emby theater surround sound

[Htpc0 5]

On one of my PCs, I noticed Emby is not outputting surround sound via HDMI.I don’t have spdif on this pc, so I can’t check if that works.

 

But VLC, MPC-HC, and the built in Windows 10 TV & Movies app can all send surround signal with no problem via HDMI.

 

Is there anything I can change in Emby to make it behave similarly?

 

 

 

[mjktg99 35]

Is your media getting transcoded?

[Htpc0 5]

Is your media getting transcoded?

 

I dont believe so. It's 1080p content and the server cpu usage is quite low. In any case, I thought Emby Theater natively plays all content?

[mjktg99 35]

I remember reading that someone had to run through the speaker configuration in Windows to tell it you had 5.1 setup. I don't know if this was the exact reason why but it's worth a shot.

[Htpc0 5]

I remember reading that someone had to run through the speaker configuration in Windows to tell it you had 5.1 setup. I don't know if this was the exact reason why but it's worth a shot.

 

I already tried that unfortunately

[mjktg99 35]

Do you only have one audio track in your media files? If you have a 2 channel track as the first track, emby will play that by default. You should also confirm it isn't transcoding. When playing a file, log into the server and click on the device playing and it should tell you how it's playing.

[lulzyatlas 20]

Simple question, but one worth asking, I notice you have a screenshot for your audio settings attached, but in the menu leading into that one, have you set HDMI as the Audio Bitstreaming Mode?

 

To my knowledge this should tell Emby Theatre to pass all audio over the HDMI port and hand over audio processing to the device on the other side. Ignoring most of the options under configure audio as it and your internal sound card are no longer handling audio processing.

 

If that doesn't work, confirm the HDMI is set as your default output for windows (it appears to be if the others do it fine), make sure Emby isn't transcoding (will downmix to stereo), or using a stereo audio track on the file (you can check this by bringing up the info window with the I key during playback).

 

If those all check out I'd say you could try enabling PCM Mixing with Dolby as the encoding, but as a last resort as this would be reprocessing your audio.

[Guest asrequested]

I disabled native support for DTS and AC3, and use ffdshow. Then enable passthrough for those types. It works perfectly.

 

You may need to use codec tweak tool, to disable the windows media foundation.

Edited December 6, 2015 by Doofus

[Luke 42077]

Well done.

[Htpc0 5]

I disabled native support for DTS and AC3, and use ffdshow. Then enable passthrough for those types. It works perfectly.

 

You may need to use codec tweak tool, to disable the windows media foundation.

 

can you share how you did this specifically?

[Guest asrequested]

First download and install ffdshow and codec tweak tool:

 

http://ffdshow-tryout.sourceforge.net/download.php

 

http://www.codecguide.com/download_other.htm

 

Next, select HDMI in bitstreaming mode:

 

 

Next, disable native audio decoding

 

 

 

Next, open ffdshow and go to output. Select the settings you require. My receiver will play most things, so I selected them all. Also select AC3 encode and Connect to: Direct Sound.

 

 

 

I also selected Mixer and Dolby settings. This is useful if you want to process 2 channel tracks, in this case I prefer ffdshow to handle AAC tracks.

 

 

 

 

Ensure that the codecs are enabled, and you should be good to go.

 

 

 

 

Enjoy

Edited December 13, 2015 by Doofus

[billy_ray 19]

First download and install ffdshow and codec tweak tool:

 

http://ffdshow-tryout.sourceforge.net/download.php

 

http://www.codecguide.com/download_other.htm

 

Next, select HDMI in bitstreaming mode:

 

 

Next, disable native audio decoding

 

 

 

Next, open ffdshow and go to output. Select the settings you require. My receiver will play most things, so I selected them all. I also selected AC3 encode.

 

 

 

I also selected Mixer and Dolby settings. This is useful if you want to process 2 channel tracks, in this case I prefer ffdshow to handle AAC tracks.

 

 

 

 

Ensure that the codecs are enabled, and you should be good to go.

 

 

 

 

Enjoy

I am not using this but just wanted to say thanks for the great step by step, just in case someone needs this in the near future.  

[WarrenH 16]

in the old days you just left everything on your pc as 2 speakers, and your AV did the decoding bit, I would imagine it's probably the same nowdays, without having to install additional codecs

[Guest asrequested]

in the old days you just left everything on your pc as 2 speakers, and your AV did the decoding bit, I would imagine it's probably the same nowdays, without having to install additional codecs

 

 

Now there are so many to decode. For example, Dolby surround has subdivisions, the latest being Atmos. With these being encoded into the modern files, you need to have them made accessible first, to be bitstreamed to the receiver. And there are many receivers that can't use all of these formats. It behooves you to be able to manipulate them through software.

Edited December 12, 2015 by Doofus

[Trevor68 70]

Can anybody explain what those black screenshots above are from? I have no settings in Theatre that look remotely like those? And also no surround on any type of file, all of which play fine using Emby for WMC.

[Luke 42077]

Can anybody explain what those black screenshots above are from? I have no settings in Theatre that look remotely like those? And also no surround on any type of file, all of which play fine using Emby for WMC.

 

You should at least be seeing some bitstream related settings. If you are not, then you need to ensure that windows DWM is enabled. It is by default It is by default but some like to turn it off. So double check that.

[jordy 284]

@@Trevor68, those settings are from the OLD Emby Theatre.

[Trevor68 70]

Whoops, in the wrong thread, as per my own thread I have tried EVERY setting available and there is no surround on ANY file that plays perfectly using Emby for WMC. I'll go back to searching the forums, but not much is turning up obviously, or I would not have posted here.

 

Also i have no clue what a Windows DWM might be, so not likely I turned it off,lol

Edited January 27, 2016 by Trevor68

[ebr 16169]

Also i have no clue what a Windows DWM might be, so not likely I turned it off,lol

 

If you disabled the "Aero" theme in Windows, this turns off the DWM.

[Trevor68 70]

EBR, there's the man I need! If my Win7/Emby for WMC steup is fine, and I download the shiny new theatre client and there is no surround, any thoughts what I need to be doing?

 

Given there is no doco, I'll take a rough guess that Theatre has it's own codecs, and will therefore require some setup/work on my part, over and above my existing working setup?

 

Doing my best, but info is hard to find.

[ebr 16169]

Could be a number of things but you said in your other thread that the issue is moot until the guide is implemented.

 

If you really want to diagnose, provide the logs in your other thread.

[Trevor68 70]

always happy to help so will have a poke around tomorrow to see if i can find the logs and post them. Just seems wasteful of every bodies time if there is a simple setting I need to do to make it work.

 

I set bitstream to HDMI, but have no idea what the other audio settings mean, so left them on default. I see there are two other audio rendering options, but again having no clue what they are or do I left them well enough alone.

[Trevor68 70]

Could be a number of things but you said in your other thread that the issue is moot until the guide is implemented.

 

If you really want to diagnose, provide the logs in your other thread.

 

Thanks, logs now attached, hopefully the right ones. http://emby.media/community/index.php?/topic/30548-theatre-surround-sound-and-guide/?p=293974

Edited January 29, 2016 by Trevor68