Login at Kodi Home

rebeltaz21 · 2015-03-08, 22:48

Up until a day or two ago, everything was great. I could play movies encoded with with Stereo audio tracks or Dolby Surround audio tracks. Last night, I tried to play a Dolby-only encoded file and the only audio was the front-left and front-right surround speakers. I was finally able to get at least full stereo sound by disabling the "Dolby Digital Plus (E-AC3) capable receiver" option - which was always enabled before anyway - but I still couldn't get true Dolby, nor does my amplifier recognize the signal as Dolby. It sees it as a stereo signal.

I have tried everything - I factory reset my amplifer (on the off-chance that something was amiss there); I have checed all of the settings that I can find in the amp, the Pi and the TV; I have unplugged and replugged the HDMI cable.... no change.

Now, the amp sees a true Dolby signal from the TV on OTA signals as well a Netflix so I know the amp and the TV are actually able to communicate in Dolby.

I tried a couple of other files that are encoded with both stereo and Dolby audio channels and noticed this - as long as I am playing the stereo channel, everything is fine. As soon as I switch to the Dolby channel, the video and audio both freeze. Once I switch back to stereo, everything resumes playing as before, in stereo of course. The problem seems to be in the Pi, but it has always worked up untill now - even with the files I am using to test it.

ANY help would be much appreciated. Thanks.

**popcornmix** · 2015-03-08, 23:49

A debug enabled log file may be helpful.

rebeltaz21 · 2015-03-09, 00:28

(2015-03-08, 23:49)popcornmix Wrote: A debug enabled log file may be helpful.

I'll get that for you tonight or tomorrow. Thanks.

rebeltaz21 · 2015-03-09, 06:49

(2015-03-08, 23:49)popcornmix Wrote: A debug enabled log file may be helpful.

OK... here's what I did -

I started the first video, the one that only has a Dolby track, and played 20 seconds of that. Then I started the second video, one that has both a stereo and a Dolby track. I played 20 seconds on the stereo track, tried to switch to the Dolby track, waited 20 seconds, switched back to the stereo track and let that play for 20 seconds before stopping it. I hope this helps.

hmmmm.... no way to add attachments on this forum? Alright, well... I uploaded it to my sever then - http://www.RobotsAndComputers.com/temp/kodi.old.log

**popcornmix** · 2015-03-09, 14:08

There does seem to be something omxplayer doesn't like about that file.
Could you upload a sample file with this problem and send me a link?

rebeltaz21 · 2015-03-10, 04:09

This is a seven minute clip of one of the files that has the same issue. I tested the clip and it freezes just like the one in the log file - http://www.RobotsAndComputers.com/temp/DU_test.m4v

afremont · 2015-03-10, 15:16

Hope I'm not intruding, but this may be relevant. I downloaded the clip and put it in my videos directory and played it. I use passthrough and the video plays fine on my home theater using an RPi 2 running nightly build #309. Here is the relevant portion of the debug log:

http://sprunge.us/EfgZ

My receiver shows it as DD 5.1 48kHz and it definitely plays in surround sound (my sleepy daughter isn't too happy about it, but it sounds good Wink

If you all would like, I can try it on OpenELEC 5.0.5 official. Forgive me if this isn't of any benefit to you all.

**popcornmix** · 2015-03-10, 15:44

@afremont did you try switching the audio track from first track (AAC) to second (AC3) and back?

I've tried multiple switches of audio and no problems. I am using my debug build which is more like a nightly build.

@rebeltaz21 - your raspbmc build is a bit old (firmware from December). Might be worth trying to upgrade it,
although it may be best to wait for OSMC final which is due any day now.

afremont · 2015-03-10, 16:28

I was also using the nightly build #309 when I posted that.
On that build, it automatically played the AC3 track and the receiver showed it as DD 5.1 48kHz.

When I switched back to the 5.0.5 official build, the first time I played the video, it played the AAC track which shows as PCM 48kHz 2 channel on my receiver. After switching to AC3, it plays fine and sounds just like the nightly build's auto selected track. Each time I replay it, it seems to remember that I wanted to hear the AC3 track and that is what plays by default.

On the official build, I have "Output configuration" set to Best Match, "Stereo upmix" is off

I have "Number of channels" set to 7.1 and "Audio output device" as HDMI. "Enable passthrough" is checked (set to on). AC3, E-AC3 and DTS capable are all checked (set on).

If you'd like, I can switch back to the nightly and try both tracks, though I'm positive (really I am) that it defaulted to playing the AC3 track as I posted above.

rebeltaz21 · 2015-03-11, 02:08

@afremont -> my settings are just as yours (with the exception of the E-AC3 whihc I had to turn off the get one clip to even play in stereo), but the Pi always seems to select the first (usually stereo) track. I would rather it always select the dolby track, but...

@popcornmix -> I can wait for the new OSMC (will I have to do a fresh install or can I do an upgrade) but if you can't get the clip to freeze, I'm curious as to why clips that played fine a week ago are now freezing and/or not playing the Dolby track as Dolby... Leave it to me to have the oddball problems!

rebeltaz21 · 2015-03-12, 05:06

Everytime something screws up with this setup, and I try to fix it... everything gets WORSE! I updated to the latest nighthly build and all of my libraries were wiped out. So I went through the tedious task of re-setting up everythng. I set up the movies first and sure enough, those file played in Dolby fine without locking up (although the one with the sole Dolby track still only plays in stereo for some reason). Alright! We're set. ... Nope. I then went to set up my music library. I can add the source, and scan that to the Library. It acts like it's doing that fine. But when it's done, there is nothing there. Nothing is actually added to the library. So I rebooted the Pi, using the Reboot option. When it comes back up, all of the setting have reverted back to original and the Pi keeps trying to give me "1st time run" hints. The music sources are missing, but the video sources, which were added to the library fine and still there....

afremont · 2015-03-13, 00:24

And this is after starting from scratch with the 5.0.5 official release? You formatted your card and did a clean install? If so, that seems kind of odd. Maybe it doesn't like your SD card for some reason. Can you try another card? I've had a lot more luck than you seem to be having with the nightly builds. In fact, I'm running them on the main box right now. I've had an issue or two, but nothing tragic so far. My wife has been using it all day to watch recorded TV and some live TV.

rebeltaz21 · 2015-03-13, 00:41

(2015-03-13, 00:24)afremont Wrote: And this is after starting from scratch with the 5.0.5 official release? You formatted your card and did a clean install? If so, that seems kind of odd. Maybe it doesn't like your SD card for some reason. Can you try another card? I've had a lot more luck than you seem to be having with the nightly builds. In fact, I'm running them on the main box right now. I've had an issue or two, but nothing tragic so far. My wife has been using it all day to watch recorded TV and some live TV.

No.. it wasn't from scratch. It was an "upgrade." I'm going to try a fresh install this week end. And then I am disabling AutoUpdate. Once it works, it doesn't need to "update" anything.