movies. But for live concerts I want have a perfect sound.

Something strange I have with WavPack. I make .wv, put it to .mkv, play with Media Player Classic 6.4.8.7 and just see video, no sound. The same player plays fine .wv file. BSPlayer 1.37 crashes while opening .mkv file. What's wrong?

DARcode, can you explain which tools do you use to make .mkv with WavPack sound?

I use mkvmerge v1.6.5:
mkvmerge v1.6.5 ('Watcher Of The Skies') built on Dec 7 2005 18:53:31.
After merging I've look at size and check output file:
C:\TEMP>mkvmerge.exe --identify sonnet.mkv
File 'sonnet.mkv': container: Matroska
Track ID 1: video (V_MS/VFW/FOURCC, VP61)
Track ID 2: audio (A_WAVPACK4)
And here is what shows Media Player Classic version 6.4.8.7 in File/Option dialog:
sonnet.mkv
Type: Matroska File
Video: VP61 720x432 29.97fps [Undetermined (Video 1)]
And Media Player Classic succesfully recognizes and plays input file:
sonnet.wv
Type: Audio file (WavPack)
Audio: 0x5756 48000Hz stereo [Output]
Any ideas? Vit.

You have to disable the built-in matroska splitter of MPC, to make sure that Haali splitter is being used. The built-in matroska splitter has obviously not been updated since a long time, so it cant work with Wavpack audio.

The fact that a .wv file is playing shows, that the wavpack splitter and decoders were installed successfully. You should be fine once you disable the MPC matroska splitter in its settings, and a matroska icon will appear on the bottom right corner of your desktop. Right click on it to select audio, etc.

Somebody should bug Gabest about this BTW.

Christian
matroska project admin

Thanks for the confirmation, I just had this issue last week and was about to strop trying wavepack in matroska. It finally worked after a reinstall of the Haali splitter, but MPC still crashes if using its internal splitter when having a AC3 and a wv audio steam

Thanks, Christian! I install the Haali splitter and MPC plays my files with "WavPak" sound.

Vit.

I really wished Gabest would stop using 'internal splitters' for support of a fast moving project like matroska. MPC is still a widely used player, and Gabest can't update it as often as he should anymore.

For a 'static' format like MPEG his approach may be fine, as there really aren't any major changes to be expected anymore with it, but for matroska we even decided to deactivate the use of his internal splitter (by fiddling with MPC registry) when Haali splitter or our packs are being installed.

Again, he either has to update his player in regular intervals, or he shouldn't do things like this. Most users will not understand what an internal splitter is, all they experience is that his MKV/MKA/MP4 is not working.

The users conclusion from this is clear : matroska is unstable shit !

I talked to Gabest on similar situations, and his state of mind is very clear on this. He doesn't want at all to take responsibility for what he is doing. He is doing his software the way he likes to do it, if people are using it they should better know what it does. He denies the fact that his knowledge about the software is (must be) far superior to any of the users out there, and that he has to take care about that.

He is the super model of a typical scientist : If he had an idea to make a new bomb, he would do it, to see if his ideas are right. He wouldn't care at all if anybody would actually be using it, as this is, from his perspective, clearly in the responsibility of the guy using his stuff, not in his responsibility.

A clever way of doing it would be to detect, if an external, newer splitter would be installed, and to only use the internal if this is NOT the case. But hell, why do i write this here. He never really was interested what i was saying anyway, to him i am just a marketing guy who can't code ....

Christian
matroska project admin