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Chromecast Google TV - no Dolby TrueHD support?


Milkplus

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Milkplus

hi there. apologies if this has already been answered somewhere else, but I couldn't find it.

I've recently upgraded (sidegraded? downgraded?) from a 2015 Nvidia Shield TV running Emby to one of the new Chromecasts with Google TV. the issue i'm encountering is that any file I try to play with a Dolby Atmos soundtrack only spits back Dolby Digital 5.1 at best. I have the CC hooked up to a 65" Samsung The Frame TV which, in turn, is connected to a Sonos Arc via eARC.

This setup worked perfectly with the Shield TV, but i can't seem to replicate it with the CC. Atmos also works fine on the Netflix app. Is it not possible to passthrough Dolby Atmos on the 2020 Chromecast? or am I doing something wrong?

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Hi.  What is the base audio type for these tracks?  If they are TrueHD, the Chromecast does not support that (the Shield does).

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Milkplus

yes, they are TrueHD. damn. wish I had known that before buying the damn thing! SO this is a Chromecast issue, not an Emby one then. I suppose there's no indication on whether TrueHD is on google's roadmap or not?

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6 minutes ago, Milkplus said:

I suppose there's no indication on whether TrueHD is on google's roadmap or not

Not that I know of but, since no streaming service is outputting that format, I doubt it is high priority.  

 

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FrostByte

Not only that but your Samsung doesn't have eARC either so it isn't going to pass TrueHD nor do any Samsung TVs pass TrueHD.  You need to go Shield  > Soundbar > TV

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Milkplus

bah. this is super frustrating! i thought i had stumbled upon the perfect low-key setup. the only reason i upgraded was because my 2015 Shield kept randomly resetting 2/3 times a day and I'd finally got fed up with it. If i had known that I couldn't get Atmos on Emby with the CC, I would have just bought a new Shield. dammit, Google!

Thanks for your help @ebr :) you wouldn't happen to know if there's any way to force Emby to transcode in Atmos? I have an HDFury Arcana, so i guess i'll just have to hook that up again...

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Milkplus
3 minutes ago, FrostByte said:

Not only that but your Samsung doesn't have eARC either so it isn't going to pass TrueHD nor do any Samsung TVs pass TrueHD.  You need to go Shield  > Soundbar > TV

actually, the 2020 The Frame does have an eARC port :) 

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Just now, Milkplus said:

If i had known that I couldn't get Atmos on Emby with the CC

You can get Atmos.  What the device does not support is TrueHD.  It is important to understand the distinction.  Atmos is a layer on top of an audio stream.  The underlying audio stream can be either DD+ or TrueHD.  The CC supports DD+ so those Atmos tracks will work fine.  It is the underlying audio stream that is not supported by the device.

2 minutes ago, Milkplus said:

if there's any way to force Emby to transcode in Atmos?

No, there is no way to do that at this time. 

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Milkplus
2 minutes ago, ebr said:

You can get Atmos.  What the device does not support is TrueHD.  It is important to understand the distinction.  Atmos is a layer on top of an audio stream.  The underlying audio stream can be either DD+ or TrueHD.  The CC supports DD+ so those Atmos tracks will work fine.  It is the underlying audio stream that is not supported by the device.

ahh, gotcha. thanks for the clarification. I guess that means i'm basically SOL as the Atmos files i'm dealing with appear to all be TrueHD.

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FrostByte
3 minutes ago, Milkplus said:

actually, the 2020 The Frame does have an eARC port :) 

Does it pass TrueHD via third party apps from mkv container though? 

There should be a chart in your users manual like this on what it will passthrough.  If it does then the Samsung app needs updating also

Smart TV - Build | Samsung Developers

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Milkplus
15 minutes ago, FrostByte said:

Does it pass TrueHD via third party apps from mkv container though? 

ha, i guess that's the $40,000 question!

found the chart i the user manual for my TV, and, yup, looks like i'm sh*t out of luck

nice to see that realplayer codecs are still supported though 😂

Screen Shot 2021-02-23 at 15.59.44.png

Edited by Milkplus
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FrostByte

It's very possible they added a TrueHD encoder/decoder via firmware update and it can passthrough TrueHD now.   Their release notes on firmware updates are very generic though.  Your problem will still probably be the CC though.  Nothing beats a new Shield pro for codec support (other than maybe a HTPC)

 

Edited by FrostByte
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Milkplus

yup, im looking into this now. currently downloading the latest firmware from the Samsung site to sideload it onto the TV. is going to take 1hr because their servers are apparently located in 2001 🙄

Edited by Milkplus
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FrostByte

There is a way you can test if your FrameTV will passthrough TrueHD via your eARC before buying anything else.  After the firmware update load the Emby Samsung app on the TV itself and turn off audio transcoding on the server.  This will stop the Samsung app from trying to convert TrueHD to AC3.   If it works then great, but if it doesn't then you at least know you will have to reroute around your FrameTV in order to get TrueHD Atmos

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