Dolby TrueHD soundtrack being transcoded to DD+5.1

[toppoff 0]

Hi,

I'm running Emby on my Sony Bravia XH9005 TV connected via eArc to a Samsung Q950T soundbar with passthru enabled.

My server (v4.5.4) is running under Windows 10.

 

When I play any video with a Dolby TrueHD soundtrack (either 5.1 or 7.1), Emby is transoding the audio to DD+ 5.1 as it believes that the soundtrack is in an unsupported format.

This happens with ALL my TrueHD files. All the files with DTS play perfectly (inc DTS-X).

 

I've also got a Shield Pro 2019 connected to the TV's HDMI. This works as expected with all video files so I don't believe it's a problem with the TV/Soundbar setup.

 

I've attached the logs from when using both the TV client and the Shield client, as well as MediaInfo output for the video files used for testing.

 

Any suggestions much appreciated. 

Thanks,

Adrian

Emby Logs - TrueHD Bravia TV.zip Emby Logs - TrueHD Shield Pro 2019.zip Top Gun Mediainfo.txt

[rbjtech 5284]

Other than the shield (which you have confirmed as working), I'm not sure of any other client that supports True-HD and DTS-HD.

If DTS-HD really does work (and it's not just the DTS Core) then this will be one of the first confirmations that eARC is actually working and passing HD Audio ...

The Audio transcoding reason is 'Codec not supported' - so we need one of the Dev's to look at the 'hardware detected' log file to confirm why emby thinks your client cannot support True-HD.

 

[toppoff 0]

Hi,

I maybe wrong, but I thought that was the big advantage of eArc over Arc. 

eArc can handle the uncompressed audio formats - TrueHD and DTS-HD (or is that only when audo is being passed thru the TV from an external source ie the Shield ??)

[FrostByte 5392]

As a test you could try to disable the transcoding of video audio on your server temporarily and see if it works

Under your user settings disable the following 

"Allow video playback that requires conversion without re-encoding"

It will then passthrough TrueHD and let your TV handle it, if it can

 

Edited April 6, 2021 by FrostByte

[toppoff 0]

Hi,

That didn't make any difference, but I have got it working by disableing all the options in that section apart from 'Allow Media Playback'

Be interesting to see what impact that has on my other clients - Ipad, FireTV, Android phone and Emby Theater for Windows

[FrostByte 5392]

So is it Direct Playing now with all transcoding turned off?  If so, then ebr might be able to change something if he hasn't already in the beta.

It will make things unplayable in your other clients if they require transcoding

Edited April 6, 2021 by FrostByte

[rbjtech 5284]

1 hour ago, toppoff said:

Hi,

I maybe wrong, but I thought that was the big advantage of eArc over Arc. 

eArc can handle the uncompressed audio formats - TrueHD and DTS-HD (or is that only when audo is being passed thru the TV from an external source ie the Shield ??)

Correct - that is the principle !

However,  TV's as emby (or any other) clients have never been able to 'output' HD Audio correctly to eARC, I'm not 100% sure if this is a software limitation or hardware.

If you can pass HD Audio back from your TV to your soundbar (over eARC) then this is the first time I've seen this successfully achieved.

Most people that want HD-Audio use a Shield to passthrough the Audio - thus ARC or eARC is not needed in the first place. 

  

Edited April 6, 2021 by rbjtech

[toppoff 0]

29 minutes ago, FrostByte said:

So is it Direct Playing now with all transcoding turned off?  If so, then ebr might be able to change something if he hasn't already in the beta.

It will make things unplayable in your other clients if they require transcoding

We'll see. I tend to only watch films on the main TV. The other clients are used mainly for TV who's soundtrack is usually DD+ so plays ok on them all.

[toppoff 0]

9 minutes ago, rbjtech said:

Correct - that is the principle !

However,  TV's as emby (or any other) clients have never been able to 'output' HD Audio correctly to eARC, I'm not 100% sure if this is a software limitation or hardware.

If you can pass HD Audio back from your TV to your soundbar (over eARC) then this is the first time I've seen this successfully achieved.

Most people that want HD-Audio use a Shield to passthrough the Audio - thus ARC or eARC is not needed in the first place. 

  

I guess the other option is to connect the shield directly to the soundbar - then I'll know it's defo working anbd pass the video only to the TV.

[ebr 16182]

52 minutes ago, toppoff said:

but I have got it working by disableing all the options in that section apart from 'Allow Media Playback'

Is your soundbar actually receiving TrueHD?  My guess is you've just forced the app to decode that internally by disabling the transcoding options.

[toppoff 0]

7 minutes ago, ebr said:

Is your soundbar actually receiving TrueHD?  My guess is you've just forced the app to decode that internally by disabling the transcoding options.

I don't actually know. THe soundbar doesn't say what it's receiving over eArc (crap for a $1300 soundbar). Only way to see is to plug the shield directly.

It sounds pretty good, so maybe I should just be satisified with that

 

Accroding to the testing done by RTINGS.COM, it should handle both TrueHD and DTS-X over eArc.
https://www.rtings.com/tv/reviews/sony/x900h#page-test-results

 

And was a big reason I bought this over a LG

Edited April 6, 2021 by toppoff

[FrostByte 5392]

If your Samsung soundbar doesn't display "Atmos" when played then maybe there is a way to see in the app logs if the app is converting to PCM 5.1.  Even so that may sound better than DD at 384kbps

[toppoff 0]

Is there any diagnostics I can provide to detrermine this?

[rbjtech 5284]

Well the soundbar supports all the formats discussed - that's the good news :-

Supported play formats Dolby Atmos (True HD / Digital Plus), Dolby Digital, DTS-HD Master Audio, DTS:X, DTS

The not so good news is I can't believe a top end soundbar doesn't tell you what the input signals is ... 

The little display on top of the bar 'may' tell you this, but there is nothing in the manul to suggest it does.

So the only real way to see if you are getting Atmos - is to download a 9.1.4 atmos demo - and play it back and listen for the discreet channels ... 

If it's 5.1 only - you won't be able to notice and front or rear 'height' channels.

.. and yes, the best thing to do is plug the Shield directly into the bar - and bypass the TV (audio) completely.. 

 

Edited April 6, 2021 by rbjtech

[FrostByte 5392]

Page 29 of the Q950T users manual says that "Dolby Atmos" should be displayed when activated

I have the Q90R from the year before and mine gets triggered using my Shield or straight from the TV when it's DD+ Atmos

My TV doesn't have eARC though so I go through my Shield for TrueHD

Shield HDMI-1 / XB1X HDMI-2 ---> Samsung Q90R soundbar ---> Samsung TV

 

 

Edited April 6, 2021 by FrostByte

[FrostByte 5392]

1 hour ago, toppoff said:

Is there any diagnostics I can provide to detrermine this?

Activate logging and then send your log to ebr from within the app while playing something with TrueHD Atmos.  Then give him your user name and time you sent the logs in EDT

Edited April 6, 2021 by FrostByte

[FrostByte 5392]

bah

Edited April 6, 2021 by FrostByte