Dolby D 5.1 no longer passes through on latest update1.2.22g

[nicktech209 0]

Still not working for me, I'm running the 1228 beta on Android 601 and ac3 passthrough using spdif is intermittent at best, I have tried playing with both audio options and no change. The files that Im most concerned with are mkv's some work others don't. I've submitted logs on the Bravia 2016 dlna forum post

Edited August 6, 2016 by nicktech209

[ebr 16169]

Still not working for me, I'm running the 1228 beta on Android 601 and ac3 passthrough using spdif is intermittent at best, I have tried playing with both audio options and no change. The files that Im most concerned with are mkv's some work others don't. I've submitted logs on the Bravia 2016 dlna forum post

 

spdif only supports a limited amount of formats.  Basically, just straight old DD 5.1. 

 

Can you narrow down differences in the audio tracks that work vs. the ones that don't?

[nicktech209 0]

When I do a straight play to via windows 10 DD5.1 and DTS ES work great, but I suppose thats beside the point. When using Emby for Android TV while only trying mkv containers and 384k bitrate ac3 certain files work while others do not The CoH file passes through no problem while the OaA does not

CoH.txt

OaA.txt

[Luke 42077]

Can you supply the media info as seen in the emby web interface? thanks.

[nicktech209 0]

Passes Through

Doesn't pass through

[ebr 16169]

It is the ref frames of 5 on the second one that is causing the transcode. Not the audio. The loss of pass thru is just a side-effect of that.

[nicktech209 0]

I see, so whats the most effective way to rectify this? Thank you by the way I didn't think that it had anything to do with the video stream. So aside from re encoding a lot of movies, what can I do? I was thinking a new receiver. I really don't want to bust out an HTPC. I like the interface for E4ATV and the reduced power consumption

Edited August 7, 2016 by nicktech209

[Luke 42077]

I see, so whats the most effective way to rectify this, buy a new receiver, re encode more then half my library which exceeds 1200 movies? Thank you by the way I didn't think that it had anything to do with the video stream

 

How do you know that this would affect half your library? Have you checked the ref frame count of each video? At a resolution of 1080p, 4 reference frames is considered the recommended maximum throughout the industry. This goes not only for Android TV, but other video players as well. 

 

If you want to read some technical information about this, you can do so here:

 

http://www.lighterra.com/papers/videoencodingh264/#numberofreferenceframes

 

But here is a quick snippet:

 

 

 

...resulting in either no playback or severe stuttering during playback if the number of reference frames is too high. This is usually due to inadequate cache size and/or a lack of suitable prefetching to cover main memory latency. Some software players also struggle with large numbers of reference frames, for similar reasons.

[CBers 7450]

I see, so whats the most effective way to rectify this? Thank you by the way I didn't think that it had anything to do with the video stream. So aside from re encoding a lot of movies, what can I do? I was thinking a new receiver. I really don't want to bust out an HTPC. I like the interface for E4ATV and the reduced power consumption

I had a 1080p MKV video with 5 ref frames which would only transcode using the ATV app, so I re-encoded it using HANDBRAKE and now it Direct Plays.

 

See from here: http://emby.media/community/index.php?/topic/36253-android-tv-beta/?p=347418

[nicktech209 0]

Thank you for the link it does help and no I haven't checked the reference frames of each video in my library. What I have done is a random check and by random I mean just clicking on a video having it load in and seeing if audio has been passed through, there are very few instances where I get better then PCM audio, the problem with that is I have a whole slew of different codecs and containers being used as old as div3 and as new as h265. Avi, mp4, mkv even a few m2ts. I have no expectations of you guys doing all the work and making everything function as I intend, I really just want to be pointed in the right direction so I can figure it out, which you have done. In the old days it was a matter of configuring the codecs properly for my HTPC, now unfortunately this is not the case. So I do apologize for being blunt. Would buying a new receiver help?

And thanks CBers I'll give that a shot

Edited August 7, 2016 by nicktech209

[Luke 42077]

No, the issue is that the 5 reference frames are too much for the video player to decode. You need to re-encode the video, or use a playback device with a little more horsepower.

[nicktech209 0]

Well HTPC it is thanks for your guys help

[Luke 42077]

Hi @@dnastro

 

The latest beta version of the Emby app offers improved playback, refresh rate switching, and all the HD Audio pass-through you need. Check out the beta thread for more details:

 

https://emby.media/community/index.php?/topic/42239-android-tv-beta-13x/

 

We think you'll enjoy the next update to the stable channel. Thanks !

[mini__me 28]

Something has changed again as on my Sony Android TV Movies with Dolby TrueHD don't playback at all and Movies with DTS-HD are only playing in Stereo.

 

Any logs I can send to help out or is this a known issue at the moment?

[Luke 42077]

The best thing to do is please provide the logs requested in how to report a media playback issue. thanks !

[mini__me 28]

Server log attached, however I see no transcode log, so I'm assuming it's something to do with the direct streaming in the app itself, so I enabled debug options and sent a log from the app after trying to playback.

 

The TV will definitely pass DTS to the amp as it would in kodi and previous versions of the Emby app

 

I've just had the update to Marshmallow on the TV so thought that might of helped but it doesn't appear to have change anything other and enabling the refresh rate change option in the menus.

Server.rtf

[ebr 16169]

Can you please provide this information in relation to the log you sent from the app?

 

 

 

• Exactly what you were doing and what happened.  Include the name of whatever you played if it is a playback problem
• The time you sent the log
• The name of the Emby user on the local server that was logged in at the time

[mini__me 28]

Hit play for Star War the Force Awakens, film states is Direct Playing and only plays on Stereo despite having DTS-HD and DTS sound track.

 

Time sent was ~10pm GMT.

 

User: Steve

[ebr 16169]

Your TV is not reporting that it supports DTS.  Are you sure it does?  You can't compare to Kodi as they have their own built-in support.

[mini__me 28]

TV doesn't but it does pass it through to the amp. The Emby app used to pass it through!

[mini__me 28]

If you don't want to risk breaking audio playback in cases where the TV says it doesn't support it natively and people don't have an amp setup that the TV will pass the audio through, could you change the logic so if TV says it supports Dolby Digital that the DTS is transcoded to DD? At least I'd get something from my DTS films other than stereo!!!

 

I believe you have that logic for TrueHD as films with a TrueHD sound track are transcoded.

[ebr 16169]

We are favoring the fact that VLC can direct stream the item over transcoding it for just the audio.  However, in normal situations like this, VLC would decode the DTS and send as multi-channel PCM.  Perhaps the TV doesn't support that either...

[mini__me 28]

Natively you are right it won't be able to decode the DTS, however the audio is explicitly configured to output sound through a receiver. The settings I have for the digital output are shown below.

 

When the emby app had the option to enable digital output/bitstream then DD and DTS were sent fine out from the TV.

Edited February 25, 2017 by mini__me

[mini__me 28]

Just sent another log, could you allow transcoding of the audio when the DTS sound track is explicitly selected as I can do with TrueHD now.

 

Logs sent: 13:48

 

Hit play on "Legend" audio defaulted to one that can be direct played, manually selected the HD audio track and playback changed to direct stream with transcode of audio.

 

User: Steve

Edited February 25, 2017 by mini__me

[mini__me 28]

Any update or more logs I can provide?