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Can Emby transcode DTS to DD/AC3?


andrewmalpass

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andrewmalpass

I'm using Emby on my LGB7 TV and I'm used to Plex transcoding DTS to DD/AC3 on the fly as my daft Sonos only supports Dolby.

 

Can I set Emby to do this? 

 

If so it might be the solution to a problem I can't solve!

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Hi, currently the LG app assumes direct support for DTS, which i think in your case means the tv will decode the DTS directly and pass it to the Sonos. Is this what you're seeing?

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andrewmalpass

Hi, currently the LG app assumes direct support for DTS, which i think in your case means the tv will decode the DTS directly and pass it to the Sonos. Is this what you're seeing?

I'm not actually sure how it works, but in the Plex Player settings I can untick DTS and play media with only a DTS audio track and get what my Sonos thinks is Dolby Digital. If I try and play the same media in XPlay player with the same Plex Server I get no audio unless the media has a DD track. The TV always has Dolby Digital selected in the audio settings.

 

The reason I want to switch from Plex/Xplay is that Plex does one thing I need (transcodes the DTS to AC3/DD5.1) and Xplay does another thing I need (allows SRT subtitles without transcoding) as my NAS is a really underpowered Synology (DS215j). 

 

Basically my use case is I want SRT and AC3 for free :D The video quality seems much better in EMBY for HDR content. 

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CBers

I'm using Emby on my LGB7 TV and I'm used to Plex transcoding DTS to DD/AC3 on the fly as my daft Sonos only supports Dolby.

 

Can I set Emby to do this?

 

 

Are you using a Sonos PlayBar or Beam?

 

The Emby app should detect that it doesn't accept DTS and remux it to DD (AC3).

 

The ATV app on the Shield certainly does for my Sonos Beam.

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andrewmalpass

I'm using a play bar but I'm using the webos app which doesn't seem to do this yet. I'm looking forward to getting this functionality added. I'd purchase a premium version that include that functionality as long as it works with my NAS.

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CBers

I have my Sonos Beam connected to my older 'F' series Samsung TV, and it runs a really old version of the ET app, but it is not converting DTS to AC3, just passing the audio through as PCM, but that's probably the TV.

 

As stated above, the ATV app on the Shield remuxes DTS to AC3.

 

Hopefully Luke can get the app to auto-detect the capabilities of the end audio device and fix the bug.

Edited by CBers
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Unfortunately LG doesn't have an API available to allow us to detect DTS support, therefore the only solution is going to be via a setting.

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heroes1412

Unfortunately LG doesn't have an API available to allow us to detect DTS support, therefore the only solution is going to be via a setting.

setting on Client side or Server side?? i have same issue.

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cocodude

In a similar way, I have a Samsung TV which supports a few codecs natively. I however have my AV receiver connected via optical out and this can only support PCM 2 channel and AC3.

 

If I try to play something funky like a DTS Master Audio file, I get PCM 2 channel out, presumably because:

  1. Emby is just trying to send the original DTS Master Audio stream to the TV as it assumes the TV can play this.
  2. The TV will downmix to PCM 2 audio because it knows DTS can't be sent down the optical cable. The TV also won't transcode to AC3 simply because it doesn't do that.

I presume Emby (Samsung TV app) has no way of knowing that I only want AC3 to be output? Thus, this setting you suggest would also help me out?

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I presume Emby (Samsung TV app) has no way of knowing that I only want AC3 to be output? Thus, this setting you suggest would also help me out?

 

Yes that is correct.

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cocodude

Yes that is correct.

 

Great, thanks.

 

As a workaround until there's a client switch, is there any way to configure the Emby server to transcode audio to AC3, e.g. by changing the "Samsung Smart TV.xml" dnla config or similar?

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  • 2 weeks later...

Interesting. I need to follow this topic. 

I have a Sonos in almost every room of the house except near the TV because of the lack of DTS support. I might buy a Sonos 5.1 system if Emby implements forced DTS transcoding for certain clients. I don't want to buy another device/adapter/converter/remote control.

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  • 1 month later...
jmos1277

I'll be following this one too.

Just discovered my new Samsung NU8000 doesn't have a built-in DTS decoder :-\

Almost seems like there could be an extension to the DLNA profiles to support transcoding to some devices running the SmartTV app.

Edited by jmos1277
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Charlie117

I apologies for being a stickler, but I'd like to address some things.

 

 

 

As stated above, the ATV app on the Shield remuxes DTS to AC3. 

 

DTS cannot be remuxed to AC3. They are very different lossy audio codecs that need to be transcoded from one format to the other which most definitely involves a loss of quality.

 

 

In a similar way, I have a Samsung TV which supports a few codecs natively. I however have my AV receiver connected via optical out and this can only support PCM 2 channel and AC3.

 

Toslink (or optical) is perfectly capable of doing DTS 5.1 passthrough. Many TVs do however do not support DTS passthrough over either HDMI or Toslink for whatever reason, resulting in downmixed and decoded to PCM 2.0 audio instead of DTS 5.1. This is one of the many reasons why I never recommend using the mediocre built-in hardware, instead just get a decent external player like an Nvidia Shield TV that will natively support most everything you throw at it and does proper passthrough of Dolby and DTS audio formats. 

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CBers

I apologies for being a stickler, but I'd like to address some things.

 

DTS cannot be remuxed to AC3. They are very different lossy audio codecs that need to be transcoded from one format to the other which most definitely involves a loss of quality.

Of course it can - I often playback DTS audio videos on my bedroom Shield connected only to a Sonos Beam, which doesn't do DTS, so the server remuxes it to DD (AC3).

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Charlie117

Of course it can - I often playback DTS audio videos on my bedroom Shield connected only to a Sonos Beam, which doesn't do DTS, so the server remuxes it to DD (AC3).

 

No, your server transcodes it to DD and does not remux it. 

 

Transcoding and remuxing are two similar things but not the same. Transcoding, in this context, involves a loss of quality while remuxing means a simple repacking of the streams without any loss of quality. DTS needs to be transcoded to DD and cannot be remuxed.

Edited by Charlie117
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Watching this thread. This has been talked about for some time. A ticket was even created but it appears to have been closed without resolution. I currently have to re-encode every video file with DTS to DD. I've made the best of it though, every file is re-encoded to x265.10bit.ac3 (except for 4k remuxes which are remuxed with ac3 as the first track, then all the other audio tracks to preserve DTS, HD, True, Atmos, etc in the event I ditch SONOS or they ever support the codecs.

 

Please allow us to select DTS support on/off  ;)

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CBers

I think he meant the video stream was not transcoding.

Correct.

 

Only the audio is remuxed (transcoded) from DTS to DD.

 

I currently have to re-encode every video file with DTS to DD. I've made the best of it though, every file is re-encoded to x265.10bit.ac3 (except for 4k remuxes which are remuxed with ac3 as the first track, then all the other audio tracks to preserve DTS, HD, True, Atmos, etc in the event I ditch SONOS or they ever support the codecs.

 

Please allow us to select DTS support on/off ;)

Been there, done that :)

 

Sonos will never add support for DTS or above to their devices.

 

In the end, I got an LG soundbar for my lounge, which plays everything upto and including Dolby Atmos.

 

The Sonos Beam is in the bedroom.

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  • 1 month later...
Sp3kt3r

Old thread but im just saying that I Agree to have an option to manually select DTS to AC3 :)

my roku TV is having a huge delay when I play movie with DTS track (passtrough to my AVR with toslink/spdif cable)

by  selecting transcode audio I would have problem. I don't know if the problem is the roky tv media player that cause the issue.

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  • 4 months later...

@@Luke just wanted to see if there was any chance this DTS to DD (or even AC3) option would be implemented in the LG TV app anytime soon?

 

Thanks for your help!

Edited by sire
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