Emby only plays PCM Stereo

[Ronski 7]

I've just purchased a lifetime membership last night and am having a problem where Emby which only plays PCM Stereo. If I use Netflix on my Fire TV box then my amp shows surround sound, go back to Emby and playing a movie which has Dolby 5.1 or DTS I just get stereo PCM. Live TV is also shown as stereo and should be 5.1.

 

I've attached some logs, hopefully they're the one's you need.

 

Another quick question, is Emby Premier a different program to Emby Theatre in Windows or is it just upgraded once I've entered my key on the server?

 

transcode-0c8e44d7-a8ad-4afb-8a05-5758415280dd.txt

transcode-9c8b9fb4-82ef-476f-9288-59fed50b364c.txt

transcode-20b29653-ffe2-4d1b-b154-5df2ae37229b.txt

transcode-95fd9254-67bd-4613-bf65-75c25cdc3f84.txt

transcode-d92538a7-7316-42b5-a0b4-ede05c367084.txt

transcode-fd9c1ff8-6e48-4e40-aade-38042769a4db.txt

[CBers 6771]

Do you have VLC enabled, as it will attempt Direct Streaming rather than Transcoding.

[ebr 14930]

Is your hardware hooked up via optical cable by any chance?

 

Dolby Digital, unfortunately, does not work on anything below Android 5.1.1 (the Fire is on 5.1.0).  DTS or AAC, however should be sent as full 5.1 - unless your hardware cannot handle that.  Optical cables cannot pass 5.1 channel PCM.

 

And then there is the question CBers asked as most items shouldn't transcode in the first place.

[Ronski 7]

Thanks for the replies.

 

Sorry meant to mention that this morning but had the wife on my case to get on with the decorating.

 

The Android Fire TV is hooked via HDMI cable to my Denon Receiver. I doubt very much that VLC is enabled, I'll have to have a Google to find out how to enable that and give it a go.

 

I'm a little confused by the statement that Dolby Digital doesn't work as I thought that was what the Fire TV is using Doby Digital Plus, and that gives me full surround sound in Netflix?

 

Is there any chance Amazon will upgrade it to 5.1.1 or does the 4K version support Dolby Digital? Actually looking at the specs it does appear to, as well as audio pass through and Atmos.

[ebr 14930]

The problem with Dolby Digital is specific to VLC which we use as an embedded player unless you disable it.

 

Did you go into the settings for the app and change anything?

[Ronski 7]

I had a look through the settings in the app last night but couldn't see anything that I thought might be related.

[ebr 14930]

You didn't see an option called "Use VLC for playback"?

[Ronski 7]

Not that I recall, I'll have another look after dinner, thanks.

[Ronski 7]

Just checked and the option to use VLC player is checked, I tried it without it selected and then with it selected and it made no difference, also tried direct sound and compatible and that made no difference either.

 

Edit: Just installed VLC player, and the only way I can currently access any videos is through Emby within VLC and it then plays back in stereo.

Edited February 28, 2016 by Ronski

[ebr 14930]

I believe your items are transcoding because they contain DTS-HD-MA tracks as their only audio.  We are, however, transcoding that to 5.1 AAC and then sending that to the player.

 

If you are only seeing stereo at your end then it is either an HDMI handshake issue or something with the receiver configuration possibly.

 

With the receiver powered on, try re-booting the Fire and see if it makes a difference.

[Ronski 7]

Funnily enough I did reboot the Fire last night, and I'm sure it was the same afterwards. I can't see it being an HDMI handshaking fault as Netflix works, and Amazon Prime Video, given that these work I can't see it being a receiver configuration fault either - it can handle just about everything including Atmos & DTS-X. I've also tried a DVD rip which contains AC3 and that also come through in stereo. Can't remember every video I've tried recently, but most of them have 2 audio tracks - one Blu ray has 8 channel Atmos track & 6 Channel AC3. I'll have to find a movie which has just one track and see what that does.

 

When I get chance I'll try un-installing Emby, reboot and install again, just on the off chance.

[ebr 14930]

I still think it is very likely a handshake issue because I see it all the time.  In fact, I just now reproduced that.  Turned on my TV and the Fire was only sending stereo for a DTS track.  I unplugged and re-plugged the Fire with the receiver still powered up, played the same item and:

 

[Ronski 7]

I've had my setup running since June last year, and I usually watch 3 films per weekend, with the majority via Netflix on the Fire TV and have never had this problem. I can go into Emby, get stereo, go back out and into Netflix and have full surround sound, back to Emby and be in PCM Stereo again, all with out turning off any equipment, if it was an hdmi hand shake fault then surely Netflix or Amazon prime would be affected. To me this clearly shows the fault is with Emby.

 

That said I will unplug the hdmi cable and reconnect whilst Emby is running.

 

Would I be correct in saying that the handshake only takes place when the equipment is connected and each time it's powered on, and not when simply changing apps?

[ebr 14930]

Do exactly what I said I did above - with the receiver powered on and on the input for the Fire, un-plug the Fire and then plug it back in.  Then bring Emby back up and try.

[Ronski 7]

This is what I've just done, I did unplug/plug back in the HDMI cable so bare with me please.

 

I played a film with AC3 sound in Kodi - result full surround sound

I played live TV in Kodi (via Mediaportal TV server) - result full surround sound

 

I played the same TV channel in Emby (also via Mediaportal TV server) - result stereo PCM

I played the same film in Emby - result stereo PCM

I went to my PC and checked in Emby Dashboard and the server was showing Direct Streaming to the Amazon Fire TV

 

I stopped the film playing, and stayed in the Emby App.

I now unplugged the HDMI cable the the Fire TV

I waited about 10 seconds and plugged the cable back in.

I started the film playing again - result stereo PCM

 

I uninstalled Emby, rebooted the Fire TV, installed Emby and the film still played in stereo.

 

Everything points to it being something to do with Emby but as I don't know the inner workings of Emby I've no idea what, but the server is direct streaming and the film only has one audio track so it has to be something to do with the app on the Fire TV.

 

Emby Live TV:

 

Kodi Live TV (excuse the poor picture)

 

Edited February 29, 2016 by Ronski

[ebr 14930]

When I said "unplug" I meant unplug the power cable so that the device boots up with the receiver also already powered.

 

But, if you look at your two displays, in both cases, the input signal is stereo.  Its just that your receiver is expanding that to 7.1 in one instance and not the other.  This is usually a configuration option in the receiver.

[Ronski 7]

I'm so sorry that I confused the issue by using a two channel Dolby Surround source, let me explain, the receiver I have will upscale a Dolby/DTS signal to 5.1.4 in my set up. Now you can clearly see from my screen shots (above and below) that the EMby one is providing a stereo PCM signal, and Kodi is providing a Dolby Surround Digital signal.

 

For clarity I have now done what you said, with everything powered on, with receiver set to the Fire TV input I pulled the power plug on the Fire TV, and wait for it drum roll, we have PCM Stereo! The evidence is clear, it is Emby which is a fault, if it was the Fire TV, or the receiver then it would be stereo when I played the exact same film from Kodi!

 

Emby:

 

 

Kodi:

 

Edited February 29, 2016 by Ronski

[CBers 6771]

Kodi delivers DD pass-through to my Sonos, but the Emby app and Netflix (even though they all run on the same device, Shield or Nexus Player) doesn't.

Edited February 29, 2016 by CBers

[Ronski 7]

@@CBers, I'm pretty sure the Fire TV can't do audio pass through, in fact when playing an Atmos stream in Kodi it gets converted to stereo PCM, switch to the 5.1 track and I get Dolby Digital. I'm also from Kent - Broadstairs to be more precise.

[Redshirt 1487]

Not relevant, but I'm just curious. Is that receiver a x7200 or x6200?

[Ronski 7]

@@Redshirt It's the X7200 with the update to WA spec (HDCP 2.2). Google "Ronski cinema build" for a full build log. Was never intending on spending that much, but I'll have it for a very long time, so it made sense to get one that was future proof and I got a very good deal

Edited February 29, 2016 by Ronski

[ebr 14930]

It is well-documented that the Fire TV with our app currently cannot pass a DD stream.  You started out talking about DTS.  Can you please test one of those?

[Ronski 7]

@@ebr, we're going round and round in circles, I've tested DTS before, and I've just tested it again. The movie contains 1 DTS track, result is stereo PCM, it doesn't matter what I play Emby will only play it back as stereo PCM. And for the record I started off talking about Dobly & DTS, my comment about passing audio was a direct response to another poster and very clearly intended for them!

[ebr 14930]

Okay, sorry. I am out of ideas why you are seeing what you are then.  As you saw from my pic - DTS should play back as multi-channel PCM.  Not sure why it isn't for you but I have definitely seen this happen before with HDCP and, the procedure I outlined before fixes it every time for me.

[Ronski 7]

Well thanks for trying to help, it does seem very odd behaviour and if it was more common I'm sure there would be more people with the problem, Googling does show people experiencing similar but on different devices with pretty easy fixes.

 

I love the look and feel of Emby and had previously been a long term user of Mediabrowser.

 

Hopefully somebody else has a suggestion.