Playback Freezes

[Stabie 7]

Not a 100% the same situation, but maybe this will help you as well:

I’ve fought this for a while and finally pinned it down to mostly EAC3 (DD+) 2.0. What happens: during heavy skipping/fast-forward, the picture and audio freeze and I have to hard-restart.

Root cause (in my setup): with Auto detection, the Denon AVR sometimes treats DD+ as 5.1 instead of 2.0. That mismatch seems to trigger the lock-ups when seeking.

Workaround that fixes it every time:

• Leave the Denon on Auto normally.

• When the content is EAC3 2.0, press the MOVIE button on the remote and select a Dolby mode (Not atmos or anything else).

• After forcing the correct mode, I can skip/seek as much as I want without freezes.

Also:

I’ve seen this with the Samsung TV’s native app and with a different receiver before the Denon, so I don’t think it’s strictly a Denon bug. The fix is to make sure the AVR is interpreting the signal correctly (2.0 in, 2.0 out) and not engaging upmixers/post-processing that confuse the stream. Double-check the AVR’s Info screen: it should show Input: DD+ 2.0 and Output: 2.0 when you’re on affected titles.
 

PS: I used AI to help me write this.

[Stabie 7]

Seems to be the same problem I have and have and reported.

[Luke 42077]

@Stabie

 

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

 

[Luke 42077]

@Stabie?

[Stabie 7]

Hello,

Been on vacation. I gave up on it hoenstly, I just use Tdarr or whatever to make one audio track AAC 2.0 if I am going to watch something.

[Luke 42077]

Can you please give it another try?

[Stabie 7]

Yes, sure. I'll give it a go with debug enable this weekend, should have some spare time then.

[Stabie 7]

Hello again,

Sorry for the silence – haven't had much time to debug lately, but I'm planning to dig deeper in December.

Update: I discovered that this issue is NOT exclusive to the EAC3 2.0 <-> 5.1 mismatch I previously described. It actually happens with standard EAC3 5.1 (Dolby Digital Plus) content as well, where the channel layout is correct.

It feels like a general issue with Audio Passthrough handling. My theory is that the bitstream sync/handshake with the receiver (Denon AVC-X3800H) is lost or fails to re-establish quickly enough when seeking/skipping. The video player seems to wait for an audio clock that never returns, causing the freeze.

I do notice that when skipping, the receiver goes from 5.1 --> 2.0 --> 5.1 when the handshake returns. I would imagine it goes to 2.0 when no stream because that's the "standard".
If it's possible, at all, to keep the audiostream alive during skipping that would solve it (I like to think so, but I have no idea).

[Luke 42077]

Quote

Sorry for the silence – haven't had much time to debug lately, but I'm planning to dig deeper in December.

OK that would be great. Thanks !