PCM outputs as Stereo

[Tophicles 39]

Hi there! 

I'm using a FireTV 4K Max and have the surround audio set to "PCM"  on the FireTV.

I have the Emby app (not the FireTV one, the regular Emby one) set to NOT transcode unknown formats.

Since the FireTV cannot decode DTS:X, DTS MAX or DTS MA HD I though that sending these out as PCM to my Pioneer VSX-1126-K.

The AVR supports all these formats.

So, I can play a file that's 7.1/5.1 ans sometimes it'll show as PCM on the AVR and play in surround, but sometimes it never switches out of STEREO mode. If I switch the FireTV back to "Best Possible" and play a Dolby Digital file, it will play in 5.1/7.1 but DTS won't play. I'd dearly love to just pass PCM to the AVR (since it handles it) but there seems to be a quirk when using the Emby app this way. 

Any ideas?

Version 4.9.4.1 beta

Server OS: Ubuntu

PRETTY_NAME="Ubuntu 24.04.3 LTS"
NAME="Ubuntu"
VERSION_ID="24.04"
VERSION="24.04.3 LTS (Noble Numbat)"
VERSION_CODENAME=noble

embyserver.txt

[Luke 42077]

Hi, what example are we looking at here?

[Tophicles 39]

7 hours ago, Luke said:

Hi, what example are we looking at here?

This was just the server at the moment I made the post. 

Please let me know what you'd like me to try to capture and I'm more than happy to attempt it. 

[Tophicles 39]

Here's a video of the issue - to better explain it. Please forgive my voice. If this link doesn't work I can add it to my YouTube channel. 

https://photos.app.goo.gl/A2xkTFfaBHiGL3nn7

[TMCsw 246]

It’s not really clear to me how you have this setup.

Is the Fire MAX connected to the AVR (if not, try it this way) or the Fire TV?

I do have other suggestions if that doesn’t work…

[Tophicles 39]

2 hours ago, TMCsw said:

It’s not really clear to me how you have this setup.

Is the Fire MAX connected to the AVR (if not, try it this way) or the Fire TV?

I do have other suggestions if that doesn’t work…

Fair question. The setup is as follows:

FireTV Max 4k (stick) direct into AVR HDMI

AVR outputs HDMI to projector. 

[TMCsw 246]

It should work, but if you haven't already:

In Fire Max (NOT in Emby), make sure that in Settings > Display and Sound > Audio > Surround Sound, is set to Best Available.

In Emby, all sound settings should be set to Auto and Pass-Thru.

Another thing to try. I don’t have a Pioneer, but on my previous Onkyo and my current Denon, I’ve had to press the ‘Movie Mode button’ on the AVR’s remote to switch to Multi-channel input (maybe more than once). This seems to be needed only for emby.

Also, have you tried both the apps, Emby for Android and Android TV?

[Tophicles 39]

Just now, TMCsw said:

It should work, but if you haven't already:

In Fire Max (NOT in Emby), make sure that in Settings > Display and Sound > Audio > Surround Sound, is set to Best Available.

In Emby, all sound settings should be set to Auto and Pass-Thru.

Another thing to try. I don’t have a Pioneer, but on my previous Onkyo and my current Denon, I’ve had to press the ‘Movie Mode button’ on the AVR’s remote to switch to Multi-channel input (maybe more than once). This seems to be needed only for emby.

Also, have you tried both the apps, Emby for Android and Android TV?

Yes, if you watched the video you'd see how I've set it both ways. If I set it for "Best Available" then DTS won't play. If I set it for PCM only, then DTS will play, sometimes, but other times it won't kick out of stereo mode. 

I have the Pioneer on "Auto-surround" which does correctly detect the provided signal from Emby - when it works. The problem is consistency. 

I have tried both apps but it seems that the Emby For FIRETV is abandoned or significantly back burnered. 

[Luke 42077]

Hi, can you please also provide a log from the app?

Thanks !

[Tophicles 39]

I've genereated a log from the app where I test both DTS 7.1 and EAC 7.1 with the FireTV options set ot Best Available and PCM only.

I see a "Share" button, but I don't get anyone to share to? I'm not sure how to pull the logs down...

[Tophicles 39]

I can't seem to locate the logs in a file explorer or share them... 

There is no "Debug Options" on the settings menu OR a "send logs" option. 

Edited January 19 by Tophicles

[Luke 42077]

Do you have any apps installed that you can share text files to?

[Tophicles 39]

14 minutes ago, Luke said:

Do you have any apps installed that you can share text files to?

I have ES File Explorer or Send Files To TV .. I'm happy to install whatever you know works. 

I can't seem to locate the Emby app's log in those two programs...

Edited January 19 by Tophicles

[Tophicles 39]

Ok, I was able to use ADB and get the log from the app using my mac. 

I replicated the situation, first by having PCM selected on the FireTV and then playing DTS, then Dolby Digital Plus 7.1 and Dolby E-AC3 7.1. Both DTS and Dobly Digital Plus played in 7.1 but the E-AC3 played in stereo only. 

Then I switched to "Best Available" on the FireTV and tried the same sequence. This time, DTS played as stereo (with no audio output) but the others worked as expected. 

I hope this helps. I did not let each play very long, just long enough for the AVR to switch into the "mode" it thought it needed. I can redo and provide new logs if that would help with longer playing times. I figured it wasn't the length of play, but the handshake you were interested in.

Again, for clarity's sake, the FIRETV attaches directly to the AVR via HDMI, nothing in between. The AVR is a Pioneer VSX-1126-K and plays all these formats natively. 

emby-firetv-log.txt

Edited January 20 by Tophicles

[Tophicles 39]

So, in case anyone's wondering how to pull the logs from a FireTV, here's how I managed it. Might be common knowledge to some but was new to me.

I did all this on a Mac but I'm sure the steps are the same on other platforms (apart from terminal etc).

1) Put your FireTV into Developer Mode (Home -> My FireTV -> press center button seven times)

2) Go into developer options and enable ADB Debugging.

3) Go into the Emby for Android App and click on the User Icon (top right), go to App Settings -> Logs -> Settings and enable app logging. 

4) Exit out of the App and re-load it to enable logging.

5) Grab a copy of the SDK Platform Toolkit from https://developer.android.com/tools/releases/platform-tools

6) Find out the IP address of your FireTV (Home -> My FireTV -> About -> Network)

7) Extract the toolkit and change to it's folder, then run the following commands:

MAC / LINUX

./adb connect FIRETV_IP:5555

WINDOWS

adb connect FIRETV_IP:5555

You may have a prompt on the FireTV to accept ADB debugging and trust this network / pc. 

Now, you can "follow" the emby log as you perform the actions to replicate your issue or collect the data requested and output that stream to a text file. In my case, it's a file called "emby-firetv-log.txt" on my Mac's Desktop folder. 

MAC / LINUX

./adb logcat -v time | grep -i mb.android > ~/Desktop/emby-firetv-log.txt

WINDOWS

adb logcat -v time | findstr /i mb.android > "%USERPROFILE%\Desktop\emby-firetv-log.txt"

The command breakdown is to tell the FireTV to follow the system log, but look for entries matching "mb.android" (the app name) and then output those logs to the file.

8 ) Close Emby when you're done and then stop the command (usually Ctrl Z or Ctrl C) - the log will be in the file in the location you chose to put it. 

9 ) Go into the Emby for Android App and click on the User Icon (top right), go to App Settings -> Logs -> Settings and disable app logging. Restart to take effect.

I hope this helps people, I had a heck of a time trying to find out how to copy the logs.  

[Tophicles 39]

Also, I don't know if this helps, but I just noticed that movies in EAC3 7.1 show as 7 channel audio in the Stats For Nerds but only trigger 5 channels on the AVR. 

The DTS HD MA and DDP trigger 7 channels on the AVR - perhaps it's the handling of EAC3 that's the culprit? 

[Tophicles 39]

Also, just to experiment, I checked these in Plex and they all play without error. Which sucks, because I *REALLY* prefer Emby!

You folks are so responsive and so dedicated to making the best product, I'm still Team Emby 100% - just perPLEXed

[Luke 42077]

Hi ,are you still having an issue with this?

[Tophicles 39]

3 minutes ago, Luke said:

Hi ,are you still having an issue with this?

Yessir.