Newbie Question - Best server option to make use of Atmos

[Robnaeyaert 11]

Hello Emby

Sorry newbie question.  I've been running Emby on my Windows NUC for years and I recently upgraded my TV and Audio.

I'm now running a Samsung Q-990B Atmos Sound Bar and run the Samsung App on my Samsung Frame TV  (LS03b) to play media off my Windows NUC Server.

I'm not sure I have a setup that makes use of my audio (my audio is connected to my TV using Q-Symphony via ARC)

I want to ensure my hardware is optimized so I get the best out of my sound bar.

I've heard people talking about Nvidia Shield but I'm not sure what that is.

I realize my media has to be encoded (and I have a mixture of Atmos, TrueHD media) but can anyone please point me to a simple to understand guide (or give me advice) on the best way to hook this up so I get great sound please and if I need to ditch my Windows NUC for a better server so I get great audio ?

Cheers Rob

Edited November 13, 2023 by Robnaeyaert

[RanmaCanada 437]

Server has nothing to do with playback.  If the Samsung app supports ATMOS then you have nothing else to do.  You can easily test this with playing a test file and seeing if it either transcodes, plays back the compatibility core or works fine.  If the Samsung app can't support ATMOS, then yes either a Shield or a Firecube 3rd gen would suffice (firecube for AV1 playback).

[Luke 39394]

He's right in the sense that it's not so much about the server and more about what app and device you're playing with as well as what that supports.

[rbjtech 4886]

ARC or eARC will not pass HD Audio to the soundbar - so you will not get True-HD from a TV App.

As explained above, your best bet is to use a Firecube 3rd Gen (capable of True-HD HD Audio, unfortunately your Samsung does not support any DTS HD Audio ..) and plug directly into one of the HDMI In ports on the soundbar.  The Shield does not support HDR10+ so I'm not 100% sure if this will pass it through or not.  (but it does fully support Dolby Vision, but this is useless for you as Samsung unfortunately still refuse to support it ...)  Plug the NUC into the other HDMI In port one if you like.  HDMI Out (video) will go to the TV.

[Robnaeyaert 11]

8 hours ago, RanmaCanada said:

Server has nothing to do with playback.  If the Samsung app supports ATMOS then you have nothing else to do.  You can easily test this with playing a test file and seeing if it either transcodes, plays back the compatibility core or works fine.  If the Samsung app can't support ATMOS, then yes either a Shield or a Firecube 3rd gen would suffice (firecube for AV1 playback).

Thank you all who have replied. I’m still a little confused sorry about the need to purchase more hardware (fire cube 3) to experience the best audio. 
I downloaded the test files thank you and noted on the 7.1.4 file if I set the audio channel in Emby on the TV to EAC3 7.1 all speakers fired as you would expect and my soundbar flashed up the Atmos logo when played. 
My soundbar is an 11.1.4 model q990b

Could someone please help me understand why I’d need a Firecube here?

Thanks all for your patience and help. 

 

[AKSkinz 10]

12 hours ago, RanmaCanada said:

Server has nothing to do with playback.  If the Samsung app supports ATMOS then you have nothing else to do.  You can easily test this with playing a test file and seeing if it either transcodes, plays back the compatibility core or works fine.  If the Samsung app can't support ATMOS, then yes either a Shield or a Firecube 3rd gen would suffice (firecube for AV1 playback).

Your answer is in this reply... If it's playing back to your satisfaction, then your all set. If not, you will need to look at new hardware to accomplish what you're looking to do.

[rbjtech 4886]

4 hours ago, Robnaeyaert said:

Thank you all who have replied. I’m still a little confused sorry about the need to purchase more hardware (fire cube 3) to experience the best audio. 
I downloaded the test files thank you and noted on the 7.1.4 file if I set the audio channel in Emby on the TV to EAC3 7.1 all speakers fired as you would expect and my soundbar flashed up the Atmos logo when played. 
My soundbar is an 11.1.4 model q990b

Could someone please help me understand why I’d need a Firecube here?

Thanks all for your patience and help. 

 

EAC3 is compressed audio - it is not HD Audio.

[roaku 830]

4 hours ago, Robnaeyaert said:

Thank you all who have replied. I’m still a little confused sorry about the need to purchase more hardware (fire cube 3) to experience the best audio. 
I downloaded the test files thank you and noted on the 7.1.4 file if I set the audio channel in Emby on the TV to EAC3 7.1 all speakers fired as you would expect and my soundbar flashed up the Atmos logo when played. 
My soundbar is an 11.1.4 model q990b

Could someone please help me understand why I’d need a Firecube here?

Thanks all for your patience and help. 

 

You mentioned having TrueHD content.

Your test file was Dolby Digital Plus content.

These are two entirely different formats, even though they both support an Atmos layer.

You will need additional hardware to support your TrueHD content.

[rbjtech 4886]

Being brutally honest, with the audio equipment you are using, you'll be hard pressed to tell the difference between EAC3 Atmos and True-HD Atmos.

The issue comes in the fact that UHD disk format (ie a Remux) rarely uses EAC3 (Dolby Digital Plus) - they use True-HD with Atmos or DTS-HD / DTS-X because bitrate/bandwidth is not an issue on a physical UHD disk - so if your plan is to playback UHD remux's - then THIS is the real reason you need it to natively play back HD Audio.      Emby is perfectly capable of converting on-the fly to get 'sound' - but it will only be AC3 5.1 and it will not have Atmos information in it.

If however you just plan on using 'Streaming' (MUCH lower bitrate video and audio) versions - then these already use EAC3 - and thus, there is no need to worry about the HD Audio requirements.

You can 'convert' from HD Audio to EAC3 7.1 - but I don't believe there is a way to convert the object based audio with free tools - yet...

[FrostByte 5212]

Here's a link to a chart with all the audio codecs your TV supports.  Anything else will need to be converted to something which is compatible before it's sent to your TV.  It doesn't matter what your soundbar supports, your TV still needs the correct decoder to pass a codec and Samsung isn't going to pay for those other codecs in their TVs because none of the online streaming services support them. As mentioned, those codecs are only used on UHD and you would plug your UHD player into the in HDMI port on your soundbar so there is no need to also have the codec on your TV (only the video gets passed).

https://developer.samsung.com/smarttv/develop/specifications/media-specifications/2022-tv-video-specifications.html

As far as the Shield goes, no it doesn't even pass HDR10+.  However, it will get you all the audio formats you need.  If nVidia doesn't come up with something new soon then I will probably have to find something else myself.

You say you want the best audio then you need to spend a little more money if you're going to copy your discs to digital media.  Samsung isn't likely to pay extra to support codecs for digital copying any time soon.  Again, your soundbar supports it because it's meant to hook up your UHD player to.

Sony is one of the last premium TV brands sold in the US which still supports HD audio.  This is partially because they have their Bravia Core streaming service which requires a 115 Mbps internet connection and they basically stream UHD quality movies to your house vs the 25 Mbps or so you get from others like Netflix.  Once more people have fiber to their home then maybe more online services will support HD audio and Samsung will add those other codecs to their TVs along with their soundbars.

If you want the best audio then you need a setup like below when playing digital copies.  Otherwise, you're stuck with what's in the chart I posted above.

External player ---> Soundbar  -->  TV