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[FR] Transcoding audio to EAC3


Eselter

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Eselter

Hi,

There is a chance to add alternative option to transcode audio from unsupported format like DTS to EAC3 instead of AC3 (to tizen emby app)?

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Charlie117

I'd donate one of my kidneys for this. Crazy how I was just thinking today how I should open a feature request for this.

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1 hour ago, Charlie117 said:

I'd donate one of my kidneys for this.

What blood type? :)

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  • 5 months later...
MediaCenterSP

Hi, I join this request.

I've got this multimedia chain:

  • Chromecast HDMI 2.0 -> HDMI 2.0 -> TV Panasonic HX1000 HDMI 2.0 ->HDMI 1.4a ARC -> Onkyo TX-NR709 HDMI 1.4a

Chromecast with Google TV supports:

  • Dolby Digital
  • Dolby Digital Plus
  • Dolby digital Plus + Dolby Atmos
  • DTS (not officially, but it supports it)
  • DTS-ES Discrete y Matrix (not officially, but it supports it)
  • AAC
  • PCM Multichannel

Panasonic 1000HZ TV supports:

  • Dolby Digital
  • Dolby Digital Plus
  • Dolby Digital Plus + Dolby Atmos
  • AAC
  • PCM Multichannel

Onkyo TX-NR709 AVR supports:

  • Dolby Digital
  • Dolby Digital Plus
  • Dolby TrueHD
  • DTS
  • DTS-ES Discrete y Matrix
  • DTS-HD
  • PCM Multichannel

The multimedia chain limits the supported formats to those that are common to all the elements of the chain, so the formats that reach my AVR are:

  • Dolby Digital
  • Dolby Digital Plus
  • PCM 2.0: sending the signal by HDMI ARC, ARC limits to PCM to only 2 channels (stereo).

Emby beta got an option that if marked, it transcodes every not supported format to AC3 (at 640kbps I supossed), it's a very usefull option, but it could be great to be able to select the best supported format with most possible quality in each case (AC3, EAC3, multichanel PCM)

In my case what I do when necessary is to convert with ffmpeg the best track with audio in my language to Dolby Digital+ (EAC3) at 1536mbps and 5.1 channels and adding it as the default track.

I use EAC3 because is the best multichannel codec my AVR can playback in my  multimedia chain (better than AC3) and I encode it at the highest secure bitrate to maximize quality. I can't go beyond  5.1 channels because it's a limitation ffmpeg has.

Thanks.

Edited by MediaCenterSP
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rbjtech

I don't understand why you are using ARC/eARC at all ?  You have no need.

You should be plugging the Chromecast directly into the Onkyo using the Panasonic as the 'Monitor/HDMI Out'.

Then you pass all formats DIRECTLY to the AVR - which then just passes the Video to the TV.  ie

Chromecast  -> Onkyo TX-NR709 > TV Panasonic HX1000

The only time you need to use eARC/ARC is passing Audio back from the built in Panasonic Apps or Live TV - which will not be HD Audio anyway.

 

 

Edited by rbjtech
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  • 4 weeks later...
MediaCenterSP
On 2/25/2021 at 2:37 PM, rbjtech said:

I don't understand why you are using ARC/eARC at all ?  You have no need.

You should be plugging the Chromecast directly into the Onkyo using the Panasonic as the 'Monitor/HDMI Out'.

Then you pass all formats DIRECTLY to the AVR - which then just passes the Video to the TV.  ie

Chromecast  -> Onkyo TX-NR709 > TV Panasonic HX1000

The only time you need to use eARC/ARC is passing Audio back from the built in Panasonic Apps or Live TV - which will not be HD Audio anyway. 

I know what you proposed, but, as I mentioned, my AVR only has HDMI 1.4a ports so it doesn't support HDR or Dolby Vision formats, thus I have to plug it directly to the TV to ensure the maximun video quality.

The only option to connect directly to TV and AVR is to use a video splitter, but the good ones cost much more than the Chromecast and have issues with HDR and heat dissipation. So I'll maintain this setup untill I change AVR.

On the other hand eARC/ARC have exactly the same functionality as the classic video pasthrough from AVR, but from the other end (the TV) and sending audio intead of video, specially with eARC that supports HD & object based audio.

Edited by MediaCenterSP
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Richard Branches
On 2/24/2021 at 10:20 AM, MediaCenterSP said:

Emby beta got an option that if marked, it transcodes every not supported format to AC3

Every not supported format = Multichannel AAC, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, DTS (all lossy variants) and DTS-HD Master Audio, except DTS-HD High Resolution Audio, multichannel PCM and multichannel FLAC.

Edited by Richard Branches
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Richard Branches
On 2/24/2021 at 10:20 AM, MediaCenterSP said:

it's a very usefull option, but it could be great to be able to select the best supported format with most possible quality in each case

That audio option was meant for old TVs with only Dolby Digital and PCM 2.0 support by HDMI where multichannel AAC was decoded as PCM 2.0, however, Emby devs added the majority of audio codecs to be converted, but it still lacks multichannel PCM, multichannel FLAC and DTS-HD High Resolution audio.

Edited by Richard Branches
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Richard Branches

I guess what they can do is to make the option to detect if the TV supports Dolby Digital Plus so when the option is turned ON, it transcodes the unsupported audio codecs to that format, otherwise it should convert it to plain Dolby Digital.

Edited by Richard Branches
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  • 1 month later...
Richard Branches

Since the idea is to get the best possible audio quality when transcoding is in place, I suggest the following, provided the "Convert to Dolby Digital" option is turned ON in settings:

 

Scenario 1: When the device is connected to a TV with ONLY PCM 2.0 support by HDMI:

- PCM 2.0 is decoded directly, while multichannel PCM is downmixed to stereo (as it currently does)

- Dolby Digital is decoded and/or downmixed to stereo (as it currently does)

- Dolby Digital Plus is decoded and/or downmixed to stereo (as it currently does)

- Dolby Atmos inside Dolby Digital Plus is decoded and/or downmixed to stereo (as it currently does)

- Dolby TrueHD is decoded and/or downmixed to stereo (as it currently does)

- Dolby Atmos inside TrueHD is decoded and/or downmixed to stereo (as it currently does)

- Legacy DTS is decoded and/or downmixed to stereo (as it currently does)

- DTS-HD High Resolution Audio is decoded and/or downmixed to stereo (as it currently does)

- DTS-HD Master Audio is decoded and/or downmixed to stereo (as it currently does)

- DTS:X is decoded and/or downmixed to stereo (as it currently does)

 

Scenario 2: When the device is connected to a TV and/or AV receiver with Dolby Digital and PCM 2.0 support by HDMI:

- PCM 2.0 is decoded directly, while multichannel PCM is downmixed to stereo (as it currently does).

- Dolby Digital passes through directly.

- Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 is transcoded to Dolby Digital 5.1.

- Dolby Digital Plus 6.1 and 7.1 SHOULD BE transcoded to Dolby Digital EX (a matrixed mono surround back channel is created by downmixing the discrete surround channels information, that is, the discrete mono surround back channel from 6.1 sources and the discrete stereo surround channels from 7.1 sources get downmixed to the afformentioned matrixed mono surround back channel for backwards compatibility with 6.1 and 7.1 speaker layouts [on 7.1 speaker layouts the mono channel is distributed to both surround back channels]).

- Dolby TrueHD 5.1 is transcoded to Dolby Digital 5.1.

- Dolby TrueHD 6.1 and 7.1 SHOULD BE transcoded to Dolby Digital EX (same as explained above).

- Legacy DTS is transcoded to Dolby Digital 5.1.

- Legacy DTS-ES Matrix and DTS-ES Discrete SHOULD BE transcoded to Dolby Digital EX (same as explained above).

- DTS-HD High Resolution Audio 5.1 is transcoded to Dolby Digital 5.1.

- DTS-HD High Resolution Audio 6.1 and 7.1 SHOULD BE transcoded to Dolby Digital EX (same as explained above).

- DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 is transcoded to Dolby Digital 5.1.

- DTS-HD Master Audio 6.1 and 7.1 SHOULD BE transcoded to Dolby Digital EX (same as explained above).

It's important to clarify that Dolby Atmos is NOT an audio codec but metadata inside the already existing Dolby Digital Plus and Dolby TrueHD, so transcoding is the same as explained above. The same goes for DTS:X, where the metadata is inside the DTS-HD Master Audio codec.

 

Scenario 3: When the device is connected to a TV and/or AV receiver with Dolby Digital, DTS and PCM 2.0 support by HDMI:

- PCM 2.0 is decoded directly, while multichannel PCM is downmixed to stereo (as it currently does).

- Dolby Digital passes through directly.

- Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 is transcoded to Dolby Digital 5.1.

- Dolby Digital Plus 6.1 and 7.1 SHOULD BE transcoded to Dolby Digital EX (as explained in scenario 2).

- Dolby TrueHD 5.1 is transcoded to Dolby Digital 5.1.

- Dolby TrueHD 6.1 and 7.1 SHOULD BE transcoded to Dolby Digital EX (as explained in scenario 2).

- Legacy DTS passes through directly.

- Legacy DTS-ES Matrix and DTS-ES Discrete passes through directly.

- DTS-HD High Resolution Audio 5.1 is transcoded to Dolby Digital 5.1.

- DTS-HD High Resolution Audio 6.1 and 7.1 SHOULD BE transcoded to Dolby Digital EX (as explained in scenario 2).

- DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 is transcoded to Dolby Digital 5.1.

- DTS-HD Master Audio 6.1 and 7.1 SHOULD BE transcoded to Dolby Digital EX (as explained in scenario 2).

 

Scenario 4: When the device is connected to a TV and/or AV receiver with Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, DTS and PCM 2.0 support:

- PCM 2.0 is decoded directly, while multichannel PCM is downmixed to stereo (as it currently does).

- Dolby Digital passes through directly.

- Dolby Digital Plus passes through directly.

- Dolby TrueHD 5.1 SHOULD BE transcoded to Dolby Digital Plus 5.1.

- Dolby TrueHD 6.1 and 7.1 SHOULD BE transcoded to Dolby Digital Plus 6.1 or 7.1.

- Legacy DTS passes through directly.

- Legacy DTS-ES Matrix and DTS-ES Discrete pass through directly.

- DTS-HD High Resolution Audio 5.1 SHOULD passthrough DTS core, otherwise it should be transcoded to Dolby Digital Plus 5.1.

- DTS-HD High Resolution Audio 6.1 and 7.1 SHOULD passthrough DTS core, otherwise it should be transcoded to Dolby Digital Plus 6.1 and 7.1.

- DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 SHOULD passthrough DTS core, otherwise it should be transcoded to Dolby Digital Plus 5.1.

- DTS-HD Master Audio 6.1 and 7.1 SHOULD passthrough DTS core, otherwise it should be transcoded to Dolby Digital Plus 6.1 and 7.1.

 

Scenario 5: When the device is connected to a TV with eARC (Extended Audio Return Channel) support and/or an AV receiver with support for all the codecs:

- PCM 2.0 and multichannel pass through directly.

- Dolby Digital passes through directly.

- Dolby Digital Plus passes through directly.

- Dolby TrueHD passes through directly.

- Legacy DTS passes through directly.

- Legacy DTS-ES Matrix and DTS-ES Discrete pass through directly.

- DTS-HD High Resolution Audio pases through directly.

- DTS-HD Master Audio passes through directly.

 

Scenario 6: When using Emby installed directly on a smart TV with legacy ARC, eARC and SPDIF connections:

As far as I know, eARC support for apps installed on smart TVs is limited to legacy ARC, others don't passthrough legacy DTS, some TVs allow to choose what audio port to use (whether ARC only, SPDIF only or both) but I may be wrong about all this, please someone correct me if that's the case:

When using eARC/ARC:

- PCM 2.0 is passes through directly, while multichannel PCM is downmixed to PCM 2.0.

- Dolby Digital passes through directly.

- Dolby Digital Plus passes through directly.

- Dolby TrueHD 5.1 SHOULD BE transcoded to Dolby Digital Plus 5.1.

- Dolby TrueHD 6.1 and 7.1 SHOULD BE transcoded to Dolby Digital Plus 6.1 or 7.1.

- Legacy DTS passes through directly (please someone confirm this).

- Legacy DTS-ES Matrix and DTS-ES Discrete pass through directly (please someone confirm this).

- DTS-HD High Resolution Audio 5.1 SHOULD passthrough DTS core (please someone confirm this), otherwise it should be transcoded to Dolby Digital Plus 5.1.

- DTS-HD High Resolution Audio 6.1 and 7.1 SHOULD passthrough DTS core (please someone confirm this), otherwise it should be transcoded to Dolby Digital Plus 6.1 and 7.1.

- DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 SHOULD passthrough DTS core (please someone confirm this), otherwise it should be transcoded to Dolby Digital Plus 5.1.

- DTS-HD Master Audio 6.1 and 7.1 SHOULD passthrough DTS core (please someone confirm this), otherwise it should be transcoded to Dolby Digital Plus 6.1 and 7.1.

When using the SPDIF port:

- PCM 2.0 passes through directly, while multichannel PCM is downmixed to PCM 2.0.

- Dolby Digital passes through directly.

- Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 is transcoded to Dolby Digital 5.1.

- Dolby Digital Plus 6.1 and 7.1 SHOULD BE transcoded to Dolby Digital EX (as explained in scenario 2).

- Dolby TrueHD 5.1 SHOULD BE transcoded to Dolby Digital EX (as explained in scenario 2).

- Dolby TrueHD 6.1 and 7.1 SHOULD BE transcoded to Dolby Digital EX (as explained in scenario 2).

- Legacy DTS passes through directly (please someone confirm this).

- Legacy DTS-ES Matrix and DTS-ES Discrete pass through directly (please someone confirm this).

- DTS-HD High Resolution Audio 5.1 SHOULD passthrough DTS core (please someone confirm this), otherwise it should be transcoded to Dolby Digital 5.1.

- DTS-HD High Resolution Audio 6.1 and 7.1 SHOULD passthrough DTS core (please someone confirm this), otherwise it should be transcoded to Dolby Digital EX (as explained in scenario 2).

- DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 SHOULD passthrough DTS core (please someone confirm this), otherwise it should be transcoded to Dolby Digital 5.1.

- DTS-HD Master Audio 6.1 and 7.1 SHOULD passthrough DTS core (please someone confirm this), otherwise it should be transcoded to Dolby Digital EX (as explained in scenario 2).

 

With all scenarios, ARC passthrough whether using the TV directly or when using an external device depends on the brand and model so results may vary, please share your experiences with it.

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