Does DD5.1 and DTS work with Sony android TV?

[lukehansford]

Hello.

I have just purchased a brand new Sony Android 2016 TV.

I need to know before I purchase a 5.1 speaker setup.

Does DD5.1 and DTS work throght optical output with SPMC?.

If so what settings are required.

Thankyou

[lukehansford]

I'm thinking of purchasing this to use my current 5.1 creative Inspire 5.1 PC speakers but want to know if spmc 16.6 will output the DD 5.1 and DTS audio to the decoder correctly using SPMC or kodi 17.

[lukehansford]

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Digital-Adapter-Converter-Decoder-Supports/dp/B00AZHNXNO

[classicjazz]

It's not clear why you wish to use passthrough audio, particularly since those speakers don't appear to support digital input (optical, coaxial, or hdmi). I would just disable passthrough and use analog connectors from the TV to the speakers for your setup.

[lukehansford]

Your missing the point entirely. I am asking if spmc is able to pass DD 5.1 and DTS audio from a Sony android TV and want settings are needed. What speakers you use does not matter. The decoder just converts the digital signal to analogue 5.1 speakers but the source needs to be outputted correctly from. The Sony TV through spmc which is also needed for a 5.1 surround sound setup.

All new 4k TVs only have a single headphone jack and a optical out.

Someone must have a Sony 4k android TV and have 5.1 speakers as they are selling alot of them now.

[classicjazz]

If you had an AV receiver or a higher end sound bar, then you could use HDMI ARC to pull 5.1 audio from the Sony. There are known issues with the Sony firmware, so I would still recommend PCM decoding (ie. disabling pass-through). If you really wanted to do passthrough, then you could use AC3 transcoding but then your audio is lossy, not lossless. See http://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=289735

There are HDMI ARC-to-analog convertors available on the internet but I have no experience with them.

Else, you could use SPDIF out. This necessarily requires AC3 transcoding for both lossless sources and surround sound sources since PCM output is limited to 2 channels and only DD and DTS (lossy) is permitted. As you note, you would still need a convertor box, which would need to support DD decoding at a minimum.

Depending on your budget, I would either buy a soundbar that supports SPDIF in (good) or buy a soundbar that supports HDMI ARC (better) or get an AV receiver (best).

[lukehansford]

So are you saying you have a Sony android and use SPMC and Dolby digital 5.1 and DTS works perfectly fine without selecting passthrough and just using HDMI ARC to sound device?

Does passthrough and transcoding work with Sony android TVs?

I'd like to know if both or just one method works

[lukehansford]

Anyone got this working on a Sony?

[koying]

HDMI ARC = Passthrough. It's basically the same as Optical, but via the HDMI cable rather than via a SPDIF cable.

AC3 works. Just assume DTS doesn't (they are hacks but they are not guaranteed to work).

[lukehansford]

The comment from classicjaz above states that HDMI is better as it's lossless and doesn't require passthrough or transcoding. If this is true this I assume would bypass the issue with DTS that some firmwares have and pass audio to a device from the Sony without passthrough or transcoding.

He also states it's better to use HDMI device.

If I connect my new Sony android 49XD8088 to a 5.1 system using optical and select passthrough and transcoding what will happen if I play a movie with DTS audio which is what alot of new blueray contain now. Will it output to DD 5.1 instead?.

[classicjazz]

HDMI 2.0a has enough bandwidth that it can support lossless surround sound audio whereas SPDIF is limited to either lossless stereo or lossy surround sound.

Unless you have a really high end home entertainment system, you likely can't hear the difference between lossless and lossy audio.

The SPMC Wiki walks through the key advantages of using passthrough.

In addition to freeing up settop device resources, the advantages of using passthrough are (1) to playback audio codecs that SPMC does not support and (2) to use your AVR to apply different effects to different codecs or channel inputs. For example, your AVR might be configured to apply multi-dimensional processing to a 2-channel PCM source (e.g. DTS Neo:6 Music creates a 5.1 channel output) while not processing DTS-HD MA, Dolby TrueHD, or other surround sounds codecs (i.e. passing them directly).

https://github.com/koying/SPMC/wiki/Recommended-passthrough-audio-settings-for-SPMC%2C-NVIDIA-Shield-TV-and-AV-Receivers

You aren't focused on DTS:X or Dolby Atmos soundtracks and don't seem to have an AVR. So the primary benefit of pass-through audio for you is that you want to connect a surround sound system (e.g. soundbar, AVR, analog converter, etc.) that only has SPDIF in, not HDMI.

For SPDIF-only situations, if you (1) enable passthrough, (2) disable all codecs other than DD and (3) enable transcoding, then you should be sending DD encoded surround sound to your client device

[jesseking3]

Yes, xbr75940d using optical out

On Mar 12, 2017, at 2:45 PM, lukehansford notifications@github.com wrote:

Anyone got this working on a Sony?

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[lukehansford]

Sony android is not capable of outputting anything other than DD, DD plus and DTS according to the manual.

According to koying you still use passthrough with HDMI?

Will DTS work also if I used HDMI ARC. If not I don't see the advantage of using HDMI over opticaI . I thought you were saying you didn't need to use passthrough settings in kodi at all if you use a HDMI connection.

[clown522]

Everything works at spmc (AC-3 and DTS) with all Sony Android TVs with HDMI Arc, but you have to use the PCM hack at spmc. At Kodi 17 this method has been kicked out. Hopefully @koying will implement this hack at SPMC 17 too.

[heavy21]

I serve up PLEX data streams from my Windows (Essential 2012 R2) server to my XBR65850D display. The display is connected HDMI 4 (ARC) In to Yamaha Aventage HDMI 2 (ARC) Out AV receiver with 5.1 speaker system. When display set to audio from TV with HDMI 4 (ARC) input, I get sound from TV. When display set to audio from AV receiver, I get no sound. PLEX movie shows "Transcoding" with reason "DTS not supported by this device". All other source devices (BDP and DirectTV) connected by AV receiver input produce 5.1 sound with display set to system audio. Cannot identify why PLEX movie stream does not produce 5.1 sound.