Android TV app behavior on Philips 65OLED873/12

[TonioRoffo 4]

I have noticed some issues on 65OLED873/12, European version, 1080/50p.  This is Android 8.0 Oreo - june 2019 update.

 

• Refresh rate switch doesn't work - known on this machine, however, 24p plays perfect somehow so does 25p and 30.
• Playback of 60p (59.xxx) stutters.  FFmpeg on these files, convert to 30p, playback perfectly.
• AC3 5.1 passthrough is okay
• AC3 2.0 passthrough -> L&R channels are mapped to L&R on a 5.1 output to the receiver -> you get pure stereo and no dolby prologic style decoding on 2.0 audio.
• 4K HDR (HEVC) with AAC 7.1 -> no audio or screetching noise

 

A lot of these issues could be fixed for people with crappy android TV OSses out there (which are a lot) by either more granular settings on the client or custom transcoding profiles on the server side.  NO client is perfect.

 

I understand that these settings shouldn't be exposed to just everyone as it gets harder to debug - well at least then I'd suggest to keep extra options open in the GUI of the beta android tv releases.

 

WIll be happy to help with logs and/or tests where needed.

 

Thank you.

 

 

[Luke 42078]

Hi, what kind of options exactly do you propose?

[TonioRoffo 4]

I would suggest something similar to Emby Theater, *if* audio can be transcoded on the client side.  if not, this needs to be brought to the server side, and set per device:

 

**AUDIO**

 

] Speaker layout - "Auto" or a selection (2.0 up to 7.1) - if media channels bigger than set channels then transcode audio to set channels

 

] Advanced audio passthrough for:

 

* AC3/EAC3/DTS/DTS-HD/TRUEHD (AAC?) -> On/off/transcode choices 

 

] Transcode Codec - (which CODEC to transcode to) - Include LPCM (software decode) as an option

 

For AAC specifically, I would choose to always transcode 7.1 AAC as it is not a supported standard and a lot of players choke on it - not a must, the menu above can fix it.

 

**VIDEO**

 

All current settings, but bound to recognized players

 

very very expert setting -> Add frame rate reduction option (set max framerate, if higher -> 60 to 30p, 50 to 25p)

 

**MUSIC**

 

Upmix audio channels for music, keep option but extend -> Send as LPCM to multichannel set in # channels (as now) but with option to mute channels (for example, disable center speaker, ...)

Edited December 29, 2019 by TonioRoffo

[Luke 42078]

The app does have an audio downmix option. Have you checked that out?

[ebr 16176]

Hi.  The app also already does most of what you are asking for automatically.

 

It interrogates your system and if the content channels aren't supported, it will transcode it to a channel count that is.  Same with audio codecs.

 

Can you please provide specifics for the last case you indicated (the screeching)?

 

Thanks.

[TonioRoffo 4]

Hi.  The app also already does most of what you are asking for automatically.

 

It interrogates your system and if the content channels aren't supported, it will transcode it to a channel count that is.  Same with audio codecs.

 

Can you please provide specifics for the last case you indicated (the screeching)?

 

Thanks.

 

Sorry for the slow reaction - holidays and all

 

I understand that the app does a lot automatically, however, sometimes, due to faulty android settings, it gets settings wrong.  After the last update on my TV's android OS, no more screetching (noise) output from AAC 7.1, only silence.

 

The 60P stutter is gone as well.  Although my TV doens't allow refresh rate change, it's now fixed at 60 instead of 50, but all content works without a hitch.

 

I understand AAC 7.1 isn't really a standard so I don't really care if that doesn't work.

 

The most bothersome thing is AC3, 2.0 channels.  My receiver lights up AC3 5.1 and I get the 2 channels mapped to L & R, bypassing the expected "pro-logic" decoding of 2.0 content on the receiver side.  For AAC 2.0, I get the expected 2 channels into my receiver, which then kicks in pro-logic decoding.  Surely a bug in the TV's android.

 

So yeah, great work, but overrides would be great in situations where we are stuck with less than stellar android implementations.

[ebr 16176]

The most bothersome thing is AC3, 2.0 channels.  My receiver lights up AC3 5.1 and I get the 2 channels mapped to L & R, bypassing the expected "pro-logic" decoding of 2.0 content on the receiver side.  For AAC 2.0, I get the expected 2 channels into my receiver, which then kicks in pro-logic decoding.  Surely a bug in the TV's android.

 

So yeah, great work, but overrides would be great in situations where we are stuck with less than stellar android implementations.

 

The app already has an override for that situation.  Set the audio to "Downmix to stereo".

[TonioRoffo 4]

The app already has an override for that situation.  Set the audio to "Downmix to stereo".

 

This disables *any* passthrough to the receiver, not just the problematic DD 2.0.  All my audio formats become 2.0. I fail to see how this is a solution.

[TonioRoffo 4]

The app does have an audio downmix option. Have you checked that out?

 

Yes, however, that disables all passthrough audio (DD and DTS) in favor of 2.0 output.

[TonioRoffo 4]

Okay, so if it's not possible, hack it.

 

I tried the old hack of calling a bash script instead of directly invoking ffmpeg (by editing /opt/emby-server/bin/emby-server)

 

That does work but only if I force some kind of transcoding to start with, as Emby chooses to direct play (which was confusing, because in Plex terms that means access to the SMB share, which the player hasn't) which does not invoke ffmpeg at all.  Of course the transcoding breaks HEVC HDR video.

 

I understand that Emby wants the experience as simple as possible - but the current solution doesn't work.

 

What I'm supposed to do is:

 

* play something on emby Android TV.

* something doesn't work 

* choose the option to "correct" playback in the playback menu which automagically correct something I don't want (HEVC HDR -> SDR)

 

Is it really so bad to have an "expert" menu like in XBMC where we can tweak?  If users frig it up, just point them to default values...

 

Now I'm forced to pretranscode a bunch of files so they work on Emby.

[Luke 42078]

More options are possible in the future. Thanks for the feedback.