I recently picked up a couple of Raspberry Pi 3B's to play with and see if I can use them to replace my existing HTPCs. Currently running LibreElec/Krypton 17.0. Things are going pretty well, LiveTV with the HDHomeRun is working good.
However, with Movies I am having issues with 5.1 Dolby Digital audio. It's probably my setup, but I am looking for any feedback/advice.
My Receiver doesn't have HDMI, so the way I have it set up is HDMI out of the Pi, to the TV and then Digital out of the TV (optical cable) to my Receiver.
Before I got rid of my cable box, I had it set up this way and 5.1 Dolby Digital TV broadcasts always worked. Now, I have the PI using the same HDMI cable that used to be connected to my cable box, but I am not getting 5.1 audio when watching movies. I still have my HTPC connected and when I play the same movie, 5.1 Dolby Digital works. The HTPC has digital out (optical cable connected to receiver).
I tried different audio settings on the Pi (passthrough, etc) but my receiver is not showing that 5.1 Dolby Digital is working. Anyone have any suggestions?
Do you get no audio, or just stereo audio?
Optical can only handle two channels, although those two channels can be used to handle compressed Dolby Digital (AC3) or DTS with 5.1 decoded channels.
A TV may pass AC3 from HDMI to optical out (but it may not).
A TV is unlikely to pass DTS from HDMI to optical out.
As such, I'd suggest you set:
Number of channels to 2.0
Allow passthrough to on
AC3 capable receiver to on
AC3 transcoding to on
E-AC3 capable receiver to off
DTS capable receiver to off
and see how that behaves.
Thanks for the reply! To answer your first question, I would get audio, but my receiver would not indicate Dolby Digital with the LEDs for all 5.1 speakers (L C R LFE RL RR) on like it does when I play the movie using Kodi installed on my HTPC.
I tried the suggested settings above and I get audio but my receive show Pro Logic instead of Dolby Digital and only shows the L and R LEDs opposed to L C R LFE RL RR
(2017-03-26, 18:52)ileenback Wrote: [ -> ]omndog,
Checkout "HiFiBerry Digi/Digi+" or, "HiFiBerry Digi+ I/O"
https://www.hifiberry.com/shop/boards/hi...d-version/
Side Note: Using their HiFiBerry DAC+ Pro + (Pi2) for Whole House Audio.
Yeah, I was thinking about that as a possible solution. I have two Pi's with HiFiBerry DACs that I use as Roon endpoints, running DietPi. Recently switched from Squeezebox to Roon
Are you running WMC on HTPC?
Have you explored ServerWMC PVR on your Pi's yet? (LiveTV & Recordings) or are you a MythTV user?
Only time I use HDHR Prime app is from my Debian systems running Kodi/Jarvis, my mix of Pi 2 & 3's (Jarvis) run really well on SW PVR.
Used to run WMC on HTPCs but am in the process of switching to Kodi on Pi's. Haven't used Myth and am not really interested in PVR functionality. I just use the HDHomerun for Live TV so I don't have to rent any boxes from my Cable company (have basic cable).
I am experimenting with the HDHR app on Kodi and the HDHR as a UPNP device. I was having audio issues with the HDHR app on Jarvis with the Pi's
From log I believe the Pi is outputting 5.1 AC3 as passthrough.
The only explanation is the TV is decoding that and passing it on to optical as stereo.
Can you try adding "hdmi_audio_config=0x200" to config.txt?
It is a long shot, but it may stop the TV from detecting and decoding the passthrough audio.
See
here for a description of what the setting does).
Thanks for the info. Unfortunately, still only getting stereo with that setting. I was looking at the link that you provided and it I see where someone wrote "after the latest firmware updates I lost the DTS passthrough in Kodi" and that post is dated 3/3/16. So, maybe I could use the version before the update that broke it? Any idea which version that would be?
On a side note, I also updated my HTPC from Helix to Krypton this AM and while I am getting 5.1 audio, the playback is not smooth at all. Tried adjusting various settings but cannot get smooth playback on the HTPC (Win7) with Krypton. I guess I'll work backwards and try Jarvis and Isengard before going back to Helix. No playback issues with the HTPC using Helix and no playback issues with the Pi using Krypton, just no 5.1
Maybe the best solution is just to buy a HiFiBerry for the Pi as suggested by ileenback
**Update** Playback is smooth on Win7 HTPCs with Jarvis. I don't understand why it wasn't smooth with Krypton. Weird. Also tried Libreelec/Jarvis on a Pi and still no 5.1 Dolby Digital.
(2017-03-26, 21:37)mondog Wrote: [ -> ]Thanks for the info. Unfortunately, still only getting stereo with that setting. I was looking at the link that you provided and it I see where someone wrote "after the latest firmware updates I lost the DTS passthrough in Kodi" and that post is dated 3/3/16. So, maybe I could use the version before the update that broke it? Any idea which version that would be?
The "hdmi_audio_config=0x200" option reverts the behaviour back to the (incorrect) previous firmware.
i.e. not signalling that compressed audio is being transmitted, so I don't think the older firmware will make a difference.
The other option is a hdmi/optical splitter like
this.