Option to keep digital audio stream open when paused, to avoid resume delay

[Stabie 7]

Hi team,

When I pause or skip (seek forward/back) playback of media with bitstreamed codecs (e.g., Dolby Digital Plus / DD+), Emby appears to release the digital audio stream. I can see this on my AVR, which drops back to stereo during pause. When I resume, there’s a short delay (a few seconds) while the receiver re-locks and switches back to DD+ processing, resulting in a brief period with no audio.

Would it be possible to add an option to keep the digital audio stream open while paused (or otherwise maintain the bitstream/format handshake)? That would prevent the AVR from mode-switching and eliminate the audio gap on resume.

I’m not sure if this is feasible, but would like to ask.

Steps to reproduce

• Play a title with DD+

• Pause or skip forward/back; observe AVR switching to stereo/PCM.

• Resume playback → a few seconds of silence while the AVR re-locks to DD+.

Environment

• Emby Server: 4.9.1.80

• Client: Android and AndroidTV

• AVR: Denon AVC-X3800H

• Connection: HDMI

[ebr 16169]

Hi.  What device?

I seem to recall the Shield having an option for "digital white noise" or something like that but this issue may be dependent on the AVR and its settings as well.

[Stabie 7]

I’m seeing this on every device I own and in both apps:

• Emby for Android TV (on the TV itself and the TV box)
• Emby for Android (on an external Android TV box and TV)

My Denon AVR (AVC-X3800H) doesn’t have any “white noise”/keep-alive option to hold the bitstream during pause/seek.

Kodi does offer “Keep audio device alive,” which prevents the audio drop when resuming. I was hoping Emby could implement something similar.

Workaround-wise, I could disable passthrough and output PCM only, but my Android box will only send stereo PCM (no multichannel), so that’s not really viable.

Would it be possible to add an option to keep the audio device alive (or maintain a silent stream) while paused/seeking to avoid the resume delay?

[Luke 42077]

Hi, how long are you pausing for?

[Stabie 7]

Usually just brief pauses (a few seconds - if I have to check phone). The real issue is skips—forward/back breaks the bitstream. Keeping it alive during seeks would help far more than during pause (that's not so problematic).

[Luke 42077]

OK we'll take a look at it. Thanks.

[barnopss 7]

This is also occurring for me.

Client: shieldtv pro

Receiver: Sony strza2000es

 

Pauses can be a few seconds or minutes, the delay still occurs so keeping audio alive would really help.