Android - Sony Bravia Smart TVs (2015) based on Android TV

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RE: Sony Bravia Smart TVs (2015) based on Android TV - stefan1983 - 2016-11-28

(2016-11-28, 12:23)herrde Wrote: How do I enable this? Simply by unchecking the "Receiver is capable of DTS playback" option?

Yes, if you say DTS passthrough is not working, but AC3 works without any issue => you would have to select "enable passthrough" and then select "Dolby Digital (AC3) capable receiver" and "Enable Dolby Digital transcoding" as well.
With this setting all your movies with audio codecs like DTS, DTS-MA, Dobly-Atmos etc. will be transcoded on the fly to AC3 so that your receiver will always receive AC3 sound.

Since I have an old DENON Reciever which only supports AC3, this is the way I use it myself.

Regards,
Stefan

RE: Sony Bravia Smart TVs (2015) based on Android TV - VirTERM - 2016-11-28

(2016-11-20, 22:44)VirTERM Wrote:
(2016-11-14, 04:22)Koying Wrote: You have to disable "plain" mediacodec on spmc on Sony for best result.
And how about the rest of the config? Should it be like:

enable HQ scalers = never
allow hardware acceleration - Mediacodec (Surface) = on
allow hardware acceleration - Mediacodec = off
accelerate MPEG2 = always
accelerate MPEG4 = always
accelerate h264 = always

Thanks

Anyone?

RE: Sony Bravia Smart TVs (2015) based on Android TV - D1Vad - 2016-11-29

(2016-11-20, 22:44)VirTERM Wrote:
(2016-11-14, 04:22)Koying Wrote: You have to disable "plain" mediacodec on spmc on Sony for best result.
And how about the rest of the config? Should it be like:

enable HQ scalers = never
allow hardware acceleration - Mediacodec (Surface) = on
allow hardware acceleration - Mediacodec = off
accelerate MPEG2 = always
accelerate MPEG4 = always
accelerate h264 = always

Thanks

Yes, I would also like to know this.

Also, has anyone tried using the internal 'Video' app as an external player?
http://kodi.wiki/view/HOW-TO:Use_external_players_on_Android

Kodi has been working great, but now and then I still find a file that plays better in the internal 'Video' app over Kodi. Figured Kodi would be a better option compared to getting my mouse out and navigating through ES file explorer to open my network video file.

Be great if the default action was to play in Kodi with the added option to play in the internal 'video' app when needed.

EDIT: looks like euca has already tried and can't get it to work Sad

http://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=175341&page=4

RE: Sony Bravia Smart TVs (2015) based on Android TV - herrde - 2016-11-30

(2016-11-28, 12:40)stefan1983 Wrote: Yes, if you say DTS passthrough is not working, but AC3 works without any issue => you would have to select "enable passthrough" and then select "Dolby Digital (AC3) capable receiver" and "Enable Dolby Digital transcoding" as well.
With this setting all your movies with audio codecs like DTS, DTS-MA, Dobly-Atmos etc. will be transcoded on the fly to AC3 so that your receiver will always receive AC3 sound.

Doesn't work with my Sony Bravia (X8505c of 2015) android TV, tried it last night. Still just noise from the speakers, even though "Dolby Digital transcoding" is enabled and "DTS" is disabled. Tried it with both "Support 8 channel DTS-HD audio decoding" enabled as well as disabled.

But my KODI settings also look different from the ones you posted, see here:

watch gallery

Looks like I have to stick to manual converting the audio track to DD5.1 prior to watching. Also, I noticed that if I switch off "Passthrough" (thus switching to "on the fly" PCM stereo transcoding), the system ressources of my TV might not be sufficient in some situations, at least when streaming high-bitrate 4K material (e.g. HDR movies), leading to jerky playback and stutters in some scenes - which is not the case if I have "Passthrough" enabled.

Thoughts?

RE: Sony Bravia Smart TVs (2015) based on Android TV - stefan1983 - 2016-11-30

I´ve got the exact same TV than you!

So please have a look on Versions of TV/Android and SPMC and the settings again:

SPMC Version / Build - installed from Google Play Store App

CAUTION!
Make sure to select Android, IEC passthrough (RAW mode does not work, that´s the same reason as in KODI 17!)

You definitely use the optical out of your Sony TV right?

Once you get all this right, please make sure to only select "MediaCodec (Surface)" in the Video settings as mentioned by Koying.
If the regular "MediaCodec" is also selected, your videos probably won't run smoothly.

Stefan

RE: Sony Bravia Smart TVs (2015) based on Android TV - stefan1983 - 2016-11-30

(2016-11-30, 11:23)herrde Wrote: Looks like I have to stick to manual converting the audio track to DD5.1 prior to watching. Also, I noticed that if I switch off "Passthrough" (thus switching to "on the fly" PCM stereo transcoding), the system ressources of my TV might not be sufficient in some situations, at least when streaming high-bitrate 4K material (e.g. HDR movies), leading to jerky playback and stutters in some scenes - which is not the case if I have "Passthrough" enabled.

Thoughts?

And regarding the TV ressources.... there is nothing wrong with the performance of the TV, it is just the fact that the new "RAW mode" - which is used as default in KODI 17 - is not supported by current Android 5 yet, thats why. I took myself some time to figure that out and I had several crashes / SW-reboots during tests in between. Once you installed the newest updates on your TV, the latest SPMC and set the right audio and video settings, all should be OK. Wink

RE: Sony Bravia Smart TVs (2015) based on Android TV - herrde - 2016-12-01

Hey Stefan,

many thanks for sharing your settings with me! I'll verify them one by one tonight and will report back here, and yes, I definitely use the optical out only!

Just one last question - under "TV Digital Output" on your Sony TV, which setting are you using? "Auto 1" or "Auto 2"? Or even "PCM"?

Best

RE: Sony Bravia Smart TVs (2015) based on Android TV - herrde - 2016-12-01

Hey Stefan,

so I have verified all your settings, everything is exactly set up as in your screenshots. I have also verified the TV's android version and the SPMC version itself, both are the same as yours -
BUT it still doesn't work, all that I get out of the speakers is that same digital noise, just as before....

I have also tried all three digital output modes on the TV ("Auto 1", "Auto 2" and "PCM", but none of them works...

Any other ideas? Maybe it's just that my receiver is somehow not capable of correctly responding to the incoming signal put out by SPMC, but then again, it properly switches to "DTS" if I use the native Video App, so DTS output itself actually works....

Thanks again for your help, much appreciated anyway!

Best

RE: Sony Bravia Smart TVs (2015) based on Android TV - herrde - 2016-12-01

...and another question regarding another issue -

If I press the "Action Menu" key on the Sony remote during playback of a movie, the Action Menu comes up, but at the same time, SPMC playback stops and SPMC jumps back to the movie selection screen, so I can't actually verify if the Sony really switched to HDR mode during playback...

Is there a workaround for this behavior?

Thanks!

RE: Sony Bravia Smart TVs (2015) based on Android TV - Hairy Hippy - 2016-12-02

I have the exact same question as the below. Somewhat annoying can't change on the fly and actually see or hear the differences when selecting the different options.

(2016-12-01, 21:59)herrde Wrote: ...and another question regarding another issue -

If I press the "Action Menu" key on the Sony remote during playback of a movie, the Action Menu comes up, but at the same time, SPMC playback stops and SPMC jumps back to the movie selection screen, so I can't actually verify if the Sony really switched to HDR mode during playback...

Is there a workaround for this behavior?

Thanks!

RE: Sony Bravia Smart TVs (2015) based on Android TV - stefan1983 - 2016-12-02

(2016-12-01, 10:46)herrde Wrote: Hey Stefan,

many thanks for sharing your settings with me! I'll verify them one by one tonight and will report back here, and yes, I definitely use the optical out only!

Just one last question - under "TV Digital Output" on your Sony TV, which setting are you using? "Auto 1" or "Auto 2"? Or even "PCM"?

Best

That´s Auto 1:

RE: Sony Bravia Smart TVs (2015) based on Android TV - stefan1983 - 2016-12-02

(2016-12-02, 19:34)Hairy Hippy Wrote: I have the exact same question as the below. Somewhat annoying can't change on the fly and actually see or hear the differences when selecting the different options.

(2016-12-01, 21:59)herrde Wrote: ...and another question regarding another issue -

If I press the "Action Menu" key on the Sony remote during playback of a movie, the Action Menu comes up, but at the same time, SPMC playback stops and SPMC jumps back to the movie selection screen, so I can't actually verify if the Sony really switched to HDR mode during playback...

Is there a workaround for this behavior?

Thanks!

AFAIK there is no workaround for that.
Since I don't use the action menu very often (or at all Wink

that´s no issue for me.

By the way, if you use an iOS device (there is an app in the AppStore which gets you full remote control over your TV).
That is also currently the only way to enable 3D playback of your Sony TV and to have SPMC/KODI playing 3D Movies (there is a 3D button in the app which when clicked brings the Sony 3D menu to front. Because clicking the action menu to show the 3D option during playback will bring you back to the home screen. That is quite the same reason for you not recognizing if HDR is used or not).

RE: Sony Bravia Smart TVs (2015) based on Android TV - stefan1983 - 2016-12-02

(2016-12-01, 21:23)herrde Wrote: Hey Stefan,

so I have verified all your settings, everything is exactly set up as in your screenshots. I have also verified the TV's android version and the SPMC version itself, both are the same as yours -
BUT it still doesn't work, all that I get out of the speakers is that same digital noise, just as before....

I have also tried all three digital output modes on the TV ("Auto 1", "Auto 2" and "PCM", but none of them works...

Any other ideas? Maybe it's just that my receiver is somehow not capable of correctly responding to the incoming signal put out by SPMC, but then again, it properly switches to "DTS" if I use the native Video App, so DTS output itself actually works....

Thanks again for your help, much appreciated anyway!

Best

Hmm..., very strange.

Have you tried to reboot the TV yet (via TV menu)?
I sometimes had the issue that after playing around with the TV and SPMC/KODI settings the TV wasn't working properly any longer (meaning apps started to lag, sound did not work properly and so on).

There has to be a way, there is no reason why it works for me but doesn't work for you if everything is exactly the same.

Regards,
Stefan

RE: Sony Bravia Smart TVs (2015) based on Android TV - tcviper - 2016-12-03

Im actually testing again with Kodi 17 (beta 6 right now), so far test result on my X85C Sony AndroidTV (AndroidTV 5.1.1), HDMI ARC <> Sony DN1070 receiver:
- With Passthrough and AC3 enabled,... DTS movies play fine, receiver displays Dolby Tongue

-- However, movies with real AC3 (Dolby) 5.1 tracks don't play at all now and movies seem to stutter.
- With Passthrough disabled completely, everything plays but PCM 2.0 sound,
- With Passthrough enabled but everything off, DTS Movies play as AC3 again fine, the rest does not.

So basically, looks like it's only possible to play PCM 2.0 and DTS right now on the Sony's with Kodi 17 Sad

I Seriously hope they can fix/update this.

RE: Sony Bravia Smart TVs (2015) based on Android TV - herrde - 2016-12-05

(2016-12-02, 22:10)stefan1983 Wrote: Have you tried to reboot the TV yet (via TV menu)?
I sometimes had the issue that after playing around with the TV and SPMC/KODI settings the TV wasn't working properly any longer (meaning apps started to lag, sound did not work properly and so on).

Yep, I did that as I have experienced the same behavior - but still no luck...

Quote:There has to be a way, there is no reason why it works for me but doesn't work for you if everything is exactly the same.

That's what I would think. The only explanation that I can possibly imagine is that somehow my receiver is "picky" about what's necessary in order for it to switch to DD mode. Maybe there's a flag or something in the data stream from SPMC that is not 100% properly set - which is still ok for your AVR but not enough for mine...[/quote]

(2016-12-03, 12:09)tcviper Wrote: -- However, movies with real AC3 (Dolby) 5.1 tracks don't play at all now and movies seem to stutter.

Can't confirm this. As my receiver somehow doesn't manage to playback the SPMC-encoded DD5.1 sound (when playing a movie with DTS, see above), I have to manually encode the DTS track of the movie file to DD5.1. (which only takes minutes, I'm using MKVTOOLS for this). After that, I have a movie file with a "real" DD5.1 track which plays back just fine using SPMC/Kodi - without any stuttering. But then, I'm using the Sony's optical out only, never tried HDMI as my AVR doesn't have any HDMI input at all.

Quote:- With Passthrough disabled completely, everything plays but PCM 2.0 sound,

That's normal behavior.

Quote:- With Passthrough enabled but everything off, DTS Movies play as AC3 again fine, the rest does not.
So basically, looks like it's only possible to play PCM 2.0 and DTS right now on the Sony's with Kodi 17

Exactly vice versa with my equipment. I just hear garbled noise when trying to have SPMC encoding a DTS track to DD5.1, but no problem whatsoever if I have a movie file already containing an AC3 (DD5.1) track!

Does nobody have a workaround that allows me to verify that the Sony has properly switched to HDR mode when playing a HDR movie? As said before, when trying to access the picture settings using the Action Menu button on the remote during playback, playback stops and SPMC jumps back to the file menu....

Best,

Taucher