One inexpensive solution for playing TrueHD “lossless” Atmos mixes:
I have found this device that will directly bitstream .mkv files that contain TrueHD audio to both of my Atmos-capable AV receivers (AVR’s). It is the Neumi ATOM 4k media device and is $42 right now. It uses either a USB drive or an SD card for streaming files to an AVR or soundbar, etc. It tested as working for TrueHD lossless playback with both my Denon 3700h AVR and Onkyo RZ920 AVR’s here.
To use the device, first simply connect a usb drive or SD card to your main computer. Create folders for any albums you have in .mkv format and drag the .mkv files into those folders. Some sites have started adding the .mkv format to their optional purchased deliverables, like immersiveaudioalbum.com and 2l.no. Albums seem to be about $20-25. This may replace having to cart around some blu-rays.
Now you are ready to connect the device to your AVR or such. You’ll need the AVR or soundbar to be connected to a video monitor of some sort so that you can see the Neumi menus.
If you click on Settings, you will find a setting for Audio.
That needs to be set to “Raw Passthrough” in order for the mkv files to stream the .mkv file’s immersive audio. Once that is set and you connect your USB drive or SD card, you can select your audio files via navigating the drive’s folders in the “Videos” menu (where the mkv files will be seen). They will not be seen in the device’s Music section.
If you have a folder full of .mkv files, the unit will keep playing them in sequence. It works kinda like an old school mp3 player :-D The default setting will play the last file and then loop back to start playing the first file in the folder. To have playback stop at the end of the last file in the folder, you need to change a playback setting only found when one of your .mkv files is playing or in pause. To change the loop on/off setting, navigate to one of your .mkv files and hit enter on the remote to play it. You can hit enter again to pause playback. Then, hit the Menu button on the Neumi remote. It looks like a to-do list and is next to the Home button. The menu below should pop up. Now, change “Sequential Loop” to “Sequential” and playback will stop at the end of the folder’s files.
To my knowledge, one needs the Dolby Media Encoder to actually CREATE TrueHD files from an ADM. I believe it can create .mkv files. There is a free trial of the app and then it gets very expensive to buy a license, supposedly.
Enjoy!
McKay Garner
me@mckaygarner.com