DTS Audio for android == LAWSUIT

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DTS audio *used* to work outofthebox in both DicePlayer (my old favorite), and in MX Player (my new fav), but both of them REMOVED the dts codec a few months ago apparently because of the threat of lawsuits from using unlicensed code.
(UPDATE: DicePlayer dev juami posted below that they were refused even the option to buy a license for DTS, because they prefer to deal with the big industry players instead; also, DicePlayer can still play dts IF you install an external codec plug-in)

Just curious what most people are doing out there in order to play their mkv videos with the very common DTS audio track (vs the less common AAC/MP3/etc audio tracks). Re-encoding phone-friendly versions with HandBrake; using an old app with DTS support; using a PAID app that paid the licensing fee (can't find one), or, something else...

EDIT: I'm going to keep a list here of players that are known to support DTS or not:

DTS IS SUPPORTED OTTB (for now):
VLC Beta - (h/w 1080p decode works! - BEST option, but, the app must be sideloaded, since it shows as incompatible with the US S3 in the Play store. See Time_Zone's post below for the attached VLC apk. Thanks!)
BS Player - (s/w ONLY (eats battery): h/w mode always falls back to s/w mode, but dts is ok. 720p s/w == ok; 1080p s/w == CPU can't keep up; too choppy)
Rock Player - (s/w ONLY (eats battery): no DTS when in h/w video playback mode, and s/w playback is blocky crap. Also, the app fails to playback a video when sent a video intent to play from another app)

DTS NOT SUPPORTED:
Video Player default - (Touchwiz, AOSP (CM10, AOKP, ...))
MX Player - (updated versions removed codec; google for old apk version)
Dice Player - (updated versions removed codec; google for old apk version (2.0.6), or try searching XDA for external plug-in support instead.)
Mobo Player

Originally Posted by zmore

DTS audio *used* to work in both DicePlayer (my old favorite; discontinued), and in MX Player (my new fav), but both of them REMOVED the dts codec a few months ago because of the threat of lawsuits.

Just curious what most people are doing out there in order to play their mkv videos with the very common DTS audio track (vs the less common AAC/MP3/etc audio tracks). Re-encoding phone-friendly versions with HandBrake; using an old app with DTS support; using a PAID app that paid the licensing fee (can't find one), or, something else...

VLC BETA... you have to search for it. It does work.

Originally Posted by Time_Zone

VLC BETA... you have to search for it. It does work.

Awesome. I'll give it try, even through from what I've read the beta is still very buggy & laggy.

Wonder how long they'll "get away with it" before removing DTS support too.

EDIT: VLC beta is currently incompatible with the US SGS3

FWIW, BS Player is one of the few I've found that can handle DTS Audio, however, it fails to playback do h/w accelerated playback of the video, and falls back to s/w, so it's choppy with 720p, and fails with 1080p

Originally Posted by zmore

Awesome. I'll give it try, even through from what I've read the beta is still very buggy & laggy.

Wonder how long they'll "get away with it" before removing DTS support too.

EDIT: VLC beta is currently incompatible with the US SGS3

huh... This one seems to be working for me...

Originally Posted by Time_Zone

huh... This one seems to be working for me...

Whoa! That works! Wonder why the Play store shows it as incompatible...

So, after enabling h/w acceleration (disabled by default), my 720p & 1080p vids play without a hiccup. Smooth video & crisp dts audio. I'm not seeing all the bugs that are warned about. Thanks man.

If I try to skip ahead or behind off a cifs mount across network the audio goes out of synch... Thats the only bug I have seen.

Originally Posted by zmore

DTS audio *used* to work in both DicePlayer (my old favorite; discontinued), and in MX Player (my new fav), but both of them REMOVED the dts codec a few months ago apparently because of the threat of lawsuits from using unlicensed code.

Diceplayer is not discontinued. ( https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...player.a&hl=en )

and there are a way to enable un-supported codec
search "xda diceplayer dts"

Originally Posted by juami

Diceplayer is not discontinued. ( https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...player.a&hl=en )

and there are a way to enable un-supported codec
search "xda diceplayer dts"

The impression I got is that DicePlayer switched from AdSupported&Paid versions to DonationWare in preparation of becoming AbandonWare. In any case, they removed DTS, so it's out of the running, and from the comments I read about the external dts workaround you mentioned: it doesn't work as well. VLC wins for now. Thanks, though.

For myself I have a backed up apk of the last MX Player to ahve DTS and I simply install that on new devices.