5.1 Passthrough issue with new Fire OS update
#1
Hi,
I have started having issues with my 5.1 audio encoded files since my Fire TV 2 updated the software to 5.2.4.0 (565189620). Everything was working fine until this update (passthrough) but now I get only a static.

Here is my setup (the one that was working until the update of Fire OS):

Kodi 16.1 Jarvis
Audio output: 5.1
Enable passthrough
DD (AC3) capable receiver
DTS capable receiver

AFTV2 connected to my receiver (Poineer VSX 823) via HDMI

AFTV audio setting DD over HDMI Automatic

Note: 5.1 on Netflix works after the update, so I am assuming it should be a Kodi specific setting?

I greatly appreciate any help!

Thanks.
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#2
Oh, that's bad news for the Fire TV. That device does not have native support for raw format passthrough. Kodi is doing a hack/workaround to make it work. But many Android 5 devices now mess with the audio stream in a way that ends up sending noise or static to your receiver, just like you described. And now it sounds like the FTV has joined the club. Kodi 17 has actually disabled this workaround for this reason. Check out this thread for more info: http://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=289735.

Your best bet would be to roll back to the previous firmware version if you can. Because it sounds like this last update was the death knell for passthrough audio. I certainly will not update my Fire TV 1st gen until there's confirmation that passthrough works on it.
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#3
Use v17 (latest nightly), set speakers to 2.0 pcm (does not affect PT), enable AC3 and additionally enable Transcode to AC3. The old hack kodi used is now even sabotaged by the FTV OS itself (yeah, technically it was a wonder it did not cause more issues before).

Let's see if the hate now calms down a bit against v17's audio api changes ... that the RAW API (which they now enforce) sucks, is though still known.
First decide what functions / features you expect from a system. Then decide for the hardware. Don't waste your money on crap.
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#4
Thumbs Up 
(2016-12-26, 19:18)fritsch Wrote: Use v17 (latest nightly), set speakers to 2.0 pcm (does not affect PT), enable AC3 and additionally enable Transcode to AC3. The old hack kodi used is now even sabotaged by the FTV OS itself (yeah, technically it was a wonder it did not cause more issues before).

Let's see if the hate now calms down a bit against v17's audio api changes ... that the RAW API (which they now enforce) sucks, is though still known.

Thanks a lot, fritsch! It is working now. I did not download the nightly. I tried it on 16.1 (changed speaker to 2.0, enabled passthrough, enable ac3 and also transcode to ac3.

Note to self: Disable Fire TV updates!
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#5
Oki - that still uses the old method, which should have the very same issue. Curious if they actively sabotage DTS (which is not really possible, without checking the IEC packets as they don't know what we send).

I think someone else should "retry" with the new FW.
First decide what functions / features you expect from a system. Then decide for the hardware. Don't waste your money on crap.
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5.1 Passthrough issue with new Fire OS update0