ebr 16169 Posted September 27, 2015 Posted September 27, 2015 I assume the hardware (Fire TV box) is capable of passing thru 5.1 AC3 and 5.1 DTS streams since Kodi can do it. The new ones are new hardware so, hopefully, they will work the same way the NP does and allow us to pass DD and 5.1 PCM. But, no one has one of these yet so I don't know. Since Kodi is operating at a lower level, I do believe it can pass thru the normal audio codecs (not the HD audio ones) even on the old Fire TV.
JPG8 1 Posted September 27, 2015 Posted September 27, 2015 I don't really care if it passes through or decodes itself, I just want to know that I can get 5.1 sound through a FireTV. Are you getting 5.1? Yes. I can get 5.1 sound with through a FireTV and it depends on the app. Tested playing the same files. Kodi app - Yes, 5.1 surround. Emby app (v1.1.04a) - No. VLC app (VLC-Android-TV-1.4.1-ARMv7.apk) - No. VLC app (VLC-Android-1.4.1-ARMv7.apk) - No. Other apps that I tried. Prime Instant Video app - Yes, 5.1 surround. HDHomerun app - Yes, 5.1 surround. SlingTV app - No. Channels that I checked only have 2.0 audio. ESPN app - No. STARZ Play - Yes, 5.1 surround.
CBers 7450 Posted September 27, 2015 Posted September 27, 2015 Yes. I can get 5.1 sound with through a FireTV and it depends on the app. Tested playing the same files. Kodi app - Yes, 5.1 surround. Emby app (v1.1.04a) - No. VLC app (VLC-Android-TV-1.4.1-ARMv7.apk) - No. VLC app (VLC-Android-1.4.1-ARMv7.apk) - No. The Emby app does do pass-through according to some of the users using it, especially on the Nexus Player, but it does seem that VLC is the governing factor, seeing as the app uses VLC.
ebr 16169 Posted September 27, 2015 Posted September 27, 2015 The Emby app does do pass-through according to some of the users using it, especially on the Nexus Player, but it does seem that VLC is the governing factor, seeing as the app uses VLC. Not on the Fire TV.
CBers 7450 Posted September 27, 2015 Posted September 27, 2015 Not on the Fire TV. Strange as others apps running on the FTV seem to do it, according to @@JPG8. Yes. I can get 5.1 sound with through a FireTV and it depends on the app. Tested playing the same files. Kodi app - Yes, 5.1 surround. Other apps that I tried. Prime Instant Video app - Yes, 5.1 surround. HDHomerun app - Yes, 5.1 surround. STARZ Play - Yes, 5.1 surround.
JPG8 1 Posted September 27, 2015 Posted September 27, 2015 The Emby app does do pass-through according to some of the users using it, especially on the Nexus Player, but it does seem that VLC is the governing factor, seeing as the app uses VLC. I concur. I'm hoping that future VLC Android/FireTV code can do pass-through and that the Emby app will too. 1
JeremyG 30 Posted September 27, 2015 Posted September 27, 2015 So this makes me think that I never understood what "pass through" means. I always assumed it meant passing the raw audio stream across the wire for the next device to decode. And then I assumed that it's possible to decode it locally and just send already-decoded 5.1 audio over HDMI. I guess this isn't the case...which means it's pointless to buy a FireTV... I might as well use the Samsung SmartTV app since it lives inside my HTS seems to provide 5.1 just fine.
CBers 7450 Posted September 27, 2015 Posted September 27, 2015 So this makes me think that I never understood what "pass through" means. I always assumed it meant passing the raw audio stream across the wire for the next device to decode. And then I assumed that it's possible to decode it locally and just send already-decoded 5.1 audio over HDMI. I guess this isn't the case...which means it's pointless to buy a FireTV... I might as well use the Samsung SmartTV app since it lives inside my HTS seems to provide 5.1 just fine. That's exactly what it means. I get DD pass-through to my Samsung Smart TV and it then passes it through to my Sonos PlayBar. I also have the Samsung Smart TV app installed and get DD pass-through that way as well. I don't get DD pass-through from the Emby for Android TV app running on my Nexus Player, due to what appears to be an issue with VLC, but Kodi does it just fine.
JPG8 1 Posted September 27, 2015 Posted September 27, 2015 I believe your original assumption on "pass through" is correct. On my FireTV box, when I play a file with 5.1 DTS using the Kodi app, the raw audio stream is sent out the FireTV HDMI port to my TV. The TV then directs the raw audio stream out of its optical port to my audio system. The audio system then decodes the raw stream, displays DTS, and I get surround sound out of all 6 speakers. I have these audio settings in Kodi: Number of channel=5.1, Enable passthrough=ON, Dolby Digital (AC3) capable receiver=ON, and DTS capable receiver=ON. I really like the FireTV box and Emby. What led me to the Kodi app was getting 5.1 surround output from my audio system. If the Emby FireTV app gets this capability on the older FireTV or on the newer FireTV, things will get easier for Emby users. Just download Emby app from Amazon and your done. No need to side-load Kodi for 5.1 surround. By the way, Kodi is a really nice app and well worth the extra effort to setup. It's a shame that it was removed from the Amazon app store.
JeremyG 30 Posted September 27, 2015 Posted September 27, 2015 JPG8, on 27 Sept 2015 - 7:02 PM, said: I believe your original assumption on "pass through" is correct. On my FireTV box, when I play a file with 5.1 DTS using the Kodi app, the raw audio stream is sent out the FireTV HDMI port to my TV. The TV then directs the raw audio stream out of its optical port to my audio system. The audio system then decodes the raw stream, displays DTS, and I get surround sound out of all 6 speakers. I have these audio settings in Kodi: Number of channel=5.1, Enable passthrough=ON, Dolby Digital (AC3) capable receiver=ON, and DTS capable receiver=ON. I really like the FireTV box and Emby. What led me to the Kodi app was getting 5.1 surround output from my audio system. If the Emby FireTV app gets this capability on the older FireTV or on the newer FireTV, things will get easier for Emby users. Just download Emby app from Amazon and your done. No need to side-load Kodi for 5.1 surround. By the way, Kodi is a really nice app and well worth the extra effort to setup. It's a shame that it was removed from the Amazon app store. Yea I might have to just bite the bullet and go with Kodi. I really want to keep things simple, but Kodi will also allow HDHomeRun DVR, and that's like the final step to getting rid of my cable box.
Guest tbear2001 Posted September 28, 2015 Posted September 28, 2015 Is there some trick to getting the Fire TV app to refresh? Some of the images are not showing up or episodes are not showing. If I view thru the web app everything is OK.
mediacowboy 438 Posted September 28, 2015 Posted September 28, 2015 Sounds like the cache may need to be cleared. To do the you go to the fire tv settings and select the apps option. Then select emby and in that is a list to clear the cache.
ebr 16169 Posted September 28, 2015 Posted September 28, 2015 The app doesn't really cache anything. I think I'll need some screen shots of what you're talking about because the app refreshes items with almost all navigation.
JPG8 1 Posted September 28, 2015 Posted September 28, 2015 This was posted on github 3 hours ago. I hope it means what I think it means and that it makes it into Emby app for android and FireTV. https://github.com/videolan/vlc/blob/master/NEWS Changes between 2.2.x and 3.0.0-git: -------------------------------- Audio output: * Complete rewrite of the AudioTrack Android module. This is now the default. It now supports HDMI/SPDIF passthrough for AC3, 5.1/7.1 and float output. * Added Tizen audio module.
ebr 16169 Posted September 28, 2015 Posted September 28, 2015 Interesting. But we already have audio passthrough of AC3 5.1 (on the Google devices). Not sure if this is truly different than what we have now. Also, it will need to make its way into the Android port but I'll keep an eye out for it.
JeremyG 30 Posted September 28, 2015 Posted September 28, 2015 ebr, on 28 Sept 2015 - 5:37 PM, said: Interesting. But we already have audio passthrough of AC3 5.1 (on the Google devices). Not sure if this is truly different than what we have now. Also, it will need to make its way into the Android port but I'll keep an eye out for it. Yea but not on FireTV, so hopefully this will bring that functionality to FireTV. I personally avoid anything by Google when I can help it, and correct me if I'm wrong but NexusPlayer lacks all the basic apps like HBO-Go, Starz, Showtime, etc right? My main goal is to have a single inexpensive devices that gets me all my entertainment. This means the above apps, plus Emby and HDHomeRunDVR (in due time)
ebr 16169 Posted September 29, 2015 Posted September 29, 2015 I guess we'll see. I haven't seen any libVlc updates of any consequence in the Android port for the past month.
crystalgipsy 4 Posted September 29, 2015 Posted September 29, 2015 So does VLC use hardware acceleration on the AFTV or is it CPU only?
ebr 16169 Posted September 29, 2015 Posted September 29, 2015 So does VLC use hardware acceleration on the AFTV or is it CPU only? I think it depends but, based on the performance I got when I specifically disabled HW acceleration for testing, it must be.
mrfawlty 0 Posted October 1, 2015 Posted October 1, 2015 Sorry if I sound dumb, but I can't see any options in the app about audio. Is that option configured in the server? Having said that, reading this thread it seems 5.1 on my FireTV is a dream right now anyway. It is so frustrating as the device itself definitely supports it as anything played from Amazon comes out in full 5.1.
ebr 16169 Posted October 1, 2015 Posted October 1, 2015 Amazon is most concerned about you watching their content, not yours . You are correct. We have not been able to get anything but stereo on the Fire so far. Hopefully, this will change in the future. 1
AmericanCrisis 28 Posted October 5, 2015 Posted October 5, 2015 My friend who is a remote user that has a connect account is trying to login via connect and it isn't working. He enters the pin via the website and when he selects next on the Fire TV the app acts like it is logging in then it right back to the beginning. He then has to enter a new pin again. This happened like 10 times. Was never able to log in. I receive a resulting login failed on my dashboard. His connect works when using Emby on an Android tablet. We cleared the data on Fire TV and still not working.
ebr 16169 Posted October 5, 2015 Posted October 5, 2015 Sounds like it is unable to reach your server as Connect understands it. When using the other apps are you using the same Emby Connect account?
AmericanCrisis 28 Posted October 5, 2015 Posted October 5, 2015 Sounds like it is unable to reach your server as Connect understands it. When using the other apps are you using the same Emby Connect account? Yep I just confirmed the Emby Connect account could login remotely via Emby Android.
PhilWhite 64 Posted October 6, 2015 Posted October 6, 2015 Need to play with it more, but I got one of the new Fire TVs yesterday and the VLC player did not work very well with this new hardware. While some videos played well others did not. It looked like mp4s were fine but m4Vs had issues. With the vlc player turned off everything played fine. 1
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