dcaenc is a Free Software (LGPL-licensed) encoder for the DTS Coherent Acoustics audio format. Attached is a new ebuild for this software project Reproducible: Always DTS is patented. If I'm not mistaken, if you already own a hardware device which uses DTS, then you already have a (implied?) license.
Created attachment 363246 [details] dcaenc-2.ebuild
I should cite the implied license for use was acquired from some other software project, of or relating to Dolby/A52. (This may have been stated within one of the many ALSA related Internet sites.) Nevertheless, always consult with a lawyer, and this is more so with businesses making money from the technology. ;-)
FYI: Using the alsa plugin is quite easy. "aplay -L" (not "aplay -l"), as only the ALSA DCA device will be shown with the capitol "-L" option here, and note the DCA device(s) attached to the S/PDIF devices. "mplayer -ao alsa:device=dca /Path/To/PCM.WAV" and ensure your DTS/Dolby receiver is connected via S/PDIF. Seems to remix any PCM WAV file, no matter how many channels or it's bit format, into DTS quite well. (ie. 16 or 24 bit, as the DCA plugin likely automatically down-mixes to 16 bit when using S/PDIF?) I've been unsuccessful in using the /bin/dcaenc, as I keep getting a "Could not open or parse /home/roger/tmp/input.wav". Shrugs. (Likely something amiss there.) I think the a52 plugin for ALSA for encoding PCM 5.1 WAV files into 2 Channel 16 bit A52/AC3 (AKA Dolby) will still be far more popular and likely produce better quality as I think the author of dcaenc has already stated, but dcaenc will provide a choice for users. (Guessing the younger people enjoying the higher contrasting DTS for music, until the dcaenc code matures and gets through any hurdles. ;-) Most movies or music already provide DTS tracks. I just bought the Movie Chicago and will likely test comparing DTS and A52 mixing the PCM-5.1 stream over S/PDIF sometimes, as I still dislike HDMI.
> I've been unsuccessful in using the /bin/dcaenc, as I keep getting a "Could > not open or parse /home/roger/tmp/input.wav". Shrugs. (Likely something > amiss there.) I ran into the same problem. Make sure the source file is 6 channels.
Thanks for the ebuild, Roger! In CVS.
I think I also figured out the six channel requisite sometime later after filing the last comment. Thanks for your time committing this ebuild!
