MINIX U22 Kodi 19.1 won't decode DDP5.1.Atmos

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claudiop

New member
Hi
newbie to this forum

For years my setup has been OK with Minix Neo U1 running XBMC for MINIX to my legacy Sony AVR 7.1 Digital & DD/DTS with Optical/SPDIF for surround sound. Video via HDMI to my LG 4K TV.
With typical source files: DD5.1; DTS; DDP5.1.Atmos etc. The AVR decodes the standard DD/DTS and the XBMC app/MINIX U1 transcodes the higher resolution DDP/DTS-HD formats and sends multichannel data streams via SPDIF to AVR. The U1 has Audio Digital Out >SPDIF and selected formats DD/DTS. The XBMC app has Stereo Upmix disabled and Audio Passthrough Enabled.

Recently bought MINIX Neo U22 running Kodi 19.1. Same physical setup as above with SPDIF to AVR (same settings) and have followed the Kodi Audio QuickStart guide w/ Audio Output>SPDIF; Stereo upmix>Disabled; and Passthrough>Enabled.

With typical source files DD5.1/DTS, via SPDIF to AVR, I get surround sound OK. However, the higher rez formats DDP5.1 etc only as digital stereo. I've tried different settings but still only stereo with DDP5.1.

Using the same source files, I can go back to U1 w/ XBMC app to AVR all multichannel formats over SPDIF work fine. On the U22 w/ Kodi 19.1 only DD/DTS OK but not DDP5.1 etc.

I've tried installing the XBMC for MINIX app from the U1 to U22 but it won't recognise the MINIX device. Is there a new compatible version of XBMC for U22?

Any ideas appreciated, cheers
 
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Resolved my issue. In Kodi 19.1 Settings>System Settings>Audio:
Number of channels: 2.0 [NB: this is part of my solution sending digital stream over S/PDIF]
Stereo upmix: disabled
Allow passthrough: enabled
Dolby Digital (AC3) capable receiver: enabled
Enable Dolby Digital (AC3) transcoding: enabled [NB: this was the clincher]
DTS capable receiver: enabled
 
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The transcode to AC3 works, but is far away from a solution.

This is a very basic, lossy format. And the source of the transcode is already lossy. The result is a double lossy encode with a low bitrate and 5.1 channel limit.

This workaround in Kodi is for old TV/AVR which can not handle it better.
 
claudiop said:
Hi
newbie to this forum

For years my setup has been OK with Minix Neo U1 running XBMC for MINIX to my legacy Sony AVR 7.1 Digital & DD/DTS with Optical/SPDIF for surround sound. Video via HDMI to my LG 4K TV.
With typical source files: DD5.1; DTS; DDP5.1.Atmos etc. The AVR decodes the standard DD/DTS and the XBMC app/MINIX U1 transcodes the higher resolution DDP/DTS-HD formats and sends multichannel data streams via SPDIF to AVR. The U1 has Audio Digital Out >SPDIF and selected formats DD/DTS. The XBMC app has Stereo Upmix disabled and Audio Passthrough Enabled.

Recently bought MINIX Neo U22 running Kodi 19.1. Same physical setup as above with SPDIF to AVR (same settings) and have followed the Kodi Audio QuickStart guide w/ Audio Output>SPDIF; Stereo upmix>Disabled; and Passthrough>Enabled.

With typical source files DD5.1/DTS, via SPDIF to AVR, I get surround sound OK. However, the higher rez formats DDP5.1 etc only as digital stereo. I've tried different settings but still only stereo with DDP5.1.

Using the same source files, I can go back to U1 w/ XBMC app to AVR all multichannel formats over SPDIF work fine. On the U22 w/ Kodi 19.1 only DD/DTS OK but not DDP5.1 etc.

I've tried installing the XBMC for MINIX app from the U1 to U22 but it won't recognise the MINIX device. Is there a new compatible version of XBMC for U22?

Any ideas appreciated, cheers
Click to expand...

Part of your problem as per your thread title is actually that optical/TOSLINK can't support Atmos. HDMI is required for Atmos due to the data rates involved that TOSLINK just can't handle, so that clears up 50% of your posted issues.

DD+ / e-AC3 - Ultimately, what's the make & model of your AVR? Does it definitely support the decoding of e-AC3? Have you double checked or did you previously have e-AC3 working with another device to confirm it was decoding 5.1 e-AC3?

If the AVR itself doesn't support decoding 5.1 e-AC3 then invariably it may step down to stereo or there may be no audio at all.

As @ugrdual has pointed out, transcoding isn't the greatest option or workaround when you're going to the length & expense of using a dedicated AVR for passthrough to your audio hardware of choice. It'll work but the audio will never be the same & it kind of defeats the purpose. It's not going to be as bad as the TV speakers, obviously, but the audio quality will significantly suffer.

Certainly worth double checking your AVR's capabilities if you're not sure and if you're now using a decent 4K TV it would definitely be well worth looking into updating to a 4K HDMI capable AVR. It will make passthrough a lot simpler & of course, just one cable per device, not two :).

Having said that, the U22 has been nothing short of a nightmare for a significant proportion of total U22 end users who also use an HDMI capable AVR for audio passthrough. So, it's literally six of one & half a dozen of the other. (My point being the U22 itself could be why e-AC3 isn't behaving the same as you had anticipated to your U1 but nobody can say that for certain without the make & model of your AVR to at least check the basics.)
 
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