Mplayerosx

It seems this has been fixed in the latest mplayer trunk. The byte ordering for coreaudio passthrough was swapped by the looks of it. This has been annoying me for a while too. I rebuilt mplayer from svn this afternoon and can confirm that it's workin' again.

Can't wait for the fix to find its way into mplayer osx!

Passthrough is still not working with rev14, even though this reports to be using an mplayer build from Jan 2011 (r32769). This bug was fixed in Oct 2010, r32450, ao_coreaudio.c:

r32450 | diego | 2010-10-08 10:56:20 +0200 (Fri, 08 Oct 2010) | 3 lines
AC-3 streams need to be byteswapped on little-endian machines.
patch by Sean McGovern...

I've just rebuilt against r32837 and that works fine.

There's an issue thread about this, #227

Apologies for the newbie-ness, but I imagine I would have to "compile" the working app on a Linux machine, is this right? Is there some basic documentation available somewhere explaining how to do this?

I had high hopes for this app as it seems like the only standalone player capable of multichannel output and smooth 1080p playback on my mac. (would like an alternative to plex, xbmc)

Any suggestions appreciated.

I can assist you in compiling mplayer, however it will require some work on your part. The main difficulty is dealing with shared libraries (dylibs).

If you like, you may be interested in using my unofficial build of MPlayer.app based off r14, build 1410. I have included the latest SVN revision of mplayer (33081 at the moment), which fixes AC3 passthrough, among other things.

Here you can find my post describing the changes I have made and the link to the application. I suggest you read most of the page, including the changelog (perhaps from bottom-up).

Thanks for the Reply!

I downloaded your build from the link provided and removed the original app, rebuilt prefs and restarted. I tried a few different 1080p/5.1 AC3 movies and I get the same results as the OP of this thread, that is, no sound with the DTS/AC3 passthrough enabled in Mplayer prefs. The receiver seems to recognize AC3/DTS etc. correctly with Plex etc.

I read your changelog from the bottom up as you suggested and saw the AC3/DTS fix pertaining to the audio filters, maybe there is some other issue here?

My machine is i3 based, running 10.6.4 (64 bit enabled), connected to the denon receiver via an optical SPDIF cable.

If there is other info I could provide that is more helpful do let me know.

Here is the info for one of the movie files with a known working audio passthrough (AC3) that doesn't work in Mplayer:

* * * MediaInfo Mac 0.7.36.0 file analysis report.
* * * MediaInfo Mac is ©2010 by Diego Massanti - http://mediainfo.massanti.com
* * * MediaInfoLib by Jerome Martinez - http://mediainfo.sourceforge.net
Created on: Mar 16, 2011 5:26:33 PM PDT
Report for file: Austin Powers- International Man of Mystery (1997).mkv

General / Container Stream #1
    Total Video Streams for this File.................1
    Total Audio Streams for this File.................1
    Video Codecs Used.................................AVC
    Audio Codecs Used.................................AC3
    File Format.......................................Matroska
    Play Time.........................................1h 29mn
    Total File Size...................................3.77 GiB
    Total Stream BitRate..............................6 022 Kbps
    Encoded with......................................mkvmerge v2.9.5 ('Tu es le seul') built on Jun  8 2009 00:46:04
    Encoding Library..................................libebml v0.7.8 + libmatroska v0.8.1
Video Stream #1
    Codec (Human Name)................................AVC
    Codec (FourCC)....................................V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
    Codec Profile.....................................High@L4.0
    Frame Width.......................................1 920 pixels
    Frame Height......................................1 080 pixels
    Frame Rate........................................23.976 fps
    Total Frames......................................128881
    Display Aspect Ratio..............................16:9
    Scan Type.........................................Progressive
    Color Space.......................................YUV
    Codec Settings (Summary)..........................CABAC / 3 Ref Frames
    QF (like Gordian Knot)............................0.108
    Codec Settings (CABAC)............................Yes
    Codec Settings (Reference Frames).................3
    Video Stream Length...............................1h 29mn 35s 417ms
    Video Stream BitRate..............................5 382 Kbps
    Video Stream BitRate Mode.........................VBR
    Bit Depth.........................................8 bits
    Video Stream Size.................................3.29 GiB (87%)
    Video Encoder.....................................x264 - core 68 r1195M 5d75a9b
    Video Encoder (Settings)..........................cabac=1 / ref=3 / deblock=1:0:0 / analyse=0x3:0x133 / me=umh / subme=7 / psy_rd=1.0:0.0 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=1 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / chroma_qp_offset=-2 / threads=3 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / mbaff=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=0 / b_adapt=1 / b_bias=0 / direct=3 / wpredb=1 / keyint=240 / keyint_min=24 / scenecut=40 / rc=2pass / bitrate=5382 / ratetol=1.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=10 / qpmax=51 / qpstep=4 / cplxblur=20.0 / qblur=0.5 / vbv_maxrate=25000 / vbv_bufsize=25000 / ip_ratio=1.40 / pb_ratio=1.30 / aq=1:1.00
Audio Stream #1
    Codec.............................................AC-3
    Codec (FourCC)....................................A_AC3
    Audio Stream Length...............................1h 29mn 35s 424ms
    Audio Stream BitRate..............................640 Kbps
    Audio Stream BitRate Mode.........................CBR
    Number of Audio Channels..........................6
    Audio Channel's Positions.........................Front: L C R, Side: L R, LFE
    Sampling Rate.....................................48.0 KHz
    Bit Depth.........................................16 bits
    Audio Stream Size.................................410 MiB (11%)

Just to clarify, you hear clicking/hissing audio playback when enabling AC3 passthrough?

Can you post screenshots of both your MPlayer.app preferences and your System Preferences Sound pane? The only situation under which I hear the hissing is when using build 1410 (the official one), or, with my build when I set my output device incorrectly.

If changing your Output device settings doesn't resolve the problem, then could you add -v to the Advanced options in the preferences (remember to check the box) and post your MPlayerOSX.log file?

Can you verify that your receiver works with another program (DVD Player.app maybe?)?

As to your question about conflicting audio filters - yes, this bug causes a crash if you enable those checkboxes together, 1410j prevents this from happening. But unless mplayer is crashing then you haven't been a victim of this particular bug.

OK I need to dig up my DVD's as they are packed away, in the meantime here are some screenshots with my system settings and Mplayer settings. This is exactly what the OP describes:

http://img534.imageshack.us/img534/5413/systemaudioprefs.png
System Audio Prefs

http://img845.imageshack.us/img845/8901/mplayerenableaudioonly.png
1. Enable Audio option checked: provides stereo, perfect sound, but only stereo.

http://img268.imageshack.us/img268/3960/mplayerenablepassthroug.png
2. Enable DTS/AC3 passthrough checked: no sound at all on any media played back.

http://img825.imageshack.us/img825/1756/mplayeraudioenablesplus.png
3. Enable all 3 audio options: loud static pulsing, like a model helicopter?

Hope the images are linkable, let me know if they don't work - they look like a bit of a mess in the preview pane :)

I played one movie using the 3 different settings as described (closed movie in between).

Here is the log for that:

Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: Path to MPlayer: /Applications/MPlayer.app/Contents/Resources/Binaries/mpextended.mpBinaries/Contents/mpextended.mpBinaries/Contents/MacOS/mplayer
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: Command: mplayer "/Volumes/Movies/Movies/Austin Powers- International Man of Mystery (1997)/Austin Powers- International Man of Mystery (1997).mkv" -cache 51200 -lavdopts threads=4 -vo corevideo:buffer_name=mplayerosx-630-0 -font "Myriad Pro:style=Semibold" -ass -ass-font-scale 1.000 -embeddedfonts -ass-color FFFFFF26 -ass-border-color 00000032 -subfont-osd-scale 4.500 -framedrop -lavdopts fast:skiploopfilter=all -ao coreaudio:device_id=270 -volume 100.00 -ac hwdts,hwac3, -v -vf-add screenshot,ass,format=yuy2 -slave -identify -noar
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: Path to fontconfig: /Applications/MPlayer.app/Contents/Resources/fonts
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: Path to MPlayer home: /Users/mcsnake/Library/Application Support/MPlayer OSX Extended/MPlayer
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: MPlayer SVN-r33081-4.2.1 (C) 2000-2011 MPlayer Team
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: CPU vendor name: GenuineIntel  max cpuid level: 11
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i3 CPU         530  @ 2.93GHz (Family: 6, Model: 37, Stepping: 2)
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: extended cpuid-level: 8
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: extended cache-info: 16801856
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: Detected cache-line size is 64 bytes
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: CPUflags:  MMX: 1 MMX2: 1 3DNow: 0 3DNowExt: 0 SSE: 1 SSE2: 1 SSSE3: 1
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: Compiled for x86 CPU with extensions: MMX MMX2 SSE SSE2 SSSE3 CMOV
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: get_path('codecs.conf') -> '/Applications/MPlayer.app/Contents/Resources/Binaries/mpextended.mpBinaries/Contents/mpextended.mpBinaries/Contents/Resources/codecs.conf'
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: Reading /Applications/MPlayer.app/Contents/Resources/Binaries/mpextended.mpBinaries/Contents/mpextended.mpBinaries/Contents/Resources/codecs.conf: Can't open '/Applications/MPlayer.app/Contents/Resources/Binaries/mpextended.mpBinaries/Contents/mpextended.mpBinaries/Contents/Resources/codecs.conf': No such file or directory
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: Reading /usr/local/etc/mplayer/codecs.conf: Can't open '/usr/local/etc/mplayer/codecs.conf': No such file or directory
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: Using built-in default codecs.conf.
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: init_freetype
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: Using MMX (with tiny bit MMX2) Optimized OnScreenDisplay
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: get_path('fonts') -> '/Applications/MPlayer.app/Contents/Resources/Binaries/mpextended.mpBinaries/Contents/mpextended.mpBinaries/Contents/Resources/fonts'
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: Configuration: --disable-mencoder --disable-x11 --disable-gl --disable-mp3lib --disable-xvid --enable-macosx-finder --enable-macosx-bundle --target=x86_64-Darwin --codecsdir=/usr/local/lib/codecs --disable-dynamic-plugins
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: CommandLine: '/Volumes/Movies/Movies/Austin Powers- International Man of Mystery (1997)/Austin Powers- International Man of Mystery (1997).mkv' '-cache' '51200' '-lavdopts' 'threads=4' '-vo' 'corevideo:buffer_name=mplayerosx-630-0' '-font' 'Myriad Pro:style=Semibold' '-ass' '-ass-font-scale' '1.000' '-embeddedfonts' '-ass-color' 'FFFFFF26' '-ass-border-color' '00000032' '-subfont-osd-scale' '4.500' '-framedrop' '-lavdopts' 'fast:skiploopfilter=all' '-ao' 'coreaudio:device_id=270' '-volume' '100.00' '-ac' 'hwdts,hwac3,' '-v' '-vf-add' 'screenshot,ass,format=yuy2' '-slave' '-identify' '-noar'
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: Using Darwin accurate timing
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: Terminal type `unknown' is not defined.
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: get_path('input.conf') -> '/Applications/MPlayer.app/Contents/Resources/Binaries/mpextended.mpBinaries/Contents/mpextended.mpBinaries/Contents/Resources/input.conf'
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: Can't open input config file /Applications/MPlayer.app/Contents/Resources/Binaries/mpextended.mpBinaries/Contents/mpextended.mpBinaries/Contents/Resources/input.conf: No such file or directory
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: Can't open input config file /usr/local/etc/mplayer/input.conf: No such file or directory
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: Falling back on default (hardcoded) input config
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: get_path('Austin Powers- International Man of Mystery (1997).mkv.conf') -> '/Applications/MPlayer.app/Contents/Resources/Binaries/mpextended.mpBinaries/Contents/mpextended.mpBinaries/Contents/Resources/Austin Powers- International Man of Mystery (1997).mkv.conf'
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: Playing /Volumes/Movies/Movies/Austin Powers- International Man of Mystery (1997)/Austin Powers- International Man of Mystery (1997).mkv.
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: get_path('sub/') -> '/Applications/MPlayer.app/Contents/Resources/Binaries/mpextended.mpBinaries/Contents/mpextended.mpBinaries/Contents/Resources/sub/'
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: [file] File size is 4046374584 bytes
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: STREAM: [file] /Volumes/Movies/Movies/Austin Powers- International Man of Mystery (1997)/Austin Powers- International Man of Mystery (1997).mkv
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: STREAM: Description: File
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: STREAM: Author: Albeu
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: STREAM: Comment: based on the code from ??? (probably Arpi)
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: CACHE_PRE_INIT: 0 [0] 0  pre:10485760  eof:0  
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: LAVF_check: Matroska/WebM file format
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: [matroska,webm @ 0x102059000] Estimating duration from bitrate, this may be inaccurate
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: ==> Found video stream: 0
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: ======= VIDEO Format ======
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>:   biSize 95
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>:   biWidth 1920
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>:   biHeight 1080
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>:   biPlanes 0
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>:   biBitCount 0
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>:   biCompression 875967048='H264'
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>:   biSizeImage 0
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: Unknown extra header dump: [1] [64] [0] [28] [ff] 
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: [e1] [0] [27] [67] [64] [0] [28] [ac] [34] [e4] [1] [e0] [8] [9f] [97] [1] [10] [0] [65] [d3] [b0] [13] [12] [d0] [e] [4] [0] [0] [5f] [5e] [10] [0] [2] [fa] [f0] [a0] [81] [e0] [78] [c1] [88] [90] [1] [0] [5] [68] [ee] [b2] [c8] [b0] 
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: ===========================
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: [lavf] stream 0: video (h264), -vid 0
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: ==> Found audio stream: 1
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: ======= WAVE Format =======
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: Format Tag: 8192 (0x2000)
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: Channels: 6
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: Samplerate: 48000
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: avg byte/sec: 80000
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: Block align: 1
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: bits/sample: 0
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: cbSize: 0
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: ==========================================================================
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: [lavf] stream 1: audio (ac3), -aid 0
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: LAVF: 1 audio and 1 video streams found
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: LAVF: build 3434240
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: VIDEO:  [H264]  1920x1080  0bpp  24.000 fps    0.0 kbps ( 0.0 kbyte/s)
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: [V] filefmt:44  fourcc:0x34363248  size:1920x1080  fps:24.000  ftime:=0.0417
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: Load subtitles in /Volumes/Movies/Movies/Austin Powers- International Man of Mystery (1997)/
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: get_path('sub/') -> '/Applications/MPlayer.app/Contents/Resources/Binaries/mpextended.mpBinaries/Contents/mpextended.mpBinaries/Contents/Resources/sub/'
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Debug>: IDENTIFY not matched: DEMUXER = lavfpref
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Debug>: IDENTIFY not matched: START_TIME = 0.00
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Debug>: IDENTIFY not matched: CHAPTERS = 0
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: Opening video filter: [format fmt=yuy2]
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: Opening video filter: [ass]
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: [format] query(Planar YV12) -> 0
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: [format] query(Planar I420) -> 0
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: [format] query(Planar IYUV) -> 0
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: Opening video filter: [scale]
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: SwScale params: -1 x -1 (-1=no scaling)
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: Opening video filter: [screenshot]
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: [ass] FreeType library version: 2.4.4
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: [ass] FreeType headers version: 2.4.4
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: [ass] Init
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: get_path('fonts') -> '/Applications/MPlayer.app/Contents/Resources/Binaries/mpextended.mpBinaries/Contents/mpextended.mpBinaries/Contents/Resources/fonts'
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: get_path('subfont.ttf') -> '/Applications/MPlayer.app/Contents/Resources/Binaries/mpextended.mpBinaries/Contents/mpextended.mpBinaries/Contents/Resources/subfont.ttf'
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: [ass] Updating font cache
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: ==========================================================================
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: Opening video decoder: [ffmpeg] FFmpeg's libavcodec codec family
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: INFO: libavcodec init OK!
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: Selected video codec: [ffh264] vfm: ffmpeg (FFmpeg H.264)
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: ==========================================================================
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: ==========================================================================
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: Forced audio codec: hwdts
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: Forced audio codec: hwac3
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: Opening audio decoder: [hwac3] AC3/DTS pass-through S/PDIF
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: dec_audio: Allocating 8192 bytes for input buffer.
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: dec_audio: Allocating 16384 + 65536 = 81920 bytes for output buffer.
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: hwac3: switched to AC3, 640000 bps, 48000 Hz
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: AUDIO: 48000 Hz, 2 ch, ac3be, 640.0 kbit/41.67 ratio: 80000->192000)
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: Selected audio codec: [hwac3] afm: hwac3 (AC3 through S/PDIF)
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: ==========================================================================
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: Building audio filter chain for 48000Hz/2ch/ac3be -> 0Hz/0ch/??...
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: [libaf] Adding filter dummy 
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: [dummy] Was reinitialized: 48000Hz/2ch/ac3be
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: [dummy] Was reinitialized: 48000Hz/2ch/ac3be
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: Trying preferred audio driver 'coreaudio', options 'device_id=270'
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: AO: [coreaudio] init([48000Hz][2ch][ac3be][0])
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: AO: [coreaudio] got audio output device ID: 270 Name: Built-in Digital Output
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: AO: [coreaudio] supported format: 96000.0Hz 16bit [lpcm][12][4][1][4][2] int LE S packed
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: AO: [coreaudio] supported format: 88200.0Hz 16bit [lpcm][12][4][1][4][2] int LE S packed
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: AO: [coreaudio] supported format: 48000.0Hz 16bit [lpcm][12][4][1][4][2] int LE S packed
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: AO: [coreaudio] supported format: 44100.0Hz 16bit [lpcm][12][4][1][4][2] int LE S packed
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: AO: [coreaudio] supported format: 32000.0Hz 16bit [lpcm][12][4][1][4][2] int LE S packed
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: AO: [coreaudio] supported format: 96000.0Hz 20bit [lpcm][4][8][1][8][2] int LE S
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: AO: [coreaudio] supported format: 88200.0Hz 20bit [lpcm][4][8][1][8][2] int LE S
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: AO: [coreaudio] supported format: 48000.0Hz 20bit [lpcm][4][8][1][8][2] int LE S
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: AO: [coreaudio] supported format: 44100.0Hz 20bit [lpcm][4][8][1][8][2] int LE S
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: AO: [coreaudio] supported format: 32000.0Hz 20bit [lpcm][4][8][1][8][2] int LE S
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: AO: [coreaudio] supported format: 96000.0Hz 24bit [lpcm][4][8][1][8][2] int LE S
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: AO: [coreaudio] supported format: 88200.0Hz 24bit [lpcm][4][8][1][8][2] int LE S
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: AO: [coreaudio] supported format: 48000.0Hz 24bit [lpcm][4][8][1][8][2] int LE S
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: AO: [coreaudio] supported format: 44100.0Hz 24bit [lpcm][4][8][1][8][2] int LE S
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: AO: [coreaudio] supported format: 32000.0Hz 24bit [lpcm][4][8][1][8][2] int LE S
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: AO: [coreaudio] probe default audio output device about support for digital s/pdif output: 0
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: AO: [coreaudio] source: 48000.0Hz 16bit [lpcm][14][4][1][4][2] int BE S packed
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: AO: [coreaudio] using    47 chunks of 4096 bytes (buffer len 192512 bytes)
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: AO: [coreaudio] 48000Hz 2ch ac3be (2 bytes per sample)
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: AO: Description: Darwin/Mac OS X native audio output
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: AO: Author: Timothy J. Wood & Dan Christiansen & Chris Roccati
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: Building audio filter chain for 48000Hz/2ch/ac3be -> 48000Hz/2ch/ac3be...
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: [dummy] Was reinitialized: 48000Hz/2ch/ac3be
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: [dummy] Was reinitialized: 48000Hz/2ch/ac3be
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: Starting playback...
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: Increasing filtered audio buffer size from 0 to 65536
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Debug>: Send Command: pausing_keep get_property switch_video
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Debug>: Send Command: pausing_keep get_property switch_audio
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Debug>: Send Command: pausing_keep get_property sub_demux
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Debug>: Send Command: pausing_keep get_property sub_file
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Debug>: Send Command: pausing_keep get_property sub_vob
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: [h264 @ 0x1008308e0]no picture
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: [ffmpeg] aspect_ratio: 1.777778
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: VDec: vo config request - 1920 x 1080 (preferred colorspace: Planar YV12)
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: Trying filter chain: screenshot ass scale format vo
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: VDec: using Planar YV12 as output csp (no 0)
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: Movie-Aspect is 1.78:1 - prescaling to correct movie aspect.
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: VO Config (1920x1080->1920x1080,flags=0,'MPlayer',0x32315659)
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: [swscaler @ 0x100833400]using unscaled yuv420p -> rgb24 special converter
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: REQ: flags=0x2475  req=0x0  
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: REQ: flags=0x475  req=0x0  
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: REQ: flags=0x37  req=0x0  
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: REQ: flags=0x37  req=0x0  
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: VO: [corevideo] 1920x1080 => 1920x1080 Packed YUY2 
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: VO: Description: Mac OS X Core Video
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: VO: Author: Nicolas Plourde <nicolas.plourde@gmail.com>
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: [vo_corevideo] uninit: shm_unlink failed. Error: Invalid argument
Wed Mar 16 20:44:32 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: [vo_corevideo] writing output to a shared buffer named "mplayerosx-630-0" 
Wed Mar 16 20:44:33 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: Failed to get value of property 'sub_demux'.
Wed Mar 16 20:44:33 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: Failed to get value of property 'sub_file'.
Wed Mar 16 20:44:33 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: Failed to get value of property 'sub_vob'.
Wed Mar 16 20:44:33 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: *** [screenshot] Exporting mp_image_t, 1920x1080x12bpp YUV planar, 3110400 bytes
Wed Mar 16 20:44:33 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: *** [ass] Exporting mp_image_t, 1920x1080x12bpp YUV planar, 3110400 bytes
Wed Mar 16 20:44:33 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: *** [scale] Allocating mp_image_t, 1920x1080x12bpp YUV planar, 3110400 bytes
Wed Mar 16 20:44:33 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: *** [vo] Allocating mp_image_t, 1920x1080x16bpp YUV packed, 4147200 bytes
Wed Mar 16 20:44:33 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: Unicode font: 255 glyphs.
Wed Mar 16 20:44:33 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: Unicode font: 255 glyphs.
Wed Mar 16 20:44:33 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Debug>: REPLY not matched : ERROR = PROPERTY_UNAVAILABLE
Wed Mar 16 20:44:33 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Debug>: REPLY not matched : ERROR = PROPERTY_UNAVAILABLE
Wed Mar 16 20:44:33 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Debug>: REPLY not matched : ERROR = PROPERTY_UNAVAILABLE
Wed Mar 16 20:44:37 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>:   =====  PAUSE  =====
Wed Mar 16 20:44:55 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Debug>: Send Command: pausing_keep quit
Wed Mar 16 20:44:55 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: Uninit audio filters...
Wed Mar 16 20:44:55 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: [libaf] Removing filter dummy 
Wed Mar 16 20:44:55 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: Uninit audio: hwac3
Wed Mar 16 20:44:55 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: Uninit video: ffmpeg
Wed Mar 16 20:44:55 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: Exiting... (Quit)
Wed Mar 16 20:44:55 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: Exited with state 1 and reason QUIT
Wed Mar 16 20:44:56 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: MPlayer process exited with code 0
Wed Mar 16 20:44:56 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[630] <Info>: ===================== MPlayer OSX Terminated =====================

opened up the movie with ONLY the AC3/DTS passthrough options selected:

Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: Path to MPlayer: /Applications/MPlayer.app/Contents/Resources/Binaries/mpextended.mpBinaries/Contents/mpextended.mpBinaries/Contents/MacOS/mplayer
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: Command: mplayer "/Volumes/Movies/Movies/Austin Powers- International Man of Mystery (1997)/Austin Powers- International Man of Mystery (1997).mkv" -cache 51200 -lavdopts threads=4 -vo corevideo:buffer_name=mplayerosx-731-0 -font "Myriad Pro:style=Semibold" -ass -ass-font-scale 1.000 -embeddedfonts -ass-color FFFFFF26 -ass-border-color 00000032 -subfont-osd-scale 4.500 -framedrop -lavdopts fast:skiploopfilter=all -nosound -ao coreaudio:device_id=270 -volume 100.00 -ac hwdts,hwac3, -v -vf-add screenshot,ass,format=yuy2 -slave -identify -noar
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: Path to fontconfig: /Applications/MPlayer.app/Contents/Resources/fonts
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: Path to MPlayer home: /Users/mcsnake/Library/Application Support/MPlayer OSX Extended/MPlayer
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: MPlayer SVN-r33081-4.2.1 (C) 2000-2011 MPlayer Team
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: CPU vendor name: GenuineIntel  max cpuid level: 11
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i3 CPU         530  @ 2.93GHz (Family: 6, Model: 37, Stepping: 2)
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: extended cpuid-level: 8
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: extended cache-info: 16801856
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: Detected cache-line size is 64 bytes
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: CPUflags:  MMX: 1 MMX2: 1 3DNow: 0 3DNowExt: 0 SSE: 1 SSE2: 1 SSSE3: 1
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: Compiled for x86 CPU with extensions: MMX MMX2 SSE SSE2 SSSE3 CMOV
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: get_path('codecs.conf') -> '/Applications/MPlayer.app/Contents/Resources/Binaries/mpextended.mpBinaries/Contents/mpextended.mpBinaries/Contents/Resources/codecs.conf'
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: Reading /Applications/MPlayer.app/Contents/Resources/Binaries/mpextended.mpBinaries/Contents/mpextended.mpBinaries/Contents/Resources/codecs.conf: Can't open '/Applications/MPlayer.app/Contents/Resources/Binaries/mpextended.mpBinaries/Contents/mpextended.mpBinaries/Contents/Resources/codecs.conf': No such file or directory
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: Reading /usr/local/etc/mplayer/codecs.conf: Can't open '/usr/local/etc/mplayer/codecs.conf': No such file or directory
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: Using built-in default codecs.conf.
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: init_freetype
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: Using MMX (with tiny bit MMX2) Optimized OnScreenDisplay
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: get_path('fonts') -> '/Applications/MPlayer.app/Contents/Resources/Binaries/mpextended.mpBinaries/Contents/mpextended.mpBinaries/Contents/Resources/fonts'
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: Configuration: --disable-mencoder --disable-x11 --disable-gl --disable-mp3lib --disable-xvid --enable-macosx-finder --enable-macosx-bundle --target=x86_64-Darwin --codecsdir=/usr/local/lib/codecs --disable-dynamic-plugins
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: CommandLine: '/Volumes/Movies/Movies/Austin Powers- International Man of Mystery (1997)/Austin Powers- International Man of Mystery (1997).mkv' '-cache' '51200' '-lavdopts' 'threads=4' '-vo' 'corevideo:buffer_name=mplayerosx-731-0' '-font' 'Myriad Pro:style=Semibold' '-ass' '-ass-font-scale' '1.000' '-embeddedfonts' '-ass-color' 'FFFFFF26' '-ass-border-color' '00000032' '-subfont-osd-scale' '4.500' '-framedrop' '-lavdopts' 'fast:skiploopfilter=all' '-nosound' '-ao' 'coreaudio:device_id=270' '-volume' '100.00' '-ac' 'hwdts,hwac3,' '-v' '-vf-add' 'screenshot,ass,format=yuy2' '-slave' '-identify' '-noar'
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: Using Darwin accurate timing
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: Terminal type `unknown' is not defined.
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: get_path('input.conf') -> '/Applications/MPlayer.app/Contents/Resources/Binaries/mpextended.mpBinaries/Contents/mpextended.mpBinaries/Contents/Resources/input.conf'
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: Can't open input config file /Applications/MPlayer.app/Contents/Resources/Binaries/mpextended.mpBinaries/Contents/mpextended.mpBinaries/Contents/Resources/input.conf: No such file or directory
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: Can't open input config file /usr/local/etc/mplayer/input.conf: No such file or directory
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: Falling back on default (hardcoded) input config
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: get_path('Austin Powers- International Man of Mystery (1997).mkv.conf') -> '/Applications/MPlayer.app/Contents/Resources/Binaries/mpextended.mpBinaries/Contents/mpextended.mpBinaries/Contents/Resources/Austin Powers- International Man of Mystery (1997).mkv.conf'
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: Playing /Volumes/Movies/Movies/Austin Powers- International Man of Mystery (1997)/Austin Powers- International Man of Mystery (1997).mkv.
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: get_path('sub/') -> '/Applications/MPlayer.app/Contents/Resources/Binaries/mpextended.mpBinaries/Contents/mpextended.mpBinaries/Contents/Resources/sub/'
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: [file] File size is 4046374584 bytes
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: STREAM: [file] /Volumes/Movies/Movies/Austin Powers- International Man of Mystery (1997)/Austin Powers- International Man of Mystery (1997).mkv
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: STREAM: Description: File
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: STREAM: Author: Albeu
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: STREAM: Comment: based on the code from ??? (probably Arpi)
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: CACHE_PRE_INIT: 0 [0] 0  pre:10485760  eof:0  
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: LAVF_check: Matroska/WebM file format
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: [matroska,webm @ 0x103001000] Estimating duration from bitrate, this may be inaccurate
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: ==> Found video stream: 0
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: ======= VIDEO Format ======
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>:   biSize 95
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>:   biWidth 1920
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>:   biHeight 1080
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>:   biPlanes 0
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>:   biBitCount 0
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>:   biCompression 875967048='H264'
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>:   biSizeImage 0
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: Unknown extra header dump: [1] [64] [0] 
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: [28] [ff] [e1] [0] [27] [67] [64] [0] [28] [ac] [34] [e4] [1] [e0] [8] [9f] [97] [1] [10] [0] [65] [d3] [b0] [13] [12] [d0] [e] [4] [0] [0] [5f] [5e] [10] [0] [2] [fa] [f0] [a0] [81] [e0] [78] [c1] [88] [90] [1] [0] [5] [68] [ee] [b2] [c8] [b0] 
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: ===========================
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: [lavf] stream 0: video (h264), -vid 0
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: ==> Found audio stream: 1
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: ======= WAVE Format =======
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: Format Tag: 8192 (0x2000)
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: Channels: 6
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: Samplerate: 48000
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: avg byte/sec: 80000
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: Block align: 1
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: bits/sample: 0
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: cbSize: 0
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: ==========================================================================
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: [lavf] stream 1: audio (ac3), -aid 0
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: LAVF: 1 audio and 1 video streams found
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: LAVF: build 3434240
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: VIDEO:  [H264]  1920x1080  0bpp  24.000 fps    0.0 kbps ( 0.0 kbyte/s)
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: [V] filefmt:44  fourcc:0x34363248  size:1920x1080  fps:24.000  ftime:=0.0417
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: Load subtitles in /Volumes/Movies/Movies/Austin Powers- International Man of Mystery (1997)/
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: get_path('sub/') -> '/Applications/MPlayer.app/Contents/Resources/Binaries/mpextended.mpBinaries/Contents/mpextended.mpBinaries/Contents/Resources/sub/'
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Debug>: IDENTIFY not matched: DEMUXER = lavfpref
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Debug>: IDENTIFY not matched: START_TIME = 0.00
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Debug>: IDENTIFY not matched: CHAPTERS = 0
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: Opening video filter: [format fmt=yuy2]
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: Opening video filter: [ass]
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: [format] query(Planar YV12) -> 0
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: [format] query(Planar I420) -> 0
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: [format] query(Planar IYUV) -> 0
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: Opening video filter: [scale]
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: SwScale params: -1 x -1 (-1=no scaling)
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: Opening video filter: [screenshot]
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: [ass] FreeType library version: 2.4.4
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: [ass] FreeType headers version: 2.4.4
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: [ass] Init
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: get_path('fonts') -> '/Applications/MPlayer.app/Contents/Resources/Binaries/mpextended.mpBinaries/Contents/mpextended.mpBinaries/Contents/Resources/fonts'
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: get_path('subfont.ttf') -> '/Applications/MPlayer.app/Contents/Resources/Binaries/mpextended.mpBinaries/Contents/mpextended.mpBinaries/Contents/Resources/subfont.ttf'
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: [ass] Updating font cache
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: ==========================================================================
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: Opening video decoder: [ffmpeg] FFmpeg's libavcodec codec family
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: INFO: libavcodec init OK!
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: Selected video codec: [ffh264] vfm: ffmpeg (FFmpeg H.264)
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: ==========================================================================
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: Audio: no sound
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: Freeing 0 unused audio chunks.
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: Starting playback...
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Debug>: Send Command: pausing_keep get_property switch_video
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Debug>: Send Command: pausing_keep get_property switch_audio
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Debug>: Send Command: pausing_keep get_property sub_demux
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Debug>: Send Command: pausing_keep get_property sub_file
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Debug>: Send Command: pausing_keep get_property sub_vob
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: [h264 @ 0x1008308e0]no picture
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: [ffmpeg] aspect_ratio: 1.777778
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: VDec: vo config request - 1920 x 1080 (preferred colorspace: Planar YV12)
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: Trying filter chain: screenshot
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>:  ass scale format vo
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: VDec: using Planar YV12 as output csp (no 0)
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: Movie-Aspect is 1.78:1 - prescaling to correct movie aspect.
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: VO Config (1920x1080->1920x1080,flags=0,'MPlayer',0x32315659)
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: [swscaler @ 0x100833400]using unscaled yuv420p -> rgb24 special converter
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: REQ: flags=0x2475  req=0x0  
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: REQ: flags=0x475  req=0x0  
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: REQ: flags=0x37  req=0x0  
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: REQ: flags=0x37  req=0x0  
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: VO: [corevideo] 1920x1080 => 1920x1080 Packed YUY2 
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: VO: Description: Mac OS X Core Video
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: VO: Author: Nicolas Plourde <nicolas.plourde@gmail.com>
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: [vo_corevideo] uninit: shm_unlink failed. Error: Invalid argument
Wed Mar 16 21:01:05 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: [vo_corevideo] writing output to a shared buffer named "mplayerosx-731-0" 
Wed Mar 16 21:01:06 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: Failed to get value of property 'sub_demux'.
Wed Mar 16 21:01:06 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: Failed to get value of property 'sub_file'.
Wed Mar 16 21:01:06 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: Failed to get value of property 'sub_vob'.
Wed Mar 16 21:01:06 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: *** [screenshot] Exporting mp_image_t, 1920x1080x12bpp YUV planar, 3110400 bytes
Wed Mar 16 21:01:06 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: *** [ass] Exporting mp_image_t, 1920x1080x12bpp YUV planar, 3110400 bytes
Wed Mar 16 21:01:06 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: *** [scale] Allocating mp_image_t, 1920x1080x12bpp YUV planar, 3110400 bytes
Wed Mar 16 21:01:06 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: *** [vo] Allocating mp_image_t, 1920x1080x16bpp YUV packed, 4147200 bytes
Wed Mar 16 21:01:06 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: Unicode font: 255 glyphs.
Wed Mar 16 21:01:06 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: Unicode font: 255 glyphs.
Wed Mar 16 21:01:06 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Debug>: REPLY not matched : ERROR = PROPERTY_UNAVAILABLE
Wed Mar 16 21:01:06 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Debug>: REPLY not matched : ERROR = PROPERTY_UNAVAILABLE
Wed Mar 16 21:01:06 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Debug>: REPLY not matched : ERROR = PROPERTY_UNAVAILABLE
Wed Mar 16 21:01:22 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>:   =====  PAUSE  =====
Wed Mar 16 21:01:24 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Debug>: Send Command: pausing_keep quit
Wed Mar 16 21:01:24 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>:   =====  PAUSE  =====
Wed Mar 16 21:01:24 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: Uninit video: ffmpeg
Wed Mar 16 21:01:24 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: Exiting... (Quit)
Wed Mar 16 21:01:24 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: Exited with state 1 and reason QUIT
Wed Mar 16 21:01:24 mcsnakesmediabox.local MPlayer OSX[731] <Info>: MPlayer process exited with code 0

Here is the relevant part of your log: ================================================================
Forced audio codec: hwdts
Forced audio codec: hwac3
Opening audio decoder: [hwac3] AC3/DTS pass-through S/PDIF
dec_audio: Allocating 8192 bytes for input buffer.
dec_audio: Allocating 16384 + 65536 = 81920 bytes for output buffer.
hwac3: switched to AC3, 640000 bps, 48000 Hz
AUDIO: 48000 Hz, 2 ch, ac3be, 640.0 kbit/41.67 ratio: 80000->192000)
Selected audio codec: [hwac3] afm: hwac3 (AC3 through S/PDIF) ================================================================
Building audio filter chain for 48000Hz/2ch/ac3be -> 0Hz/0ch/??...
[libaf] Adding filter dummy
[dummy] Was reinitialized: 48000Hz/2ch/ac3be
[dummy] Was reinitialized: 48000Hz/2ch/ac3be
Trying preferred audio driver 'coreaudio', options 'device_id=270'
AO: [coreaudio] init([48000Hz][2ch][ac3be][0])
AO: [coreaudio] got audio output device ID: 270 Name: Built-in Digital Output
AO: [coreaudio] supported format: 96000.0Hz 16bit [lpcm][12][4][1][4][2] int LE S packed
AO: [coreaudio] supported format: 88200.0Hz 16bit [lpcm][12][4][1][4][2] int LE S packed
AO: [coreaudio] supported format: 48000.0Hz 16bit [lpcm][12][4][1][4][2] int LE S packed
AO: [coreaudio] supported format: 44100.0Hz 16bit [lpcm][12][4][1][4][2] int LE S packed
AO: [coreaudio] supported format: 32000.0Hz 16bit [lpcm][12][4][1][4][2] int LE S packed
AO: [coreaudio] supported format: 96000.0Hz 20bit [lpcm][4][8][1][8][2] int LE S
AO: [coreaudio] supported format: 88200.0Hz 20bit [lpcm][4][8][1][8][2] int LE S
AO: [coreaudio] supported format: 48000.0Hz 20bit [lpcm][4][8][1][8][2] int LE S
AO: [coreaudio] supported format: 44100.0Hz 20bit [lpcm][4][8][1][8][2] int LE S
AO: [coreaudio] supported format: 32000.0Hz 20bit [lpcm][4][8][1][8][2] int LE S
AO: [coreaudio] supported format: 96000.0Hz 24bit [lpcm][4][8][1][8][2] int LE S
AO: [coreaudio] supported format: 88200.0Hz 24bit [lpcm][4][8][1][8][2] int LE S
AO: [coreaudio] supported format: 48000.0Hz 24bit [lpcm][4][8][1][8][2] int LE S
AO: [coreaudio] supported format: 44100.0Hz 24bit [lpcm][4][8][1][8][2] int LE S
AO: [coreaudio] supported format: 32000.0Hz 24bit [lpcm][4][8][1][8][2] int LE S
AO: [coreaudio] probe default audio output device about support for digital s/pdif output: 0
AO: [coreaudio] source: 48000.0Hz 16bit [lpcm][14][4][1][4][2] int BE S packed
AO: [coreaudio] using 47 chunks of 4096 bytes (buffer len 192512 bytes)
AO: [coreaudio] 48000Hz 2ch ac3be (2 bytes per sample)
AO: Description: Darwin/Mac OS X native audio output
AO: Author: Timothy J. Wood & Dan Christiansen & Chris Roccati
Building audio filter chain for 48000Hz/2ch/ac3be -> 48000Hz/2ch/ac3be...
[dummy] Was reinitialized: 48000Hz/2ch/ac3be
[dummy] Was reinitialized: 48000Hz/2ch/ac3be
Starting playback...

And here is my log: ================================================================
Forced audio codec: hwdts
Forced audio codec: hwac3
Opening audio decoder: [hwac3] AC3/DTS pass-through S/PDIF
dec_audio: Allocating 8192 bytes for input buffer.
dec_audio: Allocating 16384 + 65536 = 81920 bytes for output buffer.
hwac3: switched to AC3, 448000 bps, 48000 Hz
AUDIO: 48000 Hz, 2 ch, ac3be, 448.0 kbit/29.17 ratio: 56000->192000)
Selected audio codec: [hwac3] afm: hwac3 (AC3 through S/PDIF) ================================================================
Building audio filter chain for 48000Hz/2ch/ac3be -> 0Hz/0ch/??...
[libaf] Adding filter dummy
[dummy] Was reinitialized: 48000Hz/2ch/ac3be
[dummy] Was reinitialized: 48000Hz/2ch/ac3be
Trying preferred audio driver 'coreaudio', options 'device_id=264'
AO: [coreaudio] init([48000Hz][2ch][ac3be][0])
AO: [coreaudio] got audio output device ID: 264 Name: Built-in Digital Output
AO: [coreaudio] supported format: 96000.0Hz 16bit [lpcm][12][4][1][4][2] int LE S packed
AO: [coreaudio] supported format: 48000.0Hz 16bit [lpcm][12][4][1][4][2] int LE S packed
AO: [coreaudio] supported format: 44100.0Hz 16bit [lpcm][12][4][1][4][2] int LE S packed
AO: [coreaudio] supported format: 96000.0Hz 20bit [lpcm][4][8][1][8][2] int LE S
AO: [coreaudio] supported format: 48000.0Hz 20bit [lpcm][4][8][1][8][2] int LE S
AO: [coreaudio] supported format: 44100.0Hz 20bit [lpcm][4][8][1][8][2] int LE S
AO: [coreaudio] supported format: 96000.0Hz 24bit [lpcm][4][8][1][8][2] int LE S
AO: [coreaudio] supported format: 48000.0Hz 24bit [lpcm][4][8][1][8][2] int LE S
AO: [coreaudio] supported format: 44100.0Hz 24bit [lpcm][4][8][1][8][2] int LE S
AO: [coreaudio] supported format: 96000.0Hz 16bit [cac3][76][6144][1536][0][2] int LE S packed
AO: [coreaudio] supported format: 48000.0Hz 16bit [cac3][76][6144][1536][0][2] int LE S packed
AO: [coreaudio] supported format: 44100.0Hz 16bit [cac3][76][6144][1536][0][2] int LE S packed
AO: [coreaudio] probe default audio output device about support for digital s/pdif output: 1
AO: [coreaudio] source: 48000.0Hz 16bit [cac3][14][4][1][4][2] int BE S packed
AO: [coreaudio] current device stream number: 1
<snip>
AO: [coreaudio] using 32 chunks of 6144 bytes (buffer len 196608 bytes)
AO: [coreaudio] 48000Hz 2ch ac3le (2 bytes per sample)
AO: Description: Darwin/Mac OS X native audio output
AO: Author: Timothy J. Wood & Dan Christiansen & Chris Roccati
Building audio filter chain for 48000Hz/2ch/ac3be -> 48000Hz/2ch/ac3le...
[dummy] Was reinitialized: 48000Hz/2ch/ac3be
[libaf] Adding filter format
[format] Changing sample format from big-endian AC3 to little-endian AC3
[format] Accelerated endianness conversion only
[dummy] Was reinitialized: 48000Hz/2ch/ac3be
[format] Changing sample format from big-endian AC3 to little-endian AC3
[format] Accelerated endianness conversion only
Starting playback...

The bolded portion indicates what happened. On my i7, mplayer found support for [cac3] at 96,48, and 44.1kHz, as well as pcm audio at a whole bunch of frequencies. mplayer did not find any ac3 formats supported by your selected audio device, so the probe line returned 0. Then you can see that mplayer does big-endian to little-endian AC3 conversion on my computer, whereas that section is skipped for you, because you already failed the probe for ac3 support.

This post is long enough, next!

What this tells us is that there is no problem with your media file, and MPlayer.app is also not the problem. I don't think mplayer is the problem either.

I am glad I asked you for screenshots though, because the audio devices control you posted is unfamiliar to me. I think this is the root of your problem. I can clearly see from your screenshot that Built-in Digital Output carries stereo output (2ch).

Can you list all the 3rd-party sound software/utilities/prefpanes you are using?
Can you try uninstalling them all? I do not need to use any 3rd party programs to enable AC3 passthrough in MPlayer.app, and there is a chance these might be interfering, rather than helping.

If that doesn't work, it looks like you can configure (insert app name) to use more than two channels. This could be a case of it not being set properly for AC3 audio.

Thanks for the breakdown and explanation.

The audio devices control panel is included in mac osx I believe in the utilities folder. It gives better info than the Apple sound control panel - also changes made there are refected in the standard audi control pane, so it doesn't matter which one you use, this just has better info.

Does yours have multichannel available?

I have perian installed, and that's it, which I will remove to test.

will post results tomorrow as well as DVD results.

Ah, how could I forget Audio MIDI Setup. With a name like that...

Can you set your digital output to 'Encoded Digital Audio' like the attached screenshot? I notice that this Audio Devices lists all my devices as 2-channel, so I guess that information isn't reliable.

I just noticed that if I select Encoded Digital Audio, the selected audio device swaps back down to 'Built-in Output' from Digital Output. I am not convinced that this application is more useful than Sound.prefPane...

I was more referring to Soundflower than Perian, which I doubt would cause conflicts.

Oh, I forgot to mention this earlier. You should only uncheck the 'Enable Audio' box if you don't want any sound. There is no mystery about what this box does, and it will not help you get passthrough.

Edit: Just to be as clear as possible, with the settings shown in Working_Settings.png, I am receiving AC3 audio from mplayer to my receiver over S/PDIF, with music from iTunes going to line out (headphones). This is not really what the Audio Devices control panel shows, but these settings work for me. Then again I don't have to do anything special to get it working, so replicating these settings probably won't help you.

I see now what the problem may be, I don't think I have "encoded digital audio" as an audio output option, so that may explain it! Unfortunately since this is a Hackintosh I may be out of luck as the audio driver functionality is dependent on that community. I am getting a macbook pro in the not-too-distant future so I will get Mplayer going on that.

Thanks for the clarification about "enable audio" - nice and simple, I was reading too much into it.

I just noticed that if I select Encoded Digital Audio, the selected audio device swaps back down to 'Built-in Output' from Digital Output. I am not convinced that this application is more useful than Sound.prefPane...

Interesting! I would like to mess around with this on a real mac.

I am using a Hackintosh too, that shouldn't be a problem, you may need to update your audio kexts though. I used digital_dreamer's HackInstaller to install 10.6 with kexts, but you can install them any way you wish. Attached is a screenshot showing the audio kext I use. I had to annotate it because all the kexts have the same name...

Interesting.. I just checked my other hackintosh (Gigabyte P55M UD4, also uses Realtek 889a audio chipset - which is more of a "full feature" mobo I guess) and indeed it had the "encoded digital audio" option available for the digital options in the audio midi preferences pane.

I have been using tonymac installers for a while now as they are fairly painless, I guess I will need to roll up my sleeves and get busy finding a kext that can provide the encoded digital audio for the H55N-USB3 board, which I believe uses the ALC 892a for audio. hopefully such a thing exists, if the chip is even capable of it (encoded digital).

These look at least promising. I never messed with DSDT patches though, so you're on your own if you need to do that:

http://tonymacx86.blogspot.com/2011/03/multibeast-33-update.html
and
http://macmanx86.blogspot.com/search/label/audio

Hah yea strangely enough I have that exact latest HDA kext/DSDT combo installed on that H55N-USB3 board. I have been lazy about learning DSDT editing as there always seems to be someone with a pre-made one that fits the bill so it would be uncharted water for me.

I am going to do some testing with hardware this weekend and make sure that Mplayer can output surround through my receiver, using the machine with the 889a chip. I need to rule out that the receiver is at fault, as it seems through my googling that some receivers are finicky about what digital streams they will recognize.

Once that is ruled out I can make a somewhat more informed request for guidance on the tonymac forums here:

http://www.tonymacx86.com/viewtopic.php?f=81&t=9928 (EDIT - made an inquiry on that thread 03/19/11)

If that fails I can either rebuild the HTPC around a board with the 889a chip, or possibly purchase an outboard USB to optical converter, I see some people having success with those though it seems they are mostly geared towards the windows platform.

Found this, looks like the 892 should be able to do almost everything...

http://img30.imageshack.us/img30/2664/70734797.png

Just wanted to say your build fixed my AC3 passthrough issues! DTS was already working for me with MPE rev14, but just AC3 was broken.

Thanks Hermi!

Btw, if anyone is wondering, I'm running OSX 10.6.7 on a P5KC motherboard (hackintosh) with onboard audio.

I threw together a quick site that provides some more background on my beta builds of MPE. It also provides a more visible place for update information (though if you enable beta updates you will get this information right within the app).

i am trying to utilize DVD Converter in order to convert a PAL DVD with AC3 soundtrack to NTSC and while the conversion with the video operates perfectly, however the AC3 file produced is 0 KB.
i've ripped the DVD and used [url=http://www.topvideoconverter.com/ac3-converter/]ac3 converter[/url] in accordance of the explanations here in the forum and assured the resultant .VOB using QuickTime and VLC (to verify that the soundtrack is present in the rip), but after conversion the just files at present are the converted .M2V file as well as the empty .AC3 file...
what am i doing incorrect?

i've been trying to utilize DVD Converter to convert a PAL DVD with AC3 soundtrack to NTSC even though the converting process with the video operates perfectly, however the AC3 file produced is actually 0 KB.
i've ripped the DVD and utilized [url=http://www.topvideoconverter.com/ac3-converter/]software for converting ac3[/url] according to the explanations here in the forum and verified the resultant .VOB using QuickTime and VLC (to verify that the soundtrack is present in the rip), but after converting the just files present are the converted .M2V file and the empty .AC3 file...
what am i doing incorrect?