Bitstreaming and Audio Codecs

[watts3000]

Guys I would like to ask about codecs first off what all can windows 7 media center play natively? For example, I rip my dvds to ISO and play them also I use Total Media 5 to play my Blurays. However, what about files like MKV, MP4 and some of the other lossless sound formats. Also I have an AV reciever I really want to bypass all software audio encoding and bitstream everything to my reciever. So is there a way to bitstream in WMC without having to get into codecs?

[watts3000]

Ok I think I found an article that explained a little better why codecs are needed for bit streaming to an av receiver.

http://www.missingremote.com/guide/bits ... -your-htpc

Looks like WMC can't natively bitstream seems that you need to use Total Media or ffdshow

[richard1980]

By definition, bitstreaming does not require any codecs to be installed on the PC, as bitstreaming means outputting encoded audio from the PC to a receiver. The audio stream is never decoded on the PC, thus no codecs are required on the PC. WMC fully supports bitstreaming common audio formats such as Dolby Digital, DTS, and WMA Pro. However, WMC does not support playing every format in existence. Specific to your post, WMC does not support Blu-ray playback. Therefore, bitstreaming audio formats that are only supported on Blu-ray (such as the various HD versions of Dolby Digital and DTS) is not possible in WMC. You would need software capable of playing Blu-ray in order to even have a chance to bitstream the audio.

Additionally, MKV is not a codec. It's a container for a variety of codecs. In order to play MKV files in WMC, you only need to install Haali Media Splitter. After doing so, you will be able to open MKV files in WMC. However, you will need to make sure the underlying codecs in the MKV file are playable in WMC. Also, MP4 files are natively supported by WMC.