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Issues with 5.1 Sound


BinaryShrub
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BinaryShrub

I just recently starting seeing an issue on my Fire Sticks after the FireOS 5.0.5 release where videos with 5.1 audio are not playing the center channel at all.

 

It's quite strange, I hear the surrounding sounds, but most all vocals are gone. This doesnt happen with 2.1 channel videos.

 

I have tried reinstalling the server and factory resetting my Fire Sticks, but the issue is still happening on both, on two different TVs.

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BinaryShrub

Exactly what kind of Audio track?

 

AAC 5.1 was the one I noticed the issue with. But I suspect any 5.1 will have this issue.

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stevek480

I can't get sound to work on any videos on the FireTV app after the update either. I've tried changing the audio setting in the FireTV settings to both Dolby Digital over HDMI and Dolby Digital Off, and tried changing the Emby app to both direct and compatible audio but nothing worked. I tested videos with AAC, AC3 and DCA codecs and silence all around. Everything worked fine before the OS update so it seems that is to blame.

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BinaryShrub

If there is a way to force downmix to 2.1 for now I think that would be an acceptable workaround until it is fixed. If only I knew how xD

 

I tried changing the sound option for the emby app to compatible, but that does nothing.

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Changing the setting in the app to "Compatible" should be forcing it to stereo.

 

I'll guess we'll have to dig into whatever they broke in this update.

 

Are all of you on sticks?

 

Is anyone plugged into an actual receiver?

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Changing the setting in the app to "Compatible" should be forcing it to stereo.

 

I'll guess we'll have to dig into whatever they broke in this update.

 

Are all of you on sticks?

 

Is anyone plugged into an actual receiver?

Changing the setting to compatible does not seem to make a difference.  No change was apparent for me at least.

 

Both my Fire TV sticks exhibit this behavior, whether plugged directly into a TV or into a receiver.  When plugged into my receiver, only the L and R channels appear active. It acts as if 5.1 is supported, but only L and R make it through.

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BinaryShrub

Changing the setting to compatible does not seem to make a difference.  No change was apparent for me at least.

 

Both my Fire TV sticks exhibit this behavior, whether plugged directly into a TV or into a receiver.  When plugged into my receiver, only the L and R channels appear active. It acts as if 5.1 is supported, but only L and R make it through.

 

Ditto, I also have two Fire Sticks and am seeing this exact same behavior plugged directly into TVs.

 

Thank for being so responsive about this ebr!

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I'll grab a copy of the log file if like but I know in one case it definitely was transcoding AC3 5.1 audio for an episode of Elementary to AAC 5.1. I'd have to check the logs for the several movies I tried as well.

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CBers

Is this only affecting Fire TV Stick users, or Fire TV Box users ??

 

I'm still waiting to get the 5.05 update on my Fire TV.

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I'll grab a copy of the log file if like but I know in one case it definitely was transcoding AC3 5.1 audio for an episode of Elementary to AAC 5.1. I'd have to check the logs for the several movies I tried as well.

 

Okay, then that would explain why the compatible setting made no difference as, if it is transcoding, it is playing back with the native player (actually exo).

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  • Solution

Alright, I've done some testing with my Fire stick which is running 5.03.

 

For me, 5.1 works great when plugged into my receiver.  But, when directly into the TV, it isn't able to determine that it should only be stereo so you are only getting L/R of the 5.1 track.

 

I've made a change so that the "Compatible" setting will affect transcoded items and force stereo for those as well.  This is going up to the beta group as 1.1.47.  Are any of you in the beta?

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Redshirt

ebr, I'm guessing compatible is using OpenSL ES? Looking at the commits for VLC-Android it looks like they've given up on getting AudioTrack output on Amazon hardware altogether. A shame that Amazon had to break the rules with their audio implementation. 

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Do you guys have beta through developer.amazon.com? Or do I need to side load?

 

You need to PM me the email address associated with the Amazon account on that device.  And you need to be sure you have all marketing communications allowed on that account.  Thx.

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ebr, I'm guessing compatible is using OpenSL ES? Looking at the commits for VLC-Android it looks like they've given up on getting AudioTrack output on Amazon hardware altogether. A shame that Amazon had to break the rules with their audio implementation. 

 

That's what it does if you're using VLC.  However, in these instances, people are transcoding which means they are not using VLC.  In that case, the option had no effect but I just changed that so that it will also limit transcoded audio to 2-channels.

 

On the normal Fire, I still get good performance with passing LPCM or DTS tracks through VLC.  DD, however, does not work so I have to force that to stereo (osles).

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