Why is Shield "Dolby Processing" required to play this movie?

[justinrh 174]

I recorded Avatar off of TV (don't ask me why), and Emby won't spit out the audio unless I toggle on the Shield's "Dolby Processing".  It has been recommended here to have it turned off, so it normally is.  AFAIK, the sound bar should be able to handle the audio natively, and the video direct played thru the eARC connection.

With DP on, the TV system menu says:

• audio in = Dolby Audio
• audio out = Dolby Audio - DD+

With DP off, the TV system menu says:

• audio in = Dolby Audio
• audio out = Dolby Audio - DD

 

embyserver-avatar.txt

Mediainfo avatar.txt

Vizio TV M50QXM-K01
Vizio SB M51ax-J6

Edited December 24, 2022 by justinrh

[ebr 14929]

What does "won't spit out the audio" mean?

If you re-package the file in an MKV, how does it compare?

[justinrh 174]

It means the audio does not play.

How do you recommend I repackage into MKV?  Why should MKV make a difference?

[ebr 14929]

19 hours ago, justinrh said:

Why should MKV make a difference?

Lots of reasons.  The TS container format is very limited.

19 hours ago, justinrh said:

How do you recommend I repackage into MKV?

Try Googling "makemkv".

[pwhodges 1532]

Or MKVToolNix - I suspect MakeMKV sometimes makes less compatible files.

Paul

[justinrh 174]

Why not convert to MP4?  Would that nullify the test to figure out what is going on?  I can try either.

[ebr 14929]

8 minutes ago, justinrh said:

Why not convert to MP4?

You could do that also its just that MKV is the most flexible container.

[justinrh 174]

So you are thinking that just the container is confusing the Shield (because the audio track inside will be the same, I'm using passthru)?

I'm using Handbrake to create the MKV and MP4.

Edited December 27, 2022 by justinrh

[justinrh 174]

I converted to MP4 and MKV (via several tools) and every one had sound (much better sound, I might add).  Thanks for the tip, @ebr.

So, now why would the TS file with Dolby processing on make the TV report "DD+" for audio out?  (All the remuxes said "DD".)

Also, what does "software decoding" for audio mean in Emby nerd stats?

Edited December 27, 2022 by justinrh

[ebr 14929]

16 hours ago, justinrh said:

why would the TS file with Dolby processing on make the TV report "DD+" for audio out?

Because that is what that option does in the Shield - it converts the audio to DD+

16 hours ago, justinrh said:

Also, what does "software decoding" for audio mean in Emby nerd stats?

It means we are decoding the audio inside the app instead of sending a raw bitstream to some outboard equipment for decoding.

[justinrh 174]

35 minutes ago, ebr said:

It means we are decoding the audio inside the app

Can you elaborate?  Why would Emby decode?  I thought if there was some incompatibility the server would have to transcode.

[ebr 14929]

50 minutes ago, justinrh said:

Why would Emby decode?

To avoid this:

51 minutes ago, justinrh said:

I thought if there was some incompatibility the server would have to transcode