Playback issue: Dolby Atmos

[zeustek 2]

I'm posting this if anyone needs a work-around.

I've been having an issue with bitstreaming Dolby Atmos to my Yamaha RX-A8A AVR. If an AC3 or EAC3 stream is encoded with Atmos, the audio cuts out, sometimes often, sometimes periodically (the frequency of cut outs changes with each movie). I didn't notice any issues with Atmos encoded streams in any of the higher bitrate streams (e.g. Dolby True HD 7.1 seems fine). Also, it doesn't seem to matter if I have bitstreaming enabled or not, the audio was cutting out with it off, but without the Atmos decoder on my AVR flipping out, it was just little blips of audio cutting out).

This cropped up after a hardware change (at least I think thats what it is, becuase I don't recall having an issue until I changed out the GPU). Current hardware:

AMD Ryzen 5 5700G, 32GB ram, Radeon 9060XT 16GB (previous graphics card was a GeForce 4060Ti 8GB). I also never had an issue with my main PC hooked up (AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D, GeForce 4090).

AFAIK the default behaviour for the Windows app is Balanced video decoding. If you change to High Quality, the problem gets significantly worse, changing to Energy Efficient appears to fix the issue.

 

[Mahinepua 108]

High quality uses software decoding energy efficient all hardware, balanced piggy in the middle.

There is a ffmpeg bug with Truehd and atmos that has been fixed with custom mpv builds and will also be incorporated  into the next beta with a bit of luck.

[Luke 42497]

Hi, did you figure anything out?

[zeustek 2]

Yeah so Atmos playback still isn't perfect but it's tolerable. I will probably switch to VLC for longer movies.

Not really on topic, but the Windows app is really buggy when it comes to navigation. Last night I was watching a show and at the end I wanted to 'back out' (by pressing the back button) and it refused, instead bringing up the side menu which was completely blank. This happens a lot after watching media (instead of actually navigating to a previous screen, emby wants to open the side menu). During playback on screen commands often vanish (like the full screen button, often just dissapears not long after starting playback).

[Mahinepua 108]

Yes can confirm the blank side menu does happen sometimes along with misc ui bugs.

Not often but it does happen.

[Luke 42497]

Hi, we are looking into that. Thanks.

[zeustek 2]

I tried swapping out the mpv.dll but I have no idea if I did it right (not sure if I downloaded the right one). After replacing it with 2 different versions I don't see any difference, and I'm still having issues. Can anyone link me to a 'fixed' mpv.dll? Should I switch to software decoding?

[zeustek 2]

I spent the entire afternoon messing around and it is fixed. Don't ask me how. Here is what I did:

This is an AM4 platform B550-I chipset, 16GB 3600 ram, 5700G (on-board radeon disabled), 9060XT 16GB, 2TB 990Pro OS drive.

In windows (note: I use this PC in the X-Box 'full screen experience' and use one game launcher to launch Emby):

• changed power profile to performance and disabled every power saving feature I could find.
• changed the GPU to 'prefer performance' in the driver performance tab.

In BIOS:

• Changed memory from 3400MT to 3600MT
• Set UCLK manually to 1800Mhz (Auto is supposed to target this, but did it anyway).
• In AMD Overclocking (becuase the AI tuner doesn't expose all the settings), set Precision Boost Overdrive to Manual, limits to motherboard and chaged from an all core offset to a per core offset (-15 on all cores).

After I changed all this, I set Emby back to balanced, and sound is fine. Although I got massive screen corruption (which seems random, luck of the draw). I have since changed pixel format from full PC RGB to 4:4:4 YCbCr. Just a warning though, AMD's driver is completely broken. After you change this setting you have to hard-reboot the PC to get the display working.

[zeustek 2]

Just a quick update, this issue is not actually solved and I still have not been able to figure out the cause.

To be clear, I'm not having the same issue that I originally posted about, but the audio is still cutting out on occassion for half a second or so. It's completely random too. Sometimes it will go for an hour without issue, then I'll get maybe 2 or 3 in quick succession.

I have no idea if this is an issue with my hardware or emby. I have been 'tweaking' for days with zero experience on tweaking AM4 systems. My memory tweaks resulted in full-screen video corruption which I *think* is solved.

[yocker 1577]

On 4/3/2026 at 12:27 AM, zeustek said:

I'm posting this if anyone needs a work-around.

I've been having an issue with bitstreaming Dolby Atmos to my Yamaha RX-A8A AVR. If an AC3 or EAC3 stream is encoded with Atmos, the audio cuts out, sometimes often, sometimes periodically (the frequency of cut outs changes with each movie). I didn't notice any issues with Atmos encoded streams in any of the higher bitrate streams (e.g. Dolby True HD 7.1 seems fine). Also, it doesn't seem to matter if I have bitstreaming enabled or not, the audio was cutting out with it off, but without the Atmos decoder on my AVR flipping out, it was just little blips of audio cutting out).

This cropped up after a hardware change (at least I think thats what it is, becuase I don't recall having an issue until I changed out the GPU). Current hardware:

AMD Ryzen 5 5700G, 32GB ram, Radeon 9060XT 16GB (previous graphics card was a GeForce 4060Ti 8GB). I also never had an issue with my main PC hooked up (AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D, GeForce 4090).

AFAIK the default behaviour for the Windows app is Balanced video decoding. If you change to High Quality, the problem gets significantly worse, changing to Energy Efficient appears to fix the issue.

 

Googling that Yamaha, it seems it's a common problem with the Yamaha that it will cut out when playing AC3 and EAC3 with atmos.

Bug since FW 2.1.30 and 2.1.36 - E-AC3 / Dolby Digital Plus audio drop or handshake issue | Zidoo forum

Owners' Thread - Yamaha RX-A4A/A6A/A8A AV receiver discussion, help & experiences | Page 29 | AVForums

Yamaha RX A8A, Dolby Atmos, Windows 11 - Sound Randomly Stops | AVS Forum

And more..

Some suggest that a firmware might fix the problem, while others have less luck.
If you have the possibility i suggest borrowing another HDMI capable AVR of another brand and see if that fixes it.

[Mahinepua 108]

Turn off bitstreaming for everything but dts and see if the issue persists.

The amp is not an issue if your sending PCM, decoding is done by MPV.

If the issue persists with PCM its your PC, you can try a different video card also.

There is no advantage is letting the receiver decode unless it's an atmos or dts-x stream.

Edited May 5 by Mahinepua

[zeustek 2]

2 hours ago, yocker said:

Googling that Yamaha, it seems it's a common problem with the Yamaha that it will cut out when playing AC3 and EAC3 with atmos.

Bug since FW 2.1.30 and 2.1.36 - E-AC3 / Dolby Digital Plus audio drop or handshake issue | Zidoo forum

Owners' Thread - Yamaha RX-A4A/A6A/A8A AV receiver discussion, help & experiences | Page 29 | AVForums

Yamaha RX A8A, Dolby Atmos, Windows 11 - Sound Randomly Stops | AVS Forum

And more..

Some suggest that a firmware might fix the problem, while others have less luck.
If you have the possibility i suggest borrowing another HDMI capable AVR of another brand and see if that fixes it.

Thanks for the reply.
First link has nothing to do with Yamaha.
Second and third links do not describe the same problem.
I want bitstreaming for Atmos decoding so keen to figure out why this is happening. My first suspect is the video card as I did not notice any issues with the 4060ti that I used to have installed. However, after tinkering for a while I'm thinking that the GPU is simply more sensitive to memory timings and out-of-spec UCLK than the Geforce card.
I'm testing new memory settings at the moment after discovering DRAM calculator. I don't think it has anything to do with my Yamaha AVR, I never had issues when my main PC was plugged into it (4090) over a 30 meter fiberoptic HDMI cable, which have a reputation for being temperamental.

[yocker 1577]

4 hours ago, zeustek said:

Thanks for the reply.
First link has nothing to do with Yamaha.
Second and third links do not describe the same problem.
I want bitstreaming for Atmos decoding so keen to figure out why this is happening. My first suspect is the video card as I did not notice any issues with the 4060ti that I used to have installed. However, after tinkering for a while I'm thinking that the GPU is simply more sensitive to memory timings and out-of-spec UCLK than the Geforce card.
I'm testing new memory settings at the moment after discovering DRAM calculator. I don't think it has anything to do with my Yamaha AVR, I never had issues when my main PC was plugged into it (4090) over a 30 meter fiberoptic HDMI cable, which have a reputation for being temperamental.

Yeah that first reply is a dud now that i look closer at it, it was even the first result when looking up your Yamaha and atmos problems on google. Search engines suck now adays.

I would personally still try another AVR if possible for troubleshooting purpose.

[zeustek 2]

I'm starting to suspect that it was bad UCLK stability. DRAM calculator has suggested voltage settings to stablise UCLK at 1800mhz and the system passed 24hrs of Prime95. I watched a couple of shows last night and didn't notice any issues. I'll report back after more testing.

[zeustek 2]

I'm starting to think this is unsolveable and the 9060XT might be faulty, I'm having other issues as well. I'm going to swap it out for my 4060ti (8GB) and test for a week. If all goes well I'll RMA the 9060XT and see if I can get a 5060ti (16GB) that will fit in the case (Fractal Era ITX).

Edited May 10 by zeustek

[Mahinepua 108]

Even a GTX1050ti 4gb with all settings maxxed is fine for the new windows app.

Previously I was using a GT1030 2gb and that aso worked fine.

[zeustek 2]

Yeah, but I do some gaming and the TV supports 4k 120hz VRR. The 8GB GPUs just can't cut the mustard.