[rantei]

Hi all,

i have a Sonos Playbar and i want to connect it to an Android Box through SPDIF connection (the only one available on the soundbar); this soundbar supports only Dolby Digital 5.1 (not DTS and/or HD audio). Now if i use this settings in Kodi (with the Sonos playbar connected directly to the Android Box through SPDIF for audio and HDMI for video):

Enable Passthrough
Dolby Digital 5.1 Capable Receiver (checked)
Enable Dolby Digital Transcoding

and i don't check DTS Capable Receiver, i just want to know if i can reproduce in Dolby Digital 5.1 a film that has only DTS track.

If this is not possible with an Android Box, which box can i use?

Thank you.

Michele

[bigjess007]

In a sort of way I just went through this myself. I required a box that had a SPDIF connection that would send out DD 5.1, and I wanted it to also play BD rips that had 7.1 DD+ audio tracks but send it out SPDIF as DD 5.1 (the box had to do the downconverting).

While I have not tested it as of yet, for Kodi, I settled on the WeTek Core. From everything I've read, the hardware in the box has to be capable of doing the downconverting, and the software has to have it enabled. And from researching, the WeTek Core is supposed to do that well. And they have some impressive support, and are active on these forums as well.

There's plenty of chinese boxes out there that have an optical jack, but they won't downconvert which is going to play a bigger role as someone expands their media library to more bluray's that have 7.1 DD+ audio but have legacy audio equipment that doesn't support DD+

WeTek hasn't had the Core in stock for months, but it is supposed to be available again on 3/20. The reservation page is still up, www.wetek.com/shop and for those of us who made a reservation prior to today got our invite today to purchase it. So you may want to try the reservation page, and then see if you get a invite before 3/20, otherwise wait for it to be available in the main shop page.

[rantei]

Ok, thank you. I think that also Minix Neo U1 can transcode from DTS to Dolby Digital with Kodi

[wrxtasy]

Yes MINIX and Wetek are providing Audio support that will do what you want.
WeTek also have the DTS and Dolby licences that adds extra 7.1 HD Audio decoding to lossless Multichannel PCM audio capabilities to Android Apps and Kodi (see hdmkv's reviews)

S/PDIF has a more restrictive bandwidth capacity than HDMI. It only has enough bandwidth to use 2.0 Transport channels of compressed lossy Audio like Dolby Digital 5.1, hence the need to transcode.

[rantei]

wrxtasy which box between Minix Neo U1 and Wetek Core is better for picture quality (i have an Himedia Q5 4K3D as a point of reference). I want only picture quality with right framerate and the feature of transcoding film with only DTS track to DD 5.1 (i don't need HD Audio, 3D...)

Thanks a lot...

[wrxtasy]

Some people will bang on about 10-bit decoding for increased color shading video playback quality on the U1 and yes its true the U1 will decode 10-bit video, Even 4K 10-bit video at 60Hz, the Core cannot.
But guess what, the video output will be only 8-bit quality, same as the WeTek Core due to software limitations, including Kodi. So it depends on your individual video decoding requirements.

There is also sweet bugger all 10-bit 4K HEVC video about. Dodgy movie re-rips I seen on Internet searches are 100GB+ for a 90 minute movie. I personally don't think its worth it.
4K Amazon Prime and 10-bit HDR Netflix are the only reliable sources. You cannot rip your own UHD Blu-rays either due to copy protection mechanisms that have not been cracked.

OpenELEC running on the WeTek Core will be the fastest Kodi running on both devices that will do the Audio transcoding you want. It's virtually as fast as my i5 iMac running Kodi as I've tweaked the OE version I use.
23.976fps VC-1 Blu-ray movie Rips will playback properly on the Core, the U1 has issues, I suspect in the immature Kernel.

The Linux Kernel in the S812-H (Core) will be more stable and bug free than the S905 (U1) due to having at least 1.5 years more development.
You should also read the individual device threads about possible 4K HEVC issues with all Revision B S905's.

Video picture quality will be the same on both. They are both AMLogic outputting 8-bit video shading.

Here is a chart with more info:
http://www.cnx-software.com/2016/01/29/a...omparison/

So really in the end it comes down to support, device flexibility, price and individual codec decoding requirements.

[rantei]

Ok, great explanation. I will buy the WeTek Core because the linux kernel is more stable.

Thank you for your help.

Michele