Emby Android TV software decoding Dolby audio instead of passthrough

[mrmorrison 22]

Hello everybody.
I am writing here as I am having the same problem. The Emby app for Android TV is doing software decoding of the Dolby Digital audio which is fully supported by my optical connected soundbar. Unfortunately the difference is heard (less powerful sound). If I use external player for Emby app (Just Player) the audio comes out well (powerful). Can you help me?

[Luke 42077]

@mrmorrison

 

Hi there, let's look at an example. Please attach the information requested in how to report a media playback issue. Thanks!

 

[ebr 16169]

Hi.  The issue will be the optical connection as the app cannot tell from that connection what is supported.  In the Android menus, there should be a way for you to indicate that DD is supported.  If you enable that, the app should send the bitstream.

[mrmorrison 22]

Hello boys!

Unfortunately, in the app settings, I found a few things regarding audio. There is an "Output Audio" option which can be set to Auto / Convert unsupported audio to Dolby Digital / Downmix to Stereo (I go to memory and I might get the names wrong).

None of these options solve my problem though. 

I believe I have looked in all menus of the application

EDIT:

You talk about Android TV settings? Because in those settings I have already selected Dolby Digital as the supported audio.

I will try to look again in the Android menu for something that solves the problem.

Edited September 12, 2022 by mrmorrison

[mrmorrison 22]

Thinking back: why do I get better audio with an external media player? Does the Emby player do something different?

[ebr 16169]

Hi.  Can you try sideloading our standard android app on the same device and see how that compares?

https://emby.media/emby-for-android.html

Thanks.

 

[mrmorrison 22]

15 minutes ago, ebr said:

Hi.  Can you try sideloading our standard android app on the same device and see how that compares?

https://emby.media/emby-for-android.html

Thanks.

 

Will this installation overwrite my Emby app? Or will it install a second app?

[FrostByte 5392]

1 hour ago, mrmorrison said:

Will this installation overwrite my Emby app? Or will it install a second app?

It will be a second app.  Icons are similar, but the one will have AndroidTV  under the logo and the standard Android app won't have the text

[Mousey369 6]

Hi, I am having this same issue and have sideloaded the regular android app, but since I do not have premiere I cannot play for an extended time. My stats for nerds box does say direct play for both audio and video so does that mean this app fixes the issue?

[ebr 16169]

Hi.  Is the soundbar reporting it is getting DD?

[Mousey369 6]

17 minutes ago, ebr said:

Hi.  Is the soundbar reporting it is getting DD?

I'm not sure how to check that on my model. Yamaha YAS-209. The soundbar has no display, only an app for volume control and various settings.

[FrostByte 5392]

4 minutes ago, Mousey369 said:

I'm not sure how to check that on my model. Yamaha YAS-209. The soundbar has no display, only an app for volume control and various settings.

What makes you think it's not passing through when using ATV then?  Just by what you hear?

[Mousey369 6]

Just now, FrostByte said:

What makes you think it's not passing through when using ATV then?  Just by what you hear?

When using the android TV app, stats for nerds reports software decode rather than passthrough

[ebr 16169]

Can you tell any difference in the sound between the two apps?

[Mousey369 6]

5 minutes ago, ebr said:

Can you tell any difference in the sound between the two apps?

The android app does sound a little clearer but i have such a limited time to listen it's hard to tell. The TV app also stutters when playing which I don't remember it doing before. The android app does not stutter.

[mrmorrison 22]

I have some news.
Emby app on Sony Bravia: all films with Dolby Digital are signaled (by the player app) in decoding

Emby app on Chromecast wGTV: same as Sony BUT, if with "MkvToolNix" I change the file header and remove "default track indicator" from any audio track other than Dolby Digital, at which point I get "Direct" in the audio playback of the Dolby Digital.

This is the solution for Chromecast wGTV external device. Unfortunately this patch does not work for Sony Bravia

Apparently, Emby's player senses that the default track is an unsupported track, and even if you manually set a fully supported track, it reports that it is doing software decoding.

 

UPDATE:

I have installed the sideload app on Sony Bravia. In the stats for nerds it says the audio is playing direct but, if I compare it to the same video on CCwGTV, I feel a big difference. Fuller, deeper and more powerful audio in CCwGTV

Edited September 12, 2022 by mrmorrison

[Mousey369 6]

21 hours ago, mrmorrison said:

I have some news.
Emby app on Sony Bravia: all films with Dolby Digital are signaled (by the player app) in decoding

Emby app on Chromecast wGTV: same as Sony BUT, if with "MkvToolNix" I change the file header and remove "default track indicator" from any audio track other than Dolby Digital, at which point I get "Direct" in the audio playback of the Dolby Digital.

This is the solution for Chromecast wGTV external device. Unfortunately this patch does not work for Sony Bravia

Apparently, Emby's player senses that the default track is an unsupported track, and even if you manually set a fully supported track, it reports that it is doing software decoding.

 

UPDATE:

I have installed the sideload app on Sony Bravia. In the stats for nerds it says the audio is playing direct but, if I compare it to the same video on CCwGTV, I feel a big difference. Fuller, deeper and more powerful audio in CCwGTV

So this solution worked for me if I disable the TRUEHD track and only keep the 5.1 sound active in mkvtoolnix. Now I need to figure out why the video keeps pausing every few seconds like it's buffering

[mrmorrison 22]

I hope this decoding problem when there is an unsupported main audio track is fixed somehow.

Also because, unfortunately, the shortcut I found (edit heading with MkvToolNix) works only for external device (CCwGTV) but has no improvement in the Emby app on Sony Bravia TV. In fact I am forced to use Kodi which allows the passtrought correctly.

[mrmorrison 22]

Good morning
No developer response on the probable bug I found in the Emby player?

The probable bug in question causes Dolby Digital to be software decoded rather than passtrought. Occurs when one of the audio tracks in the file has the default track indicator which is not Dolby Digital. Therefore, despite the user selecting the DD track through the Emby app, the decoding is still performed.

Is this defect confirmed?
Is it possible to fix it?

Thank you

[ebr 16169]

Hi.  Can you please try replacing the default audio flag how it was before and see if you can reproduce the same situation?

Also, to be clear, you believe that the standard Android app is software decoding in all instances, correct?

[mrmorrison 22]

1 hour ago, ebr said:

Hi.  Can you please try replacing the default audio flag how it was before and see if you can reproduce the same situation?

Also, to be clear, you believe that the standard Android app is software decoding in all instances, correct?

Hi ebr,
I did as you said. I have reset the "default track" indicator to a file with TrueHD and the Emby player, with whichever audio format selected, does the decoding.
At least this is the behavior it assumes with my current configuration which foresees Dolby Digital as the only supported format (optical connection).

I must specify that this problem is always present when I use the Emby app on Sony Bravia TV. Instead on Chromecast With Google TV the problem disappears if, as I said, you change the default track indicator.
It is actually the same application that runs on CCwGT and Sony Bravia so I don't understand why they don't behave the same way.

For example, Kodi installed on Sony Bravia correctly performs Dolby Digital passtrought but it is also true that Kodi has a little more specific audio settings.

[ebr 16169]

Does the side loaded standard app behave exactly the same?

[mrmorrison 22]

7 hours ago, ebr said:

Does the side loaded standard app behave exactly the same?

Yes. As I pointed out a few posts before, that app does not report software decoding but, in any case, it is performed anyway because I hear the audio less powerful, less deep, almost muffled.

[ebr 16169]

7 hours ago, mrmorrison said:

Yes. As I pointed out a few posts before, that app does not report software decoding but, in any case, it is performed anyway because I hear the audio less powerful, less deep, almost muffled.

But, when run on the Google device with your modified file, does it appear to bitstream the audio like the TV app does.

[mrmorrison 22]

20 minutes ago, ebr said:

But, when run on the Google device with your modified file, does it appear to bitstream the audio like the TV app does.

I'm sorry but I didn't understand the question well because my English is not very good.

I don't know what you want to know. I don't know what you mean by modified file.
I can only say that the player (of the sideload app) does not report decoding (reports direct playback) as the "normal" app does, but not true because the audio does not play as if it were direct.

 

File with default track indicator:

- Emby on CCwGTV: decode software

- Emby on Tv Sony Bravia: softare decode

- Emby SIDELOAD on Sony Bravia: Stats for nerds reports direct playback but that's not the truth.

 

File with no default track indicator:

- Emby on CCwGTV: direct play

- Emby on Sony Bravia: decode software

- Emby SIDELOAD on Sony Bravia: not tested

- Emby SIDELOAD on CCwGTV: not tested

 

Edited September 16, 2022 by mrmorrison