Emby plays Dolby Atmos but can't play 5.1/7.1 surround

[stinger3004 1]

I'm having this same problem!! Any settings which I should look at? I've got a tcl Google tv with a Zebronics 9750 Soundbar, it shows Dolby Atmos for Atmos videos and movies which I have. But when I play the ones with 5.1 or 7.1 surround, although Emby shows it has a 5.1/7.1 surround audio, the soundbar fails to detect it. Why is this? When I play the same file via my laptop connected to the TV via HDMI, the soundbar shows DOLBY SURROUND. What seems to be the issue here? 

[stinger3004 1]

As the title says!! I've got a tcl Google tv with a Zebronics 9750 Soundbar, which shows Dolby Atmos for Atmos videos and movies when I play them via Emby, USB or via my Laptop through hdmi. But when I play the ones with 5.1 or 7.1 surround, although Emby shows it has a 5.1/7.1 surround audio on the title page, the soundbar fails to detect it. Why is this? When I play the same file via my laptop connected to the TV via HDMI, the soundbar shows DOLBY SURROUND. What seems to be the issue here? 

[yocker 1247]

Most (all?) TVs don't pass through surround formats other than AC3/EAC3 5.1 when playing on internal apps, so it doesn't surprise me it me it doesn't want to play 7.1 or even some 5.1 formats.

The fact that it works when you use a laptop kind of proves that though it is weird that the sound bar won't accept 5.1 Dolby.

 

[stinger3004 1]

Is there no way to rectify this? I've got more titles with 5.1 surround rather than atmos! 

[yocker 1247]

1 hour ago, stinger3004 said:

Is there no way to rectify this? I've got more titles with 5.1 surround rather than atmos! 

As far as i know, no TV will pass through 7.1, TrueHD, DTS-MA and some other formats i can't remember no matter what.
Though it is as said a little strange that your TV doesn't pass through 5., it might be because of what format the sound is in.
A developer will need to see a server log to confirm what's wrong.

Until then try and play a video with AC3/EAC3 audio format, they should work with the internal apps. If still not working it might be something else wrong.

[ebr 16169]

16 hours ago, stinger3004 said:

the soundbar shows DOLBY SURROUND

Hi.  That is actually a simulated surround mode.

[Luke 42077]

@stinger3004

 

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

 

[stinger3004 1]

Ok so I'm attaching a few pics, one is of the title image (WALL E) showing that Emby detects the title has a AAC 5.1 audio format but the soundbar fails to play it in surround (the soundbar leds continue showing EARC, instead of Dolby Surround) , and similarly for another title (Soul) with EAC3 5.1 (Atmos) , the soundbar recognizes and plays accordingly (it shows Dolby Atmos on the soundbar, you can see ATM written on the soundbar) 

[yocker 1247]

1 hour ago, stinger3004 said:

Ok so I'm attaching a few pics, one is of the title image (WALL E) showing that Emby detects the title has a AAC 5.1 audio format but the soundbar fails to play it in surround (the soundbar leds continue showing EARC, instead of Dolby Surround) , and similarly for another title (Soul) with EAC3 5.1 (Atmos) , the soundbar recognizes and plays accordingly (it shows Dolby Atmos on the soundbar, you can see ATM written on the soundbar) 

 

What model TV and Soundbar?
It most likely doesn't support AAC formats.

Samsung in particular doesn't support that many formats.

[ebr 16169]

17 hours ago, stinger3004 said:

soundbar leds continue showing EARC, instead of Dolby Surround

Hi.  Again, "Dolby Surround" is a simulated surround mode.  That actually probably indicates the input is stereo...

[Luke 42077]

@stinger3004 does this answer your question?

[stinger3004 1]

6 hours ago, ebr said:

Hi.  Again, "Dolby Surround" is a simulated surround mode.  That actually probably indicates the input is stereo...

Yes but when playing a 5.1 title say, Interstellar, the rear speakers play properly only when the soundbar shows DOLBY SURROUND (that is when i play the movie by connecting my laptop to the tv hdmi in), now if I play the same file from Emby, then the soundbar just shows EARC. For other titles with stereo sound, it continues showing EARC.

[stinger3004 1]

23 hours ago, yocker said:

What model TV and Soundbar?
It most likely doesn't support AAC formats.

Samsung in particular doesn't support that many formats.

Tv: TCL P635

Soundbar: ZEBRONICS Juke BAR 9750 PRO 5.1.2

[yocker 1247]

45 minutes ago, stinger3004 said:

Tv: TCL P635

Soundbar: ZEBRONICS Juke BAR 9750 PRO 5.1.2

The TV should support AAC after what i can find, the Sound Bar how ever looks like it does not.
That might be your problem.

[stinger3004 1]

5 hours ago, yocker said:

The TV should support AAC after what i can find, the Sound Bar how ever looks like it does not.
That might be your problem.

How come the aac titles play when I play directly from laptop? But not via the emby server??

[yocker 1247]

3 hours ago, stinger3004 said:

How come the aac titles play when I play directly from laptop? But not via the emby server??

As ebr said, quote ""Dolby Surround" is a simulated surround mode.  That actually probably indicates the input is stereo..."
Your laptop is most likely set to output only stereo and the soundbar then upscales it to simulate surround.

Edited November 7, 2025 by yocker

[NakedPirate 15]

4 hours ago, stinger3004 said:

How come the aac titles play when I play directly from laptop? But not via the emby server??

AAC is not part of the bitstreamable codec list over HDMI. The standards exist and implementation would be easy but this will never be a thing.
So it must be decoded by the source, we have 2 popular possibilities: AC3/Dolby Digital or PCM. 

While every other device like a Laptop or 3 Dollar media player on this godforsaken boulder circling the milky-way, called earth, can decode a AAC into PCM and send it to your soundbar or AVR, most TV's don't send multichannel PCM over (E)ARC because the manufacturers don't want it to as soon as the internal TV's framework is involved, no matter which app or player on the TV itself.
They only let you do this with a third party device on HDMI inputs of the TV (like it would behave if directly connected to the AVR/Soundbar). 
So the weak link for correct processing of the AAC is the TV (and every app using the native player or the Web API of the TV itself). HTH, Greetings!

[stinger3004 1]

7 hours ago, yocker said:

As ebr said, quote ""Dolby Surround" is a simulated surround mode.  That actually probably indicates the input is stereo..."
Your laptop is most likely set to output only stereo and the soundbar then upscales it to simulate surround.

OK, if that's the case, then titles which do not have AAC 5.1 as their audio and are having regular stereo output, when playing these titles from the laptop, the soundbar should show DOLBY SURROUND (since you're saying it's simulated) but that's not the case. For those titles, the soundbar shows EARC only even if I play them from my laptop 

[rbjtech 5284]

The display on the soundbar will only change when it receives a bitstream (ie the video is playing).

Make sure you have the soundbar plugged into the EARC port on the TV (with a decent HDMI 2.0 cable) and the TV HDMI EARC port  has been set to use bitstream mode (if you have the option).

What Emby client are you using on the laptop ?

[yocker 1247]

53 minutes ago, stinger3004 said:

OK, if that's the case, then titles which do not have AAC 5.1 as their audio and are having regular stereo output, when playing these titles from the laptop, the soundbar should show DOLBY SURROUND (since you're saying it's simulated) but that's not the case. For those titles, the soundbar shows EARC only even if I play them from my laptop 

If the soundbar does not support AAC then the should might be transcoded to Dolby, while EAC3 that it does support gets played right. 

Either emby it self or one of the devices might do the transcoding. 

Without that transcoding when your soundbar doesn't support AAC it wouldn't be able to play want sound. 

That said, I might be wrong that it's what is wrong but I'm 99% sure.

[NakedPirate 15]

Again for better understanding what I said before:
It's irrelevant if the receiver can decode AAC or not because it won't receive AAC from any device with HDMI! That applies for all receivers, Soundbars and AVRs.
It will always get another format, in most cases PCM or DD. Both can be 2 channel or multichannel and depends on devices and settings which are varying.

In case a TV is involved as a player (or an app on a TV) you won't get PCM with more than 2 channels. 
In case another external player is involved (like a laptop) you will get real multichannel PCM up to 7.1 as a rule, if your settings are correct.
  

[stinger3004 1]

15 hours ago, rbjtech said:

The display on the soundbar will only change when it receives a bitstream (ie the video is playing).

Make sure you have the soundbar plugged into the EARC port on the TV (with a decent HDMI 2.0 cable) and the TV HDMI EARC port  has been set to use bitstream mode (if you have the option).

What Emby client are you using on the laptop ?

I'm not playing from Emby on the laptop, I use the Windows Movie and Media app. When I play atmos, 5.1 and stereo titles in this manner, the soundbar shows "Atmos", "DOLBY Surround" and "EARC" respectively. Like you said, the display on the soundbar changes when it receives a bitstream. But on playing stereo titles, whether it is from Emby on the TV or via movies and Media app on the laptop, the soundbar shows EARC only. However for the AAC titles, when playing from the laptop, the soundbar changes to "Dolby Surround" and when playing from Emby it shows EARC. 

My settings are correct, laptop is connected to hdmi 2 port of the TV and the EARC is set to hdmi port 3 on the TV to which I've connected my soundbar. 

 

[rbjtech 5284]

3 hours ago, stinger3004 said:

I'm not playing from Emby on the laptop, I use the Windows Movie and Media app. When I play atmos, 5.1 and stereo titles in this manner, the soundbar shows "Atmos", "DOLBY Surround" and "EARC" respectively. Like you said, the display on the soundbar changes when it receives a bitstream. But on playing stereo titles, whether it is from Emby on the TV or via movies and Media app on the laptop, the soundbar shows EARC only. However for the AAC titles, when playing from the laptop, the soundbar changes to "Dolby Surround" and when playing from Emby it shows EARC. 

My settings are correct, laptop is connected to hdmi 2 port of the TV and the EARC is set to hdmi port 3 on the TV to which I've connected my soundbar. 

 

ok - so from the above facts - I believe the laptop via the App you are using, is coverting the AAC to AC3/Dolby Digital or Multi-channel PCM - thus you get the 'Dolby Surround' on the soundbar.   Emby does not do this because it is likely only supplying a stereo bitstream (PCM) to the soundbar - no conversion is taking place.   There are OPTIONS to convert - such as Emby for AndroidTV - this lets you convert to AC3 in the App - THEN your soundbar would receive an AC3/Dolby Digital 5.1 bitstream and should report 'Dolby Surround' on the soundbar.

'Dolby Surround' is a little misleading however, because it should be reporting 'Dolby Digital' (if AC3/DD) or 'Multi-channel PCM' - Dolby Surround (as @ebrsuggests) is a virtual 5.1 sound created from a Stereo only source, but I don't believe this is happening - so the soundbar reporting EARC is simply 'Stereo'.

Edited November 8, 2025 by rbjtech

[stinger3004 1]

18 hours ago, rbjtech said:

ok - so from the above facts - I believe the laptop via the App you are using, is coverting the AAC to AC3/Dolby Digital or Multi-channel PCM - thus you get the 'Dolby Surround' on the soundbar.   Emby does not do this because it is likely only supplying a stereo bitstream (PCM) to the soundbar - no conversion is taking place.   There are OPTIONS to convert - such as Emby for AndroidTV - this lets you convert to AC3 in the App - THEN your soundbar would receive an AC3/Dolby Digital 5.1 bitstream and should report 'Dolby Surround' on the soundbar.

'Dolby Surround' is a little misleading however, because it should be reporting 'Dolby Digital' (if AC3/DD) or 'Multi-channel PCM' - Dolby Surround (as @ebrsuggests) is a virtual 5.1 sound created from a Stereo only source, but I don't believe this is happening - so the soundbar reporting EARC is simply 'Stereo'.

Got it, but even on using the Emby for android tv app, I'm still getting EARC on the soundbar. Do you think tinkering with the bitrate options might help? 

[stinger3004 1]

Ok, so I used the Kodi app on the android tv to play the same files from the Emby server. Now the AAC5.1 files are working. So I think it's an emby issue, any solution for transcoding AAC to AC3 within Emby?