DTS-HD Master Audio issues with Formuler GTV

[Richard Branches 330]

I was given a Formuler GTV Android TV certified device (formuler.tv/gtv/) for testing purposes which is reportedly supporting DTS-HD Master Audio passtrough, I was able to confirm this with VLC but on Emby I'm not getting audio from three different videos I tested:

One video has DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 inside MKV.

Another has DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 inside MKV.

Another has DTS:X inside MKV.

Audio tries to play, it stutters, videos also stutter.

Both DTS options are turned ON in settings.

The device has Android 9.

I'm using the latest stable Emby app.

I sent a log on 12/16/2020 at 11:49 am.

Edited December 16, 2020 by Richard Branches

[vdatanet 1617]

Is there a ffmpeg log? SFN?

Edited December 16, 2020 by vdatanet

[Richard Branches 330]

On initial tests it was playing videos directly but later it was transcoding them so I rebooted the device and they've been playing directly again, I'm not sure if using VLC affected playback on Emby.

Edited December 16, 2020 by Richard Branches

[vdatanet 1617]

How is everything connected?

[Richard Branches 330]

The formuler is connected directly to the AV receiver through HDMI, Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, DTS and DTS-HD Master Audio are shown as the audio codecs detected in the device's audio setting.

Dolby TrueHD passtrough is not supported on the device so it's transcoded to Dolby Digital.

Dolby Digital and Dolby Digital Plus play directly.

But non of the DTS codecs play, even if I turn OFF the DTS-HD option in settings no sound plays on the receiver.

Selecting the above codecs manually don't work either.

Edited December 16, 2020 by Richard Branches

[vdatanet 1617]

Maybe you should send Android TV app debug logs

[Richard Branches 330]

Read the initial post again, I already sent that.

[ebr 16182]

I'm not aware of any device other than the Shield that properly supports DTS-HD.  In your log there are the following errors:

12-16 11:42:56.339  6484  6820 W AudioTrack: releaseBuffer() track 0x8f478480 disabled due to previous underrun, restarting
12-16 11:42:57.221  6484  6820 W AudioTrack: releaseBuffer() track 0x8f478480 disabled due to previous underrun, restarting
12-16 11:42:58.109  6484  6820 W AudioTrack: releaseBuffer() track 0x8f478480 disabled due to previous underrun, restarting
12-16 11:42:58.616  6484  6820 W AudioTrack: releaseBuffer() track 0x8f478480 disabled due to previous underrun, restarting
12-16 11:42:59.513  6484  6820 W AudioTrack: releaseBuffer() track 0x8f478480 disabled due to previous underrun, restarting
12-16 11:43:00.452  6484  6820 W AudioTrack: releaseBuffer() track 0x8f478480 disabled due to previous underrun, restarting

 

[Richard Branches 330]

Shouldn't play as DTS or transcoded to Dolby Digital instead?

Is this a problem with the firmware that must be addressed?

[ebr 16182]

11 hours ago, Richard Branches said:

Shouldn't play as DTS or transcoded to Dolby Digital instead?

The device is reporting that it is supported (because you checked the box to tell it so).  If  you uncheck the DTS-HD box, then that should happen.

[Richard Branches 330]

2 hours ago, ebr said:

If  you uncheck the DTS-HD box, then that should happen.

It is not, there is no sound or audio tries to play but it stutter for a second then no sound when I un-check the DTS-HD option and on my receiver only lights up the DTS logo not the DTS-HD.

Edited December 17, 2020 by Richard Branches

[ebr 16182]

4 hours ago, Richard Branches said:

It is not, there is no sound or audio tries to play but it stutter for a second then no sound when I un-check the DTS-HD option and on my receiver only lights up the DTS logo not the DTS-HD.

So it sounds like there is some sort of issue with DTS in general on the box.  If you uncheck the DTS box, it converts to DD and works fine?

[Richard Branches 330]

When both options are unchecked every video I tested was transcoded to Dolby Digital, which is the correct behavior.

When the DTS option is ON and the DTS-HD option is OFF, every video I tested played as DTS except for one video with 7.1 channels where I didn't get audio and the DTS logo didn't turn ON on the receiver.

When the DTS option is OFF and the DTS-HD option is ON, every video was transcoded to Dolby Digital. In this case, it seems that the app ignores the status of the DTS-HD option but I need a confirmation from you guys if that's the correct behavior.

The problem lies when both options are ON, all videos stutter or play fast and garble sound is heard for one second several times throughout playback.

Looks like this device really doesn't support DTS-HD Master Audio passtrough or the implementation is buggy.

What do you think?

Edited December 18, 2020 by Richard Branches

[ebr 16182]

11 hours ago, Richard Branches said:

When the DTS option is OFF and the DTS-HD option is ON, every video was transcoded to Dolby Digital. In this case, it seems that the app ignores the status of the DTS-HD option but I need a confirmation from you guys if that's the correct behavior.

Yes, it wouldn't make any sense for a device to support DTS-HD and NOT DTS.

11 hours ago, Richard Branches said:

Looks like this device really doesn't support DTS-HD Master Audio passtrough or the implementation is buggy.

What do you think?

I tend to agree at this point.

[Richard Branches 330]

Someone told me there is a beta version that can be installed along the stable version that it's using a recent version of exoplayer, is it true?

[ebr 16182]

3 minutes ago, Richard Branches said:

Someone told me there is a beta version that can be installed along the stable version that it's using a recent version of exoplayer, is it true?

 

[Richard Branches 330]

13 minutes ago, ebr said:

Yes, it wouldn't make any sense for a device to support DTS-HD and NOT DTS.

Why not to make the DTS core option to auto select when the DTS-HD option is selected alone?

[Luke 42078]

Can you try this on it and see how it compares?

 

[Richard Branches 330]

It didn't work, it has the same problems as with the stable version, this is clearly an issue with the device and I've been told Formuler devs are apparently working on it, I'll let you know in this topic as soon as they fix it.

By the way, is that a future interface of the app?, it's like the mobile version but I didn't find any audio options.

[Luke 42078]

Ok thanks for the info.

Quote

I didn't find any audio options

What options do you need? It's pretty automatic.

[Richard Branches 330]

20 minutes ago, Luke said:

What options do you need? It's pretty automatic.

No, I was just wondering but yeah I noticed it is automatic.

I this available in the beta through Google Play?, I would like to test it and provide feedback.

[Luke 42078]

It is, but for android tv devices currently requires sideloading.

[Richard Branches 330]

Why?

[ebr 16182]

30 minutes ago, Richard Branches said:

Why?

Because having both of them in the store would be very confusing.

[Richard Branches 330]

But I imagine it's going to replace the current one sometime in the future, right?.