Completed Android TV - Please add app-side Dolby+ conversion

[Richard Branches 231]

The Mecool KM8 is an Android TV device with a TRUE Dolby Audio license, which means Dolby Digital Plus will be converted to standard Dolby Digital when the device is connected to an old AV receiver with only Dolby Digital decoding, however, apps installed in the device must support this as well and Emby app is still not supporting this feature, so please add that support just like the Plex app does, for more information please visit https://developer.dolby.com/

 

Currently the server is transcoding Dolby Digital Plus into standard Dolby Digital but the idea is to reduce server transcoding as much as possible.

 

I count on your upvote for Emby developers to take this suggestion into account. Thanks.

Edited September 11, 2018 by delacosta78

[CBers 6766]

The Android TV already does DD and DD+ passthrough.

 

My soundbar supports both and I do not get any transcoding (remuxing) of the audio.

 

Make sure your receiver supports the audio being passed to it.

[ebr 14897]

You are getting the exact same conversion it is just done on the server and this should be taking very little resources.  To do it client side is a possible enhancement but this is a very narrow requirement (not many people will require it).  Therefore, the cost benefit ratio of this feature is pretty high which just means it will be down the list.

 

Thanks.

[Richard Branches 231]

The Android TV already does DD and DD+ passthrough.

 

My soundbar supports both and I do not get any transcoding (remuxing) of the audio.

 

Make sure your receiver supports the audio being passed to it.

 

Thank you for your recommendation but I not asking for technical help, I know how this works and I hope they implement the feature someday...

[Richard Branches 231]

You are getting the exact same conversion it is just done on the server and this should be taking very little resources.  To do it client side is a possible enhancement but this is a very narrow requirement (not many people will require it).  Therefore, the cost benefit ratio of this feature is pretty high which just means it will be down the list.

 

Thanks.

 

I'm not in a desperate need for this but I hope you implement it someday, I'll be waiting in silence...

[Richard Branches 231]

Apparently, the new Nvidia Shield 2019 has now DD+ to DD conversion, where the device must be connected directly to a 2016 and earlier TV model or an AVR with at least Dolby Digital decoding by HDMI in order to work, in case you guys get to purchase one, I hope you test it with Netflix and if it works as supposed, then you can take more into account this feature request. Thank you.

[Richard Branches 231]

It's confirmed!: Dolby Digital Plus is converted to Dolby Digital on compatible apps (like Netflix) when the new Nvidia Shield 2019 is connected to a TV or AVR with ONLY Dolby Digital decoding by HDMI, more info here: https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/forums/shield-tv/9/313426/shield-tv-and-sonos-playbar-51-dolby-digital-51-/2303892/

 

This is a good reason for Emby to support this functionality as well, meanwhile, the Xiaomi Mi Box S has received its first beta build and it also seems to support the conversion, I'm waiting for a confirmation on Reddit.

 

Thank you.

[ebr 14897]

It's confirmed!: Dolby Digital Plus is converted to Dolby Digital on compatible apps (like Netflix) when the new Nvidia Shield 2019 is connected to a TV or AVR with ONLY Dolby Digital decoding by HDMI, more info here: https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/forums/shield-tv/9/313426/shield-tv-and-sonos-playbar-51-dolby-digital-51-/2303892/

 

This is a good reason for Emby to support this functionality as well, meanwhile, the Xiaomi Mi Box S has received its first beta build and it also seems to support the conversion, I'm waiting for a confirmation on Reddit.

 

Thank you.

 

If that is true, then the device should report support for DD+ and our app will just work.

[Richard Branches 231]

If that is true, then the device should report support for DD+ and our app will just work.

 

if the app doesn't have the feature implemented, the device will just downmix or transcode the codec to stereo instead of performing the conversion:

 

1) The original Xiaomi Mi Box has a Dolby Audio licence but for some reason the conversion wasn't implemented in the firmware, before switching to Emby I used Plex, and every Dolby Digital Plus video was played back directly to stereo when I connected the device to a TV or AVR receiver with at least Dolby Digital decoding.

 

2) The next year I bought the Mecool KM8, which has a Dolby Audio licence with the conversion implemented in the firmware, so when I played any Dolby Digital Plus video in Plex, the conversion was in place but only when the device was connected to a TV or AVR with at least Dolby Digital decoding and this is what the Shield 2019 is doing right now

 

With the current Emby app for Android TV, if I connect the Shield 2019 or any ATV device with a Dolby Audio licence to a TV or AVR with only Dolby Digital decoding, the server will transcode the bitstream to Dolby Digital instead of leaving that job to the device, because the app STILL doesn't have the functionality implemented.

Edited November 5, 2019 by Richard Branches

[ebr 14897]

The app asks the device what it supports.  If the device isn't reporting that properly then it isn't going to know about it.  Implementing "force" options to make the app send formats the device says it won't support is a recipe for creating support issues for us ("why doesn't my movie have sound?") so I'm not a fan of that.  Plus, to date, we've never had a proven instance of the reported support being actually incorrect.

[Richard Branches 231]

I don't know if you already implemented this and you didn't want to say anything or you weren't sure if it was going to work, but I managed to install the Android TV 9 Pie beta firmware that was announced a few days back for the Xiaomi Mi Box S and the Dolby Digital Plus to Dolby Digital conversion is finally working with Emby!

 

On the server the transcoding window displayed "Direct Playing" while my AV receiver was playing the bitstream as Dolby Digital, so that means it was converted directly by the device, only by selecting the new "S/PDIF" option inside audio settings.

 

You can mark this topic as "completed" or you can move it to the Android TV section.

 

Thank you so much for whatever you did, now the next fuctionality you must implement is the AAC 5.1 to Dolby Digital 5.1 conversion as explained here:

 

https://emby.media/community/index.php?/topic/63959-transcode-aac-51-to-dolby-digital-51-if-two-conditions-are-met/

Edited November 15, 2019 by Richard Branches

[Luke 36991]

Thanks for the info.

[Richard Branches 231]

I just realized Emby nor Google Play Movies are supporting the conversion, turns out this is a Xiaomi's implementation of the S/PDIF option in the Mi Box S to convert the Dolby Digital Plus bitstream to Dolby Digital from ANY app because the "Auto" audio option of the device doesn't convert anything, it just passes-through the Dolby Digital Plus bitstream directly or down-mixes it to stereo accordingly, which means, it still won't work with the Nvidia Shield 2019 until you guys implement it.

[aja07 20]

plus 1.

[Richard Branches 231]

plus 1.

 

You must up vote the initial commentary of this topic, that "plus 1" is ignored by Emby devs.

[aja07 20]

You must up vote the initial commentary of this topic, that "plus 1" is ignored by Emby devs.

by up vaoe you mine "like" ?

[Richard Branches 231]

by up vaoe you mine "like" ?

 

Exactly.

[cybergrimes 90]

I recently commented in another thread about using the "Dolby audio processing" on the new 2019 Shield (here: https://emby.media/community/index.php?/topic/82227-android-tv-app-v1-779/page-3&do=findComment&comment=874247)

Could this be used to do app side remuxing of any audio type? Say DTS-HD MA to standard Dolby 5.1? for those of us with equipment that does basic Dolby/DTS only

I know that a remux of the audio is very quick and easy for the server but if you have PGS subs it will trigger a full transcode. If this could be used to have both (and not downmix to stereo), that would be great.

Edited April 24, 2020 by cybergrimes

[ebr 14897]

I recently commented in another thread about using the "Dolby audio processing" on the new 2019 Shield (here: https://emby.media/community/index.php?/topic/82227-android-tv-app-v1-779/page-3&do=findComment&comment=874247)

Could this be used to do app side remuxing of any audio type? Say DTS-HD MA to standard Dolby 5.1? for those of us with equipment that does basic Dolby/DTS only

I know that a remux of the audio is very quick and easy for the server but if you have PGS subs it will trigger a full transcode. If this could be used to have both (and not downmix to stereo), that would be great.

 

I don't believe that expressed feature on the device could convert "any" audio codec to DD but, if it could, I wouldn't think we would need to do anything to support it.  It would just work.

[cybergrimes 90]

It's an odd setting, if enabled 2 channel PCM from Hulu is converted to 2 ch Dolby. Try a different app like Boomerang and it's still 2 ch PCM audio regardless of setting.

edit: looks like it's maybe touched on here-- https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/shield/support/shield-tv-pro/avr-surround-audio-setup/

"Dolby audio can be decoded/converted to the best available format for your home theater.  DTS audio will not be converted and will be passed directly to the HDMI output."

 

That doesn't explain why some PCM is converted and some isn't but like you said there's probably nothing to do to support it. I'm just putting this here in the event anyone else is curious.

Edited April 29, 2020 by cybergrimes

[Richard Branches 231]

I didn't have the chance to test this until today, it looks like it's working correctly, my device (Mecool KT1) has the DD+ to DD conversion available in the SoC, can you please confirm it in the log I sent at 10:47 am?

Thanks.

Edited July 29, 2022 by Richard Branches

[ebr 14897]

We're passing the audio straight through:

07-29 10:46:07.596  7991  7991 D EventLogger:   MediaCodecAudioRenderer [
07-29 10:46:07.597  7991  7991 D EventLogger:     Group:0, adaptive_supported=N/A [
07-29 10:46:07.597  7991  7991 D EventLogger:       [X] Track:0, id=2, mimeType=audio/eac3, channels=6, sample_rate=48000, language=en, label=Dolby Atmos, supported=YES
07-29 10:46:07.597  7991  7991 D EventLogger:     ]

 

[Richard Branches 231]

Thank you for confirming this, can you mark the topic as "completed"?