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Kodi audio passthrough not working anymore after update to FIRE OS 5

I have updated from FIRE OS 3 to FIRE OS 5 Preview.
After the update audio passthrough in Kodi 15.1 (using optical out) isn't working anymore (It was working fine on FIRE OS 3). When I switch on passthrough I get a hissing/cracking sound.
Anyone else experiencing the same issue?
Does it also occur when using HDMI out? (I can't test it because I have no HDMI in on my receiver)

Same problem here with HDMI. Tried Dolby Digital and DTS both get very loud white noise.

Same here with new Fire TV 4k Also Plex didnt use DTS or DD, Plex show DTS as audio format at playing but it play only PCM.

Just thought I 'd give my details, pretty much same issues as above
Tried - Kodi - 15.1 , 15.2r3 , 16.0a
with
Onkyo tx-nr509
Fire TV 2 (4K)
FTV -> TX-NR509 -> TV all via HDMI
I have switched from ATV where i was using using optical and everything was working fine. FireTV only has HDMI tho.
Tried all combinations of settings and all I get when I enable Dolby Digital (AC3) Transcoding is digital static as if Kodi/Android/Linux is failing to tell the amp to switch from PCM. Frustratingly I did have this working once, no idea what I did, tried everything mentioned in this thread.
Fire TV Prime videos are working flawlessly.

For me the current (annoying) workaround is to play the movie, hear the static, press stop, and play it again. it's worked every time for me so far.
HDMI -> mostly decent Denon here

xenoglyph said:
For me the current (annoying) workaround is to play the movie, hear the static, press stop, and play it again. it's worked every time for me so far.
HDMI -> mostly decent Denon here
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
which settings do u use on fire tv 2 and your denon? (got an denon avr 2113)
maybe i missed sth on my denon settings
(installation: fire tv 2 -> input media player (hdmi) denon -> monitor out (hdmi) -> tv)

jackiie said:
which settings do u use on fire tv 2 and your denon? (got an denon avr 2113)
maybe i missed sth on my denon settings
(installation: fire tv 2 -> input media player (hdmi) denon -> monitor out (hdmi) -> tv)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
same hardware setup for me. in ftv system settings i have it set to dolby digital plus or whatever their pass thru setting is called. and afaik in kodi when it comes to audio the settings don't really matter when you've got pass thru enabled.

Just thought I'd link the following for anyone having the same issues as me with the AFTV. It looks like a fix for DolbyDigital+ was released to fix issues within NETFLIX and PLEX on the AFTV device itself. Amazon are saying a fix will be rolled out on the 30th November for the older Dolby Digital and some are suggesting this should deal with the issues with KODI pass-through - fingers crossed.
http : // www . aftvnews . com / software-update-with-surround-sound-fix-begins-rolling-out-for-2nd-gen-fire-tv /

xenoglyph said:
same hardware setup for me. in ftv system settings i have it set to dolby digital plus or whatever their pass thru setting is called. and afaik in kodi when it comes to audio the settings don't really matter when you've got pass thru enabled.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
weird. maybe i missed sth. use the same settings but still some stupid noise. do u stream your movies? do u use mkv as well? can u send me some screenshots? when i disable pass through in kodi it just show multi in at my denon...

KODI no audio
I have KODI working until FTV2 firmware 5.0.4. KODI no audio 15.2/16 with red mute button on the top right corner
no way to turned on. Tried wukong remote, adjust amplification, change setting in FTV and kodi. Audio is gone forever.

KODI with 5.0.4 works on my FTV2. But I get only DD passthrough. DTS only white noise with my DENON AVR-X1200W. On PCM Output, channels are switched and need to be remapped. I dindn´t found any way in google to remap hdmi channels on android maybe somebody here is able to do some hacking on the ALSA Interface since we have root.
It also doesn´t look like, that the KODI developers have much interest to fix anything in kodi on FTV2 plattform Most development goes in direction of Nvidia Shield.
For thouse who are using Instant Video it´s absolutely dissapointing since most movies i watch via Kodi are with DTS sound. I have to watch them in Stereo PCM. That sucks! Nvidia Shiled is absolutely useless for me.
@woodybarry
try to do a factory reset and do a clean kodi install, without restoring anything.

bigwillie1 said:
I have updated from FIRE OS 3 to FIRE OS 5 Preview.
After the update audio passthrough in Kodi 15.1 (using optical out) isn't working anymore (It was working fine on FIRE OS 3). When I switch on passthrough I get a hissing/cracking sound.
Anyone else experiencing the same issue?
Does it also occur when using HDMI out? (I can't test it because I have no HDMI in on my receiver)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Had the same issue here.
With Fire OS 3 is use the automatic option, enable passthrough in Kodi (at the moment 16.1) and my Teufel Concept E-Digital did recognize DTS or AC3. With the update to Fire OS 5 I lost this feature
I try all options in FireTV OS 5 settings, with enabled or disabled passthrough option.
I've read something about to try:
-SPMC (because of a better Android support)
-kodi 17 beta (because of some passthrough fixxes)
I search for a method to enable the old Fire OS 3 settings for audio in Fire OS 5! Any ideas? Is it just a another lib/module to replace? @aftvnews
Elias, did you have any ideas?
If I dont find a solution I will sell my AFTV1 box...
Greetings by Idijt

Factory reset of AFTV worked for me. Make sure to back up Kodi config before and liars before wiping.

Lost 5.1 sound in play movies??

Whats up XDA recently the strangest thing has happened.
My TV shows and Movies on the "Play Movies" app no longer send a dolby digital signal to my AVR. Neither does Netflix.
Even weirder other apps do come through with dolby digital. For example: HDHomeRun - BETA gives me 5.1 sound with no issue.
My setup is kind of convoluted but, I go:
Sheild TV - HDMI out > HDMI in - not the ARC input - Samsung One Connect - Optical Out > Optical In - Sony AVR
(I'm using the Samsung One Connect because my AVR is older and does not Support HDMI 2.0 and HDCP 2.2.)
Also I've enabled HDMI passthrough in the Shield TV settings.
This setup works perfect for Watching 4K, but for some reason I've lost my 5.1 surround sound. Any Idea what happened?

No 5.1 sound on Netflix, Amazon

Hi,
Please, someone could tell me why I have no 5.1 surround on my 2015 NVS when I watch Netflix or Amazon?
I can get 5.1 sound when I watch a 5.1 movie with Archos player.
If I watch Netflix or Amazon directly on my tv the sound is 5.1.
Thanks

Depends of you receiver, connections etc. Needs to be Dolby Digital Plus compatible for Netflix I believe, through HDMI. If a USB -> Optical dongle is used for example, you'll have 5.1 in Kodi and other apps for Dolby Digital and DTS, but won't get 5.1 in Netflix.
How is everything plugged?

MrBungle67 said:
Depends of you receiver, connections etc. Needs to be Dolby Digital Plus compatible for Netflix I believe, through HDMI. If a USB -> Optical dongle is used for example, you'll have 5.1 in Kodi and other apps for Dolby Digital and DTS, but won't get 5.1 in Netflix.
How is everything plugged?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for your answer.
So the connections as follows: NVS is connected through HDMI to 4K LG TV. TV is optical connected to Sony receiver. As I told before, If I watch Netflix, Amazon on TV apps , the sound is ok. 5.1 . Also, if I watch a 5.1 movie with Archos player ( only) on my NVS , the sound is also ok.

technoguy09 said:
Thank you for your answer.
So the connections as follows: NVS is connected through HDMI to 4K LG TV. TV is optical connected to Sony receiver. As I told before, If I watch Netflix, Amazon on TV apps , the sound is ok. 5.1 . Also, if I watch a 5.1 movie with Archos player ( only) on my NVS , the sound is also ok.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That won't work, optical's bandwidth is ok for DD, but isn't sufficient for DD+ (which is the only format used by Netflix's app on the NVS).
Small extract from wikipedia:
"Physical transport for consumer devices:
IEC 61937-3: defines how to transmit Dolby Digital (AC-3) and Dolby Digital Plus (E-AC-3) bitstreams via an IEC 60958/61937 (S/PDIF) interface. However, the S/PDIF interface has insufficient bandwidth to transport Dolby Digital Plus (E-AC-3) bitstreams at the 3.0Mbit/s datarate specified by HD DVD; lower datarates are possible.
Dolby Digital Plus may be transmitted across HDMI 1.3 or newer, according to IEC 61937-3"
My understanding is that you have a 4k TV, you have the NVS (obviously 4k), but your receiver is HDMI 1.3 (1080p).
3 Options for you:
- Watch in 1080p with the shield connected to the receiver, enjoying 5.1
- Watch 4k with Shield directly to TV, but without 5.1
- Upgrade to a HDMI 2.0 compliant receiver to enjoy it all!
A lot of people went through this after upgrading to 4K, including myself!!

HDMI audio passthorough

Panasonic tv have hdmi audio out but not ARC marking on port. But support only upto Dolby Digital audio connected to Samsung home theater. Not support Dolby Digital Plus. I dont know . earlier before update it working fine through passthoroug option. And support DD+ . but after update this option is missing. Now only my home theater support only dolby digital. As result no surround sound in amazon and netflix platform. I find that EAC3 format not passthrough. Is there any option to enable passthrough option in tv.

Android TV box advice

Hi,
I'm looking for a box that could transcode Dolby Digital Plus to dolby Digital on the flight.
My problem is that my sound system must be connected throught SPDIF and doesn't support DD+. Therefore Netflix and Prime are delivering stereo sound tracks only.
I was told that some boxes can do the transcodong. I wanted to buy the Chromecast with Google TV but unfortunately it doesn't transcode the audio.
I was close to order a Fire TV Max stick until I discoved they don't support Google Cast (TBH Google doesn't allow anyone to implement their own Google Cast device.)
I'm open to open source solution (Lineage) as long as I can run the streaming apps (Netflix, Prime) and the Google Cast service (which I think is complicated on non certified devices)
For now I plan to buy the Xiaomi TV s which includes SPDIF output.
My concern about the Xiaomi is the performance limitations and the fact that updates won't happen for long because it's a quite old device already.
I was interested with the Shield TV but the lack of USB port is a no go for me.
Anyway my goal is to get a box that solves the audio compatibility problem (SPDIF not required, HDMI extractor is acceptable) and can last for years with updates.

Not sure if this is the answer you're looking for but have a look and see. Once I went to the Nvidia Shield Pro I never looked back.
AVR / Surround Audio Setup
AVR / Surround Audio Setup
www.nvidia.com

Here's a list: https://www.avsforum.com/threads/streamers-that-will-transcode-dd-e-ac-3-to-dd-ac-3.3203865/

I just tested an onn. box myself, and, at least in my case, since I'm using an HDMI to optical extractor, I had to manually configure the onn.'s audio settings to get it to work. I had to make sure to manually switch on Dolby Digital Plus -- even though my receiver only supports Dolby Digital. After that, I was able to check it by going into Netflix and looking next to the "HD" indication on each movie or show. If I hadn't switched on Dolby Digital Plus in the onn.'s audio settings, Netflix wouldn't detect support for it, and, correspondingly, wouldn't show the "5.1" indicator next to content, continuing to pass PCM audio.